The Magic of the Lost Earrings by Sudha Murthy
My take on the book:
Nooni had unexpected school holidays for ten days in February and hence she joined her Ajja and Ajji on a vacation they planned to visit North India — Ujjain, Amritsar, Wagah border and Delhi. After reaching Ujjain, Nooni finds a pouch in her backpack with a pair of antique earrings. Nooni and Ajji suspect the earrings may have been mixed up in their luggage in the Bangalore airport and are determined to return them to their rightful owners.
Based on the name of the jewelry shop on the pouch, they reach out to them while visiting Amritsar, to be directed to someone who sold a similar pair of earrings many decades ago. From Ujjain to Amritsar to Delhi to London, Nooni, Ajja and Ajji travel across cities to locate the real owner of the earrings to return them back. Will Nooni succeed in this unplanned adventure forms the rest of the story.
The story begins with Nooni planning a vacation with her grandparents and on the first leg of the journey finds the earrings that accidentally landed in her luggage. What starts as a search for the rightful owner of the earrings brings forth the sensitive issues of India’s partition, immigration and above all the need for integrity in current times like Nooni and her grandparents.
The author weaves an interesting narrative with each clue leading closer to the owner of the earrings while also including the historical significance of the events that brought the earrings where they are today. Nooni has grown up from the last installment of the series and is now leading her grandparents in planning the vacation and helping them with contemporary stuff like online bookings and payments. Ajji as always narrates historic significance of each place they visited.
The illustrations are breath-taking and add depth to the story and characters. What stayed with me long after finishing the book is how partition is described — someone decided to draw a line across the country one fine day and people who lived their entire lives in a certain place had to leave behind everything, including their lifetime memories and loved ones and never ever went back or met them again.
A story that travels the world highlighting the emotional strain of migrants, this is a must read not just for kids but for all ages.
My rating:
5/5.