Nanda

By Fariba Keshavarz

Join Nanda, a little sparrow with a big imagination, on a thrilling adventure beyond the magical Circle he has always known. All he has ever wanted is to find his parents, who live in a tall tree. But as he embarks on his quest, he discovers that the tree is just a cover-up for a mysterious past that his parents have been keeping hidden to protect him.

Now, Nanda must team up with Koma, an angry shark who lives on land, to uncover the truth about his origins. With Koma’s help, Nanda discovers a mysterious cave on the island, which reveals his true birthplace and his extraordinary powers as a mythical sparrow that is several centuries old.

As Nanda’s world is turned upside down by this revelation, he must face the biggest challenges of his life in order to find his real family. With danger lurking around every corner, Nanda must summon all his courage and determination to unravel the secrets of his past and forge a new future for himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Aug 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9781398476431

Fariba Keshavarz

Fariba Keshavarz, also known as Fafa, hails from a small town just west of Fars province, Iran. She received her MSc in midwifery from Tehran University. Her father was a poet and this played an important role in her interest in literature leading to her starting writing at the age of seven. The imaginary world, full of emotion along with the realities of society, is one of her most important concerns in writing. Nanda can be considered a reflection of the author’s understanding of the world around her. The combination of the animal and human world has played a major role in expressing the author’s feelings.

Book preview

Chapter One

Circle

His eyes opened as he thought they had just come out of an air storm, but the clear and sunny sky was glittering over his head. A few drops of coconut juice dripped into his eyes, and he got angry. It was Joseph’s daily routine. He noticed from the coconut juice that they are home. But how? That air storm was more dangerous than anything to take the eagle to his destination. He got up and, like every day, knapped on the tree and Joseph fell to the ground, and then he went to see Martina.

The animals had just entered the island after a sea voyage. First, they consisted of a middle-aged eagle, old Wise Martina, a giraffe named Edward, a rotary head Katy that is a male owl with a girl’s name. Actually, he believed that everything in the world is contractual. Finally, a viper snake named Misa and an extraordinary fish named Rinor.

The wonders of the island were circular trees called Circle. They were similar interwoven circles, suspended in the air and their roots growing to miles and all around the house and kept the house secret all these years.

The eagle passed through the Circles to reach the house. Martina was a fly that, unlike other flies, had a long life. No one in any world can believe that an eagle counts on a fly.

He passed through the trees to reach the central gathering place. As soon as the eagle entered, old fly sat on his tip swiftly and spoke uninterrupted, I had repeatedly emphasised to you that one day your pride will destroy You. You chose the air holes, and you could have killed this poor bird.

Oh, Martina, one day, I’m going crazy with your buzz. I had no choice but to come out of the pits because the fire was everywhere. Is sparrow good? One of his feathers is broken.

Martina went to the children’s beds and sat on a bed made with the roots of the circle. The eagle guessed that viper Misa had prepared it for the sparrow. He went ahead and stood beside the bed. The sparrow was stuck in one of the corners of the bed and was asleep.

Martina said with a lovely smile, one that was less visible because of her nervous buzz. There’s something inside this sparrow that calms me down. According to my experience, this sparrow must be about two or three days. He must have died due to bleeding. But miraculously, he survived.

Martina said this and went buzzing. The eagle came closer to the sparrow and looked at him. The sparrow’s eyes opened slowly until the eagle could see a full image of himself inside the sparrow’s eyes.

I named him Edward number two, Edward said this, and as he pulled his head out of one of the Circles and looked for the horn-shaped leaves, he came to the sparrow and then looked at the eagle and smiled.

Eagle said, Edward, do you still want to put your name on the newcomers?

Edward got very angry and snapped his muzzle on the eagle and said, Do you want to stop it again?

The eagle got offensive and opened his wings.

No, why not call him Misa Number two? This sparrow is very gentle, and this name is suitable for him.

Edward and the Eagle turned their heads to the newly arrived Misa. Misa twisted her long, slender tail slowly, moving her long tongue. Upon arriving, she rushed toward Edward as if she was going to bite and then stopped.

Edward shouted, Misa, I have said many times that I hate it.

Misa tightened her tail around Edward and said, Edward, you always were scared of me, and at night you would not sleep for fear of being attacked.

Edward became angry and rid himself of Misa’s long, colourful tail. I had forgotten why I came. As I said, it must be Misa, Misa said.

