Dear Pimple

Dear Pimple,

I am writing this to you after suffering from a distress of around 8 years. It's been a long ordeal of stress, panic and restlessness. I never ever said a word to you all this while thinking it was as natural having you in teenage as crushes. You have always been a spoilsport, you know that. You always had to erupt on that big date, farewell, fresher party and my brother's wedding. You came up any time, even when my crush was staring at me, even when I had that important project presentation in the class. You didn't even spare me on my birthdays. I kept on applying Multani mitti, Neem pack and all such kinds of packs but you just didn't seem to get over me. You know about that Ramdev Baba ka lep, it smells like hell but I applied it, thinking if you might also ward off with that awful smell but you have no pity for me. You always knew I hated you but still, you just wouldn't leave me.

I kept on crying, wailing but to no avail; nothing ever seemed to affect you. In fact during days of distress, you'd start pouring in heavy numbers and all I could do brood over the fact that you just can't be treated. My mom must have wasted so much of money on those several dermatologists who promised to cure you with some hefty prescriptions they subscribed me with. I ate some of the most bitter medicines and that highly irritating Safi but you were so stubborn that you just did not leave me.

You have been too cruel to me, you know that don't you? Remember those times when you'd stick on my nose making me look like a joker in front of everyone. Because of you, I had to shut myself on some fun weekends. Because of you, I was often made fun of by my guy friends and you know how it is to survive in a class full of Mechanical engineering students. Think of it, 66 guys laughing at me just because of a big swollen red pimple on my nose. I have suffered so much of humiliation but all I did was held my head high and didn't say a word.

But enough is enough, I am way past my teenage and no way can be so unjust to me. You have hurt me too badly, I have cried way too much and spent all my savings on you. Not only this, I have had to avoid some of the most delicious fried food. I just can't survive like this and now, I am left with no option than to say we need to break-up, like forever.

I don't want to see you ever in my life again. I swear I wouldn't tolerate you spoiling any of my dates, friend's weddings, birthdays, interviews, presentations, nothing. Please stay away from my way.

And let me tell you, I never loved you. I have hated you since the beginning and will do so till the end. It's a good-bye.

Yours,

Terribly annoyed 22 year girl

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Rendezvous with Heema Shirvaikar and Saravana Kumar Murugan

Today, we have Heema Shirvaikar and Saravana Kumar Murugan, the two contributors of UYE-2 who are here tell us about their stories.

'Hickey' by the Mumbai gal, Heema Shirvaikar and '120 Minutes' by Saravana Kumara Murugan, a software engineer find a place for themselves in the popular short story series, Uff Ye Emotions

"Hickey is a story replete with the reminisces and reflections of womanhood wronged with the overwhelming societal moulds and restrictions that we take upon our ownselves.

We often mistake violence with something loud and huge. Hickey is a story that taps into the marks left behind by the soundless, suffocated and unseen assaults wrapped in silk sarees and outdazzled by elaborate jewellery," Heema tells us.

I move on to ask them the question that I've been asking the other participants as well.

"What inspired you to write this story?"

Heema: My story "Hickey" isn't one of the usual romantic stories about love and relationships but instead is the journey of a woman, who is a mute spectator to the stories of those around her. 

I felt that there was a need for people to see beyond love stories - because reality isn't always what we read in the books. Reality can sometimes, be much darker than our idea of it.
Thus was born the idea of "Hickey" - that deals with the flipside of love that novels like Mills and Boons with their perfect love stories do not include. Love isn’t always perfect and relationships are much more complex than one can imagine.

Sometimes, there are a lot of things that people around us misunderstand as love and we, like the protagonist of this story are mere passive observers and feel helpless about it.
How often does it happen that we feel like helping people but we discourage ourselves thinking that it is none of our business!

But it is this discouragement that is driving us farther away from each other, making us almost immune to the thousands of crimes and stories of violence that are around us, making us more and more emotionless towards the sufferings of others. In this scenario, it is important that stories like ‘Hickey’ and books like ‘Uff Ye Emotions’ should invoke those emotions back in people, giving them a break from their daily life where they ignore the things that are happening around them and are only concerned with themselves.

"Hickey" is not only about love and inter-personal relationships, but about the relationship we share with ourselves and with the society at large.

In the light of all the violence that has been happening in this country, especially towards women, this story was inspired by the need to have more stories dealing with social issues. Being a law student who aspires to bring about a change in the state of the weaker sections of the society including women, I felt that my story needed to have a social theme to it, dealing with the other, darker shades of emotions regarding love and relationships that we often don’t disclose and keep buried within ourselves.

