(Source: Internet image)
Friday, 29 June 2018
Sunday, 24 June 2018
MY JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF WRITING-XV
Let me tell you
an oft-narrated iconic moral anecdote. It is the story of a child (son) gone
astray in life.
One day, a
fatherless boy, pampered ad nauseum by his mother, steals a bunch of spinach leaves from his neighbour’s garden and
gives to his mother. Forever in penury, the mother accepts it and appreciates
him. Emboldened by the appreciation, the boy plummets deeper and deeper into a
life of crime and criminal activities. Ultimately, he commits a murder and ends
up on the gallows. Realisation of his sins dawns on him but it is too late. As
his last wish, he asks to speak to his mother. When the wish is granted, he accuses
her, “Had you corrected me when I stole the spinach, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Having brought a
child into this world without its permission, it becomes the responsibility of
the parents and family to rear it into a good and responsible citizen, impart
good and correct familial, societal, and human values. If these are not
forthcoming from the parents and family, the child derives these from the peers
and various other sources in the society; unfortunately, it may not always be
beneficial or positive. Do we blame the child? The child is the victim!
That is the
essence of my short story “WHY”,
which I tried to highlight in the background of terrorism.
Irretrievably
lost in terrorist activities, the youth introspects on his life and his
misdeeds, asking himself “Why?”
The story does
not have as many reads as I would have liked it to (till date, only 163 reads).
Maybe the title is misleading or not
suggestive of the topic! Maybe I ought to have given it one of the more
dramatic titles “I am a terrorist”,
or “Reflections of a terrorist”, but
I did not, period, no whys about it.
That’s the
problem with me and my writings; you’ll find no hype, no punch lines, no turning of the head three times.
Why?
Bye folks, see
you at the next station of halt.
***
RACE WITH TERROR - links
PROLOGUE
He had no more than a few moments to
act.
Her life depended on his reaction.
He did not hesitate.
He dived sideways like an accomplished
soccer goalkeeper - arms and legs stretched fully, chest and torso to the
front, and back towards her - oblivious to the danger, oblivious to the certain
risk to his life and limb.
He had to protect her at any cost.
What happened next happened in seconds,
literally.
He heard two sets of sounds that were so
familiar to him – gunfire. They were so closely spaced that one was
almost indistinguishable from the other.
First, the three shots that came from an
automatic. The bullets pierced and lodged themselves in his stomach and upper
abdomen while he was still airborne.
He landed heavily on the RCC dais on his
right shoulder, instantly dislocating the ball-and-socket joint. The
consequential pain was like the kiss of a maiden in comparison to the searing
pain in the stomach.
Before falling unconscious, he heard the
second set of gunfire. It was the combined rapid staccato of multiple AK-47s
firing simultaneously.
He heard a whimper and a thud.
He smiled before slipping into a
blissful and painless unconscious state.
***
Do
not miss this edge-of-the-seat political action thriller, published by Notion
Press, Chennai, who had published three other books of mine viz. THE
KIDNAP, EMBERS OF THE PYRE and
MISOGYNIST INTERRUPTED. It is available in print and eBook formats on
Amazon India, Amazon.com, Infibeam, Flipkart and various other online bookstores.
Here are some links to the book(s).
Links
for RACE WITH TERROR:
Links
for ALL OF MY BOOKS:
Links for ALL OF MY
eBooks
Thursday, 21 June 2018
Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Sunday, 3 June 2018
MY JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF WRITING – XIV
Fellow travellers, we have reached a
station whose structure has not changed a bit over millennia - status of a girl/woman in our society.
Ram Mohan Roy, Jyotirao
Phule came, strived, and departed.
Women’s lib –
the phrase and the movement – came and went.
Women are making their presence felt outside their homes, too.
They are breaking
the proverbial glass ceiling not only in the corporate world but also in other
fields e.g. science, education, politics, and governments.
Does it mean
that women have arrived? Have they
really unshackled their personae?
The answer to
one question settles the issue.
Has man
whole-heartedly accepted the rise of modern woman in society? Has he ungrudgingly
given her, her rightful status in society?
The answer is
“No.”
What do I think?
I think it will take centuries, if at all, for the male mindset to change.
Just observe the
rise in the physical and verbal assaults on women the world over. The reason
is, woman’s emancipation, her rise are still unacceptable to man. He
is confused between what he is - a
chauvinist - and what he wants to be
- a liberal.
This cuts across
boundaries of nations, religions, castes, and creeds and urban-rural divides.
I have a strong
feeling for the topic, always had.
***
The present
story, nay, a monologue, nay, a questionnaire posed to society, is narrated
in the first person. Am I qualified to indulge in such an exercise? I do not
know. Are my feelings and empathy not enough?
Anyhow, I wrote
the story - i
AM A GiRL - in December 2012 and posted on Yourstoryclub forum. I am
surprised that the reader-count for this story is well over 16,000!
I come to an
interesting anecdote in the form of a comment from a reader of the story. I
shall keep the reader anonymous and reproduce here only the poignant feelings
expressed by the reader.
“When i'm reading this
i almost cried i feel your pain..
When God created you He
is delighted, You are not an accident, it's not an accident that you are a
girl, don't believe what lies all around you, its time for you to know the
truth, and that truth is Jesus, if you think that God abandoned you no! He said
in His word (I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I
called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not
rejected you. -Isaiah 41:9) He chose you and you can do all things through Him
something amazing, He is with you all the time, He is just waiting you to come
to Him, you know God's feel your pain, it's hard i know, come to Him, try
Jesus, He is your solution! He can heal you!♥ Trust Him :')”
It is obvious that the reader mistook me
for a girl and offered solace.
***
I had expressed an iota of doubt in the
foregoing paragraphs.
“Am I qualified to
indulge in such an exercise? I do not know, but why not? Are my strong
feelings, my empathy not enough?”
Well, the reader’s comment answers my
question, doesn’t it?
You can read the
story at the following link:
Please, do read and post your comments.
See you soon at the next station.
Until then stay safe!
***
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