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Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh PalRatna Pande Hailing from the beautiful hill state of Uttarakhand, and having lived in Bengal, Delhi and Hyderabad, Ratna Pande counts herself as fortunate to have met a varied cross-section of people, to hear their stories and mix them with her own brand of creativity and magic with a twist! She grew up in a steel township in Bengal where her father was a scientist in a research laboratory and her mother a Hindi teacher. The cosmopolitan atmosphere of the town, her school St. Xavier’s encouragement to pursue reading and creative writing and her family’s fondness for books added to Read More...
Hailing from the beautiful hill state of Uttarakhand, and having lived in Bengal, Delhi and Hyderabad, Ratna Pande counts herself as fortunate to have met a varied cross-section of people, to hear their stories and mix them with her own brand of creativity and magic with a twist!
She grew up in a steel township in Bengal where her father was a scientist in a research laboratory and her mother a Hindi teacher.
The cosmopolitan atmosphere of the town, her school St. Xavier’s encouragement to pursue reading and creative writing and her family’s fondness for books added to her own keen sense of observation and vivid imagination brought together all the ingredients for a “literary cocktail.”
Her corporate life of three decades working with Fortune 500 companies also provided a unique opportunity to experience cross-cultural insights, travel extensively and to continue to build on her “story bank of people and places!”
She lives in Gurgaon with her husband Santosh, and her daughters have possibly heard more stories than lullabies.
Now she and her granddaughter Lila spin many-a-tale.
Always an enthralling storyteller, Ratna finally decided to revisit her passion for writing and has penned down a series of short stories building on the ordeals and anecdotes that were swimming around inside her head.
This is the first collection of her short stories, and these stories are dedicated to the indomitable spirit of faith and the belief that situations are created in the world to connect one to another.
How and when they do and will is left to the unknown!
Read Less...Achievements
LI:FE! 2020 – When the year throws two lemons at you, what do you do?
Think of what you can make - A sweet sorbet to comfort on a summer afternoon? A spicy pickle to relish with a meal? Or cut it into bits, sprinkle spicy salt and keep in your pocket to lick or share with friends? This year, like a ‘gondhoraj nimbu’, is uniquely fragrant, pungent and sharp, exceptional if you slow down to savour it and, in spite of the thorns, very humbli
LI:FE! 2020 – When the year throws two lemons at you, what do you do?
Think of what you can make - A sweet sorbet to comfort on a summer afternoon? A spicy pickle to relish with a meal? Or cut it into bits, sprinkle spicy salt and keep in your pocket to lick or share with friends? This year, like a ‘gondhoraj nimbu’, is uniquely fragrant, pungent and sharp, exceptional if you slow down to savour it and, in spite of the thorns, very humbling in life experiences.
Scripted in this book are the tales of men and women who struggled, partied, connived, loved, laughed, fought and cried but eventually emerged as winners, with hope and positivity, as they faced an adversity, a virus or a war.
Will the old man hang? Who is the young Krishna who has come to help?
Who has stolen the emerald necklace? Was Madam killed for that?
A masterpiece painting is replaced. Was it by the guests, friends or invitees?
Will Shankar ever find his home with a promise of peace?
How much must the migrant couple walk to reach the village to get help?
The queen is betrayed by her kin-men. What is the price of escape?
Crisis in mid-air. Can the air hostess trust the men she thinks are brave?
A teenage girl’s diary of 1971, living with war Vs the invisible enemy today.
Life, like 2020, tests us. The secret is to stop to smell the flowers and smile at those around. In your story of being handed lemons, remember to add a dash of lime to make the cocktail tangy!
Enjoy reading the stories, each set in a different mood and locale. While the lockdown may keep us indoors, our can thoughts fly freely everywhere!
A heartwarming collection of short stories from towns within India, possibly from a place near yours and about someone familiar....
The sisters in Benares, whose fate led them to different cities, one to mercurial heights of stardom and the other to the depths of misfortune. Now, thirteen years later, they are back in the same city where they started; will the ghats change the course of their lives?
Sethji had been an astute and successful diamon
A heartwarming collection of short stories from towns within India, possibly from a place near yours and about someone familiar....
The sisters in Benares, whose fate led them to different cities, one to mercurial heights of stardom and the other to the depths of misfortune. Now, thirteen years later, they are back in the same city where they started; will the ghats change the course of their lives?
Sethji had been an astute and successful diamond merchant, and his grandson’s passion for “paper money” or stocks was wiping the family fortunes. Ironically, he learnt the most valuable lesson of his life from the old, toothless, homeless, flower seller. Too late or just in time?
Where was the property, which the whole family was searching for, hidden? Who was the mysterious old man that Raghu had seen from the train? Will Anirban get away with murder? Why was Priyanka dreaming of her dead daughter’s blue stilettos? Will the women in Kumaon save the trees by “hugging them?” Would the ghosts who lived in the library let the young couple in love live happily ever after? Find the answers to these and many more….
These fourteen delightful tales may end with a twist, but they bring with them the powerful lessons of Hope!
Farzana or Farzi, as she was affectionately called by her friends was a loveable and popular character from the glorious past. Of Persian descent, from the city of Iran, young Farzi had been a tall, shapely, with long, naturally curly haired , and possessed a stormy personality. She was extremely ta Read More...
Fr Gilson’s narration about the second world war, and his life as a child in Belgium, had left us spellbound. Initially the rest of that day had gone in silence while each one of us tried to internalise what he had shared. Just before the school ended we had gone to the Library to get some boo Read More...
Day 4: Sunday morning is always special. We usually have a South Indian meal for lunch and chicken curry for dinner and I like both. The ladies in the colony learnt to make authentic South Indian dishes, courtesy Mrs Uma Ramaswamy. Uma aunty is the loving mom of my friend and our neighbour who has p Read More...
Day 3: Mornings at home were very predictable. On week days, we were all in a rush to get dressed and leave for school, which left little time to enjoy lazing in bed or picking up morning sounds, in leisure. However, weekends were different. On those days I would sleep in till later. That's when we Read More...
The day was so long ... we all sat at home in silence, not understanding what it meant to be at war. I was in class 8, I had seen the book "War and Peace" in the library and read the Guns of Navarone and Diary of Anne Frank, and the thought of war seemed scary and bleak. At 6pm, my father Chirag ret Read More...
Prelude: On 26th March 1971, the threat war was declared. The war began after the Pakistani military junta based in west Pakistan launched operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971. It was eventually a military confrontation between I Read More...
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