Shobha Alva

The book tells the story of a little girl who lives in a big mansion with her parents, seven siblings, and lots of other relatives. A wealthy but miserly grandmother is the head of this joint family. The young men of the house lead a merry life bossing around the tenants of their huge property, the women folk are busy in cooking an keeping their unruly children well fed and clean. The children are left free to romp around the dense wooded area in their backyard playing and pelting stones at the ever so delicious fruits of tropical trees without any fear of anybody. They enjoy the spectacular rainy season by jumping into every puddle they come across on their way to school and get punished by the disciplinarian teachers. As the children grow up in this glorious carefree world of their joyous childhood, the family falls into a financial crisis. The grandmother passes away. The property is shared among all relatives. The father of this little girl and her siblings loses all his wealth and becomes bankrupt. The rich family slips into utter poverty. The writer tells us about the humiliation of being poor and how this turbulent period in her adolescence drags her into depression and she thinks of dying. The thought of death fascinates her. In this dark world of this young girl there comes a hope in the horizon. She meets the most loving, the most inspiring teacher who changes the gloomy world of this young girl into a life full of hopes and high aspirations. The girl trains to be a teacher and after the training she joins a charming school on the sea side and becomes the most adored teacher of her little students. The book "Echoes from the Shores of the Arabian Sea" is all about children, their innocence, vulnerability, fears and also the absolute glory of childhood. The book talks about the nobility of the teaching profession and how an inspired teacher can nurture her children by providing the right environment of love and care so that they can blossom into a blessing to the world. The writer shares with the reader her experiences as a teacher and how she realizes the enormous responsibility of being a teacher of young, fragile and precious children. The book is mostly about the care free life of children in a tropical town with its old rustic charm untainted by the sophistication of the high and elite society. It's about the fun and frolic of childhood. It is about the innocence of children, their vulnerability, fears and also the absolute glory of childhood.