Astro-Nuts

Manjula Padmanabhan

It's the General Assembly of the Galactic Union, and the first delegation from SOL-3 is desperate to present its case before it.

The crazily assorted contingent of the third planet of the star SOL - aka Earth - carries with it all its baggage of opposing opinions, narrow views, squabbles, secrets and conspiracies. Toilets, whales, racism, food, body size...everything is cause for shouting matches and name-calling as the representatives - 11 human and six non-human - each wait to hold forth.

To their shock and horror, they come to know that only one delegate will appear before the Assembly. Fuss and fireworks erupt among the elected leaders of the delegation, while five rebels plot a blow-up of a different kind.

Uncertainty rules: Who is that one chosen speaker going to be and what is he, she or it going to say? Will SOL-3 be stuck with being 'ecologically unfit for full membership to the Union', or be seen as having 'potential for change'?Is this interplanetary jamboree an insult, an opportunity, or a test?

Among telepathic cookies and high-tech waste disposal, Manjula Padmanabhan sets up a colourfully cast, witty and thought-provoking stage spectacle sure to leave its audience and readers amused, inspired and applauding.