July 23. He was a strange-looking fella. As pippa extended an arm to shake his, all she noticed were his uneven set of teeth!

She had never seen such sunflower-yellow and decayed teeth in all her years on this planet.

As Bandersnatch approached Pippa, she kept moving backward. At a point in time, Pippa felt he would devour her!

Do you wish to see my stamp collection?

Of-course. I am also a collector, replied Pippa.

Bandersnatch opened a huge antique trunk which contained loads of stamps. They were of different sizes, shapes, colours and from every conceivable part of the globe.

Pippa was impressed. She found first-day covers and stamps that were many many years old. May I ask a question, Bandersnatch? Shoot, he answered. May I ask how old you are?

Why do you wish to know how old I am?

Because some of these stamps are over a hundred years old!

That’s because generations before me have been collecting stamps—starting with my great grand father.

That explains it. But you still haven’t told me how old you are!

Take a wild guess. How old do you think I am?

Maybe 12 or 13?

I am actually 66 years of age.

But you don’t look 66. You look much, much younger!

Thank you, Pippa.

Please come to my place sometime so I can show you my collection too. Saying this, Pippa bid goodbye to Bandersnatch and carried on trudging.

(It was a Sunday morning. A snail was seen climbing up the wall close to where the basil plant stands. Pippa is back, someone announced. Can’t be—said choti. Like her, the rest of the family couldn’t accept the fact that Pippa had returned. It must be another snail, spoke someone else. Till this day, none of us are sure if the original Pippa had returned. But who cares? All of us believe that it is a miracle that Pippa—original or not—had returned and we are very glad to have her back. She’s back in the same basil pot where she is fed a fresh sprig of coriander every day and even enjoys a bath from the jet spray that is used to water the leaves of the plant.)

“Did Pippa actually meet those unusual characters, Button? Those names sound familiar. Aren’t they characters from that book by Lewis Carol? Tell me which one.”

“You mean Alice in Wonderland?”

“How did Pippa get to meet them?

“I haven’t  a clue!”

“At least she’s back.”