atisa and the seven wonders
By Anu Kumar
Puffin Books, Rs. 175

Imagine what it would be like if one fine day a flying machine crash-landed in your backyard with a strange man in it. The strange man is unconscious and you, being the curious little tech wiz, twiddle a few knobs and before you know it, you’re flying!

This is what happens to Atisa, the 14-year-old hero of Atisa and the Seven Wonders. And his stopovers are, hold your breath, the Great Step Pyramid of Giza, the statue of Zeus in Olympia, the mausoleum at Maussollos, the lighthouse of Alexandria, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

And while he’s travelling through the seven wonders of the ancient world, Atisa is convinced that he’s following in the footsteps of Daedalus, master inventor and engineer of Athens, who built the Labyrinth for Minos, the King of Knossos in Crete. Minos, as some of you may know, had commissioned Daedalus to build a labyrinth to house Minotaur, a fearsome half-bull, half-man with horns as sharp as swords. When Daedalus fell-out with Minos he, and his son Icarus, escaped with the help of wings which they had attached to themselves with wax. According to Greek mythology, in spite of Daedalus’s warnings, Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax melted from his wings and he was lost forever. The book however, suggests otherwise.

There are several intriguing characters in the book. One of them is Princess Amytis, the young, bewildered wife of King Nebuchadrezzar, who apparently stopped smiling from the moment she stepped into the barren land of Babylon. The only thing which holds her attention is the flying machine that Daedalus builds for her. Unfortunately, that makes the king jealous of Daedalus and intent on destroying him.

Daedalus escapes, but in comes Atisa on his flying machine, stirring old emotions and trouble. The adventure takes a giant leap when Atisa meets the master inventor who is still looking for his son Icarus.

The names of the characters have been carefully chosen. Atisa, to begin with, was a Buddhist teacher, responsible for the re-establishment of Buddhism in Tibet. Atisa’s father is called Gesar, after the powerful Buddhist king of Tibet. His mother is called, Gaea, or mother Earth, the first goddess in Greek mythology.

This is Kumar’s first attempt at children’s literature and she has done a good job. The plot is refreshingly imaginative and the book is worth a read. And yes, the caricatures are fun.