A 13-year-old’s attempt at Write India

The Times of India is running the Write India initiative – “the country’s first ever Short Story Contest of the kind, providing a writing platform unlike any other”. Since July this year, each month a designated ‘Author of The Month’ has been sharing a passage. The writer has to develop that passage into a story. Read more on the Write India site here.

My son Gautam, all of 13, who quite enjoys writing, attempted the August contest, with Chetan Bhagat being the Author of The Month. The writer needed to use the following passage somewhere in the story. The story also needed to have a ‘life lesson’.
“She sat in the Starbucks cafe, sipping her coffee and staring out of the window. The blood stained knife lay next to her handbag, covered with her blue silk scarf.”

Here is Gautam’s story.

The Kid who was ‘Extreme’ – The Wizard of Fire

One cold Chandigarh morning in 2012, my little son Gautam, then about 9 years old, was sitting atop his bunk bed and seriously writing away. Nothing could disturb him. After a couple of hours he jumped down. “I’ve finished the story!” Soon my elder son Siddharth started reviewing the manuscript with him. Neat cursive writing spread over several left over pages of a previous year’s school red-and-blue lined notebook. Together they made a few changes here and there, and then they were satisfied. The story was made into a “book” and copies were distributed to the boys’ classmates before we moved from Chandigarh a month later.

The Kid who was ‘Extreme’ – The Wizard of Fire    

One day a watch mysteriously falls into Ron’s backyard. Was he chosen by someone to save the world? Was it just a watch that fell from the sky? Will he use it for good or bad?

Read the story to find out.