I recently read an article published by a reputed author stating children have stopped reading books and therefore the market for children fiction in India is diminishing.

I just wanted to laugh at the statement. The sad story is the publishing houses in India are doing nothing to attract our young impressionable readers. Why are they not thinking of enticing the young readers with a hip and happening positioning?

Unfortunately the old age image of young authors and readers is that of someone like a bookworm, less fun and more study. The young children fiction market is dying for a new positioning. Something like The brain power’, ‘Mr Creative’, ‘Mr Out of box thinker’. There are hardly any contests run by any publishing houses in India trying to bring out the writing talent. Why creative debates can’t be held in schools like the war or words, or height of imagination.

Today if you search online for best short story ideas for children, there is hardly any information. These days, the Internet is easily accessible by children. We need to catch their eyeball by making the existing web pages of best children books more contemporary and engaging and definitely more interesting and appealing. There is hardly any excitement for pushing the young readers to read and flaunt their knowledge. Launch a short story contest online and link the keyword with an existing children fiction book. The criterion should be to first read the book and then take part in a writing contest. Encourage parents to enroll their children and then let’s wait to see how many children short story idea pop out from these young talents.

We are doing nothing to impress the impressionable.

Tags: – children books online, children short story ideas, short story ideas for children, short story children book ideas

The News headlines reads :

Nobel Peace Prize : The $1.5 million award was split three ways among Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, women’s rights activist Leymah Gbowee, also of Liberia, and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen

Africa’s first democratically elected female President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Liberian campaigner against rape and a woman who stood up to autocratic regime have won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of the importance of women’s rights in the spread of global peace.

Gbowee has long campaigned for the rights of women and against rape. In 2003, she led hundreds of female protesters through Monrovia to demand swift disarmament of fighters who preyed on women throughout Liberia during 14 years of near-constant civil war.

MY VIEWS : DELHI THE RAPE CAPITAL OF INDIA.

There is hardly a day when the newspaper does not feature a Rape case against women in Delhi, NCR regions and now other parts of India. Where the Chief Minister is herself a lady, Madam Shiela dikshit and where there is a huge hope with youth leader Rahul Gandhi.There are women as mentioned above who have championed the cause against Rape and have won a Noble prize and here are we women in Delhi and NCR, who keep commenting in the editorials, blogs, trying to reach out to someone who would ensure we are safe in Delhi. NO use, no- one listens ! All one needs to do is lock up oneself in our houses or walk with a pepper spray or dare to take a rally out for rape against woman and mentally continue hoping that we would not be molested in the rally.

Staying in Gurgaon I have begun to regret being a woman, a feeling that never before transpired in my mind when I worked in Hyderabad and Bombay. But Delhi NCR region is different. All I can say is everyday I thank God for coming back home , safe and sound.

We need women leaders like Sirleaf and Gbowee, because unfortunately though we have women President , Mam Patil and woman chief minister, Ms Dikshit…..NO ONE IS LISTENING……………………….

29th Dec 2012

I don’t know her name but media calls her Nirbhaya, Daughter of India…..Alas! She died today. This young girl has silently aroused a sleeping nation.

I cannot express my feelings…. I am angry, grieved, traumatized ….
Don’t know what to tell God. Should I pray for her departed soul or Thank God that he has kept me safe from the evil perverts of our country and has given me a longer life.

For Nirbhaya’s demise I blame such criminals, the laws of our country , the government AND MYSELF

Even after Nirbhaya’s traumatic debacle, rapes still continue in our Nation. Despite the angry protest the perverts have the audacity to do it again to another girl. What is the message – you protest and we criminals will do it more. SHAME ON THE POLICE AND SHAME ON THE GOVERNMENT for letting this continue even now.

As a woman I have been tolerating eveteasing, demeaning remarks, dirty glances and even sometimes chase back home. ( I work in Gurgaon). I hope I could have marched and protested much before today. Could I have saved so many innocent daughters of India?

My first book Puppet on the Fast Track, the closest to my heart: Somewhere my journey as an author and an entrepreneur began from here.

