www.storymania.com
Storymania Logo

 

 

Short Stories




Ersatz Jerry Cornelius by Potter Michael My short story take on one of my favorite Characters from one of my favorite authors, Mi... [743 words]
Lost Chance by Michael Potter A couple find themselves stuck in a small town when their car breaks down. [13,439 words]
Qz by Michael Potter Short story about an evil government controlling a drug that produces enlightenment. [2,593 words]
The Clock by Bernadette (Some Call Me Just read this. [229 words]
Windows by Dennis Coleman Sam Holloway considers all that he sees from the boardroom window. [915 words]
Why Won't He Bless Me? by Paul D Deleon A unique look at a day in my life when I spent the majority of my time asking for a bles... [1,601 words]
Where Is My Dad? by Neil Southern A few sad words that may well touch many [96 words]
Too Late For Coffee by Liilia Morrison An old man's last days with an angel [1,489 words]
The Sun by Jessi This is a random piece of writing. It doesn�t really have a category. It�s just something I wrote when ... [72 words]
The Little Fisherman by Riot - [652 words]
The Light Side Of Dark by Lisa M Setser Being on earth for so long being a Guardian Angel is taken its toll on Azerial. He hasn�... [3,888 words]
The Kent State Tragedy- Its Impact On Me by Greg Dinunzio About to flunk out of college, a horrible tragedy saved my academic li... [305 words]
The Day That Will Never Be Forgotten by Ryuichi Minamino A story about an accident, from a survivers point-of-view [491 words]
The Books Cover Was Wrong. (Part 1:Introduction) by Jessi People are not who they seem. [304 words]
The Beginning Of The End by Donna Carmona A short story about my mom's illness. [1,656 words]
Red Sun by Doc Byron A father's worst nightmare comes true [390 words]
Pooh On Meditation by Michael Potter Short comic satire [135 words]
Ovidio Gets A Smoke by Liilia Morrison A party turns sour but Ovidio ends up sittin' pretty. [1,160 words]
Overwhelming Experience Of A College Freshman by Greg Dinunzio Culture shock does not describe the feeling that a sheltered seve... [349 words]
One Way Road by Ben Stuart A naturalist short story about school and its effect on a boy. [946 words]
Now Who Does This Remind You Of? by Me - [388 words]
Night�S Predator by Jessi I love vampires. Everything i write about them i feel conected like i am the one that is hunti... [207 words]
Next Generation by Christopher Evans Slap stick funny gender reversal, where a man get pregnant. Watch him deal with the cravings, ... [4,133 words]
My Wife And The Invisible People by Greg Dinunzio My ex-wife is very kind and thougthful to people who do not really exist.... [225 words]
Loop Life by Jessi Sometimes life feels like one giant loop [679 words]
I Have A Lot Of Ideas, But... by John Pirandello I have a lot of ideas, but each time I try to transform them in a story, exactly ... [1,430 words]
Goaland Fantasy by Michael Potter A short story about a place where the characters can do anything. [983 words]
Eternal Heartache by Wanderer Bass In honor and memory of Grandpa Buddy. [597 words]
Easter Monday by Neil Southern A True drama - In a brief moment [247 words]
Dumped by Jessi Today the love of my life. dumped me. he got with another girl then got rid of me. i dont know what to d... [75 words]
Driving by Doc Boyer A lonely man drives around aimlessly looking for that ''special'' girl. [262 words]
Driving Batsy Bats by Gino Russo The Joker finally gets one in the win column over his oldest foe... All names and characters... [1,770 words]
Dreams 1 by Wanderer Bass This is the most recent dream I can remember. I am above the influence and these are always weird drea... [355 words]
Destination Unknown by Greg Dinunzio Her life is a never ending journey in search of something that she will never find...brief ... [391 words]
Catching Stars by Riot - [185 words]
Breathe Your Name by Alice F Jones What would you do if the love of your life was your mistress? Would you run or choose for a l... [571 words]
Black Coffee by Jonathan Brucato Insignificance can put a smile on your face. [2,617 words]
Billie The Mole by Adam Robinson A short story about a mole. [797 words]
And The Lord Said . . . by W N Dayley God, Jesus and Satan discuss the fate of Humanity. [3,380 words]
A Summer Day by Corey Moon I wrote this srory kind of late, and its only my second, i just recently discovered writing and i ... [1,037 words]
