When Hellicah's mother dies suddenly, it leaves the young boy devastated, stunned. It leaves him with an emptiness nothing seemed able to fill. Hellicah's father, a man accustomed to a life of pain and suffering, felt hopeless at the agony and such wastefulness in his son's life. He accepted it readily as the will of his Creator. But this was all to change. Through this hopelessness appears a woman moved by the hand of God. Single-minded in her pursuit of His will, she makes the young Hellicah leave his home and everything he has ever known at that tender age to find his destiny in a new land. Thus begins the moving true tale of Hellicah's lonely journey of healing and self realisation. The central theme on sacrificial love is of particular significance as it weaves itself through the story. In order to find meaning in our lives, we need to give of ourselves to others unconditionally; a wholesome, sacrificial kind of giving, as was the unselfish love of a father for his son, Hellicah. This is a story about love of enormous proportions, as the reader will sadly discover, and answers to that age old existential questions to life-who am I and where am I going to. For Anbur it was the ultimate realisation that faith in God is all that matters in life as God himself is of no particular faith or denomination. But more importantly for the reader, it is proof that love can indeed be bequeathed.

Leaving Lanarkis somehow finally made all the sense in the world. Hellicah and his guardian angel looked at each other, grinning broadly with every known and unknown muscle in their faces for the first time since they met, saying nothing. Theirs was also the knowledge and realisation that this was the end of the journey for them, two souls in arms, now having to part ways and venture out into this new world alone and perhaps some new and uncharted broken heartedness to contend with yet again. Who knew what lay ahead for each of them, with its fair share of challenges and heart break? The eventuality of parted ways stirs discomfort in her and she looks down not wanting him to see the feelings welling up in her eyes. She is full of advice for him. After all, was this not the opportunity of a lifetime for a boy from Vilokku? He was so young with everything ahead for him to seize and make his own. She reminds Hellicah of his friends in Lanarkis and how they must be so envious of him. // Realising and sensing her anguish, he nods in agreement without lifting his head, his eyes firmly fixed to the floor of that rusty old tub, slowly becoming blurry to him as the first drops from his eyes begin to fall. She opens her mouth to continue but stops abruptly, seeing and feeling his misery, completely overcome with emotion for this wonderful, innocent being. And so they stand together, his head hung low in utter misery; tears streaming down her beautiful velvet face. She pulls him towards her and he buries his eyes in her technicolour dream outfit, welcoming unashamedly the opportunity of feeling her warmth again. They stand in the sun on the open deck saying nothing and relishing the feelings that there are now between them. Then the guardian angel takes Hellicah’s sad little face in her palms and ever so gently wipes the tears from his eyes and ever so softly speaks of the great things that she hopes he will in time make of himself: for that would indeed be the greatest gift he could give in his turn to his gentle Uppsiah, to the memory of his mother and that great selfless soul, Pillarichya. Hellicah strains to keep his eyes firmly shut; ashamed that the sweet angel may see the loneliness in his heart through his eyes. // And so it was yet again, for Hellicah to experience the heart wrenching trauma of bidding farewell to a loved one. The uncertainty of not knowing if they will ever meet again, like two ships that pass in the night, was almost too much for him to bear. They had shared common waters, clung on to each other’s spirits for survival, and now they were to glide away in opposite directions. Being the mother that she was naturally intended to be, she finds it hard to let him go when separation seems even more imminent all of a sudden. They hold each other for precious moments, exchanging promises of well being and future contact, each secretly knowing the impossibility of it all. The young man and his guardian angel, bidding each other goodbye, good life, and for His blessings. // Hellicah looks deeply at his guardian angel, making sure that every line and curve is imprinted forever in his memory. How beautiful she looked in the morning light, the tiny tear drops that clung to her long black eye lashes sparkling like little diamonds; and how her deep dark eyes smiled with unashamed love for him. He gazed at the sheen the morning light left on her glistening black hair that fell a little carefree about her face lending softness and an ageless beauty to her sculpted face; her handsome darkness glowing in the brightness of that new day in paradise found..............

Ruban Chelliah was born third in a family of five children. He received all of his early formative education in Malaysia and later went on to complete the much sought after professional qualification with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, UK. Committed to the fulfillment of a silent promise to himself with regards to Hellicah and Bathsamaia, Ruban returned to Malaysia to pursue his career with a local conglomerate and, after twenty years there, left and founded his own firm, Stanco & Ruche Consulting, providing the outsource of Internal Audit and Risk Management support to Stock Exchange Listed Companies. Living close to Hellicah and Bathsamaia for most of his life gave Ruban the opportunity to know, understand and appreciate their quiet struggles in life which helped him with much of the thoughts found in this book.

Although married in a Catholic church, Ruban carried with him his own heritage brand of spirituality and it was only after his baptism in the Easter of 1999, that he gradually gained a deep experiential knowledge of God through his chosen faith, and the oneness of that God with the God of his birth. This realisation also led to his subsequent inner struggles with aspects of practiced Catholicism, Christian life conflicts and unavoidably, a quest for answers. His sojourn in private reflection during a protracted period of Lenten fasting and prayer was to provide for Ruban the inspiration, much of the material and the need to write this truly inspired book"Not of the Cradle".