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This novel is based on the plot that describes the life of a young lady having worked as Assistant Professor at the University level. These days, she is engaged by a Trust, interested in promoting `mental illumination through peace of mind and self-confidence. She is going places to deliver lectures, keep in mind the aims of the organization as well as the composition of the audiences. In fact, since her infancy she is on the move from one part of India to another, even having no idea of the identity of the couple who parented her. Having been reared up by a domestic maid, she was obliged to inherit this type of job to earn for her livelihood. The onset of puberty in the proximity of unrelated men was to be withstood with caution and care for her chastity. These tours of lecturing around, once make her find a known lady in her audience in Delhi. This incident opens her the way to meet many people in this big city and take her to the person who fathered her. Here, she also gets the truthful information about her mother....

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Dear Madhu Ji, On my way back home I recapitulated, as my routine exercise, the discussions at the Coffee House. Can you recall the reaction of Mr Malik to Lal's outburst against the final outcome of Dhananjay Chakrovarty's legal battle to ward off the Capital punishment pronounced on him for rape and murder of a minor girl, when he himself was just 21 years? ……………..." I suppose Mr. Malik came out with some amusing retort, which made almost the entire group at the table giggle and I could not make out anything but only observe Mr. Malik move towards the toilets. Respected Sir, I clearly heard your `Guruji`, I mean Mr Malik, murmur aloud, “Is there any punishment available to your civilized society to punish an errant woman who voluntarily and actively seduces and commits rape on an innocent, uninitiated and in the prime of his youth?” “Do you mean a rape amongst a Lesbian fraternity?” Mr. Lal Singh speaks out smilingly. Mr. Malik simply hung his head down and spoke in his normal pitch, “I mean, on a companion belonging to the opposite sex.” Having uttered these words Guruji peacefully got up and moved in a gentle pace towards pu...

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This story whirls around plot that opens up when two ex-classmates happen to meet inadvertently, one on his official duty, while the other on past-time, enjoying holiday touring alone. Their next meeting, brings a female classfellow of theirs at the hill-station to make them enjoy one another’s company. This re-union continues to grow further during the years that follow. The author portrays just an account of certain events taking shape in the social sectors of these persons, making, breaking or remaking a marriage based on the choice of the persons involved into matrimony. ...

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Hemant's intention in going to the H.P.T.D.C. hotel was, at the moment, influenced by the desire to meet Mr. Manmeet Malhotra, the manager. He also wanted thereby to express his gratitude to Mr. Malhotra who had arranged accommodation for him last night. Hemant was already under obligation of Mr Malhotra for his kind and affectionate treatment of Hemant when three years ago Hemant happened to meet him at the H.P.T.D.C. hotel at Manali where Manmeet Malhotra was working as an Astt Manager, those days. They were seeing each other after almost a decade since their graduation as students of S.R.C.C., Delhi. …………………….. "Well, how is `Bhabhiji`?" Hemant asked. For a few moments Manmeet held up his tongue tightly and only stared at Hemant with a smile on his face. Hemant thought that he had made a mistake. Perhaps, Triplem is still a bachelor like him. "But when I met him in Manali, he had told me that he had got married only three months before.” But Manmeet was quick enough to read the signs of perplexity in his friend's face and lost no time in explaining his position. ……………. He was not interested in knowing more about Ma...

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Poems by Jan De Raeymaeker

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Sound me ---------- Sound me. Am I not round in your mouth? Do I split your lips? Make you spit? Do I make you bite your tongue? Push the syllables out wrongly? Do I make you gnash? Tangle you in a toothed trap? Sound me. I am round in your mouth. I make yours’ open with a pout. Make you lovingly form me And long to breathe me out. ...