A lot has been said and written about corporate culture. My seven years of working in MNCs has made me realize that the real problem of corporate world is the lack of adept leaders. The book is a satire on the leadership of today and a wake up call for all young management students/ professionals, that despite their outstanding educational qualification, they blindly follow what is brought to their table at work place. Very few question the relevance and in turn become PUPPET TO THE FAST TRACKERS !!

Glimpse of the book : The Introduction : Puppet on the Fast Track. (Published by Leadstart Publishing)

Welcome to the gang of thinkers; the gang that strategizes, focuses, creates, directs and innovates – the Product Management Group in the ‘Haute bank’. Mission of the bank – ‘To Excel and Sell’. ‘Sell’ is the keyword. We shall talk about the theory of strategy, innovation and direction, and the ‘subtle linkages to sales’ later. I am Pulak or as people in the bank call me ‘Holier than thou’ (I am a sharp, successful, straightforward and hardworking guy). After a very successful stint in sales at Haute Bank, I decided to join the gang of thinkers.
Today is the first day in my Product Management role.My boss, Anurag or, as people call him, ‘Love me all’, has handed me my goal sheet. ‘Love me all’ has recently been made the Product Head.Actually my ‘should have been’ boss could not join due to unforeseen circumstances and the only suitable and available – candidate was ‘Love me all’. My little past interaction with him had been decent. He is a good guy, no necessary or unnecessary aggression.Enough of digression. I should focus on my goal sheet. Wow the role sounds ‘very interesting’, ‘challenging’,‘huge scope of learning’ –‘big enough for my next promotion’. I am passionate about numbers. Post going through my Goal sheet, I hungrily and promptly walk to my boss, the captain of the ship. Some questions were dancing in my head, eager to get their answers:
Acquire… how?
Retain… what and how?
Train… Whom, about what?
When will I get the training myself?
Enhance customer relationship? Hmm?
While some questions had obvious answers, but the enthusiastic me wanted specific guidance to deliver the best results.
My boss ‘Love me all’, lovingly smiled and opened an excel sheet named ‘The handover note’. My predecessor had left a note and his phone number. “The 30 point sheet and the phone number will give you clarity on all that you need to do,” smirked Anurag, the ‘Love me all’. I called my predecessor who surprisingly was very excited receiving my call. We had met in one of the training sessions. His only feedback for me was that it was the worst possible job that he had done and that had he not moved to another role, he would have quit the bank. He cribbed about the role, about Anurag and about people I was yet to get introduced to. Anurag apparently was his contemporary who had no clue about products
and systems. He also took the credit of nicknaming Anurag as the ‘Love me all’. His last sentence before I disconnected was, “You must check out the way he letches at women.”
Negativity kills me and I detested the inputs that he gave. My mind was like a clean slate ready to colour the product role through my breakthrough creativity. I am an extremely positive person. I liked my boss’ hands-off attitude. Learning by yourself is the best way
to learn through ‘the trial and error method’

Publishers: Leadstart Publishing. Frog Books.

The book is available at Flipkart, Infibeam and all major online portals and Retail outlets.

The innocent unreal aspirations of childhood continue to make their presence felt even as an adult. When I was eight or nine years old, the changing shapes of clouds and the starry nights had caught my attention to such an extent that I wished to reach the sky and explore that world. I had enticed a close friend of mine Soni with my fabricated story. I had convinced her that there exists the prince of clouds beyond the skies and that he comes and meets me when I am alone. I still remember convincing her about life on stars and planets. She was so much allured by the story of stars and planets, that she had given me gifts to make sure I call her when I meet the prince of the clouds again. When she had continuously insisted on meeting the prince of the clouds, I had created yet another story of the prince of the clouds being locked in the dark planet.

Life beyond the unknown and mystery about the universe has been a part of my imagination since childhood till date. As Steve job calls it connecting the dots, I can now connect with the flights of my imagination when I am writing my first children’s fantasy book called Secrets of Zynpagua: Return of the princess. Every character of the book has lived with me since childhood.

I wish I were an astronaut and could go and explore the world beyond the realms of the horizon.