Literary Digest

LITERARY DIGEST www.literarydigest.in | MAY 2020 | VOL # 1 - ISSUE 01

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FICTION SAKOON SINGH’s NEW BOOK

POETRY MEENAXEE’s PEN SPEAKS

FEATURE GURJOT’s TRIBUTE TO DOCTORS

INAUGURAL ISSUE INSIDE : WW-II THRILLERS

BUILD-YOUR-BOOK series THE ETERNAL CHARM OF BALI FLASH FICTION

CONTENTS 04 Turning notes into books

10 The eternal charm of Bali

05 Sakoon Singh’s ‘Qissa’

12 Comply - A short story

07 Meenaxee Raj’s exquisite poetry

14 Virus v/s The World

08 What the Font??

15 A millennial’s state of mind

09 Gurjot Kaler’s tribute to Covid Warriors

16 What is Flash Fiction??

17 Poetree

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Intyoutive Ventures reserves the right to accept or reject submitted articles/features/poems etc.

All the opinions and views expressed in the articles stories/features etc., belong to their respective authors and DO NOT reflect the views of the Literary Digest or Intyoutive Ventures. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts/Forums/Tribunals in Chandigarh only.

The FOUNDERS

SAGUNA JAIN

HARDEEP CHANDPURI

SHONA SINGH

She is a Masters in Journalism He is a media professional with a Saguna Jain started her career from the University of a keen interest in the ‘written with Times of India way back in word’ and started writing weekly Westminster, London and also a 1992 but soon moved to columns for ‘The Tribune’,called holder of a diploma in Freelance Chandigarh where she started ‘Popthrob’ and ‘Jukebox’ while teaching journalism in the Deptt Journalism from UK. She did her of Mass Communication, Panjab still in college, which were a huge schooling from Convent of Jesus hit with the youth. He completed and Mary Shimla. She has had an University. Went on to own and his Masters in Mass manage the first event exceptional career in media, Communication from Panjab management company in the ‘city starting out with the Indian University, Chandigarh. beautiful’ called Event it Right!

Express and as a golf columnist After studying in Australia, USA Then she turned a consultant for for the Financial Express, New & Canada, he moved back to events, business development & Delhi and is currently a special India in 2001 and started ‘Radio media. Fundamentals golf correspondent for Buzz’ in the year 2002.

Consultancy Group, her The Tribune.

He is a renowned broadcaster and consultancy firm in association An experienced golfer and a trainer having hosted more than regular contributor to Golf Digest, with her new venture Intyoutive, 8000 radio shows in India and that she is a partner in, works on she also extensively covered golf abroad. three verticals - design and in Europe for the Golfing Yours.

He is often credited for publish in-house magazines, offer Her passion for writing and revolutionising the radio scene in consultancy to start ups and golf also led to regular North India. A proud Limca organise literary workshops and contributions while travelling on Record Holder, for his brand events. Daily post, one of the the Asian Tour. A Press Officer at ‘Academy of Broadcasting’ he is newspapers that she was a the IMG run Indian Open and also the Founder of Ferntree consultant with carried her BILT Open, India's biggest Publishing, the Gen Secy of weekly column on parenting for professional golf tournaments, Chandigarh Literary Society and over five years. A mother to two she used her vast experience to co-Founder of Inkspire. He is also boys, aged 23 and 20, Saguna is set up the media office of the jointly launching a print an ardent golfer and believes in players’ initiated Professional magazine this year. the simple mantra - we all live Golf Tour of India. and learn!!!

TURNING NOTES INTO BOOKS What does it take to turn handwritten or typed notes into books? What does it really take to finish a book?

We’ve witnessed writers complete their work, and many others stumbling along the way and being disillusioned. We honestly believe it’s important for the upcoming writers to understand that it takes a different set of skills to finish a book than it does to produce pages. Finishing a book demands that we think about a score of issues that we needn’t concern ourselves about in the earliest stages of our work. It requires us to assess what we’ve already written to determine what’s working and what’s not; to revise and refine our work. It requires our willingness, in effect, to rethink what we’ve written as we decide how to shape our work, and to jettison

what doesn’t fit, and to write completely new material as required. The late historian Robin W. Winks, once spoke about his book 'The Historian as Detective'. The writer, Winks said, must live with the knowledge that any book will be incomplete and imperfect. He suggested that we think of each work as an essay: an attempt to get at something and not as a definitive work.“I work until I’m finished, not until the book’s finished,”Winks said. The book is never finished. To complete a book, we must accept that it won’t be perfect. And our pages will never become books, unless we take the necessary steps to complete them, imperfect as they are.

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Pre-FACE

Sakoon Singh’s ‘Qissa” Tell us something about yourself?

I am a Chandigarh girl. Did my schooling and college here before moving to JNU, New Delhi for my MA in English Literature. I went on a Fulbright fellowship and put a year at University of Texas at Austin, US. Last year I was selected for a stint at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. I have been in an academic career and teaching at the Department of English, DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh. My area of research is Amitav Ghosh and Cultural Studies.

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What were the kind of books that you read in your early years?