Table of Contents Details
Dank 5 Me enemy 6 Stones far from home 8 Machine cleaned 9 Insightful incite 10 Around the Park 12 God bless 13 Sound me 14 Seamus 15 Cackle 16 Madcap and Dove 17 Drifting off 18 Dis Deus 19 Donegal 20 Abandon God 21 Earlsfort and Irish 22 Not good enough 23 Burnt Dahlias 24 Straight 25 Fight to be Me 26 An end 27 On yer bike 28 Functional family 29 Spit 30 Mobile’s cry 31 Pot-bellied Percy 32 Sixteen years 33 Northside lights 35 The pup 36 The covering 37 Lecher 38 Hock 40 Conjoined sugar 41 Poorness 42 The Crowd 43 Bodlian weed 45 Tortoise shell 46 First to go 47 The end of the line 48 Witness to a Trip 49 ...

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This moderately sized novel opens before the reader, with an episode that took place when, after having driven over a hundred kilometers relating to the pleasure trip from Delhi to Kosani,a tourist resort situated in the Kumayun Hills a range of the Himalayas in the North of India, being undertaken by a group of very intimate three unwed oldies, all retired college teachers, when one of them is accosted by the owner of the roadside `Dhaba` (an indigenous restaurant) where they had halted for refreshment. It triggers one of them to recall his boyhood days. Again, at their destination, the other one is accosted by an ex-girlfriend of his, in the distant past. The `trio` who are given to such type of tours, happen to meet two other ladies, while staying in a very beautiful zone of Goa. Here, each of these women have had been connected with either of the two other Professors, who hasn’t yet met any such female pupil of his, during the various other tours, undertaken by them the `trio` till then. These chance meetings brings forth during the next few years, a bond of a purpose for a meaningful solidarity, eventually turning int...

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Three chronic bachelors, on their way to Kosani (Kumayun Hills), have just completed their breakfast at a roadside modern `Dhaba` and the cashier for this solid group of three looks towards his companions, as if to seek their consent to signal the `boy` to bring the bill. So, in a broader sense, we used to be treating each other as `neighbour`, during those days. He is younger to me by a couple of years, but his physique and mannerism suggested his equaling me in age. Of course, he always remained conscious of my superiority, because at that point of time, I already had schooling for seven years, whereas he was thoroughly illiterate. …………………. Kundan happened to be the only `writer` available, had a brisk business almost for a fortnight. "I think that it was here that I actually began to earn for months at a run. One day, my earnings went to as high as Five Rupees and 14 Annas, I decided to place it before my mother, instead of handing it over to my father, as usual. …………. "Well, Khanna Ji, how long you had to work with this medico, before resuming your interrupted schooling?" This question was asked by Mr Nepali. "Of...

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These are short stories, written with minimal editing to preserve the visceral structure; Most of the stories are composed to be read and experienced in the way that dreams might present themselves....

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The collection contains the author’s well-known stories Kumkumam Vithariya Vazhikal, Prakrithanaya Thottakkaran, Thimarpur, Maniyarayilninnu Odippoyavar. The story Maniyarayilninnu Odippoyavar is about a couple plotting to run away on their wedding day. It could be a dream, dreamt by both the bride and the groom, but that haunts them throughout their life. He leaves his wife for delivery after 7 months at her home and leaves for Delhi which is 2000 kms away. On reaching home he finds the sari lying on their bed, and remembers the dream dreamt together....

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A closed door came to her memory. She realized the turmoil that was brewing in her mind, but hardly knew that it had started some time now. The flowers that were kept in a flower vase were hostile to her. She remembered the loneliness in the evenings when, after leaving all her friends waiting alone for the bus . Her heart swelled with a whimper, and in a moment she could not control her sobs. She kept her face down on the pillow and started sobbing violently. The soothing words of her father or mother’s question as to what happened did not help her. So great was her loss. (Kumkumam Vithariya Vazhikal)...

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Stories: Kumkumam Vithariya Vazhikal Malakalude Sangeetham Prakrithanaya Thottakkaran Aswasam Thedi Thimarpur Eiswarathilekku Veendum Mattoru Thottakkaran Chumaril Chithramayimariya Achhan Yathra Parayathe Poyaval Kadalkkarayil Oru Pakshikkaran Maniyarayilninnu Odippoyavar...

