Preface

Encouraged by the favor of approval by way of recognition of merit of some of my own books on Education, dramas and general literature, by the student community as also the elite; I have ventured forth to put in black and white many of my life experiences together with some of the anecdotes related to me by my brother-in-law Late Sh. P.N. Kaul, my uncle late Shri Hari Ram Raina and a colleague late Shri Sundri kaul, in story form enlivened by pleasant and painful touches of fiction, curt humor and satire.

Plain narrations, conflicting psyches, clashes of self-interest fool-hardiness of conceit and egoism, heights of human attachments, potential confusion and chaos inheriting all misunderstandings and mischief as against the wisdom of sincerity of purpose and fearless frankness; and above all illiterate's intelligence versus the experts stark-ignorance are some of the problems highlighted in these twenty-one odd stories.

How far I have succeeded to tickle the souls of the readers into innate reflexes is for them to judge. To conclude I must express my thankful gratitude to:-

(a) Prof. Nilamber Dev Sharma, Ex-Secretary, J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages; Ex-President Dogri Sanstha and above all a perfect gentleman of parts, scribe of eminence, for his courtesy and kindness of agreeing to write an introduction to the book.

In his unusual shrewdness as a seasoned commentator, Professor sahib seems to have deliberately avoided to dilate on the essential norms of short-story writing as reflected in the coherence of narration in the contents of the M.S. He leaves it to the discerning readers to freely pass their mature judgments thereon. Yet he does not consider it proper to conceal the fact that he found the stories:

i. Interesting to read.

ii. The language used in narration both plain and lucid and above all

iii. That he found the stories are true to life and yet quite different from the common rut.

"Brevity is the soul of wit", they say. Sticking to this maxim, most probably professor sahib uses just a couple of sentences to express his relevant impression about the book.

To conclude, I would like to share my joy of adventure and exploration of new terrain-rough and rocky, plain but frightfully desolate and free from disturbing buzz and noise of overpopulated cities to built up airy castles in a calm atmosphere of tranquility. In this connection, I would like to pin my instinctive urge of swimming against the current like a living fish that jumps up into fresh air and dives back with a splash against the flow of fresher water. The irresistible attractive spectacle cannot but capture the observing pedestrian attention and enthralls him to stay back and get absorbed in watching the phenomenon for a while.

The congenial effectiveness or otherwise of my 6 / AMB. G. K/.K-3  humble attempt is left for the grudging judgment of the concerned readers. (b) I feel it my duty to express my gratitude to the Hon'ble Chairman and respected members of the Decision-making body together with the concerned staff of J& K Academy of Art, Culture and languages, Lal Mandi, Srinagar for the favor they have done me by approving the M.S. with a sanction of subsidy for its publication. (c) To my talented son, Roshan Lal Razdan for doing all the auxiliary work of rewriting the M. S. for typing, correction and coalition of type script with the MS. (d) To my ale11daughter-in-law Shmt. Santosh Razdan and Ashim Khuda, for coalition work of the Photostat copies of some stories with the MS and mak ing the necessary corrections thereof. My thanks are also due to Bansi Lal Kaul, seasoned Addt. Secretary (rtd.), P.N. Raina reputed educationist, Saurabh, Neena ji, and Surbhi Kauchru, Deepu and Rajaji for further help in this direction and of final proofreading and correction(s). To Shri A.N. Raina, Sh. Devendhar Vidyarthi, Sh. Rajinder Kumar, Sh. R.L. Bhat for typing this MS. Last but not the least, my thanks are due to Mis Samkaleen Prakashan.

Hope the book will be as well received as its predecessors on different subjects such as (i) Education (ii) One-Act plays (iii) J & K Literature (iv) Text books for middle, high and higher secondary Schools of the State vi) and now the present "Ticklish stories."

Prithvi Nath Razdan

Foot Note: My first of the five books written within the first two years after migration in March 1990 entitled "Gems of Kashmiri Literature and Kashmiriyat" is a full fledged complete book in itself on its own right.

It is not the first volume of a bigger book, as misunderstood by some of the elite. The misunderstanding caused by the in section of the Roman Numeral "I" after its subtitle '"The trio-of Saint Poets" simply indicates that it is the first Publication ( AMB, G, KI.K-3) Published after migration. It is hoped that this will diffuse off the mist that had enveloped the book.

P. N. Razdan (Mehnoori)

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