Book Review : Ten Shades of Life - A Nethra

Fablery is a short story writing contest and it aims to provide aspiring writers an opportunity to come out of their shells and get published. The 'Ten Shades of Life' edited by Nethra A is a mosaic of stories that topped each genre in the contest. The diverse categories under which the contest was conducted and the relentless editing done my miss Nethra has ensured that the diversity has not been lost as the stories moved from entries in a story writing contest to the ones that appear in a collection of short stories. The individual authors Miss Cheyenne Mitchell, Monika Pant, Dr. Roshan Radhakrishnan, Shankar Raman A, Bruce Memblatt, Karthik L, Reshmy Pillai, Deepa Duraisamy, Vinaya Swapnil Bhagat and Rahul Biswas has each produced an interesting original containing their unique signature fro the book.

The stories are bound to take the readers on a roller-coaster ride but the title of the book can be a little misleading. Most of the stories though are a stunning piece of fiction has not much to do with life or the virtues of life. Each story revolves around its own theme and there is no real continuity between them. This has to be expected considering that each has been crafted by individuals who where never in contact and who possess not much in common expect an unrelenting passion for writing fiction.

A better way to look at the book is to see it as a collection of individual stories that has its own unique flavor than as a collection of stories. The book contains ten different stories each from a different genre, and each the best in its own genre.

The Ten Shades of Life is an official Rupertt Aryeen Wind Recommendation

INCARDINES by Miss Cheyenne Mitchell

A rather intriguing story of a girl, her parents and the mystery surrounding their lives. The girl finds the answers to the question of her family that is slowly drifting apart in a book so coincidentally mentioned by her friend. The narration is rather porous and at times you do wonder how it all came to be so, many a questions are left unanswered and mostly most of it makes no sense whats so ever.

RED AND GOLD by Monika Pant

A romantic and touching story of love and belonging, The story touches you at someplace in your heart as the narration goes on. The story is intriguing and with a slight tinge of history in it, it just is a good read.

HARRY'S BLUFF by Dr. Roshan Radhakrishnan

A fast action packed thriller and so full of twists and turns and twists with in twists that you just keep on reading till you reach the logical end. A true nail bitter and it sure is one of the best stories the book has to offer.

SOMETHING LIKE THAT  by Shankar Raman A 

A light hearted and delightful comedy with its own interesting and well though out twists. its just another good read in this anthology.

WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY by Bruce Memblatt

A appreciable attempt at horror, does it scare you no it does not, it does not even give you a shiver down you spine but its still a good story and the narration is very well done but its just isn't the horror story it is meant to be that's it. A story that many will find interesting.

A NOOTROPIC EGRESS by Karthik L

This story is quite frankly a rather strange mix of one of the most wildly used elements in stories featuring extra terrestrial intelligence that it borders on fictional cliche and the unconventional boy goes to Europe version. This is a strange story for all that matters and the story line is again porous and narration battles hard to hold water but fails. In my opinion this happened to be the most disappointing story that I found in this book.

THE SECRET OF AHIRAAH by Reshmy Pillai

This is a very interesting and engaging story with its own shades of history and life beautifully weaved in to it. This is easily one of the better stories you will find in the book if not the best one. The only problem I have had with the story is that it finished way too fast, if only it did last a bit longer.

WHERE DID YOU GO by Deepa Duraisamy

This is a beautiful thriller that would quench the thirst of any thriller lover, a beautifully crafted story set in the real with with no larger than life characters and a very powerful message carefully disguised in the lines of a thriller.

BARREN HARVEST by Vinaya Swapnil Bhagat

A bold take on the world of tomorrow , bruised and destroyed by the carelessness and ignorance of man today along the lines of George Orwell's 1984 and the Hollywood film equilibrium The authors attempts bravely to answer the question sod mechanized emotions and the mechanicallity of life in the future where humans become prisoners of their own inventions and discoveries. 

A GOOD DAY TO DIE by Rahul Biswas

A real life drama that envelopes the life of three firefighters and their friends and families, the complicated realities of life and the many things that they do in the name of self preservation. A beautifully crafted drama that is what this story is.

About the Editor

Based in Bangalore, Nethra is pursuing her Masters in Business Administration and is a graduate in Computer Science & Engineering. She is a voracious reader and a fiction writer, who puts quality writing over everything else. Her interest in good stories and writing made her start a platform, Fablery, which provides aspiring authors a gateway into the publishing world. She is also working on her novel that she hopes to complete in the near future.

My Little New Nest

Amazingly cute isn't it?

We have even got a nice balcony with flowers blooming there and one with a nice set of swings

 The only bad thing is I have to share it with +priyanshu raj and +Pushkar Maid  :'(

When it Rained in Chennai

It was raining in Chennai, At least in the part of Chennai where he was living. At first he sensed the day getting darker slowly and steadily. At first he thought it was another ruse played by the rain gods but this time around the things were different. The day got steadily darker and then there was the ominous stillness that always and inexplicably came before the rain. The twilight when the peacocks dance and the birds rush to their nests. The magnificent drum-roll that accompanies any beautiful rain. Then he could hear the soft sound of little rain drops kissing the ground.

