A Description of Rainy Weather

A storyteller often describes weather conditions (wind, sun, rain or cold) in his account of some event that a story contains. Read an excerpt from Snippets of Life Music and see how the rain finally brings blessed relief from the heat :-

"As the month of July drew near, Mitrasen was more excited about living with his brother in Lucknow. One afternoon, it looked as though the sultry weather would put a full stop at the end of every sentence of life. People stayed up late because the heat and humidity was insufferable. But late at night, an east wind came to inform people of a huge dance party. Dark clouds gathered; lightning flashed; thunder boomed; and a storm arose. The rain ultimately started beating against the walls. Nature behaved as if he was drunk. Trees danced rhythmically, swaying their heads to the peals of thunder and to the music played by the rain. Heaven flashed lights on them every now and again.

All three members of the family lay wakeful all night because water was splashing from holes in the thatched roof. But when the rain stopped and the trees rustled gently in the breeze, it was time to get up in the morning.

Yagyasen and Narayani got out of their beds to get ready to go to work. Mitrasen was still asleep. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Narayani..."

Arriving Late

Here's an excerpt from the book:

The angry in charge turned back to face him, frowned at him and asked, ‘Do you know what time it is?’

‘Sir, I’m not too late – only 10 minutes,’ replied Mr Shukla very politely.

‘You think 10 minutes have no value, do you? Go and ask them who are standing in a queue at the counter - they will tell you the value of every second. Mr Shukla, it simply won’t do!’

‘You can depend on me to deal with the situation. You’ll soon see these people going out cheerfully. Well, you know, I’d not have left you alone here if my wife hadn’t been ill.’

The boss calmed down a bit. He asked him to see to the arrangements, and then continued walking like before. It looked as though he had made up his mind to go on at all the late comers that day. A little while later Ashok Gupta arrived.

‘Mr Gupta, you’re the head of the accounts department, aren’t you?’ he asked, looking straight at him.

‘It’s obvious, Sir,’ came the brusque reply.

‘And to meet the requirements of those people at the cash counter is your responsibility?’ he added.

‘Indeed it is.’

‘Then who do you think would discharge that?’ shouted the boss, his eyes blazing with anger. ‘Do you expect me to run the counter?’

‘But you didn’t think of it on Saturday afternoon when I could not catch even the evening train.’

‘You insolent dog, you’ll teach me how to go about things!’

‘Sir, it’s a breach of protocol – you can’t give any of us a telling off at a public place.’

‘I think I should have given you a severe reprimand on the road.’

‘You’re free then – go and dance there, but don’t you humiliate me like this, mind!’

‘How dare you speak to me like that!’ he responded. ‘Shut your filthy mouth or else...’

‘Or else you’ll expel me from the organisation! Do it if you can.’

‘You the stinking pig of a man!’ shouted Mr Singh, his face contorted with rage. ‘You’re sure to pay for it. You’ll be selling eggs in front of one of our offices.’

A crowd gathered around. Mr Shukla came running. He took the manager’s hand and led him to his chamber. He was shaking with anger as he sat in his chair. A peon entered in with a glass of water and there followed an awkward....

Ostentation

Here's an Excerpt from the book:

‘Where’re you going at this witching hour?’ growled Sheela as she got up.

‘You know Jagannath?’ whispered Rohit. ‘His wife is about to....’

‘We purchased the car to do this sort of thing?’ she broke in. ‘Go and tell him the car has already broken down.’

‘Do you know what’ll happen? She might die if I did not take her to hospital.’

‘Let her. Suppose we don’t have the car – what will he do then?’

‘God will send a chariot to take her back or to hospital. Mind you, one’s moral fibre is more valuable than one’s wealth; to be of service to others is the soul of humanity, but to lend a hand is to obey God without question.’

‘Keep your moral lessons to yourself,’ she muttered, ‘and go back to bed. I am going to turn him down myself. You know, if you don’t slave your conscience, such things will happen every next day.’

‘Housewives that are kept confined have very limited space in their minds and therefore are often selfish and snobs, have irritating habit and lack normal etiquette,’ he mused.

‘Perhaps you people do not know how the world works,’ she continued. ‘Some laugh, some cheer and some cry because a single note cannot make the music sweet. God wants every sort of things to happen on the earth. He loves saints and also thieves; He loves war and also peace; He loves wrong and also right; He loves day and also night. Everything has its adversary but they help each other establish their identity and a clash between them gives birth to a new thing. The world was not beautiful if not varied.’

‘You mean religious teachings are useless things?‘ asked Rohit.

‘I mean everything is useful if it serves our purpose.’ Sheela rejoined.

‘So it’s silly to render assistance out of sympathy.’

‘Yes, it’s for God to help the needy.’

‘But God helps a person by inspiring someone else to come to their assistance.’

‘Anyway, if you’re so touched, you may go; but this will be your first and last chance of helping someone around midnight....’

Heavenly Justice Comes into Play

Read a story in Snippets of Life Music that shows how politicians, the police, the court and musclemen treat the common people and how heavenly justice comes into play when worldly justice turns a blind eye. The story aims to cover three aspects of social life: first, it describes how people clash sometimes on account of their wrong judgments and suffer a terrible loss for nothing; second, it portrays the corruption among those who are responsible to maintain law and order; third, it represents favouritism giving rise to public reaction.

