C'est La Vie: The Conundrum of the Human Mind

By Meenakshi Anantram

The book raises issues of social and scientific backgrounds using the tools of simple language and ends with a lot of food for thought. The reader can empathize with the characters in the stories and the protagonist always has a social message. However the theme of each story has to be unraveled by the Reader. The book rakes up the eternal conundrum of the Human Mind in different intriguing ways.
The presentation handles different themes ranging from Soft Romance to Scientific Cloning with smatterings of comedy and the paradox of feminism and the marriage of mind and matter seem to be the most important feature. Set mostly in Indian backgrounds, the stories seem to laugh at the irony of situations and readers will see themselves at different phases of their lives, hopefully.
To laugh at a difficult situation and try to find the other side is the bottom line of the book and the title Cest La Vie.....simply justifies this. The author has a penchant for the unpredictable which adds freshness to the presentation.
So..read on.and just let it be!!
*The proceeds from this book will go to the campaign against cancer through the Rohit Memorial Trust. Visit www.rohitmemorialtrust.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Jan 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482867664

Meenakshi Anantram

She is a scientist and social activist and wears many caps. She has won several accolades right from an early age for her written word. Her articles have featured in prestigious publications, and she has won awards in international fora for her poetry and prose. She is an extempore speaker with crisp rendition of her thoughts. She has a funny bone that comes across in a subtle manner in her stories and works on varied topics. Her blog is popular too.

Book preview

C’est La Vie

The Conundrum of the

Human Mind

Meenakshi

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Copyright © 2016 by Meenakshi.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

CONTENTS

Monsoon Romance

The Birthright

The Copycat

Platform Number One

Shackles Of Love

Across Enemy Lines

Of Human Bondage

Helping Hands

Golden Dreams

At The End Of The Rainbow

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D r. Meenakshi Anantram is a scientist and social activist and wears many caps. She has won several accolades right from an early age for her written word. Her articles have featured in prestigious publications and she has won awards in international fora for her poetry and prose. She is an extempore speaker with crisp rendition of her thoughts. She has a funny bone that comes across in a subtle manner in her stories and works on varied topics. Her blog is popular too. She runs a popular events and wedding planning company in India. Visit www.razzmatazz.in

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated with love to

the hands that rocked my cradles

ARATI & SITA

….without whom, I am incomplete………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T his is my first professional book of Short Stories. This effort culminates years of goading from my beloved mother Arati Murugesh , whose faith in my ability to play with words started from when I was a ten year old girl. She has always coaxed me to search inwards and seek answers for my existence and this spiritual journey made me think …therefore, I thank my Mother first for inspiring me to find myself. You are…so I am!

I thank my Mother in Law Sita Ganapati who took over the baton from my mother after my marriage and took me ahead on a special journey of love and happiness. I also have to thank my husband and closest friend Anantram for improving my thoughts and helping with editing the text. My sons Rohit and Rahul should be thanked for their patient hearing of my never ending stories to them. I also need to thank my father MK Murugesh and my brothers Gautam, Keshav and Dr. Laxman Murugesh and their families for the joy they add to my life and thoughts. I have drawn inspiration from the life and incidents of my precious friends Arun Kumar, Tailor Pydaraju, Maid Aruna amongst others and can never thank them enough. These are the true heroes on who many of my stories are based.

I also thank God and my Guruji for giving me this opportunity and all my friends, well wishers and family members for supporting me to be born as a writer. This is a new birth for me and I look forward to the continued support of my readers in the days to come. I am proud to print this book with Partridge publishers and the Penguin family.

The proceeds of this book will go to the campaign against cancer through the Rohit Memorial Trust. Visit www.rohitmemorialtrust.com I specially thank my young Chinese artist friend Walisha Wang (Yu Wang) who helped to mould my ideas and bring my characters to life with her unique style and illustrations for the cover. Do visit her www.wwddart.wix.com/wwdd. May God bless this world with happiness!!!

Meenakshi Anantram

[e-mail]

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MONSOON ROMANCE

T he incessant rain was pouring in a strange way that evening. As Jai manoeuvred his geared Atlas cycle through the cobbled road that led him to his new house in the brand new city, he remembered his wasted childhood and was sad about his meaningless life. His father’s bank job had brought the family to yet one more new place – a new one almost every other year. He was the only child to his parents and could never find long lasting friends as his father would be transferred within a few years, and before Jai could settle in the new area….it was time to move!!!!

Jai was a good student from childhood and had always been the topper of his class in the six different schools he had gone to at different locations in India. He was good at music and poetry writing, but his first love was the gentleman’s game - Cricket. Before he could start his innings of success and fame in a particular school, his father’s job would announce the end to it and his almost unused cricket kit would be packed and shoved into large trucks to move to yet another destination. This way, it was almost impossible to make good friends, and Jai was a loner.

This time the city was the pits!!! Moving from Chennai to Visakhapatnam was like a big punishment and Jai felt banished to serve a term of loneliness. Vizag, as people stylishly preferred to call this city, was like a big village. But for the lovely beach and a beautiful view of the mountains he had from his room in the six bedroom bungalow given to his father, the Chief Manager of the biggest bank in the town, Jai