This story was inspired by the need of the society that we become sensitive towards each other and help each other than staying selfishly concerned only about ourselves. The fact that none of the passersby moved to help a severely wounded Nirbhaya when she was mercilessly raped and thrown out of the bus questions our sensitivity towards each others’ pain. We need to bring some emotions back in ourselves, and for that, I felt that we do occasionally need a little different story like "Hickey" to jolt our emotions back.

About Heema:

20 year old Heema Shirvaikar is currently a second year law student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune. Her articles, stories and poems have been published in various magazines and online platforms. She maintains her own blog at http://snowontherocks.blogspot.in/.

Follow her on her Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/HeemaShirvaikar.page

Moving onto Saravana who runs a blog by the name 'Few Miles' under the pen name 'Someone is Special', I asked him a little about his story.

We struggle to express our love to our loved ones. At times, we fail to do at the right moment. But when we face a tough situation, we win with flying colors. “120 Minutes” is a story of love, promise and faith. Dedication of the protagonists towards love and, the will to keep his promise intact form the backdrop of this story. 

What inspired you to write this story?

The smile on my wife’s face. Yes, that’s pretty much the reason to write this story. It was a Monday evening. The weather was terribly bad, and our city was listed under red zone. My colleagues and I left to home from office, as we expected the storm to clean the city, and whatever happened in those one hundred and twenty minutes is what you will read in the story “120 Minutes”.

Doesn't that bring a smile on your face and all you want is a copy of UYE-2 :)

About Saravana:

Saravana Kumar Murugan is a senior software engineer by profession, a romantic writer by passion and a photographer by choice. Born to a middle class family living under the hot sun of Chennai, at 26, he aspires to become an author. He is known for his romantic short stories and meaningful poems. Apart from writing, he loves capturing life through his lens, giving life to a paper with his pencil, and satisfies his own stomach with his cooking. He is currently working on a novel called, ‘Love of an Anonymous Soul’, which he is hoping to complete before the end of this year. He writes a blog called ‘Few Miles’ under a pen name, ‘Someone is Special’, and you can get in touch with him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/iamsarav.page

After talking to such creative word weavers, I just can't wait for the book to release.

Pre-order a copy of UYE-2 here:

Flipkart: http://bit.ly/BuyFlipKartUffYeEmotions
Homeshop: http://bit.ly/UffYeEmotions
SnapDeal: http://bit.ly/SnapDealUffYeEmotions

Done? Send us the screen-shot of your pre-order purchase with Purchase ID. Or, give us your order booking number too with ordering date on the event wall -

https://www.facebook.com/events/1470542753171388/

Tete-a-tete with HAC and Udita Pal

THE UYE-2 TEAM

Today, we have two wonderful writers on-board, Himanshu Chhabra and Udita Pal talking about their short story 'NCERT of Love' that will be featured in 'Uff Ye Emotions 2'. Himanshu happened to be a contributor in the first series too and received positive reviews for his entry. Both of them aren't a new name to us, while Himanshu is the person behind the popular blog 'Purple Pen', Udita Pal is an complete package of talent and beauty.

Moving onto the question I asked them was 'What inspired them to write their story?' and this is what they've got to say.

They say everyone has a story to tell. In my case, I have many. Maybe, I am bad at maths or I am the exception to this statement but I have surely more than one story to tell. Every passing day is a story; every sleepless night is a story. I just want to capture them as much as I can in my books. Because I know that at the end, everyone is a story and I want to be the one read for ages. 

About Himanshu:

Himanshu Appie Chhabra, owner of Purple Pen Blog, is currently pursuing CA. He belongs to the city of Hisar and is an avid reader. A complete package, Himanshu muses every one with his strings on guitar. He is popular with his pen name ‘HAC’ He can be reached at www.facebook.com/HACwrites or hactheauthor@gmail.com.

About Udita:

Udita Pal is a 17-year-old 12th standard student, pursuing commerce in Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand. She’s obsessed with social networking websites and can be found online either updating funny one liner on her not-so-interesting-for-her-but-entertaining-for-others-life or posting pictures of her. She calls herself a walking scandal and a misunderstood personality. She believes that there is writer in everyone just takes time to come out and make magic with his words She made special place in heart of many people with her witty jokes and quotes. She’s all set to debut with her first full-fledged romance fiction novel by winter 2013. Her dream is to become filmmaker. She loves giving “Gyaan” about love , relationships , lust , friendship , family problems etc. You can reach her on Facebook.com/UditaPal or Uditapal96@yahoo.com or Twitter.com/SwagWomaniya

Incidentally, today happens to be a big day for HAC. The short story collection '25 Strokes of Kindness' published by Grapevine releases today and he shares his name with biggies like Preeti Shenoy, Nikita Singh, Anjali Kriplani, Somprakash Sinha and Sachin Garg. As I write this post, HAC attends his book launch at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj. We sincerely pray for Himanshu's success and I heartily apologize for not being able to be a part of his big day. Nevertheless, I expect to meet him during the UYE 2 launch and the rest of the participants as well.

