The lost alien

This entry went on to be judged as runners up at Creative Writing Competition conducted by Oxbridge Center, April 2021. In the competition, a story had to be written within a 500 words related to the given picture. Presented below is the picture and the story

The lost alien 

Deep into the outer space, there were three amiable aliens: Eyebeam, OneI and Bobble-o-head. 

Eyebeam was this exceedingly gregarious and merry alien with a wide grin spread across his pale, periwinkle pink face. 

OneI was named “One eye” because he never got another eye, unlike both of his other mates. He was often very emotional about it and frequently began squalling, as most aliens have a couple of eyes. 

Bobble-o-head peculiarly had two necks, but that wasn’t the peculiar thing - it was that he wasn’t very amiable. Instead, he was extremely silent and often solitarily lonesome. Whenever something happened, Bobble-o-head would keep quiet and not inform anybody. Despite his sulky behaviour, Bobble-o-head still supported his friends encouragingly. 

Despite each aliens’ behaviour, they all lived in a village of aliens on a planet named Boo. 

One day, Eyebeam’s mother named Goglara had built a fantastic, divine rocket for travelling around the other planets named Agon. Eyebeam was so amazed at the invention of Agon that he couldn’t prevent himself from telling his friends. So he collected them and excitedly asked them whether they could go on a quick trip around some of the awesome, stunning planets. OneI had casually danced about sprightly as a version of “yes” whereas Bobble-o-head just nodded meekly.

OneI and Bobble-o-head asked their parents before they set off on their journey. They packed some alien food: Worm-spaghetti, troll bogeys, etc. 

On the exciting, ecstatic ride on Agon and when OneI and Eyebeam had both got in the rocket and began munching on a revolting troll bogey, Bobble-o-head was just trying to get in when Eyebeam and OneI realized that Agon accelerated too fast, and Bobble-o-head wasn’t given as much time to board, so he accidentally let go and ended up floating up to nowhere in the outer space, screeching and shrieking for help.

Eyebeam’s mother Goglara heard his screeches, and set off on another of her rockets to go and save him. 

‘I’ll fly you on my rocket named Plush,’ she had said, ‘And I’ll drop you back in the rocket in which your friends are in.’ 

Bobble-o-head had given an approving thumbs up, and so Goglara did what she said she would. 

When Goglara placed Bobble-o-head back in Agon, all three aliens jubilantly enjoyed their ride around the planets and returned safely back to their abode, with Goglara exceedingly pleased that Bobble-o-head was saved. So pleased and merry, in fact, she invited them all for a round of  durian juice and cobweb pie made of mud, eyeballs and dirty, rusty socks, to which all the 3 felt elated! 

The Campfire in the Haunted Woods

 This entry went on to win a certificate of merit award from Young Writers UK for an original piece of creative writing that was also selected for publication in a young writers' anthology. In the competition, a fairy tale had to be written within a 100 words, with 4 sections, the last of which was a picture to describe the story. Presented below is the picture and the story

The Campfire in the Haunted Woods

One day, three elegant girls named Lucia, Florida and Daisybella were camping in the woods.

The three girls found a tranquil place to camp. Lucia set up the campfire while Florida told spooky ghost stories. "I've made us hot tomato soup," said Lucia.

When they had their delicious dinner, they slept in their tents. While they were asleep, a witch from the sky flew where they were sleeping.

"I'll kill you three girls!" cackled the dark witch.

"No you will not!" responded a firm voice.

An angel had come to protect the girls by casting a powerful spell.

The Mystery of the Missing Playground

(This story was submitted to Write for Read UK competition, under fiction category for 5-11 year olds. The word limit was 1500 words, and this particular piece was in short story format. The themes were around going back to school in September 2020 after the lockdown, with this one being "How you felt when you went back to school" )

*The Mystery Of The Missing Playground*

It was a gorgeous, exclusive morning. The radiant sun shone out, and the sweet hummingbirds sang melodiously, as crowds of school kids congregated to go through the gate. It was International Day that day, so everyone was extra excited.

 

“I’m wearing my Indian dress, to represent India! What are you wearing, Val?” asked Parvati. 

“Hey, you know, Par. I’m representing Switzerland,” answered Valentina. 

“Oh, right,” said Parvati. “Wait a minute. Look at the playground. It’s vanished!” 

Everyone began to feel appalled after hearing this from Parvati. They went to their headteacher’s office,  and Headmaster Senz. 

“Hi, headmaster. The playground has disappeared,” said Valentina. 

“Alright, I know. We’re trying to solve it,” replied Senz. 

“Val, he knows!” whispered Parvati. 

“Par, what if they didn’t?!” mumbled Valentina. 

