Dad

Dad, 

I need your help.

Please hate me.

Push me into the unknown. 

You have always been there for me.

Someone to fall back on. 

A loving hand to hold. 

But your love drains me

of my love for the unknown.

I want to stand on my own feet;

I wish to control the ground I stand on.

But now, I want to run away,

from every gust that comes my way.

Even when my heart pleads so hard,

its curiosity is killing me,

eating me up from the inside.

This war leaves scars inside me.

My heart wishes to fly away, to unknown lands,

facing any stream that comes my way.

But habit holds me back.

Force me out, father.

I do not want to live this battle.

-Shantipriya Shennoy

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS BY JOHN BOYNE

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne is a holocaust novel. It is about a heart-robbing  friendship  between Bruno and Shmuel .Bruno is the son of a Nazi commandant whose family shifted from their home in Berlin to a house  near a concentration camp .Deprived of his new life without school and friends, Bruno sneaks out of his house to explore his neighborhood. During this venture by the iron fences near his home, he meets a Jewish  boy named Shmuel  on the other side of fence. In the midst of this cruel world they found resemblance in each other .Their friendship grew  beyond the iron fences that not even the deadly mist could separate them.

   Annette Sebastian

                                                              

Yellow Lights of Death by Benny Benyamin

YLOD. In a café by the seaside, 2 friends, Christy Andrapper and Jesintha , witness the murder of a young man. When Christy discovers that it was Senthil, his classmate from school, who had been shot, he tries to follow up on investigation.
28 year old Andrapper is just another author under the weight of familial expectation and writer's block, until he witnesses the bizzare accident of his friend being shot dead.The events that follows after are full of suspense and creepiness.  In YLOD , forgotten chapters of history are fleshed out, geography tweaked around Diego Garcia becomes a branch of Kerala almost. An amount of romance is added to the correct measure. The plot often feels disingenuous, like a pre-solved exam paper. The book leaves you with trails that you cannot but go and search for it. A thriller and a must read.

-Sangamithra Ashokan

Poem..by sruthi

I sat with an old-
distorted copper plate
with gruel upto its brim.
My mother
lean,pale and tired
came beside me and lit the lantern.

I found my Dada
- a fragile Being -
parting little stones from the gruel in the light of lantern
as we had stones rather than rice in it.

It was then I heard
an exploding sound.
Bullets started piercing through my
thatched hut.

Anxiously,
I stepped out of my house.
The rifles were roaming there in 'Khaki' uniforms,
bullets were running down
boring into bodies
and were drinking souls.

                                       
-Sruthi Sara Moses

In The Lakes Of Time

It was my first time ever to a lake side. It was a beautiful sight to behold. The still waters and the serene landscapes on the other side would just freeze you in your tracks.

 Initially I wasn't very excited about it. I thought there couldn't be anything special about a lake. I couldn't have been more mistaken. Of all the places I've been to, this one had a "Purifying Effect" on my soul.

There was this enormous tree trunk broken down on the ground, just beside the water. You could climb over it and just sit there. You could sit there staring across the lake all day and never be tired. There's just something to it, an unknown element that keeps you in place. Maybe it was the beautiful scenery of the landscapes and fauna all around. Or it could be that refreshing feeling of breathing in the cold air that soothes you. One way or another it was magical for me.  I could never really get enough of it.

Months past this trip and I'm still reminiscing about it. It was truly a blissful experience that I'll never forget.

Parvathy S. Nair

221

My Villain by Haripriya T.K

Every love story has villain . 

Mine too had one fate 

He forcefully, started to 

Direct my life . 

He took me through many gutter roads 

and left me alone at a dead end. 

He crushed away all my innocent dreams 

and bit my beautiful life into two. 

I could just look at him and wonder 

Why he was doing all these harm to me. 

He twisted and played a lot with my life 

as if it was a toy for him to play on . 

 All love story ends with the death of villain 

but I didn’t let that happen in my story . 

because he was my hero too. 

He made me ripen by giving me lots of sorrow . 

(and if someone tries to bring out the hidden best you 

then how would he be just your villain ) 

Haripriya T.K 

202

Don't tell me you're afraid by - Giuseppe Catozzella

'Don't tell me you're afraid' by Giuseppe Catozzella portrays the real events about a courageous woman Samia Yusuf Omar, who dreams to be the world class sprinter. This novel also gives a sketch about the challenges of the modern migrants face today. The character Samia is a talented and daring young girl who wishes to run in the Olympics. Ali, her best friend was her couch. Her passion and  determination led her to represent her country in Beijing Olympics. She also made her way to 2012 Games. Mo Farah was her role model. But later Samia faces tough times and worse conditions in Somalia and so she decides to leave her country behind. She then migrates across Africa and the Mediterranean sea alone. 

                                   This is a heart touching story and I highly recommend every individual to read especially those who are interested in stories of athletes. This book teaches us the purpose of our lives and how to deal with difficulties. I started reading this book casually but after few minutes I saw myself getting into the story. The author is successful for letting the emotions of Samia reach out the world as he is using first person narrative which makes it more related to the readers..And through this novel Catozzella makes the world notice Samia and her struggle. Truly, an unforgettable story.

Jubeeta Johnson 

213