Serious Historic Fiction and Children's Fantasy

 Here's a short blurb of what this book is about... Rama has to yet again defend Ayodhya from its enemies. This time it is the ancient, dreaded clan of Nagvanshi’s. And this time they threaten from within and from foreign shores. Yama and Kubera have combined forces to form a more resourceful, powerful, and battle-ready force. At stake is a vast, peaceful, and rich kingdom. But can Rama battle these invisible forces that have permeated within the society? Will he continue to protect Dharma, or will he succumb to the enemy forces and manipulations?

Long long time ago, in the bountiful kingdom we know as Vegetania , where all the vegetables lived happily, there came a time when for a long stretch there came rains like never before. It poured and poured and poured and poured. Dark clouds or White clouds, Rain clouds or Smoke clouds, didn't matter. The rains poured day after day, week after week, month after month. The rivers became full, and the lakes swell. Vegetania became flooded as hell. The vegetables started rotted, became weak and many lost their lives. All the vegetables begged the clouds to go away and stop raining, but they wouldn't listen. This sight of his poor friends suffering at the hands of rain angered the Mushrooms. Mr. Mushroom Sr. decided to take matters in his own hands. He swelled with anger, bristled with temper and he met the clouds face to face. He gave the clouds one last warning to go away but they simply ignored him. He then took the shape of an umbrella and asked all the vegetables to come under

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Vegetania , there were all kinds of vegetables that lived together. Everyone loved their king (Sab ji ) and the queen (Dal ia ) as they mixed freely with all the vegetables. However there was one group called the potatoes who were unhappy. This is because all other vegetables made fun of potatoes for being ugly, fat and shapeless. After all, the tomoatoes were round, smooth and shiny. The carrots were golden, slender and sweet. The beans were healthy, crunchy and ummm easy going. Tired of being made fun of everyday, the potatoes sulked and stopped growing. Soon, the people went and complained to king Sab ji that the potatoes were not to be found anymore and that they were hiding, well, under the ground. The king - being fond of potatoes himself - then decided to take the matters in his own hands and summoned the leader of the potato clan. The leader Mr. Idaho explained the situation and told the king that if other vegetables continue their attitude,

Once upon a time, there lived a poor onion couple called Pyazalal and doPyaza. They were always made the object of ridicule among his friends - the tomoatoes, peas, corns and other vegetables. They complained that the onions smelt badly, their clothes are always torn and that their house was under the ground. Everytime the Pyaza's tried to go out with their neighbours, they made fun of him and made him sad. They then decided to pray to God who came before them one day and asked them what made them cry. Pyazalal told God what happened and asked God to make his wife look pretty and move them to a new house above the ground. God looked at him and told him gently that every vegetable has its own charm and smell and taste. No one is better than another. But the Pyaza's was not convinced. They pleaded with God to stop their friends from making them cry. So God thought that it was about time to teach other vegetables a lesson. So he told the kids born to Pyazalal and doPyaza shall be

I've been practising this "dinner 'n story" theme with my daugther and she just adores it. This achives couple of things: being a poor eater, this story makes her interested in food and cooking. Besides, the story part acts as a bedtime story to make her sleep in a happy frame of mind, while giving, umm, some food for thought (pardon the pun). Here's what we do.... First I give my daughter her menu of the day. Then i give her a list of things to buy from the grocery shop asking her to pretend to write it and to go buy from the store (one corner of the bed) with fake money. Then we cook and while we eat, i tell a story. After a sumptuous meal she dozes off. Now, this may work well perhaps with girls, but can be adapted for boys as well. Anyway, ummm, long story short, the real kicker is the bedtime story. For the story, I have come up with few "food based stories". i.e., stories of say Onions, Potato, Roti, Grass etc. I've tried to inc

References: The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, BOOK 16, Mausala-parva; Translated into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text by Kisari Mohan Ganguli [1883-1896] http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m16/m16000.htm Setting of the plot: After the great Mahabharata war (circa 3031 BC), Krishna & Balaram return to Dwaraka and rule on for 36years. There are several small kingdoms (clans of yadavas) under them such as Bhopas, Vrishnis, Satyakis, Kritavarmas, etc...During this time as the Yadavas get more powerful and inevitably more arrogant and drunk with power, they fail to discharge their Kshatriya duties properly. One day, led by Krishna's son Sambha, they play a practical joke on a Rishi and he incurs a curse whereby a mace would be born to him and that would prove to be all of their death-knell.... They dont take it seriously, but soon, Sambha develops labour pains and delivers a mace!!! The people get scared and wondering what to do, the chieftains decide to powder