This is another version of a story about meeting Ruskin Bond, that I had written earlier.

This is a description of the lunch hour at the school mess, written according to the IGCSE conventions of descriptive writing. There are author’s notes at the end,

Prompt: Rendezvous I was coal buried in the Earth’s bosom raw, naked unearthed destined to burn. You were a flicker of light with orange flames playing with fireflies in the dead of the night. I was a forest waiting to be devoured kindled to ashes and turn to smoke in your power. You were a […]

Trolleys trudging in tow, a tapestry of travellers weaves itself through the labyrinthine Lucknow Charbagh railway station. The rusty iron stairs creak, as passersby hustle with hurried footsteps and descend onto platform number four. A lone graffiti, its paint dulled by centuries-old layers of dust, welcomes with the words: Mushkuraiye, aap Lucknow me hai! Passengers in-waiting […]

Prompt: Serendipity While cleaning this Diwali I met old friends of mine. Now yellow, wrinkled with age they were books I’d read as a child. As I opened an Enid Blyton book A note fell near my feet In a child’s scrawl, it said: When I grow up I will live in a library And […]

Word Prompt: Black The black of the night Asked the lone star bright Why do you go on shining alone In a sea of darkness? Doesn’t the loneliness engulf you Oh, star bright? Choke you Numb you Make you mad with fright? It’s my nature to burn, said the lone star I must do that, […]

This is a humorous anecdote based on a real account.

This story is written in the IGCSE convention of narrative writing for grade 10, with autobiographical elements. It is also inspired by the story titled ‘Deep Water’ by William Douglas from the CBSE, NCERT textbook Flamingo for grade 12.