A Nondescript Woman by Dennis Coleman Is she Truly a plain Jane, or is that what she wants us to know about her? [5,448 words]
A Merchant's Last Journey by H H J S Harrishafizjohnsonsieczkowski Abu-Hussam is a wicked man, but eventually through his suffering finds not only himse... [4,216 words]
A Curious Life by Jessi Dolphins live a curious life... [215 words]
A Brief Return by Neil Southern Faith, madness or harsh reality? [219 words]
How A Teenager Advoided A Pervert by Amarjit Bhambra A lot of teenager girls are not aware of dangers that they would face when co... [819 words]
Face To Face With Daylight Robbers by Amarjit Bhambra A tricky situation... [288 words]
(Cont.. Part 2) The Prince And The African Grey by Amarjit Bhambra This Chapter is continued to my story "The Prince and the Afric... [1,552 words]
Zaloo-Loo Ruled Her Tribe by Amarjit Bhambra Some Tribe secrets remain a mystery to the Moden world. I made up a story based on tr... [1,857 words]
Wolves In Silver Point by Jan Lappalainen Tyler faces terror at his farm [5,654 words]
Will I See You In The Morning? by Nicole Johnson This is about my soul mate, although we cannot be together right now. [720 words]
Vic Voegelin And The Iwo Jima Letters by Greg Dinunzio A recent news story triggers memories of a fine man who taught us honesty... [311 words]
Unrequited Love by Kimball A drunken rewrite of a previous story. [674 words]
This Is It! by Neil Southern A strange offering of pure thought [336 words]
The One Or �We Thank God For Second Chances, But Who Do We Beg For A Third?� by Anslem B Gentle One man gets a shot at perfection.... [1,167 words]
The Love Of A Mother by Kimball A story I wrote last year, but never got around to submitting. [1,253 words]
The First Valentine by Anslem B Gentle The Origins of Valentin's Day. [1,539 words]
Talk by Iam Noone A girl suffering from the eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa [305 words]
Tales Of Unknown: The Trial Lawyer by Jeremiah Semien Take a journey, in the future, where the government, wants to control, man-k... [9,357 words]
Sunday School by Buxton A short story about Graeme, who at 9 makes the most out of Sunday School by obsessing about his F... [3,592 words]
Standing Alone by Bk Kinsel Alone [110 words]
Square Peg by Steve Drost A short snapshot into the morning routine of a public-transit user. [1,254 words]
Samantha Jane by Riot - [465 words]
Reflection Of A Hero by Reginald F Byron Eddie, sound asleep, wakes up to find a new obstacle flat in his doorway. Little does he k... [3,545 words]
Rag Doll by Jan Lappalainen A day in the life of Marius... [999 words]
Pressure by Iam Noone A girl who is pressured into drinking and ends up in the hospital. [406 words]
Poor Daddy by Randall Barfield Carl saw the freshly-dug hole and broke into tears... [438 words]
Mrs. Bilkhu And Her Two Little Finches by Amarjit Bhambra A very sad little story - very diffcult to write through my tears. They... [926 words]
Littlefish.Comchat by Richard W McLin This is the short story of an online predator,loosely based on real events as seen by me on ... [546 words]
Incredible India (Around Nagamalai ) by Priyah Natarajan Nagamalai is a very beautiful place in Kerala (India). The travelougue des... [1,489 words]
I Had A Dream Last Night by Neil Southern How sure can we be about reality? [300 words]
Eye For Eye by Steve Drost A man commits murder and suffers no ill effects [2,758 words]
Double Negative by James Fund A story from the point of view of someone struggling with his past and his inability to be hone... [1,896 words]
Deer Valley by P L L Loomis Me and a few of my friends did this skiing thing a Deer Valley and I was sad that it was ending. [528 words]
Chocolate Fetish by Iniquity Asylum I always wondered how long it would be before my Queen-size bed would absorb�steal, crunch, wi... [765 words]
Celeste by Anslem B Gentle One woman's journey to be free of childhood. [1,056 words]
Blood-Stained by Iniquity Asylum I sighed and realized that tonight was another night that I would have to deal with a broken hear... [1,672 words]
Ashley by Riot - [180 words]
All Over The Page by Kevin M Pasquale This is a short story, told in the 1st person point of view, about David Grimes. He is a "mes... [4,340 words]
A Walk In The Dark by Steve Drost A man goes for a walk in the woods. [977 words]
A Very Short Novel
10 Real Adsense Secrets by Naren Sundas Sri Ganesh Infotech 10 REAL secrets for quickly growing your AdSense earnings to $100, $300, even $500 A DA... [536 words]