My parents encouraged us to read as widely as possible as children. Our family house fostered an environment of creativity: teeming with choice music, very select cinema and meandering conversations on art, architecture, literature. My elder sister was into reading classics and it is through her that I picked up a sense of literature. My father (may he rest in peace) had a background in Psychology so we had the classic titles by Freud and Jung which we used to keep flipping through, it was his influence that I went on to do Psychology Honours, though later veered towards literature.

My mother has studied Punjabi Literature, so through her an affinity and a deeper appreciation for Qissa Kaav, Heer, Sufi

Literature, Gurbani and modern writing came about. So I would say it was an eclectic mix of English classics, Psychology, Punjabi literature and also Russian authors.

What is your book all about?

In the Land of the Lovers, this is a book about a woman artist, Nanaki, who has been brought up by her grandparents in a quaint Chandigarh neighbourhood. It is a classic bildungsroman, a story of her growth where she moves from naïve idealism to fierce sense of purpose. She struggles to help Subedar Joginder Singh, a World War II veteran, who makes beautiful, wall size exotic bird embroideries but is languishing in anonymity. She takes on the bureaucracy in the Art College so that the old artist can get his due but she realizes the level of political interference she has to deal with. She is disillusioned with the people in authority who she has hitherto held in high regard. Gradually she gathers the strength to take them on. Apart from that, it is a book that revisits the collective community experience of Partition of Punjab through mnemonic devices of nostalgia and family anecdotes. It touches on the harrowing experience of 1984 through the psyche of a teenage boy. Additionally, a vivid portrayal of contemporary Punjab where the vices of drug addiction, political corruption and nepotism are rife.

LITERARY DIGEST / May 2020

Give us a really detailed insight into your book?

The book, as I said is a ‘bildungsroman’, which is a popular genre in European writing. So in a way, I trace the growth of the main protagonist, Nanaki. I would say just like her, the book embodies a sufi consciousness- one that emerges out of empathy for the 'other' , is radical, embodies a unique aesthetic and at the same time, does not forsake social responsibility.

How did you go about creating the various characters in the book?

I don't want to sound all vague but I genuinely feel fiction writing is somewhat a numinous process, in the sense that it cannot be understood with reason alone. It is an alchemy that fuses imagination, experience and reality in a way that it is difficult to pre plan to the tee. One can, at best have an outline because I feel unless you give your characters the free reign to grow, sometimes to even take your vision over, the writing remains too contrived for fiction.

Some element of beating your own vision has to take place. Otherwise it remains mediocre and unimaginative. Like Neil Gaiman says that writing a novel is akin to driving in fog, you only see a limited distance ahead of you.

Additionally, my favourite narrative device in this book is the two tramps, the ‘Mirasis’, who exchange a witty repartee about the goings on after three sections. ‘Mirasis’, the traditional folk performer entertainers are known to inject irony in their slapstick, while bringing out issues of grave political importance.

Tell our readers why should they buy your book?

I guess, it's a decision I will best leave to them.

How was your journey into the book world?

It was in 2016 that the idea of writing this book first came to my mind and Elina Majumdar at a top publishing house liked and commissioned my book. I signed the contract in November 2018 and they brought out the book in the promised one and a half years.

What was the kind of support you got from family and friends?

Without family support, it is not possible to write. As for me, all the stereotypes of an absent minded writer who cannot keep track of time and space have begun to manifest themselves in these years. And it is very real, because especially in fiction, you inhabit two parallel universes. So I guess my family puts up with a lot. Parents and siblings have been most understanding. My husband, LITERARY DIGEST / May 2020

a high court lawyer, has been a writer and a blogger for many years and so understands writerly withdrawal and we intuitively make space for each other. My sister is a poet whose feedback is very critical for me. As for friends, I am lucky to have a couple of kindred spirits I can reach out even at 3 in the morning. We have read over coffee in parking lots, we have taken stuff to leisure valley to read parts of the manuscript between lectures, and done many other crazy things together.

How do you strike a balance between writing, home and work?

For a woman to have “a room of one's own” becomes that much more daunting. I had taken off work in 2017 when I was actively writing this book because I am not much of a multi tasking person. As you grow as a writer, you develop a more defined style and every writer has her/his idiosyncrasies around working style and schedule. Writers need the solid time to write, the space to write and more often than not, humungous amount of will power to navigate a process that most people see little or no worth in because it is so immaterial and intangible. So it takes will power and time management but if what I call grace (inherent talent as a writer) is missing, then no matter what you do, it will not manifest.

Your message to upcoming writers?

If you think you have it, listen to it, develop that inner dialogue with yourself. You have to go beyond social conditioning, beyond definitions of success as developed by society at large. You have to work on your craft and really answer the most important question: What kind of a writer you want to be? The world out there is keen to mould you into their way of looking at things. You will have to read widely, have an outer and inner dialogue and practice your craft for so many hours that by the end of it, your ideology and craft of writing merge in a larger unity.

Share with us your writing plans for the next 2 years?

There are two projects in the offing. It is too early for me to reveal the details, but I can share that one is historic fiction.

Sakoon Singh’s book has been released on Kindle worldwide and the physical copies would be available after the lockdown is relaxed and situation comes back to normal.