We wish HAC and Udita all the luck.

Pre-order a copy of UYE-2 here:

Flipkart: http://bit.ly/BuyFlipKartUffYeEmotions
Homeshop: http://bit.ly/UffYeEmotions
SnapDeal: http://bit.ly/SnapDealUffYeEmotions

Done? Send us the screen-shot of your pre-order purchase with Purchase ID. Or, give us your order booking number too with ordering date on the event wall -

https://www.facebook.com/events/1470542753171388/

Gupshup with Heena Ahuja and Meghant Parmar

Today, I would like to introduce another two contributors of Uff Ye Emotions-2. Heena Ahuja and Meghant Parmar two popular people in the youth sect of Indian literature fraternity. While Heena dorns the hat of being Ms. Wordsworth, Meghant is counted as one of the best reviewers of today's times.

Meghant and Heena are authors to the short story 'Love and Sacrifices' and I have exactly the same question to them as well: What inspired you to write this story?


Meghant

There are two types of inspiration to write the story. First is a couple of people. The people I’m talking about are: Mehek the author of Chained and my co-author Heena Ahuja. The poetic influence came into my mind after I read Mehek’s book and Heena because she pushed me in the fray and instilled that confidence to pen the story down. As far as the plot is concerned I had a rough outline in my mind then I jotted it down and page after page words tumbled out. Heena too gave her inputs at various stages to make the job easier for me. So it’s not a single person’s effort, it’s a joint effort of me and Heena. 

Heena

When it comes to writing story there are few people who have been my supporter and inspiration too. Firstly my mother and then a friend who has always inspired and encouraged me to try out what my heart says. Finally my co-author Meghant, initially when he came up to me with the idea to be a part of this competition together I was skeptical but with his constant encouragement and support I couldn’t turn it down. Rest with all the discussion and hard work things fell into place and the outcome is in front of all of you 

~A sneak peek into the story~

Love and Sacrifices is a story about Kent's parents how they meet and unexpectedly fall in love and how the cruel fate separates them in a way that they are still together and the way they tackle their situation without knowing what the future holds for them. It's a tale of undying love and care, selfless sacrifices and help and the unspoken faith on each other.

About Heena: 

Heena Ahuja, a Mumbai girl at heart is an avid reader. Reading fiction caught her fancy when she stumbled across Sidney Sheldon, Dan Brown & Nicholas Sparks books. After completing her masters she found her true calling in writing and has a lot of published poems under her belt in various e-magazines and columns. She loves listening to music and learning new things about life. She is a poetess at heart and ends up pouring her heart on a paper. She has a full time Facebook page where people have admired and adored her writing too. You can connect with her through her Facebook profile and her writing page too.

https://www.facebook.com/heen.ahuja

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heenas-Wings-iwrite/193028494121192

About Meghant:

Meghant Parmar hailing from New Delhi is a born car & gadget fanatic. His love for books blossomed when he first came across Tinkle & Champak magazines. Later on reading fiction became a forte and he is one of the fastest readers present around. He did his English Honors and now is looking for an opportunity to make a name for himself in writing industry. He is an upcoming book reviewer with a blog only dedicated to book reviews. His penchant for reading, writing and observing the surroundings comes naturally. When he is not writing and reading you can find him exploring historical places and following cricket religiously. He currently resides in Chennai. You can contact him through Facebook and his blog too.

https://www.facebook.com/meghant.parmar

http://booksallaroundme.blogspot.in/

That was all for today, the next one to have on-board is the handsome Himanshu Chabbra and the cute Udita Pal.

Pre-order a copy of UYE-2 here:

Flipkart: http://bit.ly/BuyFlipKartUffYeEmotions
Homeshop: http://bit.ly/UffYeEmotions
SnapDeal: http://bit.ly/SnapDealUffYeEmotions

Done? Send us the screen-shot of your pre-order purchase with Purchase ID. Or, give us your order booking number too with ordering date on the event wall -

https://www.facebook.com/events/1470542753171388/

Gupshup with Ishani Malhotra and Tarang Sinha

Going by the promise, let’s all give a warm welcome to the very beautiful Ishani Malhotra who currently resides in Guwahati and Tarang Sinha, an avid blogger and a columnist.

