Flights From My Terrace

This book is a collection of 58 essays most of which are based on observations from my terrace.Some have been written quashed in ramshackle buses while commuting from and to my work place. still others have been written from the snug confines of a car, watching lives pass by with their extraordinary hues, some of them are embellished with reminiscences of my childhood days in the warm cocoon of family life, surrounded by affectionate parents, siblings and cats, dogs and birds, many of whom were restored to life by my father,
Some of the essays are about the sunny moon, a boy with a crutch, a canine sponge, a human sponge who loved cricket, the spy who came in from the rain and chance encounters which changed into lifelong friendships. Many of the incidents and episodes that I witnessed made me realise that life is what happens when we are making other plans. Through all this, I realised that it is the cascading abundance of love and love alone which can sublimate the seeming cacophonies of life into a sublime euphony.
A couple of essays are about my beloved Kashmir where I spent many summer vacations with my cousins and also winter vacations making joyous snowmen. This was all before my homeland turned into a gory conflict zone. In short, I can say that these writings made me understand the real meaning of life and enriched me no end. I hope the lives of the readers are also similarly enriched.