The Song of Kkahunsha

The Song of Kahunsha by Anosh Irani

Ten-year-old Chamdi, a bright and sensitive boy raised from infancy in a Bombay orphanage, prays to Jesus that he will try not to be sad and imagines a place called Kahunsha, a city where there is no sadness. When the orphanage is to be torn down and the children placed elsewhere, he first cajoles the director to reveal information about his parentage, then runs away in search of his father.

Note from Ms. Secord:

I found this book to be heartwrenching as I pictured poor little Chamdi, forced to beg in the streets of Bombay where he is shown little kindness. Do you think that he would have been better off if Guddi and her brother Sumdi had never found him, and would he survived if not for them?