No, it must be Edward.

Don’t argue with me. I made a good bed for him, and I’m going to make the rest of his stuff as soon as possible, so it must be my name.

By no means, the moment we pulled it out of the claws of this wild eagle, I dry him and he smiled at me.

Smile?

The eagle shouted angrily, If anyone is going to give his name to the sparrow, it’s me because I saved him.

Edward and Misa looked at each other, and they laughed and said at the same time, But you don’t have any name.

The eagle got out of control, lifted Misa from her tail and raised her with his claws as he opened his wings. Misa was frightened and couldn’t deal with the eagle and began to apologise. Edward was scared, too, because it was the eagle’s utter anger that if Martina hadn’t come to their aid, he would have killed everyone. Eventually, the eagle threw Misa on Edward and left. Edward and Misa went out as they were entwined. The sparrow’s eyes opened slowly. He got to know the mysterious world around him and seemed to understand more than just a few days old sparrows. He raised his head to see more, but the bed was too high, and the sparrow was too tired to fight, so he stopped trying and fell asleep.

All around the house was stacked with very green circular trees with very tall and functional roots. Almost all of the place’s structures were made of solid circular roots filled with trumpet-shaped leaves. The main lounge was where Misa’s hand-made beds were located, and newcomers were usually kept here. The house had three floors, and the fourth floor was under construction, and the upper floors were made of leaves, roots and stems of Circle, as Edward and his weights lived above.

There were slides on all floors for going downstairs. For climbing, the trumpet-shaped leaves were arranged like stairs. Of course, the slides were made for the kids. Things broke down many times because of Edward’s heavy weight, and Misa had to make one for Edward. Hundreds of different animals came to this place by chance over the years.

***

What kind of animal is this?

How ugly.

Bad guy, it’s so much smaller than you want to call it ugly.

I want to dress him up.

Do you still want to argue with Misa? She’s making everything here.

But I saw the white thread coming out of my hand. There must be something.

He’s opening his eyes.

I feel pity for him.

We are all like him, fatherless and motherless.

I think it’s cool.

It’s so hot here, and I’m sweating.

But it’s different, skin and bone.

What do you think?

Martina called him.

What was that?

It started with the letter »S«. It was ridiculous.

Wow, he’s looking at me.

He doesn’t look at you at all.

All the kids were around him and saying these. He opened his eyes wide and looked at the strange crowd around him. There were noisy sounds, and all the animals were talking at once, and Martina came up and said, Go away, go away, you are bothering him, he is too small, he must rest.

What is his name, Martina? the hedgehog said.

This is a sparrow. Everyone said, Sparrow?

What an ugly name, Hedgehog said.

Martina got angry and sat down on his nose. You’re not allowed to make fun of anyone else’s names.

Honey squirrel said, Why is he so strange?

He is still tiny; you were just so weird too. Very soon, it will become a beautiful bird, with feathers of several different colours and singing to you every morning.

Honey Squirrel asked, Martina, will he fly? His wing is broken.

I don’t think so. I did my best, but his wing is broken. Of course, It depends on himself, said Martina as she shook her head sadly.

Martina, it’s so dreamy to sing for us every day. She was the squirrel that everyone was calling honey. She always had a gentle spirit and was very kind.

The kids had a typical feeling about the new member of the house because he was just like everyone else. However, they did not know that this seemingly wingless sparrow is going to change everything.

***

A few months had passed since the sparrow came, and he had grown up. Every morning, he stood and sang at the tallest point of Circle. All the animals, especially the squirrel, were fascinated by the sparrow. The rotary head Katy did not react because he was too old to be jealous.

The fourth floor was built entirely and transformed into a kids’ playground. Misa was developing play equipment that had to be made for Edward because he played more than others and ruined one of the twists.

Pilla, the only spider in Circle, had realised the ability to weave yarn. Of course, Misa was upset because she believed that thread was low endurance and, most importantly, sticky. For this reason, Pilla hid all his structures in a secret place.

Since the arrival of the sparrow, no newcomer was entered Circle. It was an excellent opportunity for Martina to relax a bit, as she had to think about extra food, sleep, education and more. The eagle would come out of the Circle every day, and he was flying far, preventing strangers from entering the house.

The sparrow wished he could fly every time he saw the eagle going. Unfortunately, his right-wing was too weak. The probability of a sparrow flying was very low because of a broken bone.

