Ramesh Tiwari

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 wat...

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 ...

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 habi...

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 ru...

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 th...

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

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 be...