“Huh, we’ll see, Val,” murmured Parvati. 

“Okay, okay students. Chop chop! Settle down and relax. I am calling the Police, so no need to panic,” announced Senz. The children started to calm down now, and abate their panic. 

Half an hour later, the Inspector and the policemen came. 

“The playground’s disappeared, you say?” asked the Inspector. 

“Yes, the playground’s not here,” answered Senz. 

“Hmm ok. C’mon boys, let’s solve this issue,” said the Inspector. The policemen came, and checked all around the place where the playground used to be. 

“The only suspect is that this incident has been planned covertly. We know that because we saw a note on the floor saying ‘SECRET PLAN’,” reported the Inspector.

 

“Thank you. Thank you very much. For a charming favour, can you please try figure out what’s wrong?” pleaded Senz. 

“We’ll try our best to find out,” responded the Inspector. 

“Okay,” nodded Senz. 

Parvati and Valentina glared at this discussion, and blinked hard. They tried to comfort the other students, by asking them about what country they represented.

 

“Hey, Sal! What country are you representing?” asked Parvati. 

“Don’t call me ‘Sal’, Parvati. Call me Sally. Oh, and by the way, I’m representing Spain and I know Valentina is asking Mond, and he is representing Italy,” answered Sally. 

“Right, okay Sal,” 

“Sally,” corrected Sally. 

“Oh fine, Sally,” said Parvati, walking away. 

“What did Sal say, Par?” asked Valentina, later. 

“Val, Sal told me not to call her ‘Sal’, and she said that she was representing Spain, and that Mo was representing Italy,” replied Parvati. 

“Sal doesn’t like people calling her short names. Even she calls Mond, Mond, whilst we call him Mo. It’s nicer,” explained Valentina. 

“Your explanation agreed,” agreed Parvati, giving a thumbs up. “Anyway. Let’s go check on Headmaster Senz,” The two girls went to the headtecher, and asked them if it was going well. 

“It isn’t going well. They’re not finding any more clues, looks like a dead end,” answered Senz. Parvati and Valentina gave a gasp, in amazement. 

“No matter what you say, we’re going to help figure out what happened,” said Parvati, determined. 

“Alright. As long as you do whatever you want to save the playground, I’m fine,” agreed Senz. The two girls bounced about in jubilance, and set off. 

“A dead end? A dead end?” questioned Valentina. “That’s crazy, Par!” 

“I know. Police these days!! Not using their brains, Val,” stated Parvati. 

They looked for the Inspector to see if they can learn anything from them. 

“Hello, girls. What are you doing here?” asked a police. 

“We wanted to help,” answered Parvati. 

“Oh! Well, I’ll bet that you’d be an amazing help! You see, this note, it says, SECRET PLAN. You see? Now, there was a tiny map rolled under it, and it lead to this dead end. Now whoever caused the issue, is here. It’s a very new clue, I haven’t told Senz because I want our solving to be a secret, then we can tell him after,” reported the Inspector. 

Parvati and Valentina’s eyes widened, and they searched around the place, to see what they could find. They searched and searched. 

“Hey purple hearts, look what I found, Par!” cried Valentina.  

“Huh? An alleyway! Good job, Val,” exclaimed Parvati, pointing to the narrow alleyway that Valentina had found. 

“Let’s tell the Inspector about this, Par,” said Valentina. 

“Uh-huh, Val,” nodded Parvati. Both rushed to the Inspector, and told him. 

“Narrow alleyway? Narrow alleyway? Why didn’t I think of that?” said the Inspector. 

“Well you just have to be as smart as the legendary Harry Potter’s Hermione Granger,” said Parvati.

 

“N’alright,” agreed the Inspector. “Let’s go there, boys, to Narrow Alleyway!” 

“It’s not called Narrow Alleyway, the real name of the alley is Burton Sanc Alley,” corrected Valentina. 

“Burton Sanc Alley? Burton Sanc Alley? That is a ridiculous name!” cried the Inspector. 

“Yes, Burton Sanc Alley,” said Parvati. 

“I really can’t believe how bizarre this is going,” said the Inspector. 

“Anyway, boys, get your guns out, incase some bad people are hiding in the alley. And be aware,” 

“And be aware,” repeated a policeman. “Beware,” The troop entered the alleyway, followed by Valentina and Parvati. 

“Why have we found nothing?” fumed the Inspector. 

“Be patient. Patient is the right thing to be,” reminded Valentina. 

“Alright. Patient is the right thing to be,” mimicked the Inspector. “Come on boys. Let’s be patient,” 

Valentina and Parvati didn’t actually know that the Inspector could get really irritated when something peculiar happens. 

“Geez, Par! Didn’t know they could get so angry!” cried Valentina. 

