Sci-fi propels writer into a new world

For all those, who havn't seen the papers lately... Priya, the young author of the year... though she doesnt like to write?... well in any case... she defintly deserves praise... so a toast to Priya for breaking free and doing what she feels... and doing it good! ..cheers!!
(now should follow a clang of champagne glasses...)

this is here is the article on her from Deccan Chronicle dated october 27, 2006::

That is not what I want to be,” says Priya the young writer and a class 12 student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya. Her prodigious feat saw her emerge as one of the 16 finalists selected from 1,20,000 students from over 4,000 schools across 15 cities in the contest, organised by ITC Ltd. titled ‘Classmate Young Author Contest.’

One would have thought that winning a story writing contest and the story finding its way into a book edited by none other than Ruskin Bond would have been reason enough for C. Priya to think of literary pursuits. But strangely enough, that is not what she dreamed of. “I am not a literary person, my inclination is towards singing and playing basketball,” says confident Priya. Apart from that, she also loves music and is very keen on western classics. “I like listening to John Denver and Carol King,” confides the teenager. Or perhaps, like all teenagers she wrestles with the dilemma that plagued Hamlet — to be or not to be.

The contestants were asked to choose from four topics — Chain Reaction, incognito, Clueless and Dream Factory. Priya being a science fiction aficionado, chose the first topic. The story that she penned can be likened to what transpired in the Stephen Spielberg classic ET or nearer home Koi Mil Gaya, but the similarity ends there. In Priya’s story, the protagonist is the alien and it revolves around his experience with a little boy. Like Priya, all the 16 finalists have their stories published in a book ironically titled, Stairway to Nowhere and edited by the much loved and admired writer of children’s stories, Ruskin Bond.