Pandurang Sangvikar tells us the story of his childhood in the first chapter of the novel Kosala (Cocoon). He creates the pictures of his grandmother, mother, father, paternal aunt (atya) and friends. His childhood life is colourful and eventful. What he repeatedly insists in his narrative is that he is a failure due to his father‘s suppression. He calls his father as an established sort of bod and a money miser. He lives in the awe of his father all his childhood because he was wicked and cruel.
He shares an experience in which he was badly punished by his father. He wanted to learn acting in drama and playing flute. He returned home in excitement thinking that his father might reward him, when his father saw him in the evening, he was insulted. The father said that he was speaking mincingly like a pansy.
On the contrary, his mother was a loving soul who wanted to make a good human being of him. He tells us about his grany‘s and his mother‘s quarrels which affected him a lot.
His friend, Eknath was his classmate and a very good friend. They used to enjoy a lot after their school hours. Pandurang used to recite poems and songs in his dreams, like ̳O my darling is a rose‘.
He also was fascinated by the Bhagvad Gita given to him by a spiritual Guru called Jaganbua. He reads the book but finds it difficult to understand the verses of the Gita. He learnt lessons from his friend Girdhar about The Gita.
Then he tells us about the havoc created by the disease Cholera, and how he killed the rats in his house. He spent the whole night in killing the rats, because they cut unnecessarily almost everything that they find, especially the books.
The description of his childhood by Pandurang is, thus, a vivid and colourful one which not only entertains us but provides us with knowledge about the humble village life.