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Showing posts from July, 2024

Excerpt from my story - Can I Wash Off the Shame?

Its an open secret that the education system in India is in a mess. Examinations are still considered the touchstone of a student's worth. Relentless suicides and the running away of young children from home under academic pressure, have not been able to dent our obsession with marks. The IITs and IIMs are still Meccas for the middle class, and getting into them means enrolling their child in coaching factories in Kota. Doesn't matter whether they can cope or opt to tie a noose around their neck. How does a otherwise good student deal with this pressure to excel, particularly when her performance has not been to her satisfaction? How does parental scrutiny and censure hit a young vulnerable mind? This excerpt from my story will give an idea: Excerpt from Can I Wash Off the Shame? Ma and Dad were making such a big deal about the ICSE results, she was really worried. She – their only child, the sole flagbearer of their ambitions, what if she didn’t perform that well and did just

Synopsis of Fragrance of Dried Flowers – A Collection of Short Stories by Barnali Roy

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Writing isn't easy or immediately rewarding, but still I love to write. Maybe because I have so many things to share, so many anecdotes to tell, so many lives to vicariously live. Would you like to know about my second book, and why I wrote it? A glance at Fragrance of Dried Flowers My second book, Fragrance of Dried Flowers , as the name suggests, deals with the paradox of dried flowers having their own fragrance, a rare kind of beauty. It is the imperfect people who create happiness, build relationships with love, and seek solace within themselves. If we, as parents, can contribute our bit by being less critical, less judgmental, and more forgiving, the world would truly be a happier place. Parents, particularly mothers, have a strong role in shaping the lives of their children. A mother’s unconditional love is critical in the life of a child. She can bolster her child’s self-esteem with her kind words and constant support, or break it with her rejection. In the story, “ Ca