Ruskin Bond's 1980 short story to be adapted for chapter book edition

One of Ruskin Bond's most loved stories, "Mukesh Starts a Zoo", will now be available to readers in a chapter book edition, publisher Puffin Books announced.

First published in 1980 as part of a larger collection of short stories titled "The Road to the Bazaar", the tale traces an industrious child Mukesh, who gets inspired to start a zoo of his own, after visiting one in Delhi, with the help of his friend Teju.

Mukesh and his friends work hard at finding animals, and making them enclosures in their zoo that houses a lizard, a parrot that chants prayers, a dog with yellow eyes, and the washerman's donkey as their star attractions.

However, when visitors are escorted around the zoo, there is complete pandemonium, ensuing in some rather comical results. Mukesh soon realises that running a zoo is no child's play.

"Peppered with endearing characters and delightful art works, this story brings alive one of Ruskin Bond's most unforgettable tales," the publisher said.