"Kim" is a novel by
Rudyard Kipling, published in 1901.
Kimball O'Hara, or simply, Kim, grows up an orphan. His father
was an Irish colour-sergeant and his mother, a nursemaid in a colonel's family. He grew up in the streets of Lahore in which he shows self-reliance and resourcefulness even as a growing boy. He runs errands for Mahbub Ali, a man who works for the British Secret Service. Kim also meets Tibetan lama who is on a quest to be freed from the Wheel of Life. Kim becomes his disciple.
Mahbub uses Kim to carry a important message to Colonel Creighton in Umballa. Kim's journey on the Grand Trunk Road with the lama is also rich with experiences.
When he is recognized by the chaplain of his late father's old regiment, he is sent to study in a school for Anglo-Indian children at Lucknow. However, during the holidays Kim rejoins the lama. He is also taken by Mahtub to Simla, where another secret service agent, Lurgan, kindly teaches him the art of spying and all related activities, including how to disguise himself.
His knowledge and resourcefulness are tested as he plays his role actively in the challenging imperial espionage, capturing documents from the enemy spies, and as he joins the lama in the expedition to the country hills of the North in the Himalayas, at the orders of Kim's superior Hurree C. Mookherjee.
At this point, the spiritual leanings of the plot and espionage activities are in conflict, the lama unwittingly colliding with the Russian intelligence agents. Kim, on the other hand, successfully obtains maps, papers, and other important items from the Russians who were earnestly working to undermine British control of the region. Under cover, Mookherjee befriends the Russians by acting as a guide to ensure that the Russians don't recover the items now in their possession.
Aided by the local villagers, Kim helps to rescue the lama who realizes that he has gone astray, realizing that his search for the River of the Arrow should in fact be taking place in the plains, and not in the hills or mountains. The lama asks the helping villagers to take them back.
Kim delivers the Russian documents to the British agents, a concerned Mahbub Ali checks on Kim's well-being. The Tibetan lama finds his river and achieves Enlightenment.
Kipling leaves Kim's destiny undecided, an antithesis between a life of action and contemplation. This novel is
considered the author's most successful novel as he exploits his many childhood memories in India.