Dicky must have thought the General had something to do with his detention, or else he may have felt an explanation was due to him. Whatever his reasoning, he chose to alight on the General’s pith helmet, between the plumes.

A myna that makes an army regiment its chosen home. A sneeze that comes at the wrong time. An annoying Bishop as a guest. The Regimental Myna is full of funny stories peopled with odd characters, creatures and situations. Whether you want to read something that is laugh-out-loud funny, or satirical, or filled with black humour, there’s every kind of story in this collection selected by Ruskin Bond, who is himself everyone’s favourite humour writer.