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1 MEENAXEE RAJ Meenaxee Raj is an officer with the Haryana Administrative Services, presently posted as Joint Transport Commissioner and Chief Vigilance Officer, HAFED, Haryana. She has previously been a judge in Haryana and Rajasthan for about three years. She pursued her BA (Hons) Sociology from Govt College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh and LLB from Delhi University.

She has been the only woman SDM of Ferozepur Jhirka, a remote sub-division of Mewat. Besides, she has served the Education Department Haryana as Joint Director, Joint Secretary to the Governor and Joint Director Urban Local Bodies, Haryana. She is the youngest civil servant in the country to have been a member of a Govt of India Committee along with sitting High Court judges. The Committee gave its recommendations to Govt of India on international parental child abduction, an issue of imminent international relevance. She has an Urdu poetry book to her credit in the name of ‘Paighaam-e-Sukhan’, which was released in 2017

by Hon’ble Justice Anil R Dave (Retd Judge-Supreme Court of India).

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Understanding types of fonts.....

SERIF FONTS:

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hese are the oldest types of fonts, with the first examples appearing as early as the late 15th century.

The word ‘serif’ refers to the small feet present at the tops and bottoms of each letter. These tiny flourishes stemmed from artists’ brushes and would be added to the letters as decorative elements.

Serif fonts can be broken down even further into several subcategories (Old Style, Classical, Neo-Classical, Transitional, Clarendon, etc). Today, Serif fonts are among the most popular typefaces in use, with styles like ‘Times New Roman’ being ever-present in books, documents, and even some logos.

This style of font is characterized by a more conservative design and (some of the many subclasses notwithstanding) the presence of serifs at the tops and bottoms of most letters.

Example: Times New Roman, Garamond, Century, Caslon, Georgia etc.

SANS-SERIF FONTS: Sans serif fonts dispense with the flourishes of their predecessor for a cleaner, more modern approach, and this contrast makes them pair well with serif fonts. They date back to the 19th century and became immensely popular in the 1920’s and 30’s. During the mid-20th century, German designers further expanded the typeface with the creation of the popular Helvetica design.

These fonts are defined by their clean, straight lines. They feature no flourishes and emphasize readability and simplicity for a more scalable look. Sans serif fonts can also be broken down into several subcategories, including Grotesque, Square, Geometric, and Humanistic styles.

Example: Helvetica, Verdana, Futura, Avante Garde etc.

LITERARY DIGEST / May 2020

medical fraternity an author’s befitting MEDICAL FRATERNITY tribute to the

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est-selling author Gurjot Singh Kaler presently attending a course in England has penned and sung a song that he has dedicated to all the health workers in India who are fighting this global pandemic against all odds.

"Today, the world is jointly fighting against the deadly spread of the infectious corona-virus, as millions of people across our planet Earth have already died due to it. In this decisive war, it is our doctors, who are at the forefront and have put their own lives at grave risk in order to save the lives of LITERARY DIGEST / May 2020

others. Indeed, a big salute to these doctors and the medical staff across the globe, who are performing their duties in the service of humanity in a caring, dedicated and selfless manner", he says.

This creative song titled 'Saluting Our Doctors: The REAL HEROES against Corona Virus' has lyrics that touch your heart, "Salaam Hai unn Doctoron ko, kehte hain jinhein roop Bhagwaan ka. Tareef teri main kaise karoon, khaatir hai meri jo ladd raha corona se tu....."

It is pertinent to mention that Gurjot's parents have both served

the Punjab Govt as Doctors and are known for their help and generosity.

Besides being a writer of repute, Gurjot is also a serving DSP with Punjab Police and is presently in England pursuing a oneyear course in Police Studies.

Over the years, he has written and sung songs like 'My Hero Farmer', 'Dil Se Salaam', etc., that address social issues.

All these songs are available online for your listening pleasure.

The eternal charm of

BALI W

hat would one say about being in a place where each morning one wakes up to the deep blue sea turning into a deeper blue in the heat of the mid-day sun and thereafter into silver in the moonlight! The Indian Ocean has held everybody in awe for times immemorial. It is on the shores of this ocean that one finds an amazing and awe-inspiring juxtaposition of the sleepiness (associated with all beach towns) with the most happening night life in Asia.

This beautiful exotic destination, totally barren as far as the influx of the Indians landing there is concerned, is called Bali. As one walks out of the Ngurah Rai International Airport and

on to the streets, one gets the feel of a developed country as it exudes opulence in each way, be it the brand of cars, quality of streets, beautifully landscaped by-streets and the number of westerners that one accosts on the roads.

Surprisingly, the island has no railway lines just winding and coastal roads as this enchanting little town has a mix of both – the beaches as well as the mountains. Surrounded by coral reefs, Bali has some beaches that have white sand and an equal amount of beaches that have black sand. But if one were to reach the beach town of Padangbai, one would find both white and black sand co-existing on its beaches in

This Indonesian island, with its capital at Denpasar and home to Indonesia's small Hindu minority, is the largest tourist destination in the country and is renowned the world over for its highly developed arts, including dance, cane furniture sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, woodcarving and music all strongly influenced by Indian, and particularly Sanskrit culture. Resultantly, most of the population here adheres to Balinese Hinduism and Balinese and Indonesian are the most widely spoken languages. As Tourism is now the largest single industry in this country, English is a common third language and Bali Indonesia's wealthiest region.

complete harmony. The main tourist locations are the towns of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Sanur, Jimbaran, Ubud and the newer development of Nusa Dua. Some of the cleanest and most attractive beaches that Bali has on offer are best seen in the months starting from August through to March.

