We had a dearth of judges somehow and because of my own connectivity issues, the month of October slowed considerably. Hate to begin anything with apologies makes me somehow feel really guilty! BUT IT IS CALLED FOR!

MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES FOR KEEPING YOU ALL WAITING!

Eternal gratitude to Madhavan PK for helping out. Eternal gratitude for all my iland friends and members and participants who waited and waited till kingdom came J

The dearth of judges, made me sit on the difficult seat of having to decide too not an easy task.

We had eleven participants:

• Zeus Zeus
• Dee
• Deepa
• Ajay Mane
• Madhavi
• Sur Mehta
• Navina Sai
• Rajat Chandel
• Vishal Rathod
• Mesha Bhat
• Rajesh Vora

There was an assortment of entries because this time it was open to either write Poetry or Prose We have amazing entries.

I request the participants to post their entries on their blogs and leave me a link either on the guest book or comments page so I can incorporate the same into this result page as and when I get your uploaded story or poetry

NOW FOR THE RESULTS:

Madhavan:

"As is usual in the analysis of creative work, there is an element of subjectivity. In trying to be objective, I have tried to mark for writing style, originality and content, narration, clarity of thought, flow and readability."

Here goes. Of the entries, I would give Bright Walls and a Pale sky the first place closely followed by Dinks. I have no third place. Compos Mentis is well written, has a great narration, flow and style. But to my mind, it fails because it talks of the much-bandied multiple-personality disorder a la “aparachit” or “anniyan”.

Zeus Zeus:

Entry: A Saga of The Sands ' Poetry

"Darkness engulfs the expanse of sand

As twinkling stars struggle with clouds

Smuggling flickers of hope into the eyes

Blinded by passion, despair and war.

Two souls crave "

 http://livinglife.rediffiland.com 

Comments:

A marvelous narration in poetry full of excellent imagery that gets one to visualize the entire story in its array of colors.

"Excellent description, an easy read, simplistic in its content and finely etched."
 

Ajay Mane:

Entry: Sorry Ajay, your entry was disqualified, as it did not connect in any way to the contest theme.

Madhavi:

Entry: Sannata ' Poetry

"Is Neel Gagan Ke Chhaon Mein,

Tez, Kadakti Dhoop Mein Tapti Hain.

Yeh Imaaratein , Zameen Se Lipti,

Oonchi Tanee, Jalti Hain,

Jheel Ke Us Paar Phaili Hain.."

 http://maddies.rediffiland.com 

Comments:

"Very moving and thought provoking."

Sur Mehta

Entry: My Imagination ' Poetry

"As soon as I saw the picture of the fort,

 I sat down & gave it a thought.

 I didn’t knew what would I write,

But ya some vague ideas crippled through my mind…"

Comments:

" Vivid imagery a fair attempt had its moments of catching attention, it lacked the flow poetry usually carries I like the hint of story in it though"

Navina Sai

Entry: Yours truly, compos mentis ' Story

"Skippity-skip. Hoppity-hop. Somehow, she knew she had always belonged here. Her hair seemed to have a gentle tussle with that familiar tug of wind. Everything was terribly familiar. The strong smell of the mud soaked in yesterday's rain or was it something headier than just rain? She couldn't figure that out, though the air was echoing sounds of hushed voices, intermingled with excited shrieks. Feverish chatter. She thought the steel would have rusted, but the blades just gleamed like they had been recently polished "

Comments:

" Highly imaginative very unique story line has hitches in its structures but it is unique in its theme "

Rajat Chandel

Entry: Bright Walls and Pale Sky ' Story

"Sitting on the roof of the famous “bath-house-for ladies(Janana-Hammam-bara ) adjoining the not-so-famous Mohnisha Taal, on the footsteps of Fort Raigarh, I wondered, "Why did I come here?"

After all, I really didn’t have a reason to be here, they had already cremated him two days ago and I wasn’t planning on staying till fifteen for Kriya "

 http://rajatchandel.rediffiland.com/ 

Comments:

" Easy, ruminative in narration and simple in style. A good build-up and a factual end"

Vishal Rathod

Entry: Crouching Picture Hidden Tiger - Story

"”What do you think?”

“Its a beautiful palace,” my younger brother replied, pushing aside the newspaper from his hand. Both of us were staring into the computer screen.

“That makes four. I need a thousand words for the contest,” I protested.

“Write those words over and over again, for a thousand times. Simple as that.” He smiled ."

 http://keval23.rediffiland.com/ 

Comments:

"A contemplative piece, humour apparent in places."

Mesha Bhat

Entry: Love and Repentance ' Poetry

"    He sat alone beneath the oak
    A man old and bent
    His eyes crinkled with the years
    His feet ..they struggled to stand.

    His hair was long.. matted and tight
    Like vines growing wild on a tree
    But for the cloth around his loins
    He lived naked and free "

 http://mesha.rediffiland.com/ 

Comments:

" Story in musical poetry ruminative love from the past well told"

Rajesh Vora

Entry: Poem

“ I may be consigned to the pages of history
I may be long forgotten
People may mistake me to be dead
They convert me to hotels and resorts
But I am very much alive and
I have lived to tell the tale…”
http://rajeshvora.rediffiland.com 
Comments:
 ” A touching narration from the Fort…”

THE WINNERS:

FIRST PRIZE ' We have two winners here this time around

BRIGHT WALLS AND A PALE SKY by Rajat Chandel

THE DINKS by Dee

SECOND PRIZE ' A SAGA OF THE SANDS by Zeus

THIRD PRIZE ' SANNATA by Madhavi

Congratulations!

All participants are requested to please upload their entries and post it on their page and leave me a link so that I can include it here.

Please email me at ilandcontest@gmail.com your address and full name for dispatching the cheques

Cheers!

-Sandy