New Delhi, July 12 -- I was first introduced to Rudyard Kipling's Kim in middle school, where an abridged version of the novel served as our English reader. I had at the time read Ruskin Bond's Adventures of Rusty several times, and the two books seemed to be kindred spirits. Though set in differ ent time periods, the two books painted quite the portraits of the bustling bazaars, complete with vibrant characters and sub cultures, which morphed as the setting shifted from the plains to the mountains. Kiplings's book, set in the late 19th cen tury, is centred around the orphan Kim ball O'Hara, as he sets off on an adventure with a lama from Tibet in search of the River of Arrow, while getting embroiled in "The Great Game," the rivalry betwe...