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Human relations interest the author. The intricacies of life, the struggle for existence are all raw material for him. The last story Aa Paattu Nirthu (Stop that Song) is about a 5 year old girl who has an HIV infection, and is being boycotted by the inmates of the flats in the building. A really sad story....

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It was her 5th birthday. Waiting at the open door for her friends, who never came, she got tired and fell asleep. When her father came from office she was woken up. He took her in his arms and went to the decorated sitting room, where the birthday cake with her name inscribed on it was kept. The cone shaped caps she had bought for her friends to wear for the party were heaped on a table without any takers. The small carry home packets containing chocolates and balloons for the little guests lay slumbering on the table. He pulled a chair in front of the teapoy on which the cake was kept. The knife with a red ribbon tied on it was kept by the side of it. He took the knife and handed it over to Suji. Her mother Malathi switched on the tape recorder, and stood ready with the camera to click. The song Happy Birthday was heard from the tape recorder, like an obsolete message coming from a strange unknown world. Suji raised her head and asked her mother, ‘Mom, please stop that song.’ (Aa Paattu NIrthu...)...

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Stories: Karutha Thambratti Kalikkalam Oru Onathinte Katha Ayalkkaran Avasanathe Whistle Parichunadanavatha Nadan Swapnam Choochiyum Inambichiyum Valiyoru Album Vaikiyodunna Vandikal Engine Viplavamundakkunnu Kunhimathu Chirichukodirikkunnu Kathayilekku Nadannupoya Stree Theevandi Kayariyittillatha Penkutti Mattoru Vathil Oru Pappakkadakkariyumayi Pranayathilaya Katha Aa Paattu Nirthu....

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A series of poems written during 2015.

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The setting of this novel is Nicaragua in the 1970's, a Central American country impoverished by a cruel dictatorship and a devastating earthquake that destroyed Managua, the capital city. A young teenager, whose parents perished during the earthquake, moves to a rural community to rebuild her life, helping a Christian peasant community....

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Dedicated to Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, William Faulkner and James Joyce, this new novel (2016) has been praised by many readers as a post-modern 21st century classic. Structured as a triptych (a painting with Three Panels), it is an intriguing novel about an English Literature teacher being locked up by a sculptor and the strange events of their lives. It is rich in metaphors and filled with symbolic significance on the meaning of life and the importance of the Arts. It has been positively compared to the best writings of Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, William Faulkner and James Joyce. Acclaimed by teachers of literature as a 21st century classic treasured by lovers of literature and the arts for years to come....

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In 1999 in Valentina, California, a young man named Will Herrera, whose inability to control his methamphetamine use leads him to join a recovery program, there befriends Rodney Toth, an older recovering addict with a similar history. When Will and Rodney learn that Keiko Tsuhara, a young woman with whom Will is infatuated, is being battered by her boyfriend, their well-intended plot to avenge her goes awfully wrong. In five chapters, the novel explores the minds and histories of the characters, particularly Will’s, as they seek to understand how to know, and do, what is right....

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Join us for Volume 1 of Pillbug. In this book Warren R. Smith trundles down the path of flash fiction and short stories. Among other anecdotal excursions, you’ll find within; the story of a Taxi driver who must come to terms with the truth depth of his daughter’s independence. Read the Speckled Egg, magic realism wherein two children, in saving their lives, must change shape. In Jack-O’-Lantern and old woman invites herself to be haunted. In Pillbug, the story is about the risks of day labor. In Purple Hippo, a Hippo decides it's time to shake the world up. Jack and the Magpies is written in defense of a worthy appetite. Contemporary mainstream and humorously literary, you’ll find this collection chock-full of five-minute wisdoms and imagination....

