India, Aug. 16 -- Shrikant Bojewar's 154-page novella is a wickedly clever satire set in a small village of Maharashtra where the intermingling of felines and humans establishes beyond doubt the unconscionable conduct of the latter species.

The protagonist, Langdya Pitambar, has flunked grade seven for the third time. Langdya - named so because of his prominent limp - wants to ensure that his father Ajabrao does not learn about his failure from Gengane-master, his mathematics teacher, at their nightly drinking adda. Pondering over ways to tamper with his mark sheet and escape his drunk father's wrath, he has a brainwave when he spots the newly appointed rather beautiful music teacher, Mrs Alaknanda Deshpande, heading towards a 400-year-o...