Let's not carry with my usual bak-bak and instead read on what inspired them to write their story.

I started to write my story - I'LL BE THERE one night randomly but stopped after penning 300 odd words and I got busy working upon my debut novel. However, when Vinit started the contest, I wanted to take part in it. I was contemplating on writing a new story first but then I decided on continuing and finishing this one up.  
Today’s generation often have to go through emotions and situations like love, cheating, break-ups and one night stands in a very small span of time. I have grown up in a metropolitan city of India, Calcutta that is a fascinating mosaic of the fast paced life that we live today. This topic was something that I always wanted to write about and let the world know, that if you are cheated upon or given a cold shoulder by the one whom you love, you should not worry about it. I firmly believe that for every Villain, there is always a hero. And what better way to pen it down in a love story. Not denying the fact that Love does take its toll in our lives, but above all I believe its again love that has the ability to transcend us from any complex situations we face in life.

And I couldn't agree more. We wish Ishani all the good luck for not just UYE-2 but also for her full fledged novel on which is presently working.

Oh and yes, before that let me share a few lines from her story.

The next person is someone who has been a little mystery for all of us but somewhere when I went through her blog I realized how much of an inspiration this lady is for all of us writers. Humble, kind and down to earth is what I would describe for Tarang Sinha. Anyway, let's move on to know what inspired her to write her story 'Dilemma'.

'Dilemma' is a woman centric story that deals with relationships, emotions and a very special bond. 
 I think, In a relationship, apart from unconditional love and support, you need some space to breathe your own thoughts, desires and views, and expect your partner to understand and respect it. Otherwise a beautiful emotion may lose it's charm. 
So, if you ask about inspiration, I would say, it's different shades of relationships, oodles of emotions that float in women hearts and troubles they face due to the eccentric mindset of our society, that inspired me to write this story. 

You can connect with Tarang on her Facebook Page or follow her blog 

Pre-order links:
Homeshop: http://bit.ly/UffYeEmotions
FlipKart: http://bit.ly/BuyFlipKartUffYeEmotions
SnapDeal: http://bit.ly/SnapDealUffYeEmotions

Like UYE on Facebook

This is all for today. I'll be coming up with the rest of the participants as well. Till then stay healthy and keep shining!!!

Love

Harshita

Uff Ye Emotions: Curtain Raiser

What is Uff Ye Emotions?

Like the lyrics of an old song, which keeps repeating themselves in our mind or a fever dormant in the blood or an importunate lover impossible to get rid of, the memories of love or 'love' itself keeps returning in our lives again and again at the oddest of times and the strangest of places.

 Randomly, beautifully, haphazardly or passionately, love lives up again--for it has been waiting for you, waiting for this union, waiting to merge with YOU at last.

 So, keeping the trend alive and after the roaring success of our novice, Uff Ye Emotions, we are back once again with 'Uff Ye Emotions 2'.

With Love, comes many emotions--some of them being pain, betrayal, hatred, hope and friendship. We fall IN and OUT of love time and again, but we can never be tired of it--because it is one of the only few aspects of life we can-t keep ourselves away from, isn't it?

Selected and edited by Vinit K. Bansal, this time again 11 touching stories from authors across the country, will be delighting the readers who swear by love stories. And for those who don’t read love stories much, come and discover why they are so engrossing.

Starting from Monday i.e. tomorrow, I will be introducing every participant on Dreams V/s Reality. Stay tuned at the same place to know what inspired these writers to writer their story.

You can pre-order a copy from the following links:

Flipkart: http://bit.ly/1a0ZuY3

HomeShop18: http://bit.ly/UffYeEmotions

Snapdeal: http://bit.ly/SnapDealUffYeEmotions

Till then stay blessed and keep smiling.

Love

Harshita

My Kiddo Strongest

"Hello!!"

"Yes, Ma! How are you?" Sheetal replied in a tensed tone.

Being a mother Mrs. Mehra didn't take a second to realize that there was something that was worrying her daughter.

"What happened Sheetal? Is something worrying you? I can sense that from your voice. And I have called you thrice since yesterday but you don't seem to pick up my calls. You can share it with me. Did you and Avinash have a fight or is it something related to Rohan?" Mrs. Mehra asked her daughter.