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Yes, it was a crazy season for rabbits. Everywhere they hopped and nibbled — even in the office. Daily I had to sweep them off the desk before I could get a thing done — and I leaned into the task with the whole of my arm and an imprecating grunt because sometimes that’s all there was....

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Introduction The Red Paint Flaking English As A 2nd Language Like Caffeine Sweet Nothings Individually Wrapped The Speckled Egg Troder of the Mish'dee Orb Dotting Tigers Jack-O'-Lantern Candy-Corn Angel On Religion Pillbug A Walking Tour Paused Purple Hippo No Man Left Behind Laundromat The Last Thing A Memory Without Name The Girl With the Sheep Animal Magic Jack and the Magpies About The Author...

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One would expect a young man whose single mother skipped town a couple of hours after his birth, to have a few problems, but Mortaumal [Mort] doesn’t seem to, thanks to his grandfather. However, when that support is gone and foster parents fail, and there are nasty people demanding he do evil deeds...things begin to look pretty desperate. From the age of ten to eighteen Mort lives with and meets an extraordinary variety of people, gets himself into and out of very hot water, sees rather too many people die, learns to defend himself both physically and mentally, and ends up unimpressed with humanity in general, while loving the few who come up to scratch. This is a light-hearted, not too serious tale about death and dying, affection and callous indifference, independence and love somewhere in tropical Queensland. There’s sentiment but not sentimentality, social criticism, excitement, fun and a bit of everything else in a fast paced yarn that suggests ways to live that are more interesting and natural than those we see on our screens. ...

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1 Mortaumal According to his grandfather, Mortaumal was a smart kid. According to Mortaumal, Simon was a brainless bully. So why wasn’t it Simon lying on his belly, face pressed into the dust, scarcely able to breathe? Surely twice as big should be beaten by twice as clever? Obviously not, or Mortaumal wouldn’t have had his head flushed in a toilet bowl yesterday, and he wouldn’t have had to endure six months of increasingly unpleasant torment. On this relentlessly sunny afternoon, Simon had ambushed Mortaumal from behind a billboard advertising the benefits of ‘Jezebel’s Gymnasium for Fabulous Fitness’, dragged the object of his unwanted attention behind it, thrown him on his face in the dust and sat on his legs. When fruitless flailing of arms failed to free him, Mortaumal had just decided to humiliate himself by screaming for help when Simon dragged his shorts down. Shocked, or perhaps excited at the absence of underpants, the bully allowed his grip to slacken enough for his victim to slither away and tear down the street, school bag flying, shorts barely back in their usual place when he was stopped by a busy road. A q...

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Table of Contents 1 Mortaumal 2 Leon 3 Shrude Aywun 4 Confidences 5 Death 6 Mrs. Pettie 7 Dying 8 The lawyer. 9 Self Defence. 10 Pissed Off 11 Leon and Hugh 12 Family life 13 Fystie 14 A day at the river 15 School 16 School work 17 Mr. Brawn on Women 18 A visit 19 Beach Bully 20 Debriefing 21 Abuse 22 Rescue 23 Marshall on Childhood 24 Paying for It 25 Fystie Returns 26 Life with a lawyer 27 Further Education 28 Sergei 29 Zoltan’s Mother 30 The God Question 31 On Top of the Mountain 32 Marshall meets Angelo 33 Perdita 34 The Beach 35 Bullies 36 Ultimatum 37 Farewells 38 A Change of plans 39 Impersonation 40 Julian 41 The Truth 42 Elbert 43 A Social Occasion 44 A Room With a View 45 School 46 Mr. Preggy 47 The Basement Flat 48 The cop 49 Miss Bussty 50 Brawl 51 Perdita’s present 52 Stefan 53 Perdita Perdue...

