Consider this line from the story:

They wailed so horrendously that she actually let down the bolt of the front door so that they burst out like seeds from a crackling, overripe pod into the veranda.

What does Desai mean when she says the children "burst like seeds" into the veranda? What does this description convey?

This line is from the story "Games at Twilight"

Desai uses the simile of seeds bursting out from a pod for the children bursting out into the open from the forced confinement in the house to avoid the extreme summer heat.

This description conveys the suffocation that the children feel when they are forced to stay indoors. The mother in the story keeps the door bolted to hold them inside and save them from the sweltering summer heat. The children, brimming with energy, hate this confinement. When they succeed in persuading the mother to unbolt the door, they rush outside to enjoy their freedom, just like seeds bursting from the barriers of a pod.

When Desai says the children "burst like seeds" into the veranda, she is using metaphor to describe how the children where leaning against the door, which when opened they all fell out, similar to how a pod can contain seeds so much so that the pod breaks and the seeds fall out. This description gives the reader a sense of urgency.