For three weeks, they ran across sun-baked streets, deciphering clues at Jantar Mantar (using sundial shadows), Amer Fort (a secret door behind a painting of peacocks), and the City Palace (where a librarian handed them a scroll after Rohan recited a forgotten stanza of a folk song).

Every summer, SAM (Sanskriti Academy of Merit) gave homework that wasn’t just worksheets. It was an expedition .

“I’m doomed,” Rohan whispered, holding the first riddle: “Where the wind watches without eyes, and honey flows without bees—find the first key beneath the fifth arch.” Meera grabbed his hand. “Hawa Mahal. Let’s go.”

They bribed the chai wallah for old palace maps. The “honey” turned out to be ghee —a clue to a hidden sweetshop near the palace’s fifth arch. Under a loose stone, they found a brass key and a second riddle.

Rohan’s task: solve seven riddles hidden across the Pink City, each leading to a piece of a blueprint. The final prize? A week at the NASA Space Camp—his dream. But failure? Public shame during the school’s “Holiday Homework Heroes” assembly.

“Best holiday ever,” he said.