"Nothing happened between me and Avinash, in fact we are all a happy family but the only thing that worries me is Rohan's health. Every fortnight he falls sick, sometimes it's fever sometimes it's cold or typhoid. I just don't know what to do. He seems so weak all day due to which even his studies are suffering. He has to skip school and each visit to doctor results in nothing but a few meds that work only for sometime. Every day he comes home with unfinished lunch. The doctor tells me his immunity system has to be worked on but how? He doesn't eat anything healthy. I really don't know what to do Ma."

Mrs. Mehra had experienced all this and was a wise lady. She answered, "Sheetal, you know it isn't easy to groom kids. You have just one, I had three of you at your age but we all survived, didn't we? If you lose your cool now, how can you expect a happy and a relaxed family. Today you have so many resources back then we didn't have all these but you know a little patience and hard work does it all."

"Ma, I have tried every thing. I prepare healthy food for them and feed him with fruits but this mischievous son of mine doesn't have anything. All he wants is those pack of candies and chocolates in the refrigerator."

"And what about exercise? Does Rohan get involved in physical activities?" Mrs. Mehra inquired.

"Don't even ask about that? He is always too weak to even indulge in any kind of sports." Sheetal answered.

"Now girl, just stay calm and do as I say. Rohan is just a seven year old kid whose immunity system is developing and that is why he is more vulnerable to infections. He will only eat something if he finds it attractive. If you cook simple veggies for him, he will never have them. Today's kids want everything colourful. Treat him with veg frankies (roll of roti stuffed with veggies) or quesadilla (flour tortilla or a corn tortilla filled with a savory mixture containing cheese, other ingredients, and/or vegetables, then folded in half to form a half-moon shape). Spice up your dish with cheese or tomato ketchup. Make him a parantha pizza or star shaped chapatis.
Cut out fruits for him in cute shapes and watch him gobble all."

"Just like you made for me," Sheetal couldn't help remembering the days when her Mom prepared chapatis of different shapes and sizes.

"Yes and try to keep him away from too much of sugar. I know kids love sweet dishes and that is why always use brown sugar or jaggery as a substitute. Brown sugar is a little expensive but health is more important. Feed your family unprocessed or brown rice, keep away from white bread or maida made products. These are things you must be knowing but I am reminding you because we often forget to apply all this. Soak some almonds overnight and either crush and add it to the milk you offer Rohan in the morning or just ask him to have them directly.

And dear, I hope you all have Chyawanprash daily." Mrs. Mehra asked Sheetal.

"Oh Ma!! None of them have it. In fact even I also can't have it, just can't tolerate the taste."

"Girl, you shouldn't be saying like this. You know since years Dabur Chyawanprash has been a part of our family and it has helped improve immunity of everyone including you and your brothers."

"Ma, I know the benefits but the taste..."

"Sheetal, now I don't expect this from you. I do agree there was a time when Chyawanprash had a taste that not everyone could relish but the good times have come and it now comes in different flavours, Orange, Mango and Mixed Fruit. They also have a Sugarfree variant that I have daily."

"Seriously Ma? I didn't know."

"Yes, I am really surprised to see you not knowing about it. Anyway, now don't waste too much of time and get one for your family. Rohan's problems will get solved soon if you start giving him Dabur Chyawanprash. It is scientifically proven to provide 3 times more immunity that helps fight virus, flu and infections. It has anti-oxidant properties & strengthens your body's internal defense mechanism, the immune system, thereby protecting you from day to day infections such as cough, cold etc. It has a number of herbs like Amla, known to be one of the best antioxidants, Giloy (Guduchi), known to have immuno-modulatory properties, and has more than 40 other natural ingredients."

"Thank you so much, this really helped me."

"Always there for you darling and plus, don't forget to exercise daily. In the morning, all of you must together do some physical activity because a child always follows his parents. If you two have a balanced lifestyle, Rohan will have one too. Have loads of fluids and one more thing that I have observed these days is every time you guys have cold you rush for a tablet. This is not the answer to your problem, it can override your confusions. Have good food and always remember to feed them with Chyawanprash, not just Rohan but all three of you should have this wonderful or I should say magic of Ayurveda."

"Yes Ma, I will follow all your advice. I wonder what I would do without you," Sheetal kept the phone with a relaxed state of mind.

Soon enough Rohan came wearing his latest Krissh 3 mask and all Sheetal could do was hug him tightly.

P.S: This post is written as a contest entry for Dabur Chyawanprash conducted on Indiblogger.


Image Courtesy: Google Images