Stories need not run into thousands of words. They can be short, crisp and yet effective. Vivek Tejuja's '55-word story' works on this principle.
Vivek Tejuja (@vivekisms on Twitter) believes that there's a storyteller in each one of us and that's what led him to start '55-word story'.
For those active on Twitter, the hashtag, #55wordstory, is a familiar one. For those who are not, here’s a lowdown.
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“The concept of 55-word story has been on the internet for a while,” said Tejuja, adding that he just extended it to Twitter. "I wrote a 55-word story and shared it on Twitter," he said. "Once others read it, they volunteered to send in their stories." That's how it reached out to scores of other Twitter users.
It is Tejuja’s love for reading and writing that led him to initiate this. The topics he picks range from the mundane to the exotic.
He tweets a topic almost every morning. Interested Twitter users are expected to mail him their stories that evening. He then compiles them and shares them on a dedicated blog.
Currently in its second season, it is very popular among Tejuja’s 3,000+ followers. The first season, from February 24 to May 10, covered 69 topics.
Here are some of Tejuja's many favourite stories:
@Freelosopher : Hungry and almost broke, he headed out to the grocer's. She was buying vegetables. A familiar face that once meant love. Their eyes met. She saw the hunger. An imperceptible nod later, he handed the money to the cashier and took the packet. They walked out together. She asked, "Your place or mine?"
@mizarcle : She stood at the shore looking at the sea. The waves touching her feet ever so slightly. She smiled. She had thought this through. She would walk in and not come out. Something hit her leg. She found the message in the bottle. She walked away never having read the message.
@ghaatidancer : Hiding under blankets, with only a dim light to keep me company, I discovered you. I've slept with you under my pillow, hoping I'll absorb all you have to say. Tonight, as I close my eyes, come, emblazon my mind with your words. Again.
@TheGodlet : Notepads sullied by conversations hastily scribbled in the middle of a class, scrap books filled with cheesy quotes from so called friends, pages marred by groups of French verbs, textbooks that left even the bullies whimpering in fear. Boxed it all up and gave it away. Now I miss how simple life used to be.
@TandooriCutlet: Old men in black robes and turbans sat in a circle. In front of them were voodoo dolls, peacock feathers, black thread, a rabbit foot, coal, bowls of blood, mounds of fruit, knives, black candles and his parents. He looked on in disbelief. Yesterday he’d come out to his parents. Today he was the demon.
@akshayabansal: The noon sky looked ominous in hues of gray, it were as if hell hath taken over that day. The winds created havoc, tornadoes swept everything away. Seas reached for the sky, tremors tore away. The mortals remembered the Mayan premonition, oblivious to the fact, it was merely the Gods and demons at play.
@irrationalnumb: "Please set me free", the demon said thwarted with his diabolic life. God nodded. The demon heaved a sigh of relief before he realized that he had turned into a human. "Why God? I asked you to set me free”. God smiled and raised his hand again. The human got a toothache to die for.
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