Go to page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 [15] 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
TITLE (EDIT)
A Very Short Novel
DESCRIPTION
The Emerging of India from the eyes of a common man.
[1,337 words]
TITLE KEYWORD
Popular Fiction
AUTHOR
Deepak Gupta
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A 33 year old MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur. A Delhi middle class upbringing. A person who likes to dream of an India unleashed and as beautiful sa it should be.
[February 2007]
A Very Short Novel
Deepak Gupta

A VERY SHORT NOVEL

I could have filled pages describing the large and expensive looking hotel hall where a large crowd of very rich and influential Indians had come together including owners of giant corporates from automobile to the IT industry, construction, petrochemicals, communications and the heads of institutions of professional education and even some actors. Instead I just choose to narrate what happened then.

The speaker stood up and addressed everybody present:
I am an ordinary citizen of this country. It�s a national shame that we a nation of large numbers of talented individuals have not been able to provide ourselves with a decent standard of living. Our people don�t have access to drinking water, electricity, basic health, education and the list goes on and on. After accounting for the illegal immigrants and emigrants and constraints of the population census exercise, we are not even sure how many people we are. The value of life is missing and we have learnt to turn a blind eye at it. When our companies are scaling global heights and our talent is shining bright all over the world, why do we choose to ignore the state of our nation and blame it on politicians and corruption. If the people gathered in this room are some representation of the good India which is willing to work for a better nation, then we have to do something beyond the microcosm of the company or institution we represent.

Winning an election involves motivation of the people of a constituency to identify with a person or a party which supposedly understands their issues and social economic fabric and promises to take them forward from where they are. In the absence of any of us in this room choosing to be that person, anyone is free to use the opportunity rightly or wrongly. If, however, a project was given to any of the companies/ institutions in this room to go to a constituency, understand its social economic fabric, identify a capable/ qualified talent within fifteen days who can list finite activities that need to be done over a period of a year to become that �identified� leader of that constituency and then this person was resourced by your company/ institution to complete those activities (and perhaps raise resources for himself in the process) and contest elections thereafter, I am sure many of the companies/ institutions in this room will come out with flying colours in this �project�. The question therefore remains is � can the scope of this project not encompass all our problems that lie in the way of a better standard of life for ourselves, can it not encompass all constituencies, can it not encompass all that a nation must do in order to uplift itself and show the path to other nations and avoid a government being a government of a few people, for a few people and by a few people. Or, should I, as a common citizen of this country, understand that the moment such a �project� becomes such a �large project�, so grand in ambition, so unusual and unprecedented, the companies/ institutions in this room will not have the ability or desire to shape it? If I am right in assuming so, gentlemen, thank you all for coming here today and wasting your time and we can have the snacks waiting outside and disburse. If, however, I am wrong in assuming so and indeed, there is the will and the confidence in this room to give shape to this project, please raise your hands to take charge to shape the destiny of this nation in the near future. Please raise your hands to say �Yes I am going to commit myself today to the largest ever self driven self sustaining self improvement self fulfilling journey any nation has ever taken.�

