Trama

A boy in abject poverty works in a hotel and becomes obsessed with a swimming pool in the opulent hills of Panjim, Goa, India. His life gets turned upside-down when he attempts to meet the mysterious family who lives at the house.

Coming of age. Venkatesh is 18, illiterate; he cleans hotel rooms in Panjim, Goa, and sells plastic bags on the street with his 10-year-old partner, Jhangir, an enterprising orphan. He's fascinated by the swimming pool on a vacant estate, and when the owner shows up from Bombay with his teen daughter, Venkatesh watches them from a tree and follows the girl when she's out. He and Jhangir start a friendship with her. The father and daughter are at odds, hardly speaking; tragedy is in their past. Venkatesh helps the father in the garden; short, odd conversations evolve into a gruff offering of a job and schooling in Bombay. What will Venkatesh do with this opportunity?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Living with his widowed mother and two sisters, Ganga and Parvati, in a village in Maharashtra, Venkatesh re-locates to Panjim, Goa, finds employment as a Room Boy, and with the assistance of Jhangir, sells plastic bags. While perched on a tree, he witnesses a bungalow with a dream-like yard and a swimming pool. Unable to get this scenario out of his mind, he finds out that the owners reside in Bombay. When they return, he introduces himself to the owner, Nana, as well as his daughter, Ayesha, and finds out that the duo do not get along. He is then hired as a Gardner, and befriends lonely Ayesha. He, Ayesha and Jhangir soon start hanging out but things change abruptly when Ayesha is told that she and her dad are being stalked by Venkatesh.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)