Nusa Dua, in a peninsula in the South of Bali, about 20 kms from Denpasar and Bali's fountainhead, is the most stylish and spectacular address to stay in. Laced with hotels right from the Grand Hyatt to the Ayodhya, the beaches here are the vantage points for witnessing spectacular sunsets. Nusa Dua, in fact, is like a township on its own. One enters through a huge gate with all the security checks in place. But once inside, one is accosted with a heavenly sight. The majestic light poles, impeccable roads and forever freshly washed and probably the greenest plants that one has ever seen. These roads make for an enjoyable walk to the Nusa Dua beach which is crisscrossed by a number of shacks offering the most delectable array of yummy Indonesian food to choose from.

The famous surfing beaches here attract Australian tourists as well as surfers from all over the world. Nusa Dua also offers a large variety to the shopaholics as one can find the local handicrafts with as much ease as one can a high-end luxury brand boutique.

About thirty minutes drive from here one can reach the sleepier and probably the quietest fishing village and tourist resort of Bali – Jimbaran. Again lined with a number of hotels like the Four Seasons resort, the majestic Inter Continental and best of all the Jimbaran Hills resort, exquisitely perched on the top of a hillock, this road takes one to the Jimbaran beach. Here the seafood kiosks that litter the beach are put together as if they were not separate entities at all and where the diners select the seafood live that they wish to eat and which is thereafter cooked immediately.

This makes a perfect beach for not only the adventure sport enthusiasts but also for those purely looking at a leisurely stroll. The Hotels, almost all of them, offer the cultural face of Bali by holding cultural events in their premises every evening. Right from the Indonesian Mask dance to the Bamboo instruments display. Jimbaran, today, is also increasingly becoming popular for the foreigners who want to build their villas here.

Active volcanoes, culture, shopping, nature parks, rocking nightlife, handicrafts, a currency weaker than our Indian rupee, affordable yet plush hotels, tropical weather, friendly people, cheap transport, sumptuous Baby Guling or the Suckling Pig ( a delicacy of Balinese cuisine) and the fact that you are only another three hours away from Perth in Australia, are only a few reasons as to why Bali today is emerging as one of the hottest holiday destinations in the world. My advise – go discover the untouched and absolutely raw beauty of this virgin island – for Bali beckons!

A travelogue by Saguna Jain

COMPLY ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mehar Sandhu Student of Class XI FirstSteps IB World School, Chandigarh

“Hannah, darling, come here and sit down.” Mr. Bates pat down the cushion on the seat next to him in his office. He took a sip from his cup of coffee, with his fingers moulding themselves around the helms of the cup. He never once looked up from his book while he did all this.

Hannah dropped her bag at the door and rushed over to the seat next to him with a notebook and pen in hand. As she sat, her knees were knocked together and shaking. She felt blood rush up to her face and the heat around her ears was intense.

“Where were we?” Mr. Bates spoke, fingers still wrapped around the coffee cup, and eyes still locked on the words in his book. “Um, well Mr Bates, we did the beginning of the Russian revolution yesterday, so I suppose we should continue with, um with that.”

Hannah stuttered as she flipped the pages with her lanky fingers, trying to find the right topic.

“Thank you, Hannah. You help me out quite a bit – I mean, I would have certainly been unable to remember where we would have to start from.” Mr. Bates

finally looked up from his book and looked at his eager student with those dark and endearing eyes of his. Hannah's gaze was glued to the book and her right foot robotically tapping on the carpet floor. He smiled.

As Hannah read out the passages from the lesson, Mr. Bates' world seemed to slow down and all he could hear was his heart thumping from his chest harder and harder with every word Hannah spoke.

In his head, he could do all he wanted, say anything he liked and she would comply and not complain. She did that anyway, but he had never really tried to ask her to do what he actually wanted her to. What if she told someone? What if he hurt her?

No, he couldn't afford to lose her – but what if he didn't lose her? “Mr Bates?”

Hannah's voice broke him out of his reverie.

“Yes Hannah?” “I don't understand why the Bolsheviks couldn't just stay put – why couldn't they stop themselves? I mean, they should've known better. They couldn't have let their feelings come in the way of the basic moral laws of their country.”

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Hannah spoke with a perfectly genuine blend of confusion and curiosity in her voice. “Well, Hannah – I suppose you could say the Bolsheviks had waited for so long, they had thought about it for so long, that it only seemed right if they acted upon their dreams. They just wanted to do what they thought was right, even if it was wrong for everyone else. After all, love has never known any boundaries.”

“Love, Mr Bates? What are you talking about?”

Hannah nervously laughed, squinting her eyes at Mr. Bates in a joking way. She thought she looked like an idiot, doing too much, while Mr. Bates thought she looked the most adorable with her nose scrunched up like that. Bates chuckled so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable.

