Nine to Wine: Pihu’s Diary

By Khyati Sharma

Pihu's life is an open book.Her journey from age nine to the time she has her first sip of wine is chronicled through fifty poems and commentaries on her life. Split up into three sections, this book chronicles the first phase, when Pihu is nine; the second, when she is a teenager; and the third, when she transitions into adulthood.
Pihu’s journey through life is essayed against the backdrop of the streets of Delhi. As she blossoms into a young woman from a little girl, Pihu lives her life on her own terms, and comes to understand that life is so much more than just the people around her. She embarks on a voyage of self-discovery, and faces everything from incomparable happiness to the pain of a heartbreak, from the myriad ways of the business world and the competitive rat-race, to simply following her dreams on a whim.
The poems are interspersed with a simple and light narrative that takes the reader on a journey with Pihu's life and its many trials and tribulations. These poems, albeit in verse, are thoroughly relatable narratives.Each poem helps you reconnect with your inner self, through relatable experiences narrated in Pihu's own words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Notion Press
• Release date: Jan 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9789352066452

Book preview

KHYATI SHARMA

Sketches by Sadhvi Sharma

Notion Press

Old No. 38, New No. 6

McNichols Road, Chetpet

Chennai - 600 031

First Published by Notion Press 2016

Copyright © Khyati Sharma 2016

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN 978-93-5206-645-2

This book has been published in good faith that the work of the author is original. All efforts have been taken to make the material error-free. However, the author and the publisher disclaim the responsibility.

No part of this book may be used, reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Sketches by Sadhvi Sharma

Contents

Title

Copyright

Preface

Acknowledgement

1. Mumma’s Sweetheart

Birthday Queen

Miss Tara

Fairies

Winters

Beauty of Nature

Rani Lakshmi Bai

India in My Dreams

I Hate Math

2. Teen Trouble

Love

It’s This

When You Left Me

What Happens When You Don’t Get It

My Value

The Self-Respect Glass

The Vindictive Accusations

Life is a Ride on a Horse

3. Aisha - Her Anchor

Question Letter

What I Want Now

Confidence Recipes

Divine

Mother’s Care

Want to Grow Fast

Today I Have

Undergrad Accident

Living Chindi

Placement Fever

Wine

4. I am a lady

Blood and Sweat

No More Beer

Grown Up Me

Corporate Shenanigan

5. It happens again

Sweet Pain

The Journey

Soulmate

Respect Over Love

Life is a Deep Red Scar

Lost

6. The Great Depression 2013 and its end

7. Talking Liberation

That Memorable Touch

Inspiration Spray

Magic Dust

Fight Back Charlie

Beating Gravity

The Et (Extra Terrestrial) Way

8. New Grounds

Child in Me

Back to School

Dark Side

Horizon

9. Re-bottled

Agile

Nine to Wine

Mirror You

The Untitled Everything

Preface

Nine to Wine is the journey of a nine-year-old soul, Pihu, to her first wine glass. It talks of what a child learns in school, with her friends, while on vacations with parents, and while playing outside, on old streets. Pihu loves enunciating her life in the form of poetry and poetic prose. She reads them out to herself, whenever she feels like reliving all those years again.

Poetry in an age as young as nine may not be decorated with pearly words, but is seasoned with innocence. Innocence that sees beauty in everything: winters, fairies, tales of Cinderella. Innocence that is inculpable. She doesn’t understand Sonnets or Limericks, but she loves to write for herself.

From there, begins Phase II of Pihu’s life: her teens, where she starts experiencing different emotions. She experiences friendship, love, disappointment, envy and competition. The journey continues with disappointments of unattainable first love and falling hope. Pihu decides her way of life, and a way to success. She takes it as an answer to the challenges that life has thrown at her. She unlearns her fears and picks up the knack to focus on her growth. She becomes a star at school, then college and lands up in one of the best jobs.

Much to her surprise, she realizes that her soul doesn’t agree to live a crude, unloving and pragmatic life. She tastes love again. She feels special and cared for. She makes him the centrifugal force of her life. She starts leading a life which wants him all the time - her soul mate. What she didn’t know is that this was life’s trap for her to fall. She fell, and this time, she fell hard, hard enough that she thought she lost her feet! She lost her self-belief. Her nine-year-old enthused soul gets shrouded with adult fears. From there begins a different revelation, one that shows how Pihu travels and unravels herself, and how she reboots her system and regains her enthusiasm.

The book shows the journey of her introspection and reflection through her diary and poems. It should be easy for readers to delve into the poems and take a step towards poetry and