One day, the sparrow thought about going out of Circle and finding his parents. He had never seen the world outside of Circle. The eagle usually didn’t talk about it, only talking to Martina. The sparrow had made his decision to run away one morning before waking everyone up. There were two ways to escape Circle. The first way was the water channel through which the Rinor went into the lake. Rinor lived on numerous leaves, and one of the trumpet-shaped leaves was attached to a water channel to a lake on the island. He would go to the lake whenever he wanted.

None of the members knew why Rinor had returned to the island. The channel was empty when it was closed, and the sparrow could enter it and reach the island. There was a problem because the channel was designed to fill with water as soon as it opened. The sparrow had to enter when the channel was closed and leave before reaching the lake; otherwise, a large water volume would drown him.

The sparrow completely forgot about the Rinor’s channel because it seemed unwise. Rinor was usually in the trumpet-shaped leaf attached to the channel and rarely went to other leaves that made for him. He thought about going out of the way of an eagle. There was a lot of thought in his head, but the only thing that made him hopeful was that nothing, but giant trees awaited him.

Finally, the morning that sparrow waited has arrived. It was still dark. He picked up one of the backpacks that Misa had made for him and poured some food into it, and he went on an unknown journey. He strolled to the last and farthest point. Hereafter was forbidden, and all the inhabitants knew this. He removed the curtain made of Circle’s roots and went out, and it was like all the winds of the world were coming towards him and the voice that said, Good luck, little sparrow.

Everything was white in front of the sparrow’s eyes, and he didn’t understand anything anymore. That voice was Martina’s voice that watching the sparrow go away with tears coming from her eyes, knowing that she could not prevent a predetermined fate.

Chapter Two

I’m Nanda

Everywhere was full of trees. There were still traces of burns. The sparrow tried to get up, but his broken wing hurt. He does not remember much from the moment he entered the island, only pure white, plus a sunset view and the three sparrows gazing at the sunset. It was hard to get up. The contents of the bag were scattered on the ground. He had taken some of the seeds and roots of the Circle. By smelling them, he had missed Circle but quickly put them all in his bag and said, It’s not the time to become emotional; I have to go where I was founded to find my parents. The sparrow was continually reviewing the eagle’s words about the night he was found. I saw you in your nest and above the tallest tree in the island. That area had been set on fire, and I thought it might be a trap, but the situation was terrible. Despite the dangers around you, I came to your rescue, but your wing was already broken.

He repeated, The tallest tree on the island, no one was by my side, my wing had already been broken. So, someone stole me from my mother and father and then ran away, and it got stuck in an air storm like what the eagle had seen. Then its claws open, and I fall, and my right-wing is damaged. It was thundering at that moment, and the island was burning. And since I was disabled, the robber left me in a nest already built on the island’s tallest tree.

The sparrow walked and reviewed various hypotheses and got tired of walking and leaned on the stem of a plant and said, If anyone didn’t live here, then what was that premade nest for?

He thought again and said, Well, because they had already predicted everything, and with this interpretation, that bird didn’t fall by accident in the air hole. No, some things still don’t fit together. I never know the truth.

He was walking and thinking again, eating some of his food, swallowed them and said, Why did it steal me?

A voice said, Really for what? Who needs a talkative sparrow?

Sparrow replied, I was just making some assumptions about getting lost.

Suddenly, his whole body sweated and, as he could hardly speak and was shaking, said, Whose voice is this?

He took a deep breath and said, This is nothing but a hallucination.

The sparrow realised that he is far away from the ground, and this time he was sure that no one else was living there, so he ran and kept shouting. His bag fell out of his hand. After a few minutes, he was glad that his speed became faster, and he stood there, sat down, and said, My God, what was that? I have to go back to Circle earlier and tell them how scary the world is here.

He stopped but noticed that he was several times more distant than he thought and stuttered, No, no, it’s here.

He continued in a louder voice, It was running, not me, and I was just running on it.

He retook a deep breath and tried to calm down and lower his head very slowly. He was a snake, like Misa. The sparrow took a deep breath and jumped down and stood in front of the snake. Like Misa had a tall tail and had two long tentacles on his head, plus another was in the middle of two tentacles with a shiny black object inside.

For just a few minutes, he spun around the snake and examined all its parts. Standing again in front of the snake’s smiling face, it seemed like Misa was a kind snake. He said to the snake, Are you a snake?

"Yeah, I’m