Waiting For Turtles

by Pankaj Sekhsaria and illustrated by Vipin Sketchplore

“Waiting For Turtles” by Pankaj Sekhsaria and illustrated by Vipin Sketchplore. Published by Karadi Tales. A lovely story of a little boy’s excitement about hoping to see the turtles nesting on the beach at Tarmugli Island.

Samrat is going on his first field trip with his mother Seema. She is a sea turtle researcher in the Andaman Islands. He always dreams about becoming her assistant when he grows up. They will be going to Tarmugli Island which is part of the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park to try and observe the mother sea turtles coming and nesting there.

They go on a dinghy in the evening with Seema’s assistant Ramachandran to camp overnight on the beach at the island which is a part of the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park. They lay a tarpaulin sheet lined with logs of wood at the edges and have a simple dinner. There is no sign of turtles yet. As they keep walking around the beach, Samrat gets tired and goes to sleep. Seema promises to wake him up if she sees any turtles. 

What happens next? Do the turtles come at all? Does Samrat get to see the mother turtles? Will he get to see the turtle eggs? Read the story to know all of this. Loved the way in which the facts about turtles have been interwoven into the story.

We attended the lovely book launch session by Karadi Tales a few days ago and my seven year old’s interest was piqued. He wanted the book and loved reading it. The illustrations are beautiful and complement the story so well. The last couple of pages have facts about turtles and Andaman Islands. The book is apt for children aged 6 and above.

Where to buy from?

The publishers Karadi Tales here.