Friday, November 02, 2018

A Voice From The Past



A comment that I received yesterday on FB from the Singapore-based Prakhar Kumar Goel, sent me hurtling into the past:

'Hello Shevlin sir. I read your book "A race to win & other stories" long time back during my school days. It had a very positive impact on my upbringing. Thank you for authoring the book and making my childhood more memorable. May God bless you!'

(Image 1) 

'A Race To Win and other stories' was published in the mid 1990s by HarperCollins.

The book consisted of short stories about growing up as a child in India.

There were tales about a ball boy becoming a tennis champion, a boy overcoming shyness through his prowess as an athlete, a daughter talking about life with an alcoholic father, sibling jealousies, how a story-telling servant inspires a child to become a writer and even a Letter To God.

It is out of print now.

Is there a publisher out there that will republish?

Copyright is with the author.

(Image 2) 

The title story, 'A Race To Win' was selected for the ten-story anthology, 'Best of Target Stories'. This was to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the magazine.

In the 1980 and 90's, Target was the leading English language children's magazine in the country. It was brought out by the India Today group. Sadly it closed down.

The editor was the legendary Rosalind Wilson, who was of British origin. She gave opportunities to so many new writers including myself.

She published several stories of mine, sent through the post, in those times, before I was finally able to go from Kolkata and meet her at her New Delhi office.

Her dedication, sincerity and her unparalleled desire to nurture talent -- which writer can remember the late Rosalind (she died of cancer, aged 49, in 1992) except without a deep sense of gratefulness. 

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