Forbidden Gorge: And Other Tales

Copyright © 2016 by C. N. Nageswara Rao.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4828-7543-0

      eBook         978-1-4828-7542-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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CONTENTS

1. A Great Vocalist

2. Advance Booking

3. Forbidden Gorge

4. Selection

5. Pollution

6. Miser

7. The Vegetable Vendor

8. Neighbours

9. Twenty Four Hours

10. The Hero of a Man

11. Skiing

12. Shrine

13. Partiality

14. House Plan

15. Marriage Alliance

16. No War Treaty

17. Reporter’s Report

18. King’s Dilemma

19. Camaraderie

20. Self Esteem

21. Heroes

22. Responsible Parent

23. Two Stage Writing

24. Taking Action

25. Son

26. In Becoming Great

27. Respect for Founder

28. Hero of a Lady

29. The Cue

30. No Humans

31. Plants of All

32. Strange Wish

33. Joy of Working

34. The Tallest Spire

35. Successor

36. Diversion of Mind

37. Son of a Scholar

38. Shortcut

39. Outsourcing

40. Ideation

41. Downfall

42. Humiliation

43. Case Worker

44. I Am Management

45. Will of God

46. Ethics

47. Barren Land

48. Irritable Character

49. Sorcerer

50. Rise and Fall

51. Blessing

52. Prohibition

53. New Boss

54. Honest Man

55. Positivity

56. Climbing up a Hill

57. Farmland

58. Aesthetics

59. Control

60. Wrong Window

61. Position

62. Magic Mango

63. The Fair

64. Spotting Strengths in Others

65. Traffic Police

66. Renunciation

67. Togetherness

68. Sun Rise

69. Work Home

70. Creator’s Workshop

71. Rituals

72. Wise Wife

73. Our People

74. Human Psychology

75. Dreams

76. The Thief

77. Doing Nothing

78. Turn of Events

79. Promise

80. Celebration

81. Idol Worship

82. Rumour

83. Two Heroes

84. Boss

85. The Vedas

86. Human Race

87. The Fighter

88. The Fall

89. Half Mark

90. Gratitude

91. Interview

92. Not Doing Anything

93. Migraine

94. Super-Delegation

95. More Corrupt

96. Political Rival

97. Full List

98. Satisfaction

99. Law and Order

100. Elixir

101. Good Days

102. Learning

103. Desire for More

104. Disappointment

105. Sale Strategy

106. Doctor’s Word

107. Transfer to Home State

108. Goodwill

109. Turning Away

110. God

111. Photo

112. Three Point Formula

113. Sickness

114. Addiction

115. Transfers

116. Two Teachers

117. Long Waiting

118. The Young Man

119. No Death Potion

120. Birth of God on Earth

121. Reward for Good Act

122. Laying Road

123. On a Path of Rise

124. Rave Party

125. Tale of Trinity Gods

Dedicated to

My Father-in-Law Buddha Ramachandra Rao, Executive Engineer (Retd), Nagarjuna Sagar Dam and Mother-in-Law Buddha Ramanamma

Acknowledgement

If I have written this book, it is because of great support and encouragement that I have received from my friends, colleagues, teachers, bosses, well wishers and family members. I wish to express my sincere thanks to one and all of them.

I express my sincere thanks to Sri Tenneti Sudhakar Rao, former Executive Director (HR), Wg. Cdr. R. K. Chawla (Retd), Sri Tangirala Rammohan and other friends, who gave their invaluable opinion on my first book. I sincerely thank Sri V. Srinivasan, former Executive Director (Avionics Division), Sri M. Sita Raman, Sri Chinta Rajeswara Rao, Sri B. Radhakishan, Sri S. R. Suresh, Sri Dasaratha Atma, Sri M. Padmakar Rao, Sri Ramachandra Diwakar, Sri R. G. Bansod, Sri R. Sivaraj, Sri K. S. N. Reddy, Sri D. V. Latkar, Sri Nazimuddin, Sri Pingali Sundara Rama Rao, Sri Subas Chand and Sri Janmeday Das from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. I also express my thanks to Sri S. Madhava Rao from Hyderabad Allwyn and Sri Ghosh from National Geophysical Research Institute.