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A revolution replaces the Queensland government with a coalition of religious fundamentalists who have strong ideas on how their subjects ought to live, and how to enforce compliance with their draconian laws. Readers have asked what happened to Robert and Bart, the heroes of Rough Justice. They thought I had left them in a bad place…and so I had. Others wanted to know what happened to Sebastian and Jarek between the end of Jarek and the beginning of NumbaCruncha. A good question that requires an answer because what happened could all too easily be the political future for us. So, Fidel is a prequel to NumbaCruncha, and a sequel to my other five novels—Rough Justice, Dome of Death, Sebastian, Jarek and Mortaumal. Fidel is fifteen when the story begins sometime in the near future. He’s running away from home to the big city where he falls into trouble, then miraculously falls out again, and grows into a sturdy, well-liked young man. Like most people he is too busy living to notice that a relatively quiet revolution is taking place, replacing the government with a coalition of religious fundamentalists who have strong id...

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1 Fidel Fidel was scared. Shit scared. He felt like throwing up and probably would have if he'd had any breakfast. He had to stop thinking about it or he’d chicken out. His whole life had been one long worry that he’d done something wrong and would be punished…but this was sharper, more urgent, more exciting too if he could only stop thinking about all the possible consequences. Taking a deep breath he shouldered the backpack that had been hidden in a corner for weeks, let himself out of the shed, crossed the back lawn and tapped on his brother’s open window. Hylas appeared, rubbing at sleepy eyes. ‘Fidel! What’s the matter?’ ‘I’m off.’ ‘Now? But you…’ ‘Shhh! You'll wake Mum. I just wanted to say goodbye and tell you I love you.’ ‘Where are you going? I love you too! Will you write?’ ‘Brisbane. Of course I’ll write. Don’t tell Mum anything. Pretend to be surprised I've gone.’ With a cheery wave that even Hylas knew was fake, Fidel adjusted his pack and ran off before his courage ran out. Twenty minutes later he was sticking out his thumb on the David Low Way. Almost immediately an elderly couple in a battered T...

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Contents 1 Fidel 2 City Centre 3 The Karims 4 What to do? 5 Bart’s enterprise 6 Arnold Jurgenz 7 Bart and Robert 8 Lance 9 Luck 10 Arnold’s Gym 11 Natural Fitness 12 Hylas 13 Brothers in Brisbane 14 Hylas Meets Natural Fitness 15 And Hylas Makes Five 16 JECHIS 17 Lance Returns 18 Disintegration 19 Inspection 20 Plans 21 The Administrator 22 Ciao Natural Fitness 23 Peter and Jon 24 A Forest Retreat 25 On The Run 26 Unpleasantness 27 Travelling On 28 A Meeting 29 Justice 30 F.N.Q. 31 Protectors 32 A Blast From The Past 33 Oasis 34 Tests 35 Developments 36 Job Interview 37 The Vote and After 38 Sanity – Insanity 39 Nothing Lasts Forever 40 Decisions 41 Ciao Oasis 42 Research 43 Solutions 44 The Institute 45 Settling In 46 Endgame ...

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A savage race whose main source of food is humans are fast running out of supplies and so must attack their rival race, who they believe are the cause of their growing food shortages....

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It was late at night, I held firm with such tight grip the weapon I carried then I heard screams and as I looked around, all I could see was a burning bush; the entire place licked up by flames, the moon light blocked by a thick smoke that mantled the surroundings. All of a sudden, about three of them ran out of the bush with their body enshrouded with fire, something burst in the flames like big drums accompanied by a hissing sound which irrupted. The smell of sulphur and burning flesh took my nose hostage but for some reason, I stood and watched the horror with my feet grounded defensively. The invaders took siege of the bush holding their torches as they continued to set it ablaze. I went round and saw people being butchered by the invaders, anyone that jumped out of the burning bush was instantly killed. The sight was awful and it seemed there was nothing I could do. I also noticed the invaders were bigger in size compared to the ones that were being hunted, burnt and killed. The sound of their voices and cries in the fire weakened my heart. I could not fathom why I was there or why I could not do anything. The attack was...