“As in love for their country, Hannah. All that they did was to protect and be with their country. They never meant to hurt her, their country, by anything that they did.”

“I suppose it makes sense, kind of.” Hannah said, looking back to her textbook to continue reading. And it was at this point where Bates figured he could no longer keep it to himself, and that he had to act upon it at some point and perhaps now was the perfect time. After all, there was never a good time to do something like this, especially where he lived – perhaps there was somewhere where Hannah and he could be together without objection. Or at least that's what he thought to himself.

He got up from his seat in a sudden flash, which, according to Hannah, was very unlike him to do. Bates got down on both his knees and cupped Hannah's face with both his hands. He leaned in and brought his own lips to hers.

“NO!” Hannah's voice spoke as she tried to pull back, every self-defence class lesson being looked through in her mind. But there was nothing there that she could remember or use, nothing at all. Perhaps it was the time and place, she was trying but there was really nothing at all she could come up with. She resorted to scream and slap her hands against whatever came closest to them.

“No, no, no I said! Stop it, please stop it! Mr Bates, stop!”

“No! I'm not hurting you! You cannot hate this, you cannot. You must not. You have to listen to me Hannah. You can't – you can't disagree. You have to comply, not complain. Please, yes, you must comply.”

Bates urgently spoke back covering her mouth with his hand, helpless to the demons of his mind and doing all he willed to the poor curled ball on the floor; perhaps it was Hannah. He didn't want to hurt her, but he had to.

Throughout the whole atrocity he muttered angrily in her ear, “You must comply, my dear. You must.”

The blackness in Hannah's mind grew darker, if it could. The quiet of her surroundings got louder. Her history teacher's voice grew louder and more aggressive by the moment, yet there was nothing she could do. She was going to be blamed, she knew – even in the

moment, she blamed herself. She blamed herself over and over again, it was her fault; of course it had to be, wasn't that all she had been taught?

It had been 10 years since the obscenity she had been subject to. The rejection still dripped from her lips at times, the word 'No' still managed to slip out sometimes. One would call it sad, she should've done something, she should've complained, should've told someone. But all she had ever known was to comply, and not complain. After all those years, the only one she could blame was herself. Only her. And she loved him.

“MOMMY!” a child's voice called from outside.

Playing in the wind was a little boy, Timothy, they had named him. Hours passed while she watched him live the childhood that she could not remember for herself.

She walked out and picked the boy up and brought him inside, cradling him in her arms while he slept like an angel.

To this day, she couldn't point her finger at the mistake – how could she? It always came back to her, regardless of how much she tried to figure it was Bates or the little joy she held in her arms every night.

Breakfast time, the next day, came around eventually. “I'd like two eggs, darling.” Bates spoke, fingers till wrapped around the coffee cup, and eyes still locked on the words in his book – just like all those years ago. And for some reason, she still felt the blood rush up to her face, and the heat surround her ears. Except, instead of the words describing the Bolsheviks, it was Timothy's sweet little voice calling for his mother.

As she slid the eggs onto Bates' plate, he asked, “Sweetheart, can I have some more coffee please?”

No, Hannah didn't want to, not one bit. She wanted to do nothing for him anymore. But the words, “You must comply, not complain” echoed in her head, the voice of the father of her child. Yes, it was all she had known, so it was all she would do.

She must comply. She must not complain.

The problem was there, sure, but nobody knew how much she blamed herself. For years and years, she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath. She finally drank her pain away, a little at a time, but she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind.

Until the night, she put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger, and finally drank away his memory. Life is short, but this time it was bigger than the strength she had to get up off her knees. They found her with her face down in the pillow, clinging to his picture for dear life. And as they buried her beneath willow, everyone could hear whispers of the word 'comply'.

Up with the angels, Hannah still believed Bates was innocent, but she kept an eye on that little boy of hers - Timothy Bates.

2nd last paragraph credit: “Whiskey Lullaby”

by Brad Paisley and Alison Kraus

I

ndia has been in Lockdown since 24 March, 2020. All our wishes came true at that time, when we didn’t have to work and could sit at home the whole day and do absolutely nothing. It was all well and good for the first 2 weeks, after that however, the realisation set in that we were in this for the long haul. Human beings are creatures of habit. We need to keep ourselves occupied in order to remain sane. With some losing their jobs and others having to undertake the 1000 mile journey back to their native lands to return to their families, these times have not been easy for many of us. However, with the end in sight, there is a silver lining to all of this. There has been a positive impact of the CoronaVirus in all our lives.

There are numerous reports daily about how us humans have come to aid each other during these trying times. Be it by buying an elderly their groceries for the whole week or buying healthcare workers their lunches, this virus has taught us that we’ve got each others backs.

Families are spending time together doing something that they’ve never had the opportunity to do, talk. Dad is no longer getting late for office, Mom does not have to get the children ready for school and thus, the breakfast table is full again. The happiest at this time is the dog, who now literally has his family with him 24/7 and no longer has to wait in angst by the door, waiting for the car to park itself in the garage. We’ve found new skill sets we never thought we had. Some are cooking, some are finding out how they’ve always been something of a shutterbug while some have been infected with the writing bug.