I thank my former colleagues Sri S. V. Sastry, Sri B. N. Sudarshan, Sri P. Ramachandriah, Sri A. Dharma Rao, Sri A. Gangadhara Rao, Sri K. V. Reddy, Sri M. Srinivasulu, Sri G. Venkatesham, Sri M. Jitendernath Thakur, Sri K. Nagi Reddy, Sri V. C. Rami Reddy, Sri Viyyanna, Sri Vadrevu Ramaseshagiri Rao, Sri V. Ramakrishna rao, Sri P. Narasing Rao, Sri K. C. Sasidhara, Sri N. Sameer, Sri V. Madhusudana Reddy and other associates.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Sri Marepally Sammi Reddy, Capt. Reddy (Retd) and Sri Chitukula Narasimha Reddy for their invaluable help in many walks of my life.

I take this opportunity to thank Smt. Yellapu Satyavathi, Dr. Chadaram Bala Krishna, Smt. C. Venkata Laxmi, Sri C. Naga Abhilash, Sri Yellapu Ramana, Y. Vimala, Dr. Y. Vikas, Sri Y. Abhishek, Sri Samineni Srinivasa Rao, Smt. Samineni Sandhya, Sri Buddha Srinivasa Rao, Smt. Buddha Vani Jahnavi, Dr. Buddha Veera Raghava Rao, Sri Samineni Papa Rao, Sri Hanumanthu Srinivasa Rao, Sri Buddha Prakash, Sri Dadi Appa Rao, Sri Saragadam Satyanarayana, Sri Vegi Surya Prakasa Rao, Dr Malla Appa Rao, Sri Polamarasetty Ramakrishna, Sri Yellapu Sivaji, Sri Yellapu Bujji, Sri Boddeti Tata Rao, Sri Kothari Ranga Rao, Sri Gurram Subba Rao, who were of immense help to me in many of my personal and social activities.

I thank Sri Jampana Prathap and Sri Pandu Yadav, leaders of our locality and Sri V. V. Ramana, Sri J. Chennakesavulu, Sri B. Malliah, Sri K. Chandra Sekhar Reddy and other residents of our colony, who stood by me through thick and thin.

I commemorate with respect my father C. S. Naidu, mother C. Chinatalli, mother’s elder sister C. Veeramma, Polamarasetty Appa Rao, Buddha Veeru Naidu, B. R. Satyanarayana, Karri Ramachandra Rao, Kothari Prakasa Rao, Kothari Kamalamma, Mudigonda Linga Murthy, D. Yashwanth Rao, V. Ramachandra Rao, Madeti Samba Murthy, Karra Venkata Subba Rao, Karri Satyanarayana Reddy and Tangi Sriramulu.

I thank readers, who provided valued feedback on books published by me earlier. I find no words to express how deeply I am impressed with dedicated support that I have received from staff of M/s Partridge Publishing.

I fail in my duty, if I don’t express my heartfelt thanks to my wife Smt. C. L. Rajakumari, without the support of whom, I could not have remained in the field of writing.

Preface

This book is a sequel to my first book ‘Telling Tales for Rising Stars’ and the second in a series of books on telling tales. It is a collection of 125 micro tales, written keeping in view mainly young adults and those that take delight in reading thought stirring and enlightening literary works. Every tale in this book dwells on a crystal of thought and drives home a pointed message that makes readers think. The book as a whole is written for a purpose that is to give an idea on how we can live a life better than what we are living and how we can live holistically with enlarged horizon of thinking.

Before release of my first book into market, I had no idea as to how readers would receive my book. I was restless, until I received the first feedback from a reader. When some more readers read, reviewed and ratified quality of content in my book, I really got gratified and found myself standing on cloud nine. A word of appreciation from Principal of a high school that she read my book and recommended reading of the book to her students, filled me with euphoria. I have envisaged writing this book, after uplifting feedback from readers has given me confidence that I can continue in the field of writing.

I am a farmer by birth, an engineer by profession and a writer by instinct. I always toil and till my land of words to engineer crowning crops. If harvest from my first crop has found place in the form of telling tales in my first book, harvest from my second crop is finding place in the present book.

I have taken the route of expressing myself through writing extremely small short stories for three explicit reasons. The first reason is a modern reader, hard pressed for time, prefers reading short works to going through long works. The second reason is I have many ideas and concepts to share with my readers and I can do it only through writing small and short works, keeping brevity in mind. The third reason is a message from a writer reaches a reader more effectively through a story rather than through what is conveyed directly.

I have sincerely endeavoured to put together many of my thoughts in the form of tiny tales in the present book. I earnestly hope that the tales will provide good, light and healthy reading material for my readers. I also wish the book will delight the elite and erudite in the literary world and earn their admiration.

