'Operation Chikoo'

                                                                                          An Excerpt

      Pakya, Natya, Gundya, Barkya and Sasha were a gang of young lads, all aged between seven and twelve, often at loggerheads with Mango and Company (Mango’s gang).

Mango had long ago, given up on any attempts at unity between the two gangs. The members just didn’t jell with each other. They were as different as chalk and cheese, in attitude, games that they played and the language that they used.

While Mango and Co. were polite and refined, Pakya and Co. were into slang and swear words. Mango and Co. were eager learners of new skills and appreciative of each others’ talents. Pakya and Co. were given to laziness, resistant to any kind of change and prone to quarreling at the drop of a hat.

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The copyright of this story is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

Do read this book on Amazon! The second of my "Chikoo Series".

When Chikoo was very bitter...

                                                         An Excerpt

   

      Chikoo was the only one who was studying in an English medium school in Tilaknagar, a small town, 50 kilometres away from the ‘aamrai’ which had about 15-20 shanties of houses. These were thatched with coconut leaves and tin roofs and had walls made from mud, fortified by cow-dung cakes and crude plaster. Jute bags had been ripped apart and hung as cool curtains for the shanties.

      When it became too hot in summer, water from a natural spring nearby, was liberally sprayed on the ‘curtains’ to provide an air-conditioned comfort for the simple and hard-working residents. Sturdy twigs and branches of babul trees were used to act as bars on the small windows, which effectively prevented thieves from pilfering their meager, yet well-earned belongings; with their sharp thorns. The floors were the solid earth, smoothened laboriously, with a daily smattering of soft cow-dung.

       

                                                      End of the Excerpt

      

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The copyright of this story is with Mrs.Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

You can read this story in my book at Amazon. It is the first of my "Chikoo Series". 

Eagerly awaiting your reviews as well as wholehearted participation in "Chikoo Champion's Challenge Reading Event" presented by Priya's Vision Academy.

Hope

           
          Sheetal stretched her arms high above her head.  She had just woken up from her sleep.  The sun shone brightly on her.  She was a dark-complexioned, even-featured, brown haired lady of about 25 years.  

The copyright of this story is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

The Loss

       
           The small children of Janata Vasahat, the large slum settlement, bang in the middle of the big city; appeared bewildered and sad.  Since the elders were crying, they cried too.  When they saw some ladies, beating their chests and banging their heads on a nearby wall, they started imitating them.  The scene before them, though a grave one in reality appeared as much a farce to them, as the scenes shown in the films that they watched on TV.
     

The copyright of this story is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.