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The world too is changing for the better amidst the virus. The ozone layer is repairing itself, various species of fauna are being seen on a daily basis in places where they were thought to be long gone (the River Dolphins recently found in the Ganges), the pollution levels have reduced drastically bringing people closer than ever before to nature, (yes I mean the people in Punjab who had a glimpse of the Himalayas after decades). It just shows to prove that time does indeed solve everything.

As we turn the page on this chapter of our lives, one thing must be remembered. Patience and Time are our biggest warriors against the Corona Virus.

With a little bit of patience and a whole lot of time we will surely pull through. What doesn’t kill us will only make us stronger.

Dad will go back to getting late for office, the dog will assume its usual position, his tail eagerly waiting to wag and the kids can go back to school, to be assigned an essay on, “How I Spent My Lockdown?” It will all get back to being the normal that we knew.

In the meantime lets give a shoutout to being #notnotpositive.

the WORLD

Contributed by:

Manan Jain Student at ULIS, Panjab University, Chandigarh

A MILLENNIAL’s STATE OF MIND by Harnoor Kaur

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n times like the one we are faced with today, all present generations, barring zero exceptions, are being forced to deal with unprecedented confusion and uncertainty. As millennials, we have been raised with a set of conventions and have been taught time and again the way of living. Our generation has also seen the excessive rise of technology, and coupling it with the increasing competitiveness in every field of life, most of us have become slaves of capitalism: ours brains are wired in a manner in which participating in the rat race is often the only choice we are confronted with, whether we choose to accept this reality or not.

Never in a thousand years did we think we would one day be asked to systematically unlearn what has been engrained into our brains our whole lives. This time is especially scary for our millennial generation, as we are the ones who are currently the youth, actively working as professionals or acquiring erudition to work and contribute to society's knowledge pool in the near future. With children and elderly being more susceptible to the novel Coronavirus, the future of humanity along with economic reliance of most families fall upon our generation.

Our generation has been feeling overwhelmed with everything going on around us, and our anxiety has been incited by the fear of not knowing what lies ahead. We are witnessing job offers of soon-to-begraduates being rescinded, along with professionals being laid off or their paychecks receiving huge cuts.

This is a major cause of stress in current students as well, who are unsure of future employment opportunities or are doubting the return on their education, at least in the near future. The students who are studying abroad are even more worried, given the high costs involved and uncertainty as to when they will get to go back, if at all, and if they will get to work in those countries. This tension has been heighted as the American President Donald Trump announced the temporary suspension of immigration in the United States recently. Apart from this, the financial status of most families has worsened, leading to most students reassessing the prospects of graduate school and postdoctoral studies, and either choosing to defer higher education, or to drop the idea altogether in this dire time where families need to earn and save as much

as they possibly can. Apart from the financial burden and job stress that most of us are witnessing, the process of having to unlearn our routine is daunting, to say the least. This process has been further burdened by peer pressure. Social media is filled with people being proactive and creative, and one peak at LinkedIn can make you feel as if you were the most unproductive person in this lockdown. These platforms highlight people who are doing exceptional things with their time, and somehow give off the impression that everyone is doing much more than you are. And indeed, a lot of people start following suit, except they do it under immense pressure. Little do we realize that we are again part of the same rat race, despite being given a golden opportunity to step out of it and rewrite the rules.

There are, however, a couple of silver linings in all of this, which most of us realize. Despite this bedlam of utter chaos, we finally get time to press pause, take a step back, and just breathe for once. We now have the time to do things that we have always wanted to do but never got the time to, be it learning a new language, picking up books and getting back into the habit of reading, painting, dancing, or even just taking time off to relax and finish all those Netflix series you had lined up.

We are all also getting to spend quality time with our families, which is a blessing in itself especially in today's time, wherein we need our loved ones to keep us sane and happy. With social distancing being speculated to become the 'new normal', we are gradually accepting this reality and are embracing technology to further rekindle and strengthen our relationships with our friends and relatives, thus bringing us closer despite the distance. We are also witnessing that there is no barrier to learning in today's age, and a lot of us are actively gaining more knowledge about disciplines that we never got to learn. People are also engaging in healthy and therapeutic activities such as cooking and creating a workout routine. Most importantly, the anxiety and angst amidst most of us in this lockdown has shown us how dependent we are on others, and how little we know ourselves.

Hence, more and more of us are taking out time to simply introspect and learn more about ourselves and our deepest insecurities, which helps us come to terms with our true inner self, a revelation which is unparalleled. As we continue to reflect, we are in a better state to manage our emotional and mental health, and develop a newfound appreciation for life.

Even though none of us knows what lies ahead for us, our generation understands that we are all in this together. Therefore, despite the uncertainty that surrounds us, I can see my peers embracing positivity and looking at the silver linings, and because of that I'm proud that I belong to this generation now more than ever.

The writer is an undergraduate student majoring in Economics at Hindu College, University of Delhi

F

lash fiction - a medium of brief and enclosed stories. Its average word count ranges anywhere from five to 1,500 and a maximum up to 2,000 words. It goes by many other names, for example Short shorts, Nanotales, Micro-stories, Postcard fiction, or sometimes even napkin fiction.

