Once upon a time in twenty-first century Mumbai, there lived a craftsman named Virendra with his queen Aparna. He was not just a wordsmith, but also a master storyteller. He had written popular TV shows and bestseller books.
One day a severe pandemic struck the world and everyone was locked down wherever they were. But no lockdown can curb ideas and creativity. Aparna and Virendra had a bright idea. They decided to discover and train budding writers, to craft a new breed of storytellers. Thus an online course was born. It was aptly named Story Craft.
Seven students joined the batch from different parts of the country. They were all very excited and eager to learn. They would log on to Zoom and participate in the interactive sessions every alternate day. Each had a story seed and wanted to see it blossom into a beautiful, lush green, flowering plant.
But some asooras/demons started troubling the students, like they do all writers. Lazinessasoor was the biggest of them. Have-nothing-to-sayasoor was on the forefront. The most peculiar daanav was fear-of-rejactionasoor, who ensured the students themselves prevented the seeds from sprouting. The students were in such a quandary.
In came the master craftsman. Like a true warrior, Virendra gave it all to help the students fight the asooras. Many learned people hold back a lot while teaching. But Virendra was not one of them. He took personal interest in nurturing each seed, each story, each character in those stories. Virendra simplified the writing process for the students. Most importantly, Virendra triggered a thought process in those creative minds that would lead to bringing out the best writing in them.
Virendra was transparent and honest with the feedback. He never sugar-coated the criticism but he was never harsh, hurtful or disrespectful. He never altered or encroached upon the students’ original ideas. Rather, he nourished those, guided those towards light and pruned the unruly shoots. He pushed them hard to do the homework.
The students responded with working harder. They had sleepless nights. They were driven by the passion of writing. Virendra loved them all and encouraged them in his own unique way.
The course progressed well. The students learnt to fight their own demons.
“You will surprise yourselves by the end of the course,” Virendra had promised the students. Oh boy, the students did so by the end of the course. The journey hadn’t been easy but Virendra helped them all along.
With the learnings, having vanquished the asooras, and with Aparna & Virendra’s blessings, the students wrote happily ever after.

It just happened… I came across a post related to ‘Story Craft’, a platform inviting aspiring writers to explore their potential and to learn crafting stories.. It was the time when I was determined to complete my book on ‘Parenting’. I have jotted down few sections too. I eagerly enrolled in ‘Story Craft’, as it was a great opportunity to learn from a Master Writer. It was far beyond my imagination that a prolific writer, & renowned person has found time to motivate as well as show a right path, with the light of guidelines, as a torch to brighten your journey of writing a story with your belief throughout. And really, I ended up with a story of about 6000 words.. Imagine, a person who could not think beyond 300-350 words, ended up with such results. It was the magic of Viren Sir. He clarified each aspect so beautifully with real life examples, that all my batchmates ended up with their creativity in Hand. I am looking forward for his next level course. Thank you sir, fir a real ‘event of enlightenment’ in the life of all aspiring writers like me. Thank you so much.