Scintillating Stories. Book 1

Life is too short to gain all knowledge by personal experience; one needs to learn from the experiences of others. The best way to do this is through books.A short story deals with an issue generally faced by us at different stages in life and interestingly shows how to tackle it. Whether the reader agrees with the author or not it is certainly informative. Stories may be short but their impact would continue to reverberate for a long time in the reader's mind. Beware!Authors have a knack of casting a spell on the reader and attracting the reader to theauthor's point of view. Readers should step off from the author from time to time and reexamine author's logic critically.

This is a collection of stories; therefore I am giving a brief idea of each story.

1. A tale of two 'Friends': Beware! Sometimes, we come across wicked persons like Gireesh who use friendship for purely selfish purposes. Gireesh, Vagesa and Madhurima were college friends. Gireesh who could not tolerate Madhurima marrying Vagesa, planned and killed Vagesa, in order to grab Madhurima.

2. Another world: This is fiction drifting into a fairy tale; it is Venkat's first contact with a raw unkind world.

3. Crime and punishment: Some husbands like Marthandam are unreasonably cruel toward's their wives. Once the torture crosses the limit of tolerance of the woman, she chooses an effective way to set things right, like Chidrupi did in this story. With the help of her friend, she domesticatedMarthandam by inducing him to believe for four years, that he was HIV positive.

4. A.I.I.E. : Sometimes, well known persons might look bewitchingly attractive and make one run after them!That was what Murthy discovered about his own wife!

5. So was it written: An illiterate construction workerBhadradri found a copper plate with something engraved on it in a script he never saw. With great difficulty, he learnt that it concerned hidden treasure. It lured him to find the hidden treasure. He succeeded but could not survive to enjoy the find!

6. An invasion history forgot to record: Sometimes miracles defeat the greed of unjust invaders like Firoz Khan.

7. Scorpion's sting: In a weaker moment, even a good person like the manager of the choultry, might fall victim to evil influence. A circumstance induced him to repent and reform himself by renouncing everything and becoming a sanyasi.

8. A husband's folly: Nrayana suspected his wife and discovered that it was his own folly. Unlike Narayana, husbands and wives should trust each other implicitly (Even in spite of occasional lapses).

9. Extraction of truth: Professional etiquette is essential for every professional but more so for physicians. A small mistake of Dr.Satyamurthy and his effort to cover it up boom-ranged on him. He had to confess his involvement.

10. Time warp: One is likely to face several crossroads during one's life, at which one needs to take a decision. One's experiences are one's past; one's expectations and ambitions are one's future. The former tends to caution the latter. In this story both of them were personified and brought to the same plane as the present to advise Murthy who was at a crossroads in his life; he had to choose his future between politics and law.

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