The ringing of bells and the chanting of priests echoed resonantly through her ears. The smog from the fire was soaring higher and higher in the air. The waft of incense sticks hovered in the room. The instant Neha came out of the room, she felt as if she could finally take a breath. Nobody understood how troublesome it was for an atheist to be a part of a pooja. For her, it was like being somewhere she did not belong. She didn’t understand the purpose of believing in God because she could believe in herself and that belief was what mattered to her. Although, she didn’t have much choice. Most of the times, when anyone heard about her being an atheist, they would get startled; all the more because for people around her an ideal girl should have been following their rules of devotion. Her mother believed that religious worship was crucial as she thought that God was the only one who could protect her at all times.
Monthly Archives: August 2021
Two To Tango By Soma & Haritha – Special Mentions
At Beyond the Box, we are constantly thinking of ideas to give something unique, refreshing as well as challenging to our community of writers. Two to Tango was one such endeavour to encourage the participants to work along with another writer as a team and bring about a creative synergy. 66 teams participated in this one-of-its-kind contest and the winners were chosen by an eclectic jury panel comprising of prolific authors Ramendra Kumar, Shilpa Suraj and Apeksha Rao. Below prompt was given to the writers and they were asked to narrate the same story from two different points of view.
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Book Review – Prince With a Paintbrush
Book Title – Prince With a Paintbrush – The Story of Raja Ravi Varma
Author – Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan
Illustrator – Rayika Sen
Genre – Biography
Publisher – Red Panda
Recommended Age – 6+ years
“The greatest treasures are those invisible to the eye but found by the heart.” – Judy Garland.
Mona Lisa is a world–famous painting by Leonardo De Vinci. The specialty of the painting is that it looks towards us from all the sides. But, there are many other artists and painters around the world who have done wonders. However, we do not know of all of them and hence, it is so important that we tell stories of these extra-ordinary talents to pass on their legacy from generations to generations. “Prince With a Paintbrush – The story of Raja Ravi Varma” by Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan does exactly this. It is a fantastic illustrated biography of one of the greatest artists of India – Raja Ravi Varma.
The Sports Buzz
Another day passed by with another medal for the Corry Saints High School trophy room. A close call for the basketball finals, but they brought home the trophy with a score of 20-18. Finally home after a laborious, tiresome week of training, Sophie slumped onto her bed, her face red and sweaty. Hours passed and she hadn’t moved an inch. The tick of the clock became faint as Sophie dozed off, slipping into her own world. Her alarm buzzed at sharp 5 and jolted her awake.
Evolution of children’s literature in India
My first foray into the world of literature was when I was three. My dad got me a magazine called ‘Magic Pot’ and simply said ‘You’ll like this. Read.’ I admit, I initially read only for the free stickers that came with the book, but as I grew older, most of my time was spent swimming through pages of monthly magazines and storybooks that my cousins passed on to me.
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