“Yes, Val,” agreed Parvati. “Agreed!” 

“BOYS! C’mon!” shouted the Inspector. The other policemen hesitated, and followed this furious Inspector’s commands. 

In the alleyway, they found the playground, right next to a scary, monstrous gallantly white figure. 

“Com’ere, you thief! Apologize for taking this school’s playground!” screamed the Inspector, holding out his gun, ready. 

“Ha ha ha!” cackled the figure, demoniacally. “I’m Icetartica, the Evil Ice Queen of Antartica. I come here and take all sorts of fun away! You may not stop me! I take everything that makes kiddies’ life fun, and freeze them with ice!” 

The Inspector immediately shot his gun at her, but the bullets were futile on Icetartica. 

“Kiddies! Go away! This is only for police!” warned the Inspector. Parvati and Valentina were obstinate, and stayed. 

“NO, Inspector. We’re staying,” said Parvati. “Right, Val?” 

“Yes, Par. We’ll be standing here, but give us a shout if you need help with this DEVILISH ice witch, because we can’t abide her!” 

“You’re definitely NOT staying here, you foolish kiddies!” said the Inspector. 

“Yes we are,” argued Valentina, obstinately. 

“Oh, FINE!” fumed the Inspector. Valentina and Parvati stood behind the troops, ready in case they got badly injured. 

“Beat me now, kiddies!” shouted Icetartica. 

Valentina snatched one of the policemen’s guns, and shot it at Icetartica’s heart. Now that injured Icetartica, but she was still pending to be fully destroyed. She sent a sea of ice to crash on the Inspector, but they ran away before it could reach them. Icetartica then used her strongest spells. 

“You definitely can’t tolerate this!” she exclaimed, confidently. She sent ice sparks raining from the sky. Each ice spark would kill someone. 

Each and every single one of the police and the two school girls, in Indian and Swiss dresses, dashed around, watching out for the sparks. The two elegant girls struggled to watch out, because of their long, glorious gowns. Poor them, they didn’t know International Day was going to be so eventful! 

“I’ve got a plan. Let’s shoot all the guns at her heart lots of times, then as she’s trying to heal herself, we tie her with a rope. Then with the tied Icetartica, we can pour sticky mud over here and water, to get her killed. See how that works,” suggested the Inspector.

“Aye aye sir,” said the policemen. 

All policemen got out their guns, and shot Icetartica at her heart. She groaned. While she groaned, some of the plucky troops tied her with a rope. Then they grabbed sticky mud from the garden, and they splattered it over her face. And last but not least, they spilled water over here. Once the water dried up, they saw Icetartica lying, dead. 

“Hooray!” they cheered. 

They restored the playground to the right location.

The next day, all the school kids had their International Day jubilant and victorious. This news about Icetartica the Evil Ice Queen of Antartica came up on TV, newspapers, ads, posters, BBC and signs on the road. Everyone and everything was now safe and tranquil. 

“Good one, Par. I finally want to let my world-saving friends call me whatever they want,” said Sally. 

“Thank you, Sal,” smiled Parvati, merrily.

Peliana and Countess Caladera’s dragon

This story was an entry to Once Upon A Time - My Fairy Tale Contest held in December 2020, and won the top prize in the ages 8-10 category. In the competition, any story around fairytales could be submitted with a word limit of 600. Presented below is the prize-winning story. 

Peliana and Countess Caladera’s dragon

By Avyaya Iyer

Once upon a time, there lived a little girl named Peliana. She lived in a hut, miles away, on the edge of the countryside in Devonshire. 

One day, Peliana was making a lovely, warm tomato soup for her dinner, but she wanted to add some veggies to the soup. “Oh! I need vegetables! Corn, broccoli, tomato! And maybe I can add a bit of pasta too.” Peliana mumbled to herself. She swung open the fridge door and checked if she had some veggies. Turns out, there were no veggies at all! Peliana needed to find some veggies. 

Peliana went outside, in the fresh Dartmoor air. She found a small store selling corn. 

“Hi,” Peliana said, to the owner of the shop. “can I please have 10 pieces of corn?”. 

“Yes, yes, sure,” replied a beautiful lady wearing a gorgeous gown, a perfect bun in her hair, a pinch of lipstick on her lips, a tawny coloured cheek and her ears sported big, circle earrings. 

“I am Countess Caladera. I will give you 10 corns, but if you give me 1 extra pound, then I can show you a surprise you might want to see”

“Oh, Your Majesty, Countess Caladera”

“Don’t be formal, call me Cally”

“OK, Cally, here is an extra pound. May I please see the surprise?”

Cally grabbed a bright, iridescent, polished egg, shining radiantly.

