Radha and the Rainbow Cycle

By Ruchi Lal

A brand new city, a brand-new life. Little Radha was excited to start this new journey. But little did she know what magical adventures lay ahead of her. In their new Bungalow, Radha found a dusty old cycle, which she scrubbed and cleaned till it was gleaming brightly in the sun. This new treasure of hers was rainbow coloured and accompanied her everywhere every day. Along with her new friends, Radha used to go cycling and roamed around the little hamlet, helping those in need. She even made a bully have a change of heart. Her beloved town was being burglarised. Will Radha be able to save the town? Her new “magical friend” gave her surprises nearly every-day, but together they helped the town and its townsfolk many a times. Radha loves her new companion, and her companion loves her back and will stop at nothing to protect her. Let’s roam around the streets of Kamalapur with Radha and her rainbow cycle and indulge in this exciting story of friendship & family, loyalty and truthfulness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Point Six Technologies Pvt Ltd
• Release date: Aug 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9789356671966

Ruchi Lal

Ruchi Lal was born in 1983 in Patna, Bihar. At a very young age of 2 she moved to the United Kingdom for a few years, where she was introduced to the world of literature, and this was the start of her journey. She was hardly 5 years old when she dabbled in prose writing and poetry and has continued to do so till date. Returning to India at the age of 8, she did her basic schooling in Patna and then adhering to societal norms, she did her telecom engineering from Bengaluru, and MS in telecom engineering from the University of Manchester. Working with the Indian mammoth Tata firm did not appeal much to her senses, and she decided to move back to the world of writing. Hence, she pursued a course of English literature and since then there has been no looking back. Professionally, she is a content creator and writer for the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and has written for various NGOs and even the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) India. With two kids, she is an ardent story-teller, wherein these stories are of her own making. Now she has decided to share these stories with the entire world and has started her maiden voyage as an author with Radha and the Rainbow Cycle. Writing is her passion and in her free time she loves to cook, is a voracious reader and a stickler for good literature, be it Indian or English. Her favourites include, Wuthering Heights, Anne of Green Gables, Harry Potter, Crime & Punishment, the Iliad. She is also extremely fond of poetry and hopes to teach poetry to the younger generation.

Book preview

Chapter 1

A New Beginning

A wide spread of green valleys and hillocks, on which you could see a goat grazing here and there. A meandering brook which made the most wonderful gurgling sounds. And amidst all of these, in a moving car you could see a pair of the brown, sparkling eyes peeping out of the rolled down window enjoying the cool wind blowing on her face and the smell of nature all around her. Nestled in the lap of the valley was a small township called Kamalapur in the state of Bihar, named after the Kamala River. One of its tributaries flowed right through the little hamlet.

Soon they reached a huge officers' bungalow, a low roofed expanse of brick & mortar which seemed to have seen so many stories, surrounded by a widespread lawn embroidered with flowers of all sorts of colours and a guava tree which was home to a pair of lively parrots. The car rolled over the pebbled driveway and came to a halt. Everyone hurriedly tumbled out of the car to inspect the property. The people who stepped out of the car were the new magistrate Mr. Narain, his wife Mrs. Narain, his ageing mother, and in the end slid out a little 10-year-old girl Radha who could not contain her excitement at moving to a new town and a new house.

The entire family went inside the house and were greeted by the bungalow's maali kaka, Bahadur the guard, and Savita Didi. Little Miss Radha had her eyes glued to a lock on the door of a garage situated in the east corner of the compound. Her mind was already full of images and ideas of things that might have been stacked there. Items that could tell stories of the past family, who probably had a little girl too. But since it was already evening and the Sun was yawning, all ready to go to bed, the Narains decided to unpack the next day. Everyone went inside the bungalow ready for their new lives to start.

The next morning, Radha woke up to a lot of banter throughout the house. Everyone was extremely busy: some cleaning, some unpacking. Maali kaka was running around the house with boxes and Savita Didi was busy dusting the whole place. Amma (Mrs Narain), was arranging everything in their rooms and

Baba (Mr Narain) was overseeing everything. Dadi was also busy arranging her pooja and helping Amma. Even though she was quite old, Dadi had a lot of energy and zeal, something she and Radha had in common.

A number of neighbours had come over to meet and greet them, many of whom had brought food as a welcome gift. Radha ran outside, still in her pajamas to find her father discussing the bill with the ‘Movers and Packers' people.

Immediately she looked towards the garage and saw that the garage door was unlocked and wide open as though people had started using it. Baba she shouted excitedly. Can I go and explore the garage please. Yes, I don't see why not, but be careful her father said. She ran towards the open shed and her eyes started darting all around. Oh no! she said disappointedly as all she could find were some broken toys, rusty old garden tools and a tattered sofa set.

She was just about to turn around, where in the