Author

Foreword

From the beginning, man has lived with deep desire to have long, healthy and happy life. He has worked constantly towards realization of his cherished desire, hit upon many nuggets of knowledge and preserved them in the form of literature and science. If literature is contributing directly for enhancement of happiness through entertainment and enlightenment, science is doing it indirectly through taking care of health and creating many material comforts.

The author, an engineer with long drawn industrial experience, has combined science and literature to share his work and real life experiences through telling tales, with modern readers, hard pressed for time.

Most of the stories in this book reflect autographs of the author. They stand to highlight that work spot is a temple, founder of an organization is no way inferior to god, work is the only way to become great in life, time is to be utilized optimally, live and let live concept is to be respected, it is possible to address complex problems through out of the box thinking, every individual has self respect, responsible parenting is required to bring up children, taking care of society is a bounden duty of one and all, belief moves mountains, barbarous acts of bloodshed are bad, conscientious efforts are to be made to remove discords among family members and many more mind stirring thoughts. The stories, narrated in simple and lucid style, are sure to entertain readers with their crisp and clear messages.

The author has to his credit a few more good works. I am sure that the present compilation too will get good name and fame for him. I look forward for more publications from the author.

Dr. Bala Krishna Chadaram

Professor at Malla Reddy Medical College for Women, Hyderabad,

Former Principal of RIMS, Kadapa

Introduction

Short stories in this book are small in size, but big in effect. They are carved out of crystals of thought. They are cast out of moulds to take shape into majestic pieces of art. They are tales of all times. They are impregnated with ideas. They are designed to deliver food for thought. They are handpicked both from real life incidents as well as realms of imagination.

They are crafted for a purpose. They make us realize what vast potential is there within us, how we can tap it and climb up to top notch positions in life. They drive away self defeating thoughts that swarm around us and dissuade us from undertaking anything worthwhile in life. They pull us out of self centred world and make us interface more harmoniously with outside society. They take out negativity from our minds and replace it with positivity. They make us see what shortcomings we have got in our personality and tell how we can do away with them. They lay emphasis on importance of work in life and highlight how work and success in life are interconnected. They tell us how good beliefs strengthen our spirits and wrong beliefs cut into our self confidence. They advocate how free and rational thinking helps and why we should have scientific bent of mind. They draw our attention to ever deteriorating human relations and make us feel the need to mend them. They tell in unequivocal terms that self is the supreme body in making success in life and all external help is only a supplement to it.

They teach us to learn good things, preach to us merits of morals and virtues in life and elucidate what happens, if we cross our limits, transgress into forbidden zones and commit wrongs that we are not supposed to attempt.

They are guides. They take us on a visit to various sightseeing spots in a conducted tour. They are magicians. They show in mirrors in their hands various glimpses of life. They are presenters. They introduce us to various characters and concepts picked out from various walks of life. They are pathfinders. They show us path to follow, before us. They are emitters of light. They conduct us from darkness into light. They are treasures of truth. They escalate us from what is unreal to real. They are springs of nectar. They take us from mortality to immortality. They are scintillating stars in a star studded sky. They send out golden sheens and make their presence felt. They are troves of wisdom. They elevate us from abysmal state of ignorance to higher level of learning. They are movers. They move us from inaction into action. They are chargers. They fill us with energy and enthusiasm.

There are some tales in this book that point out weaknesses in human nature. They are not written to find faults in others, but to spot the fault lines and find solutions for them.

There are many seasoned raconteurs in the tales. The raconteurs in the form of counsellors, gods, god men, kings, mentors, parents, peers, teachers, saints, seers and many other characters enter stage, one after another, narrate tales and exit in quick succession.

Tales in this book, an eclectic mix, arranged into a bouquet, are set to amuse, ameliorate, educate, enlighten, enthuse, enthral and inspire readers.

1. A Great Vocalist

A young vocalist started her singing career with a good band of accompanists in her team. With devotion to music and dedication to profession, she won hearts of millions of music lovers. She continued her musical journey for a life time and established for herself great name and unparalleled fame. Throughout her journey, she never made any change in her ensemble. The accompanists that were in her team in beginning of her career, continued to be there in the team, all throughout. The musician took care of members of her team more than those of her own family. She was so noble that she gave away most of her earnings to her team mates and kept to herself very little.

Once, a media person wanted to write a report on musical odyssey of the accomplished musician. He met the musician, put a series of questions to her and said to her, at end of the interview:

"I understand that you take care