Peliana was amazed at the sight of this wonderful creation. “Is this a dragon egg??” asked Peliana, inquisitively.

“Brilliant guess, but it’s the egg of an evil dragon. I found the egg in a cave of dark spirits. If you touch the egg, you will be cursed, but as a trained Countess, if I touch it, then I will not be cursed,”

“I understand, Your Majesty, but can I please just touch it?” pleaded Peliana, who was still stuck by the radiance of the dragon’s egg.

“No, you must not, for your own safety” 

“Okay,” said Peliana. She took her 10 corns, went home and made her soup at her hut, but she could not get the dragon’s egg out of her curious mind.

She could not hold her temptation back. In the middle of the night, Peliana woke from her bed and tiptoed to the store and unlocked the door to the store with her collection of keys. Cally turned out to be asleep, so Peliana searched for the egg in the shelves and found it. After only a moment’s thought, she grabbed the egg. Immediately she felt a strong force pushing her and she fell backwards screaming with pain. 

The Countess woke up, and understood what happened. She shouted at Peliana “I told you not to touch it! Now stand back while I mend matters”. Cally cast a powerful spell to make Peliana better, and took the egg and safely put it away. In a few minutes, Peliana recovered. “Thanks, Your Majesty! I am sorry for not taking your advice.” 

“You’re welcome, but I hope you will not do it again!”

Now, both Countess Caladera and Peliana lived happily ever after. 

The End

Funky Pigeon Merry Christmas Design

This design went on win the winter 2020 Junior Designers competition in the 6-9 category. It was available on funky pigeon as a card for sale, with 30% of the sales from this card donated to the Royal Voluntary Service charity to help support our key workers.

Watering Cowboys

This story was an entry to Young Authors’ Competition 2020, and won the runners up prize in the under-9 category. In the competition, a picture was provided and the story had to be written around it, with a word limit of 500. Presented below is both the picture and the prize-winning story, Watering Cowboys. 

The Watering Cowboys

Avyaya Iyer

London, UK

On a dusty windy day in Wisconsin summer, Jolly and Slick were riding horses. Jolly and Slick were cowboys from neighbouring villages in Wisconsin. They had met a few weeks back, hit it off and decided to take a horse ride all the way from Wisconsin to Nebraska. They expected the 500 mile ride to take a fortnight each way and they had already rode half way to Cedar river. The entire ride so far had been beautiful and scenic and they expected the rest of the way to be likewise. 

Jolly and Slick met at a common friend’s birthday party and got along well. At Cedar Rapids, a quaint town in Iowa, they found a small hotel run by a friendly couple, Mr and Mrs Jones and they decided to stay overnight. 

The hotel had a nice garden in the backyard full of roses, daisies, daffodils, sunflowers and bluebells. Both Jolly and Slick had a common love of plants and flowers, which was very unlike most cowboys. Instead of carrying guns with bullets, they in fact liked carrying water guns so they can water plants when they got a chance. They were too tired to do anything now, but they talked about how they would spend time in the garden the next morning.  

Next morning, both Jolly and Slick went to the dining hall eager to enjoy a whole variety of breakfast items - cornflakes, sandwiches, eggs, bread and juice. 

“Hmmm. This breakfast is amazing!” said Jolly. 

“We love it! Yeah! Yeah!” cheered Slick. 

After breakfast, they walked to the gardening yard in the hotel looking forward to relaxing with some gardening before their next day of riding their horses.  Soon, Jolly decided to water the roses, but then Slick also wanted to water the roses. Then, both of them started to argue.

“I said I water the roses first.” complained Jolly. 

“No, I did.” shouted Slick, getting greedy to water some beautiful pink and red roses. 

After a while, both Jolly and Slick got really mad, cross and angry with each other. 

They both wanted to water the beautiful fresh looking roses.

Eventually, they both took out their water guns, pointed it at each other and stuck their thumbs to the trigger ready to make the water come out. After a blink of the eye, they began to shoot! 

First, Jolly shot a tiny droplet of water like a dew. 

Then, Slick shot a whole stream of water like someone sliding down the most watery water slide in the whole universe! 

They were shouting at each other causing a racket. Mrs. Jones heard this and came out. 

She asked “Why are you arguing?” 

“Because we both want to water the roses.” replied Jolly. 

“But I am watering them. You both can help.” she said. 

“Hooray!” Jolly and Slick yelled and decided to water the plants together. 

The two cowboy friends made up and never, ever fought again. 

Painting inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe

(The following painting, done as part of school homework to paint something inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe, was selected by The Week Junior Magazine to be published in their July edition. )

Original Painting

Me holding the painting

Photo of my photo in The Week Junior magazine: