Chapter One 

Dear Grandma, 

You remember my mermaid friend Litami? She wants to come to Mumbai and stay with you for a year as an ‘exchange student’ because she is very curious about how we live on the surface of the earth.

Can you enroll her in a good school please? Her Grandma Taprinua, her grandpa Shanavi and her Dad Nushvi all have agreed to help her. 

With lots of love. I miss you Grandma.

        Mitali 

I received this email from Mitali and I was in a tizzy. It would be wonderful to have a child in the home again. 

I discussed this project with Avinash and he too agreed that it would be nice to have a mer-child in the home to pamper and mollycoddle. Both of us were missing Mitali more than we cared to admit. 

We agreed and so Litami left her home deep in the Lake Huron and came to the Arabian Sea near Mumbai. 

I do not mean she swam all the way. Her grandpa and dad Nushvi were both Sea-kings and she was provided a chariot as a transport. 

The chariot was a large oyster. As Litami stepped inside the oyster, it closed. Inside, on its soft, white flesh, Litami slept. Four fast-paced dolphins were tethered to the oyster-carriage. The mer-people changed dolphins at every stage of the journey. They had changing stations below the Atlantic, below The Mediterranean, below the Red Sea, even below the Suez Canal. 

When Litami reached the Station in The Bay of Mumbai, near the Elephanta Island, we were notified by Mitali that Litami had reached Mumbai and we should go and get her. 

How did Mitali know? Why, the Mer-people also have their ‘global’ communication system called “Sea-mail” under the seas and Litami had sent a message from every changing station to her people.  Taprinua came to the surface of Lake Huron, called Mitali and told her to send us an email. 

So, we went to the Elephanta Island with some of Mitali’s clothes. Litami had chosen a secluded spot to come ashore and we were there to receive her when she came ashore. 

For a moment, she faltered at the water’s edge and looked back at the sea longingly.

We waded into the waves and gave her a hand each. “Welcome home, Litami” I said. 

I could see that these words set her apprehensions at rest. An intrinsic faith and understanding sprang between us instantaneously. Litami gave a huge smile.

As soon as we came out of the water, her fish-tail changed into two legs. She looked like a naked seven year-old girl. 

The Mer-people have supernatural powers and Mitali was given the ‘Passport’, which in Mer-language means she could ‘Pass any Port’ as a human child. She was also “Immunized” for Earth Surface. Needless to say that she did not need any Visa, nor did she have to go through Immigration. 

We told her that she will have to wear clothes so long as she was with us. She knew it already, but was very reluctant to wear them. 

“They itch.” She complained. 

However, we couldn’t let her go about naked so we dressed her in Mitali’s clothes.  

From now onwards, we decided to treat like our own granddaughter Mitali.