Its focus isn't necessarily on plot or characters, though it should still have both. Instead, the stress is on movement: each sentence must peel back a new layer that wasn't visible at first. If a line or a word doesn't progress the story or reveal more about a character, it probably won't belong in this medium.

A short History?

With roots in folklore and collections like Grimms' Fairy Tales and Aesop's Fables, (very) short stories have been around for centuries. They fell out of fashion for a while, but recently came back in a big way — not entirely surprising for a generation that publish 140-character 'stories' every day.

There are up to six different categories in this: Ÿ Flash fiction: Max 1500 words. Ÿ Sudden fiction: Max 750 words. Ÿ Drabble, or microfiction: Max 100 words. Ÿ Dribble, or minisaga: Max 50 words. Ÿ Twitterature: Max 280 characters. Ÿ Six-word story: Any story with a single-digit word count is a category unto itself.

What is FOR YOUR PRACTICE First write a story of 500 words or so. Then trim the second draft to approximately 250 words.

Then see whether you can get the final piece to exactly 100. See how a story changes, and might even be enhanced, when you leave unnecessary things out.

WHERE TO SHOWCASE FLASH? Flash fiction is growing in popularity. It's the ideal length to read online, so many websites and literary journals are now devoted exclusively to flash, and flash fiction anthologies are published every year.

You can find and submit your works to the following

16

In the world of words, flash fiction is underdog prose. Scarcely discussed and often poorly defined, it becomes that much more exciting, edgy, and experimental. Twist endings and sudden violence are hallmarks of the form, where just six words can allude to the tragic death of a child.

Flash fiction is dangerous — it asks the writer to surrender all safety nets and let a mere smattering of sentences speak for themselves. But it can also be extremely rewarding, if done right.

Before we get into that, however, let's gauge what it actually is.

websites: Ÿ

SIX-WORDS: sixwordmemoirs.com

Ÿ

MONKEYBICYCLE: monkeybicycle.net

Ÿ

NANO FICTION: nanofiction.org

Ÿ

100WORDSTORY: 100wordstory.org

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SMOKELONG: smokelong.com

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ECLECTICA MAGAZINE: eclectica.org

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THE COLLAGIST: thecollagist.com

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PANK: pankmagazine.com

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WORD RIOT: wordriot.org

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FICTION SOUTHEAST: fictionsoutheast.org

POETree

मांड के नयम ह नराले

MOTHER

SIMI SHARMA

उ सक ु लोग, ं दसर क बराइयॉ, ु ू बड़े उ साह के साथ इधर-उधर करते ह, परं तु अपने घर म आई हई ु सम या के कारण को कभी समझ नह ं पाते ह। हांड और इंसान का आपस म चंब ु क सा नाता है , इसम जो भी उछालो, यथ नह ं जाता है । अतः यह बात हम सोचनी होगी, और भल -भॉ ं त समझनी होगी, क, एक बात भी, गलत या सह , बोल , सोची, या कर , कसी दसरे के साथ, ू तो सबसे पहले वह हो रहा होगा, अपने घर म, अपने सबसे कर बी के साथ। यह हआ है , यह हआ है , सच मा नए, ु ु जब से हमने सफ और सफ, अपने को पकड़ लया है । अपने को "म और मेरा" के जाल म जकड़ लया है । बाहर गंदगी समा त करने के तो अन गनत साधन या सेवाएं हम सहज ह उपल ध ह, परं तु अपने मन म भर गंदगी ??? जी हॉ,ं अपने मन म भर गंदगी, यह तो सफ और सफ हमार ह िज़ मेदार है , िजसे हम अथक य न से वयं ह वयं क उ न त के लए समा त करना है । यह हमारे अपने और अपन के लए बेहद ज़ र है , य क मांड म छोड़ा गया आपका एक भी नकारा मक वचार, लौटकर आएगा वापस, आपके ह अपन के पास, लेकर कई गना ु बड़ा आकार।

और आप समझ ना पाएंगे, मांड क इस ल ला को, और दगे दोष बार-बार, अपने भा य क लक र को, अपने भा य क लक र को, अपने भा य क लक र को ।।

Anupama Kaundaliya Dhoundiyal is a homemaker and she lives in Mumbai.

LITERARY DIGEST / May 2020

Eminent Landscape Architect of North India

I will love you each and every day, I am what I am due to values you lay, I am focused and disciplined, lovely they say.

You brought me into the world & showed me the way, You are beautiful, pristine & positive to relay, You are wonderful & brave to other's dismay.

You are my best friend and savior on any rainy day, You always give, neither expects nor disarray, Life without you is impossible for me, While thinking of you, I didn't get to say.

Mom, you have given me so much, Your love, your warmth, selfless friendship, I love you even more with every passing day.

Wander in WONDER The flowers so beautiful yet so soft The clouds so blissful yet so aloft It has been up to wondering Delhi Public School Kaithal Who is behind all this thundering Some are rich and some poor Why this world is so cruel?