I can waste words describing how first reluctantly and then enthusiastically, the hands went up and the energized crowd reassembled after snacks still hungry to hear some more.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen for choosing what you�ve chosen. It is human to be restless after beginning of such a mission to see yourself quickly at the peak of Mount Everest waving your flag in your hand and getting telecast live across to the people you want to go back to. But, due to the centuries of experience together among us, sitting in this room, we know the numerous self doubting, self questioning, self reviewing, self evaluating, self tasking milestones that are an intrinsic part of any project. A corporate structure has proven to be an efficient vehicle for scientifically and practically achieving laid down objectives and resourcing itself for the same. A corporate structure has also proven to be misled into a direction of short-term shareholder wealth creation objectives if not governed by a superseding structure. Can I propose as the first milestone towards the project for the gathering in this room to be the superseding structure and allowing me to take the assistance of one of the corporates in this room to frame within the next fifteen days, the corporate structure and its governing laws and presenting itself to this superseding structure on the fifteenth day along with the next milestones of this project. If you agree to this and to be part of this governing superstructure which will meet every month to review and audit the project, please do so by signing on the foundation stone �We the people deserve the best in life�.

Many signed on the foundation stone and in the days that followed the project took shape rapidly and the talent and ability of India was tested to the hilt. The media took the developments on the project to the public. Many glaring hard truths about the nation came out as the chosen constituency activists, governed by scientific principles, brought out the dust from under the social economic carpets that covered their work area and their leaders presented the priority list of actionables to the superseding structure and the public in general. Some of the findings forced the existing government and bureaucracy to act in the right direction under public pressure during the first year itself which in itself fulfilled some of the project objectives. There were also leaders or activists of the project who gave up mid way or crumbled under economic or ethical pressures. Resources were spent evaluating how other countries were solving similar problems and solutions were identified by choice among them or designing a new solution altogether. The transition from constituency activists to constituency election contestants was marred with cases of digression to personal objectives, legal battles, even some violence but, the superseding structure and the body corporate was able to overcome these battles and come with an election manifesto and detailed action plan for each constituency, each state, each aspect of policy within the existing constitutional framework and hit the road for general, state, municipality and even village elections. One by one, the organization grew large and widely acceptable and formed the government under the constitution. World�s attention was once again on this unleashed India and what course this unique project would take having given the teeth of electoral mandate. The project overcame the pressures and glare that such a global and domestic attention can naturally evoke and proceeded swiftly on its laid path. On this journey, the country created mammoth monuments, corporates, technology and reach that was to benefit not only in uplifting the quality of life upto the interiors of India but also many other emerging and underdeveloped nations. Industry and sportsmen demonstrated competitive ability on the global space. The safety valves for emotions, ethics, integrity of the society were put in place while not compromising on the creativity of our society and race. Leaders emerged who gave further direction to society instead of making this a materialistic transformation and took the society in pursuit of happiness and excellence in harmony with mind and nature. Mankind learnt to sleep in peace and live its life to the fullest at the same time.

 

Submit Your Review for A Very Short Novel
Required fields are marked with (*).
Your e-mail address will not be displayed.

Your Name*     E-mail*

City     State/Province     Country

Your Review (please be constructive!)*


Please Enter Code*:

Submit Your Rating for A Very Short Novel

Worst     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10     Best

COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2007 Deepak Gupta
STORYMANIA PUBLICATION DATE
February 2007
NUMBER OF TIMES TITLE VIEWED
1563
 

Copyright © 1998-2001 Storymania Technologies Limited. All Rights Reserved.