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Acknowledgments Dedication I am Buga The dead Purican prince The brides Head on a platter The sun sets on the Redicans Tempest The guardian Friends and foes ...

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Hahn reflects on the world as it existed in 2076, before the war, and how the devastation unleashed by the war shaped the lives of the survivors. Hahn is keen that the school boy, Eugene, grasps that, while there were huge changes in technology before and after the war, the most important change was in people, and their attitude towards each other and the planet on which they lived....

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Eugene’s brow furrowed. ‘You mean you could choose who died?’ ‘Oh yes.’ Hahn’s tone was matter of fact. ‘But now I venture onto the territory of state secrets! Not only were we implanted with health chips, those of us who thought we were important were implanted with tags that identified our status. This was updated in real time. So if my car was in an accident with another, and there was a possibility that one car would be so badly damaged its passengers would die, one of the decisions taken by the cars’ on-board computers would be which passenger was higher status and should have the higher chance of survival.’ Eugene looked astonished, ‘But how could that happen?’ ‘You have to remember that our computers worked at a phenomenal speed and there was plenty of time for them to check which car carried the higher status individual and redirect that car to minimize impact on them. That might involve a far worse collision for the other car and its passengers.’ Eugene shook his head. ‘Weren’t people outraged at this?’ ‘That’s where the state secret came in. No one knew this happened, apart from the agency that monitored status, and t...

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A pamphlet of 20 pages of poetry.

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Iridescent blues flash in fiery sunset: swallows flying like crossbows.

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Two bank employees, one married male and the other unmarried female happened to mark affinity for self in the other. This unmarried person was the boss of the other one. In view of the mutual affinity, this boss visited the other’s residence for delivering in person the `invite` on the occasion of her marriage with an NRI doctor. In a couple of years, the marriage of both these persons reached the stage of irretrievable breakdown, as both were feeling suffocated with the behaviour and attitude of their spouses. By the by, they happen to divulge to each other the emotional injuries suffered at the hands of their respective callous spouses. However, they happen to be neighbours by virtue of the flat allotted to them by their bank under the self-financing scheme for its employees envisaged to reach them a surprise bonanza in a unique `no profit, no loss` basis. The events at the inlaws family in the case of both of them brought them physically closer, with the blessings of their parents. Thus, they happen to be `a circumstantially evolved couple`. ...

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“It appears to me that almost every religion tends to circumscribe the reasoning potentials of its followers. The self-styled custodian of the religious beliefs would not take it upon himself as a duty to seek the explanations of the `deviating folk`, unless an explosive situation emerges,” Nidhi expresses her opinion in the presence of the lone listener … She says, “Even at this moment, some kuchcha structure is visible. A notice board is also clearly visible from here. I think, let’s move towards that hut, to check, if that hermit is still using that hutment even after a period of fifty five years has gone by.” He looks undecided, but his wife almost drags him towards that sign-board. It reads the same contents. The door seems to have been bolted from inside. They move away awfully, lest they disturb the hermit’s peace. …. Nidhi often happens to recall her days when she had once heard from Anirudh that Smriti’s father is a doctor in a government dispensary and has been living an ostentatious type of life. It had resulted in his daughter always complaining of the total absence of modern amenities for leading `a moderately c...

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A little book to his father by a third grader on Father's Day, 2007.

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If I were a car, toolbox, flashlight, computer, monkey, solar panel, goat, or tow truck.

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If I Were A Car If I Were A Toolbox If I Were A Flashlight If I Were A Computer If I Were A Monkey If I Were A Solar Panel If I Were A Goat If I Were A Tow Truck I Am Your Son...

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A little book to her father by a third grader on Father's Day, 2004.

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If I were a firefly, bee, hummingbird, puppy, wolf, kitten, hammer, or pencil.

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If I Were A Firefly If I Were A Bee If I Were A Hummingbird If I Were A Puppy If I Were A Wolf If I Were A Kitten If I Were A Hammer If I Were A Pencil I Am Your Daughter ...