Neha's Notebook

hand in hand, feet in sand, stars shimmering in the sky, water splashing on the land.

Who am I if not just a story? Like the syllable of a wave, spiralling itself infinite times, until all it appears to be is but a word in a book yet, this word carries within it story within a story story within a story story within a story.

Ray Bradbury is the name of one of the most enthusiastic storytellers and fiction writers of 20th century. Most of his novels are written in the themes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. He was also known to share openly, his knowledge of the art with young writers. Many of his teachings can be read in the form of short essays in his book  Zen in the Art of Writing. While I was reading this book  m yself, I came across the word ‘Gusto’ for the very first time through the initial chapters of the book. Its not like that I was awestruck, at once, reading this simple word, howsoever, the way he writes about it, playing emphasis upon it, I could feel the enthusiasm that Mr. Bradbury is known to express in his novels. Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating, by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road he wan

  “It's not too bad when the sun's out, but the sun only comes out when it feels like coming out.” - JD Salinger   Just like the sun in this quotation written by him, JD Salinger too was a man of privacy. He would come out only when he felt like, which means not much if at all. Famous for his square-shooting lines and a solitary lifestyle, Mr. Salinger produced a slim yet rich body of work during his lifetime. Though, it is said that he might have dozens of novels unpublished, still locked away in some nook of his house. He is best remembered for his novel The Catcher in the Rye, based on the loss of childhood innocence of a boy named Holden Caufield and for a collection of short stories that featured his fictional character sets called The Glass Family. JD Salinger’s Journey As a Writer (in brief) JD Salinger began writing short stories during years of his secondary school. Thereafter, stumbling and tripping from drama to business to theatre, Salinger finally found h

  We are all puppets Of the great cosmic designer, The one who fills the morning suns With cups of yellow golden sunshine And the one who chimes and shimmers In the silver moon of the starry nights.   We are all puppets Of the great cosmic kite-flyer The one, at whose fingertips Fly the kites of all colours and shapes.   We are all puppets Of the great cosmic musician At whose rhythms do we pulsate Like strings of a guitar Like keys of a piano.   We are all puppets Of the great cosmic painter Who paints in lush green The crisp needles of leaves And the blades of the grass thin Who paints the curtains of butterflies and the rings of rainbows…   We are all puppets Of the great cosmic sculptor At whose fingertips, Does clay models itself And the mud vases fill their moulds.   We are all puppets Of the magnificent cosmic magician At the spell of whose wand Shimmers the wave tips, At the verse of whom The stars align