A Jump Into Jilebi Land – The Making of the Story

just any story writing contest (as he hastened to tell me). This was one story

writing contest which was quite unlike others. At first, I was indifferent. This

was just another one of those contests which I frequently participated in.

However, by and by, as I found out more about the contest, I realised that

it was in reality quite different from other contests. Since it was different,

I naturally began to take a lot of interest in it! For one thing, it was an online

contest conducted by a children’s publisher. Another thing that appealed to me

about the contest was that we weren’t given the topics and asked to write a

story (this is the standard thing). Instead, we were provided with pictures and

all we had to do was to write a story based on the pictures. I was really excited

at this novel way of writing a story. Even the prize was an unusual (though

wonderful) one. The winner would see his/her story in the form of a published

book!!! This kind of reward was something I had never dreamed of in my wildest

dreams and it was the icing on the cake. I decided then and there that come

what may, I would take part in this contest. Time was not a problem as the

contestants had about one month’s time to submit their story, but I got to work

at once with great gusto. 

to go about writing the story, as this was the first time I had taken part in a

contest where the story had to be based upon the illustrations. Suddenly, I had

a brainwave. My first stop was the computer. I shooed my brother out on the

pretext that I wanted to work on my story. Poor guy! (I am being sarcastic) He

couldn’t do anything as I had my father’s whole-hearted support. I immediately

logged on to the Pratham Books website! Once there, reading some entries of

last year’s contest was a piece of cake. I found some of the entries (especially

Listen to my Body and Ranju meets Puchee) very entertaining. They were also

the solution to my problem. After reading these stories, I got a very clear

idea about how to use the pictures to the fullest and write my story. I also

downloaded all the pictures. Now, all that remained was to start writing my

story. Hmmmmm……….. 

I decided to utilise this time for writing my story! Not only would boredom be

dispelled, my story would also take shape bit by bit. The first thing to do was

to form the general plot of the story. I initially decided to mould my story

upon a little girl who is hungry, when an appetizing smell of delicious jilebis

reaches her nostrils. She decides to play the detective and follows the smell till

it leads to the jilebis. Though I was quite satisfied with the plot when I first

began to write my story, I realised towards the latter end that it was just a

teeny bit like Noni’s “Listen to My Body”. My parents were of the same opinion

and my brother, always ready to detect flaws in anything I do, said the same

thing. I tried various ways of modifying my story – pruning it here, adding a

little something there but NO! It just didn’t seem right. In the end, I had to

reconcile myself to the fact that I would have to make a fresh attempt with a

wholly different plot. Unable to bear my brother’s sniggering, I pushed my grey

cells to the utmost extent. I was determined to make this second attempt a

success.

and ingenious. I thought and thought and came to the conclusion that the story

should be based on something which was the least conspicuous to write about.

JILEBIS!!! I made up my mind to make Jilebis the central characters around

which the entire story would revolve. Now, I began to rack my brains about how

to create such a story where jilebis would be the central characters. Just at

that moment, my brother Raghu walked into the room to begin his routine job

of irritating me. I did all that was in my power to oust him from the room but to

no avail. Nothing worked – not pleading, not threatening, not cajoling. At other

times, he was usually bearable, but now, just when I was concentrating so hard,

to have him irritating me was too much! Yet, I knew that if he were not there, I

would miss his pranks, his jokes and yes, even his irritating ways! I also realised

that I would be very lonely if I had no one to fight with, to support, to love and

to irritate. Raghu had unwittingly given me the perfect idea for my story! A

child who doesn’t have any siblings, who feels lonely, has a surprising adventure

one day and at the end of it all, finally gets an extraordinary companion. That

was how Divya came into being. 

cute, furry thing). I decided that my story would be centred on Divya’s first

meeting with Fluffy and how she felt before and after she met Fluffy. As I

wanted my story to revolve around the jilebis, I created Jilebi Land, which

is made up of jibis, jilebis and nothing but jilebis! After that, ideas started

pouring out and materialised in the form of Jiligate. I thought about the

security guards at the gates of any apartment and decided that instead of a

guard, I could have a talking door instead! (there are no people in Jilebi Land). I

really enjoyed making up a suitable description for the room where everything

including the furniture is made up of jilebis! The strange manner in which Divya

and Fluffy meet emphasizes upon Divya’s kindness and also upon the stickiness

of Jilebi Land! After some time, all jilebis and nothing else, makes Divya a dull

girl. She wants to play, but finds out that she is the first human being to step

into Jilebi Land in many years. I coined the term Jill-year by mixing the first

half of ‘jilebi’ and ‘year’ together. By this time, I had almost come to the end of

my story. I wanted to make sure that I did not end my story abruptly. I decided

to end my story with Divya taking Fluffy home with her, as I had started with

Divya recalling her first meeting with Fluffy. The main thing was to end it on a

happy note!

parents a second time. This time, apart from some minor faults, they were

delighted with my story. At least the idea was a unique one. They were

unanimous on one point. It was definitely better than my first attempt. I

pranced around the room. Raghu, though, was of the opinion that it was no

better than my first attempt (I never take his opinions into consideration –

the pessimist!). After I made the necessary changes, I sent it off – not caring

whether I would get a prize or not as all that mattered to me was that my

parents had appreciated the effort that I had put in and as I had completely

ENJOYED and LOVED writing the story!!!!!!!!!!!

suspense. It became even greater when the date of the results was postponed.

However, come it did! It was an evening like any other and I had just started on

my homework when my father looked into my room and beckoned mysteriously.

I followed him into the computer room wondering what was up. My mother

was also inside the room. Without saying a word, my father sat down at the

computer and motioned wordlessly at the screen. I glanced at the computer and

saw that the Pratham Books website was displayed and the results were out.

And I was the winner in the under-16 category!!!!!!! When I first saw my name,

I really couldn’t believe that it was true. I had to pinch myself once or twice to

convince myself that it was real. Not even in my wildest dreams had I thought

that I would actually win. The next few minutes were spent in a sort of dream.

It was only after I had conveyed the good news to my relatives and friends that

it actually began to sink in. My parents were extremely happy and congratulated

me. Even my brother had to admit that it was a great thing that I had won this

competition. My mother immediately went into the kitchen to celebrate the

occasion with some special sweet dish. Guess what? SWEET, SYRUPY, STICKY,

PIPING HOT, DELICIOUS JILEBIS!!!!!!!!! I will never forget that day which was

one of the best days of my life.