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Each month this year, we host a writing theme – the Muse Of The Month, with a ‘writing cue’ from a contemporary female author of Indian origin. The 5 best e
Each month this year, we host a writing theme – the Muse Of The Month, with a ‘writing cue’ from a contemporary female author of Indian origin. The 5 best entries get published here!
Step 1. Read the writing cue (which is either a direct quote from the featured author, or a quote from one of their works, mentioned down below) and get inspired.
Step 2. Write your own story/poem/narrative/essay/piece based on the cue. You could use it as the opening line, the closing sentence, or somewhere in between! You could even choose not to use it anywhere in your story – just write a story using the cue as a prompt. (And the ‘story’ can be fictional – or not – as you wish).
Step 3. Send your work to us. Please email it to [email protected]with ‘Muse of the month – May 2016’ in the subject line, and your story as a word/txt attachment. Do include the name we should use if we publish it, and a brief introduction to yourself (2-3 lines) in the mail.
Please note: Given the number of entries received, we won’t be able to respond to each, but every single entry is being read through very carefully and is much appreciated.
Please send in your stories by May 17th 2016, Tuesday, 3 p.m. IST. The 5 best stories will be published on Women’s Web between the 23rd to 27th May, one on each day.
The material should be previously unpublished elsewhere. (Copyright stays with you and you’re free to subsequently publish it elsewhere).
Keep it between 250 and 2000 words. (Please keep this in mind; in past editions, we have had to disqualify some good entries purely due to word count issues).
Please avoid typing the story as inline text (in the body of the mail) – these will not be considered. Send it as an attachment only.
The 5 best entries will each win a Flipkart voucher worth Rs 250. Plus, there will be 10 overall winners at the end of 2016 from among these winners!
Kavita Kane was born in Mumbai, but grew up mostly in Patna and Delhi. She has been an Assistant Editor at the Times of India, which she quit to become a full time author. With a postgraduate degree in English Literature and Mass Communication, and her past career in journalism, she is a keen observer of human nature, and uses that to great effect in her books.
Her debut novel (2013) Karna’s Wife (review on Women’s Web here) was a bestseller, and is about Uruvi, who is said to be Karna’s third wife. Her second novel (2014) – Sita’s Sister (review on Women’s Web here) deals with another enigmatic mythological personality – Urmila, probably the most overlooked character in the Ramayan. Menaka’s Choice (2015) is about the vulnerability and ‘human’ quality in the famous apsara sent to destroy Vishwamitra’s quest for power.
This is what she says of her characters, and the way she explores them: “most of the characters in the epics are either white or black. Bringing out the greys in them was made it so interesting. Yet they had to be believable and consistent with their character, personality and argument. The facade was there: the underlying layers were deep. And unfathomable.”
Kavita Kane currently lives in Pune with her husband and two teen daughters.
“Doubling that peaceful sense of contentment was the beaming pride she saw shining in her parents’ eyes.” — Kavita Kane, Sita’s Sister
Do not forget to send in your entries by May 17th 2016, Tuesday, 3 p.m. IST
Who’s Afraid Of The Big, Bad Wolf? Winning Entry By Vijayalakshmi Harish
Dreaming Big With Mridul. Winning Entry By Deepa Arun
A Change Of Heart. Winning Entry By Kasturi Patra
Parental Support. Winning Entry By Hip Grandma
Returning Home. Winning Entry by Anindita Roy
Congratulations to all the winners from the Women’s Web team!
Image source: Outlook India.
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I huffed, puffed and panted up the hill, taking many rest breaks along the way. My calf muscles pained, my heart protested, and my breathing became heavy at one stage.
“Let’s turn back,” my husband remarked. We stood at the foot of Shravanbelagola – one of the most revered Jain pilgrimage centres. “We will not climb the hill,” he continued.
My husband and I were vacationing in Karnataka. It was the month of May, and even at the early hour of 8 am in the morning, the sun scorched our backs. After visiting Bangalore and Mysore, we had made a planned stop at this holy site in the Southern part of the state en route to Hosur. Even while planning our vacation, my husband was very excited at the prospect of visiting this place and the 18 m high statue of Lord Gometeshwara, considered one of the world’s tallest free-standing monolithic statues.
What we hadn’t bargained for was there would be 1001 granite steps that needed to be climbed to have a close-up view of this colossal magic three thousand feet above sea level on a hilltop. It would be an understatement to term it as an arduous climb.
She was sure she was dying of cancer the first time her periods came. Why did her mother not explain anything? Why did no one say anything?
Sneha still remembers the time when she had her first period.
She was returning home from school in a cycle-rickshaw in which four girls used to commute to school. When she found something sticky on the place where she was sitting, she wanted to hide it, but she would be the first girl to get down and others were bound to notice it. She was a nervous wreck.
As expected, everyone had a hearty laugh seeing her condition. She wondered what the rickshaw-wallah thought of her. Running towards her home, she told her mother about it. And then, she saw. There was blood all over. Was she suffering from some sickness? Cancer? Her maternal uncle had died of blood cancer!
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