Orphaned in a car accident, fourteen-year-old Shikha and five-year-old Sunny reach Shergarh House, on the edge of the Shergarh Tiger Reserve, to live with their uncle Binoy, an eccentric painter. In the company of Aslambhai (a retired forest guard) and his mischievous grandson Ali, the children enter a new world; that of the sights and sounds of the jungle. Encouraged by Field Director Mr Rana's daughter, Dipti, and watched over by her family, the children begin to enjoy their forays into the reserve and get inexorably drawn into the lives of the reserve's magnificent tigers; macho 'doofus'shahenshah, ferocious Sheba and even terrifying Shaitan. But then, Veena aunty, a.k.a. 'Snail Snot', turns up, a 'social worker'who is set to inveigle herself into Binoy chacha's life and who wants to discredit the reserve in whatever way she can as part of her 'Good Work'. Accompanied by her unpleasant cousin, the slimeball Randhir, and his equally dubious friends, she is determined to send the children to separate boarding schools by whatever means possible. As the two hatch their diabolical plans, the children's lives seem ready to fall apart, again. But will the doughty Shikha allow that to happen? Will Sunny, struck dumb by the shock of the car crash, stop clinging to his sister and speak again? Will the two children, who run away into the reserve pursued by Veena, Randhir and his cronies, survive the perils of the forest? Can 'the small tigers of Shergarh'turn the tables on the villains and live up to their name?

Ranjit Lal was born in Kolkata in 1955, and educated in Mumbai, graduating in economics and sociology. As a freelance writer and columnist, he has over a thousand articles, short stories, features and photo-features published in over fifty newspapers and magazines in India and abroad. He has special interest in areas including natural history, photography, humour, satire and automobiles, on which he writes for both adults and children. He is one of the few Indian journalists to write satire and humour on a sustained basis. He has authored several books, including The Crow Chronicles, The Life and Times of Altu Faltu, The Summer at Kalagarh, The Bossman Adventures, Enjoying Birds, Birds of Delhi, Birds from My Window, The Caterpillar Who Went on a Diet and Other Stories, and When Banshee Kissed Bimbo. Ranjit Lal lives in Delhi.