It is the evening before Independence Day, and the Gang is up on the terrace watching paper kites cross a pink sky. “Everyone talks about the big, famous brave people,” says Tara, chin on her knees. “But where were the ordinary ones?” Aarav’s grandmother, visiting for the season, smiles. “Everywhere,” she says. “Courage in those…

Anish has set up a board. Not the ordinary hangman board, mind you — the kind where guessing wildly gets you nowhere. On Anish’s board, every hidden word is locked, and the only key is an if–then clue. Think first, then write. The Genie has agreed to umpire, which mostly means eating jalebis spiral-first and…

The stage lights were still switched off, but Aarav’s knees had already begun their own little performance. Tap-tap. He touched his pencil twice against his palm, the way he always did before anything big. It did not help. In four minutes he would walk out in front of the whole school and recite a poem…