Book Review : 'A Flamingo in my Garden' by Deepak Dalal

‘A Flamingo in my Garden’  by Deepak Dalal is the second of the series of birds/animals in a garden, the first being 'Talon, the Falcon'. Remember Shikar? And Rose Garden? The mynas, bulbuls, koels, bee-eaters, and a few others are all in this one too. But this time, this particular story is all about a flamingo known as Sunglow and a skybird called Longtail. 

In this particular part, Sunglow disappears and it falls upon Longtail to find out where he has disappeared to. Mumbai and its beaches are home to the flamingos, but suddenly one day, we find that Sunglow has disappeared. 

Longtail is sent to discover who it was, from among the suspects. In this case, there are two of them; one is Skull, a hot-headed and quarrelsome seagull, and the other, S-Crow, a strong and hard-hitting leader of crows. 

Hunting for help, Longtail meets with another seagull, known as Good-gull who guides him on to S-crow, and his band of crows who are cousins, with Craven and his fleet of mountain ravens, whom Longtail is friends with, since he flew to the Himalayas or better known as the Impossible Mountains here, with them.

Longtail thought that the ravens would be good enough to recommend him, and the crows then turn to the ravens whom the sky birds come highly recommended by. He has a plan, but he would have to fulfill it.

For this using his bird brain, Longtail is reminded of Pidegin, an old and wise pigeon, and soon flies there. Here, he is told of Koels and crows, which grow together in nests and become friends. Since it is tough to get secrets out of a crow, the koel could be of help in this matter. And a couple of such pigeons have found these koels.

So, with so many birds on his side, would Longtail find out where the flamingo is hidden? Would he free the flamingo and help it fly to freedom? Would S-crow come through with the help he had promised? Would Sunglow see freedom and fly across with Longtail back into Rose Garden? 

Deepak Dalal manages to keep the suspense on and Lavanya Naidu keeps the story going as well with her colourful illustrations. Read on, to find out if Longtail manages to crack this one, Folks…

You can Buy the Book, right here.