One may be a king While other may not even be a thing It has been up to wondering Who is behind all this thundering Why there is day and night Nobody can say even a slight Is there some other world Or again the answer is swirled It has been up to wondering Who is behind this thundering

Thundering thrillers from World War 2

THAT YOU MIGHT’VE MISSED READING Ken Follett follows his bestsellers Jackdaws and Code to Zero with an extraordinary novel of early days of World War II...It is June 1941 and the war is not going well for England. Across the North Sea, eighteen-year-old Harald Olufsen takes a shortcut on the German-occupied Danish island of Sande an discovers an astonishing sight that will change the momentum of the war. He must get word to England-except that he has no way to get there. He has only an old derelict Hornet Moth biplane rusting away in a ruined church: a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground...even if Harald knew how to fly it.

D-Day is approaching. They don’t know where or when, but the Germans know it’ll be soon, and for Felicity “Flick” Clariet, the stakes have never been higher. A senior agent in the ranks of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) responsible for sabotage, Flick has survived to become one of Britain’s most effective operatives in Northern France.

She knows that the Germans’ ability to thwart the Allied attack depends upon their lines of communication, and in the days before the invasion no target is of greater strategic importance than the largest telephone exchange in Europe.

German intelligence knows that paratroop officer Steiner survived "Operation Eagle," the bungled assassination attempt on Winston Churchill, and is now a POW somewhere in London. Reichsfuhrer Himmler wants him back -at any cost -- and puts his top espionage agents in charge of the perilous rescue mission. Racing from the nightclubs of Lisbon to Hitler's opulent country retreat to the damp streets of London, Himmler's men get closer to their target -and to the shattering true objective of their mission....

In the Pas de Calais, Nathalie Mercier, a young British Special Operations Executive secret agent working with the French Resistance, disappears.

In London, her husband Owen Quinn, an officer with Royal Navy Intelligence, discovers the truth about her role in the Allies' sophisticated deception at the heart of D-Day. Appalled but determined, Quinn sets off on a perilous hunt through France in search of his wife. Based on real events of the Second World War The Best of Our Spies is a thrilling tale of international intrigue, love, deception and espionage.

In the novel, the Allied prisoners learn to loathe Ryan, the spit-andpolish senior American officer, and they insultingly add the Germanic von to his name. The POWs are put onto a train heading deeper into the Reich but Ryan’s plan is to take the train across the Swiss border.

Hundreds of POWs on a speeding train, the Wehrmacht right behind them. What could go wrong?

18

LITERARY DIGEST / May 2020

LET’s HELP BUILD YOUR

BOOK series

WORKSHEET

Character Creation

Before you start writing, your first step should be to create various believable characters, and for that a detailed sketch of each character has to be initiated. This effort will help you flesh out your main players in a realistic, dimensional way. Let's start by answering the following questions: AGE: There's a huge difference between 17 and 71. How old do you want your character to be?

Need to consider: What kind of issues will your story highlight or address? What will be your target audience? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ THE LOOKS: Physical look and appearance can be even more important to teenagers than it is to adults. What does your character look like? List 5 key physical traits of him/her.

Need to consider: How do they carry himself/herself ? Their look and appearance? Relationship between appearance and body language? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ LIFE INFLUENCES: What are the factors that shape your character's choices? What events in his/her past have had the biggest influence on his/her personality? Identify and describe in detail at least two events that have deeply shaped him/her.

Need to consider: Has your teenaged character lived a protected life or a rough one? Has his/her life been a bullied one? Has he/she ever done anything that is illegal? Has he/she travelled alone or with family or with friends?

What events in his/her past have had the most influence on his/her overall personality? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ ASPIRATIONS: Teenagers always are in love with their future, their jobs, career, marriage, children, etc. So if your character is a teen then you have to consider as to what does he/she want to do after finishing Class XII, College or University. If your character is a soon-to-retire defence officer, then you will have to see what all careers (if at all he wants) he can have as per his age and physical attributes. You will also need to take into account whether he is married, divorced or a widower, has children, grand-children etc.

Need to consider: What kind of person does he/she hope to become? Is he/she optimistic or pessimistic about what the future holds? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS: Parents and siblings are an important factor in our daily existence. Write a short scene where he/she interacts with a family member(s), using his/her actions to reveal the family dynamics.

Need to consider: How does he/she treat her siblings? Does he/she antagonize his/her parents? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ SOCIAL LIFE: Friends are incredibly important for us all. How does your character fit into the social categories that exist in his/her environment?

Need to consider: Who is your character's best friend? Is he/she popular? Picked on? Ignored? How does he/she treat others in various environments? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________

NOVELBUNCH L I T-T H U S I A S T S

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Fiction and Creative Non-ďŹ ction: Maximum 2000 words (Languages accepted English, Hindi and Punjabi) Poetry: Please submit one poem in either English, Hindi or Punjabi.

All submissions should be attached as a Microsoft Word document with your name, short bio & photograph.

Photography and art submissions should be

PunDEMIC The world is now Vegas. Everyone is losing money. It's acceptable to drink at all hours and no one has any idea what day it is.

Having practised lethargy for nearly two months I'm ready to audition for 'Indian IDLE'.

attached as a high-quality JPEG. They should be an original image either clicked or bought by you. If you have sourced it from a free image website, then you have to give credit to the photographer and the website.

Email all submissions to: submission@literarydigest.in

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