Amongst temples and banks, rice fields and jungles the reader meets forest-eaters and world-travelling buffaloes, a frog who wants to swallow the moon, a man who sells luck and another who sells air, and a young boy who wants his own van to show off at school. The author blithely weaves between genres, narrative forms and historical eras. On closer reflection, what is old appears to be new, and what is new seems to be familiar. It is what makes this collection so compelling.