The Notions of Healing by Anu Lal with a Foreword by Dr Arunlal Mokeri

Storytelling has never been so politically important as it is during these trying times during the COVID-19 pandemic. Expanding the concept of the anthology, Anu Lal, author of Life After the Floods, points at the prowess of storytelling to help us survive as a species through his captivating Preface to this anthology. Being Indian in nature this anthology is eclectic in its spirit, taking polyphony of voices and plurality of perspectives to a new level. These voices offer a unique harmony for the reader in its Indianness, as only an anthology compiled by Anu Lal can. 

Now available in Paperback –  https://notionpress.com/read/the-notions-of-healing

and Kindle – https://www.amazon.in/dp/B08MTH2QF2

Team

BW Books

The Challenges in an Author’s Life

Editing is perhaps the most challenging of all activities in the life of an author. Once the author realises that the story is complete, she is ready to set up a scaffold of indifference towards whatever comes up in the manuscript. Although one, has assuredly enough written the draft, it is out of one’s control to face the words and lines that come up in the reading process. 

The reading process endows its inbuilt challenges upon the author. The act of reading what one has written is often a process full of wonders- wondering who wrote these lines or, wondering when I wrote this crap. 

Those authors who are experienced in their craft know that only a scaffold of indifference can help us. First, they stand upon this scaffold and then observe the writing with a degree of distance and with an ample dose of indifference. Whatever comes up in this manuscript, I don’t bother appreciating or criticising the author of this stuff. 

This indifference can be identified with that earlier form of abstinence or ascetic zeal that we often read about in mythologies. 

The first step in an editing process is reading the manuscript, which is always a process, filled with wonders, let me repeat. 

If you are wondering why I am, suddenly coming back to one of the oldest questions that my blog dealt with in the past, the answer is that I am editing the new anthology that I am publishing. 

The title of the said anthology is not revealed yet. It will be soon. 

So what do you think is the second stage in the editing process? Do let me know in the comments below.   

BuJi: A story based on real events

 

Description:

The story of “BuJi” is inspired by real events. The real story happened at a school in a village named Kannadiparamba in Kannur district of North Kerala. The main characters of the story-Racer, Raju, Anu, Shaji, and others-are students of the school. The story is set in Chalode, a village in Kannur. The names of the characters and places are altered.

“BuJi” is a comedy that moves through hilarious situations. This is also a critique of certain conventions and customs in Indian society like the cut-throat competition in achieving high scores in public exams, the stigma against celebrating Valentine’s Day, the prejudice against various accents of the same mother tongue, etc.

“BuJi” also explores the themes of friendship, forgiveness, redemption, and the power of creativity.

Summary:

One February morning, Anu faces his mother’s order to accompany his classmate Racer. Anu, Raju, and their other classmates have their reservations about Racer. Racer is the smartest boy in the class. He is the pet of all his teachers. He is the brainiac, the BuJi. You can never find him without a book in his hands. But he had one bad habit.
Anu and his friends have had enough. They decide to do something about it, mostly due to jealousy. They decide and day and time.

Unfortunately, that was the same day Anu and his classmates had planned to avenge Racer’s iniquity. But that wasn’t the biggest problem the narrator faces. Anu has a change of heart since he went to meet Racer at his house. It was Racer’s birthday. On their way to school, Racer reveals a news to Anu. Haunted by his decision to avenge Racer by supporting his classmate Raju and his friends, Shaji and Ajith, Anu is traumatised. Racer seemed innocent now. If Anu does not save Racer from the revenge of his friends, he would be guilty. But to save Racer means to betray the trust of his best friends, his comrades.

“Catch damn 22.”

This semi-autobiographical work is full of childhood’s brutal honesty and spirit of adventure.

Can Anu save himself from this dilemma?
What’s in store for Racer, the BuJi?
What’s Racer truly like inside his projected self?
What’s the news that he breaks to Anu?
Now that Anu knows the deeper side of Racer, would he share it with his friends?
What would happen to Raju, Shaji and Ajith who wait for Racer to arrive in the tall growth of Poison Nut Trees?

Discover more in — BuJi

About the author:

Anu Lal is an Indo-Anglian-Southern author. Many of his short fiction, poetry, and essays are published in national and international journals. He is also a research scholar, educator, book reviewer, and a blogger.

His blog: The Indian Commentator

He could be contacted at:authoranulal@gmail.com

BOOKS BY ANU LAL

Rani of My Daydreams: A Romantic Comedy Set in India

Wall of Colours and Other Stories

You Should Know How I Feel…

Prabuddha: The Clear-sighted

Better Than All Happy Ever Afters

Unclassified Intelligence

Those Tales Called Blue