Sharks always attract Joe,he loves to know about these big and amazing creatures. Today is the most important day of his life, because he got a first prize for his book about sharks.He should be happy but he is not because his mom doesn’t like sharks.This week his school wants to honor him for his deed and his principal told him to bring his mom with him.He doesn’t know how he will ask about it.Thinking of this he became tired and threw himself on the couch. When he was …

In a very dark day, a quarrel in a family that resulted in a child of dissidents were expelled from the village. The boy ran up the mountain to bring thousands of hurt there. Where there is no one person can find himself.
“Why everything becomes like this”
“Why am I not wanted in my family”
Children were asked to nature while lamenting the sadness that happened to him.
children were aware that many of the mistakes that he did and a lot of dreams that have not materialized. He walked in a very …

I left my two-year-old son without kissing him good-bye.
“Mama’s running to the store, play with daddy. I’ll be back soon.”
His dark brown eyes pierced the armor guarding my heart—as if we both knew I was lying.
But that was impossible. Mason had a hard enough time stringing together a coherent sentence, let alone comprehending the fact he’d never see his mother again.
Lyle didn’t so much as peel his eyes from the TV, or his lazy ass from the couch. Nothing new there. The last I heard of my husband’s voice?
A grunt.
The …

Even in the dark, I could see, the end was near, death was throwing open it’s arms to me. I could feel my pulse ticking, my heart was drumming in my ears,” any minute now” I thought to myself.
“Chikne!! table saaf kar” the man in blue loongi yelled at me.
I hurried to dutifully do the same, after all Anna bhau’s eyes were on me. I had come to Mumbai a day back, the last train from the village left at 3 am, I with the unerring logic of a 15 …

Long hair, Bharatanatyam, feminism, cooking. Kohl in her eyes and a cake for every birthday in the family. Shopping for hand-woven sarees and carnations for her living room. She loved being a woman.
But when it happened for the third time, she hoped she’d give birth to a boy.
Seventeen years ago, when she lost her aunt, she was too young to understand what it meant to hate a disease. She missed her aunt but didn’t question her going away. Fifteen years later, as she watched her mother being wheeled into the …

I always feel sad when I see some poor dumb animal, or bird, lying in the road after being hit by a car or a lorry.
I am, sad to say, frequently harassed by the countless birds that sometimes seem intent on committing suicide as they glide across my path. In my case, I have room to maneuver as I don’t drive a car. I spend most of my traveling time on a bicycle, either shopping, riding over rough terrain or just plain racing along the county roads, chasing tractors and …

Watching Cartoon Network in his hall, Madan Razdan-an 8 year old boy was dreaming again. He called himself the biggest fan of Superman and aspired to be a superhero himself one day. The noise from outside did not distract him from watching his favorite cartoon. After all he was used to his home called KASHMIR- A place where militant group attacks and civil protests were not rare.
Madan was a normal Kashmiri kid. His cheeks as pink as native apples ,he went to school with his mom. His mom held him …

This windy day, Hannah receives a willow leaf which glides into her top pocket like an angel’s wing; instantly, it caresses the scars upon her soul and nestles by her heart. Her destiny scripts itself upon a tiny frame: “The Comforter” — she barely knows what this means. She dreams of beauty and an escape above the crevasse where she lives. Someday, she will sing gentle music to them, and the presence of Love will calm all things. She smiles tenderly in the face of reality.
Her Father prods her with …

“You are so not going to do this, Hannah!” Mary pleaded.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know.  You are my sister.”
“So?”
“I am asking you not to. You won’t go to her and ruin everything.”
“Watch me!”
Hannah turned her back to her elder sister and ran away.
Damn it! Mary thought when she ran for her life in a desperate attempt to catch up with her sister.
For a few minutes it seemed like Hannah was unreachable but then the distance between the girls began to decrease.  Soon enough Mary drew up with Hannah and they …

“I want to die!” the little boy told me, tears streaming in rivulets down his chubby cheeks.
It’s not often that children step into the path of an oncoming bike, holding out the palm of their hand as a traffic warden would.  Having been a Social Worker for several years, I thought he had run away from home after a hiding.
This was not the time to offer platitudes. I hugged him, and rummaged in my backpack to get him a tissue.  I also drew out a bottle of orange juice, which …

Summer vacation had been half way through by now. Just another month and all surrounding hills of their town would be desolate again. With all campgrounds empty, life would be boring again for 18-year old Ron.
So, Ron had just persuaded Erin to take a stroll into the Fairyvalley. Erin was only 15, but there was something about her. He couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but it was something mysterious. They were just chatting a bit when they took the path towards the valley. Erin found the situation quite exciting. She felt …

I sit here alone, wondering about the last one week. It has been the most hurting week of my life. Tanya left me.7 days ago. We’ve had an argument that night. She wanted to go in search of her father, who had left us 12 years ago. She was just 4 then, may be she has some good memories of him.
I should not have been so hard on her. She is my life. When my alcoholic and non-committed husband left me, she was the reason I lived. I tried to …

Ten year old Christina is again in a fight with a boy. He is winning hands down but then an unabated kick from Christina between the legs ends the fight instantly. She decides to go back home but not before making her daily stop to the mall, to stare at the little Guitar with a $25 price tag. Upon reaching home she peeps into her Brother James’s room. He was not in, but his personal diary was. She picks it up and opens the bookmarked page when James whacks her …

Rebecca’s first year of life was spent in the doting arms of her paternal grandparents as I went back to work.  How many pictures of Rebecca with her papaw playing, cooing, and smiling from ear to ear on his lap are immeasurable.  She talked more about her papaw than anybody else, he even taught her how to write her name when she got older.
When Rebecca was 4, at a family reunion, some cousins fiddling everything bluegrass introduced her to the violin and the music.  Soon she was mastering her own …

“Mom, where are you taking Solomon?” Kentray asked as his brown eyes filled with tears.
“Kentray, we’ve talked about this. You know Solomon is very sick. Every day it’s harder and harder for him to walk. He’s old, baby.”
Kentray threw his arms around his dog’s fluffy neck. “I can carry him! Or I can put him in the wagon when we go for walks. He’d like being pulled around.” Solomon licked Kentray’s face. “See?”
“No, baby. He needs to go. You don’t want your dog to be in pain, do you?”
Kentray gripped …