He made himself a cup of coffee, slowly pouring it out into a mug like he had all of eternity to do that. He walked to the open balcony of his apartment. He could see that it had started raining harder and steadier. Little droplets were falling from the sun shade as a bunch of little marching soldiers. The outside was hazy and the balcony was partly splashed wet by the rain. He leaned over the railings, his nose almost touching the falling rain. He could smell in the earth that was just been showered upon, the air was thick with the fragrance of dry earth. He sipped the coffee and as the hot liquid game him a shiver down his body as it slowly went down. He closed his eyes and inhaled in the world around him and slowly opened his eyes to the heavens.

The dark clouds were rolling in, thick like a woolen blanket. The sky no longer belonged to Chennai but this sky belonged in his memories. He could see in the sepia his life in another city, his home. He could remember vividly how the rain clouds marched in like Alexander’s great army. The torrential downpour that drenched the land around him poured down his mind. He could feel the coldness of the showers and the amazement with his being was cleansed manifested as a small smile that spread across his face.

He remembered the years of his childhood, the endless days he spent watching the monsoon, the thunder and the lightning playing around like two long lost brothers in their reunion.  He remembered the streams that flowed near his house that was up to the brim and spilling from the sides. He remembered the birds that nested in the mango tree in his house; he remembered how she would hide herself in the thick canopy and how she dodged the falling waters. He remembered the wet trees and the green grass. He remembered the cows and the wet muddy trails that led in the plantations. He remembered his mother and she would get him a cup of tea when it was raining and how they would sip it together and watch the rain perched on their balcony.

He was I and being in Chennai for some time now, I miss the land where I was born and where I was raised. These memories rushed to me in a surge of emotions and nostalgia. I wonder how much more my life revolves around the beautiful monsoons of Kerala.

10 wishes on my 22nd

For those of you who are unfamiliar with it and those who would care to know, Two days ago I turned twenty-two. 

What quickly followed was a realization that I have lived one year longer and my future one year less.

After that it was just calls from friends and family, everyone I cared and who cared for me called up at and around midnight blissfully ruining my goodnight sleep and wished me a prosperous and beautiful year ahead.

The cliches... Yes...

But I thank them never the less for making me feel loved and cared for. 

After that I thought

"What do I want for the next year anyway?"

"What were my dreams?"

"What were my birthday wishes?"

By the way

I think this is my first birthday in my memory without a birthday cake and I sure that there are more to follow on in that front.

Okay back to my wishes...

So Finally I decided to pen them down

"My 10 Wishes for the age of 22"

Here they are 

1. Make sure that my fiancee knows that I love her and only her.

I may not be the most forthcoming in matters of love in the universe, and I may at time fell short of letting my dearest heartthrob know how much I love her and how much I appreciate her. But that is going to chance this time and this time she will know that she is the most loved person in the whole wide world.

2. Keep my promises to my dearest heartthrob.

I am not sorry to be bringing in my darling a second time around, It my list I will do what I like. I have given her a lot of promises over the years and its time for them to come due. I intent to keep them too.

PS: I know these are not much of a wish as a resolution, but still they matter.

3. I wish my brother would get in the college that he wants.

I do wish that my brother would find what he wants to do with life and I wish he gets what he wants and what is that which is the best for him, even if he realizes that now or not.

4. I wish that all my friends would get a job or whatever they want after college.

I don't want to talk about it more though. i may not have talked to some of them for some time now but that does not mean that I do not care.

5. I wish all my gang would grow old together.

I wish my gang of thick friends now would forever remain so and that we would have our families would one day join the circle and that they would be uncles and aunts and godfathers to each others children and that we would go camping and trekking together with our families and our dogs. I wish our wives would get together and be as good friends as we are and that we be one good old gang of old friends.

PS: This is a special wish and I really hope this one is granted. That would mean a lot to me.

6. I wish that I be more caring towards my family.

I wish that i be able to show my family how much I love everyone of them and that I give them no reason to think that I care less. I love them, everyone of them but I almost always feel that I am not doing enough in showing them that.

7. I wish that there was something that I could do about some friends.

I know that some of my friends are in trouble and I know that they need help, I wish That I could do something about it. I understand when everyone tells me not to butt in and I accept that many a times I sound like I am preaching. But still I wish I could help them through this tough phases of life. May be my keeping shut is the best thing but still I wish.

8. I wish everyone was happy

I know this is a naive wish and that this is one wish that is probably never going to come true, But still... I Wish it.

9. I wish that the magic in life never dies.

I feel it now, I don't know how I kept the child like wonder in me living till this age. I don't know how I can still be a child at heart and I do look rather young too. But I wish that I be able to keep in intact till my grave.

10. I wish my friends would find love.

I don't think my friends are ready for true love yet, They haven't had there hearts broken yet. So I do not wish them true love but I wish them love for I want to see them fall in love and embrace the feeling of being in love. I want them to have a broken heart and I want them to have the courage to fall in love again and again, to have the courage to risk heart getting broken and finally finding their true love.

Bangalore Vistas : A Comic Strip

My sincere thanks to my beloved friends who stared in my +Arun CS, +Revathy Ganesh, +Rohith Odunghat  and +Rupertt Wind.