Here's an excerpt from the story:

‘Devil, you see things through the wall!’ groaned Ranjeet. ‘Where’s that lane behind my house?’

‘That space has been covered over by your backyard, blocking off our way to the neighbouring colony,’ Maiku countered in a firm voice. ‘The property-dealer divided up the whole strip of the land equally between you, me and Bhallar. He planned a street in front of them with a 3-feet wide alley behind them. They both run north-south.’

‘What a fine story!’

‘This is all a story? I’ve concrete evidence to prove it, mind.’

‘Mind your neck, you! I’ll wrench it if…’

‘So you’ll hit me for speaking the truth, will you?’

‘And what am I – a liar?’

‘It’s blatantly obvious....’

‘You arrogant sonofabitch! I’ll teach you to call me a liar!’

‘Can your threats change fiction into truth, by the way?’

‘They can change your foul mouth. Wait it’ll never open again!’

So saying, Ranjeet gave a roar of rage and punched Maiku in the face.

IX

Maiku stood bleeding, his legs failing him. He staggered a few yards, and fell onto a pile of bricks with a moan. He lay thinking of Bhallar, of Ranjeet, of Jata Shanker and also of the police and the advocate. They looked like giants to him, eager to devour his land, his money, his peace. But as he lifted his eyes to seek help from the Lord, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He stood up and to his astonishment he saw.........

An Old Fable

My granddad used to tell a story about a hermit and parrots which is immensely popular in India. I have retold this ancient fable in English under the title ‘Hermit and His Disciples’. To enjoy this fable translated from Sanskrit into English,

Here's an extract:

The following month he asked them to repeat the whole sentence (A trapper may come here, spread a net, strew it with grain, but we won’t fall into the trap.) after him. The parrots successfully started doing that, too, and had to undergo this sort of exercise for the whole of this month. Then, in the third month of their exercise, each one of them was asked to recite the saying to the class. Finally, from the fourth month onwards, the parrots began to chant it all the time.

One day a trapper really came there. But when he listened to what the parrots were chanting, he was disappointed. At first he thought to retrace his way, then later he decided that he would do his job no matter what the result.

He spread the net on the ground, scattered rice grains over it and hid behind a tree, holding the other end of the cord. A few minutes later, one of the parrots swooped down and landed on it. Then another one followed it. Slowly the whole flock of them gathered there. They started eating the grains, clattering, ‘A trapper may come here, spread a net, strew it with grain, but we won’t fall into the trap’. The trapper behind the tree quickly pulled on the rope and all the parrots got trapped.

The trapper became very happy because he had notched up a big gain that day. He put the bag of his net on his back and headed for home, smiling at their mantra which they were still declaiming.

Luckily, the hermit was coming in his direction........

A Journalist's View of Snippets of Life Music

A good book is a door to a better life. Go in through it and you will see a different world where the sky is clear, the deep green trees wave gently in the breeze, snow-clad summits grace the landscapes, the sea ripple and sparkle, where parks are always full of young lovers, where supermen fight off bad guys and resolve crisis, where the road to success is not much stony, where doubt and uncertainty has no place to lurk around, where no corner is dark. Find a copy of Snippets of Life Music and enjoy a good read. 

A review of my book Snippets of Life Music by a renowned journalist and a well known book reviewer, Sri Vinay Prakash Mani. Just Click and see what he says about the book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OClNMtdLYCQ

The Student Teacher

As a storyteller, I entertain you with a new story. Here is one more: 

When I was a college student, I fancied teaching my classmates. A few of them would gather and ask me to explain a poem which they said they could not get in the classroom. On a sunny winter morning, we pulled out chairs in a corner of the college park and sat down. It was a free period, so I started to put ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ in plain words at their request.

“Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!”

“Keats looks at the picture carved on the urn in which a young man under a tree sings a song and another is trying to kiss his beloved....” I went on.

In the meantime, a few young women from science faculty secretly came up right behind my chair and stood listening to me. I noticed that my friends had turned their attention but I was too engrossed to become aware of anything else. Suddenly one of the girls said in a soft and gorgeous voice, “How lovely, dear young teacher! How I love the way you tea....” I turned back to look at her and embarrassed walked away. However, I have failed to forget her – often I remember thinking how appealing, how lovely she looked.

A Collection of Amazing Short Stories

‘Snippets of Life Music’ brings together twenty irresistible short stories and twenty five ingeniously scripted short-short stories by the master storyteller, who, in clear and simple prose, takes the reader into a world that is both surreal and real. The stories in the collection cater for all groups of readers. They unlock certain secrets of human life, convey wonderful information in a simple but surprisingly entertaining way, present practical solutions to some common problems, deal with spiritual and religious issues, open a world of fantasy and horror, expose the corrupt practices that exist within the system, send sweet pain of love and romance shooting up a passionate heart, thus intriguing and enthralling readers and tickling their imagination. Moreover, they leave an indelible impression, since they kindle feelings that are sure to stay with the audience for days.