Preface
I, have always had these faint images of unfamiliar characters running across my mind. Normally I would dismiss them all as ramifications of so many characters I come across in movies and the ones that my mind had spawned while catching up on a book by my favorite authors.
I strongly believe in the legendary Paulo Coelho’s statements in the most awesome creative pieces of modern times “The Alchemist” where he speaks something about ‘Beginner’s Luck’ when everything goes right with people who dive into nebulous areas, but perhaps only the truly gifted and the lucky ones survive the nebula and come out to see fresh light on a new world. In his words, it is the ‘principle of favorability’, a force which exists that wants you to realize your personal legend and it whets your appetite with a taste of success.
For me, coming up with a story line that was something different from the millions of plots that are already out in the market, the television, the internet and the movies; itself was the taste of success. I would not claim to have found my personal legend as it is always an eternal quest of the entire evolving species called the human race to discover their personal legend.
I would not say that my characters ever came to life and spoke to me about any difference in opinions they might have had. Maybe, many of the characters hate the way I have portrayed them, but I know I will be forgiven, for I am a man searching for my soul; and a traveller, hunter, gatherer are always seen in different lights by the controlling force.
I have always been intrigued with the imagination of little children. These sweet little people are reflections of everything that’s good about humanity – innocence, trust, innocuous curiosities, and sense of adventurism, aptitude for conjuring new tools and an unshakeable faith in the self. These are the very attributes that have gone into the writing of this short story.
It takes off from where it had stopped earlier, in the little hamlet in India’s Scotland, Coorg. A tiny play of destiny had triggered a great characteristic in my story’s lead protagonist – Chavi, The bookworm. This story is about the journey she takes to a distant place and in between she adds along friends who would be her driving & guiding forces and also realizes that the Universe had planned something very special for her.
I have been extremely conservative with the language of narration as I do not want to taint the innocence of childhood with the corrupting forces that a bold and expletive laden narrative style often carries. Of course, you do find some depictions of gore and violence but I have tried to keep them as restrained as possible, without diluting the intensity of the plot.
I am a very strong believer in the cause and effect relationship of the world of which fate & destiny are major components. I presume that for every ‘cause’ there is an ‘effect’. This theory underscores the latent philosophy in my narration.
I am an amateur and I agree that my work would be riddled with deficiencies and short comings. I have only created this work by putting myself in the shoes of the average reader & not the uber intellectuals.
I take pleasure in offering my first ‘real’ work of fiction and I hope you all enjoy.
Vinay Palsamudra