Life Of A Guitar - Rishona Chopra

The guitar shop is one of the most delightful places for me. I feel the most calm and composed here than anywhere else. The shop is my happy place.

The fragrance of the wood of the guitars, the lavender incense that fills the shop brings over me a rather unique feeling that makes me feel like I should never leave and luckily I don't think I ever will.

Every day in the shop is the same and yet I never get bored. Though I don't interact with other guitars, I have never once felt as if I were alone; perhaps because I am always surrounded by books of all sorts. The owner of the shop knows I adore reading books, and so she lends me a novel to read each week. If there’s anyone I talk to, it would most definitely be the owner. A quite heartwarming and charming person indeed!

My fellow guitars often wonder how lonely I must be but being alone isn’t being lonely and definitely not when one has books by their side.

I have always thought about how I came to where I belonged, not as a human(they’re too complicated!), not as an animal(I have no interest in being eaten) but as a guitar, the most peaceful and humble of things.

As I write today, I see a young girl enter the shop. Not many customers come by these days since people have started forgetting the power of music and would much rather listen to it than play it. It most definitely was a surprise when I saw a youngster with such passionate eyes enter the shop. I couldn’t help but look at her and see which guitar she would choose. After a few minutes of observing her, I drifted back to my own world but was woken up by the sound of music. The girl was playing me! This could only mean one thing: she wanted to buy me and I would have to leave my happy place. Soon, my suspensions were proved correct and I knew I was being taken away. Oh, how miserable life can be!

On the journey to my new home, I drifted back to sleep but was soon woken up by a jerk and realized it was time. Though I love being a guitar, the only thing I dislike is not having legs. This would be quite useful in times like this. It’s surprising how envious I feel of humans right now.

It was hard to believe that I was really here, away from the shop, in a strange place with who knows how many books. I finally realize how hurt and confused Dorothy must have felt in The Wizard Of Oz. I felt like turning back but I knew I had to face these terrible times eventually.

The girl took me out of the car seat with delicate hands and took me to her room. Her house was modest and beautiful but her room was mesmerizing. It was minimalist and yet so aesthetic and captivating. Knowing I would be kept in a place like this, did make me feel a tad bit better.
She placed me on a guitar stand. It was quite comfortable and more importantly a flattering gesture. Take this advice from me, if you have a guitar, you better know how to treat it well. Nothing is more dangerous than an upset guitar. The very unique thing about guitars is that you can't hear them talk but if you listen closely and have a passionate mind for music and an extraordinary dedication, then you can feel us and hear our thoughts.

It had been a long time since someone played on me so it hurt a little in the beginning but it got better. In the midst of this, I noticed how the girl had a unique collection of books. It had many that I hadn’t read before. I had the urge to grab it and start reading but how could I, the girl couldn’t understand me.

At that very moment, the girl grabbed a book, wrote a note on it kept it in front of me and left. Could she understand me? Or was she one of those queer people who devoted their life to mind-reading guitars? I read the note and much to my surprise, it said: “I can understand you”.

Let me be very honest here, knowing that someone can hear your thoughts, isn’t the most comforting thing. It’s rather creepy and absurd. I was instantly regretting coming here but how could I leave this exquisite collection of books?

Despite having a lot on my mind, I continued reading the book she handed me. After a while, she passed me a few notes telling me about books she had read and some of them were my favourites! We talked for hours about books and music and I had never felt so alive. Perhaps coming here wasn’t so bad.

Through this experience, I realized, that change is constant, and it’s always hard to adjust to a new beginning but every cloud has a silver lining and each place has its good sides, and the good sides are what one needs to focus on.


Rishona Chopra
Grade VIII-B
Gyanshree School

The Secret Behind Her Productivity - Shambhavi Nautiyal

Surabhi was a 14-year-old straight-A student who always tried to make the most out of her time. She didn’t make friends, or maybe it’s just that her friends didn’t stick with her. She had been moving through her day, keeping much to herself and studying as much as possible. Then, a new transfer student ‘Kavita’ entered her life.

She was smart, confident, uninhibited and open about her feelings. She always looked so happy and ‘perfect’ in Surabhi’s eyes. It made her wish that she could be like her. Then, one day, Kavita came up to her and said “Hi!” She complimented Surabhi’s hair and how pretty she looked, which made her drop a tear or two.

Kavita kept probing her until Surabhi confessed how her mother never let her sleep, how she could not study ‘enough’ and just couldn’t make time, and then Kavita told her how the same things happened to her, and so she tried a new timetable which helped her.

Kavita asked Surabhi how she felt then, but she said "Nothing can ever help me". Then Kavita suddenly got all serious and said “If you don’t let yourself be helped, you won’t be helped”. Surabhi ran to the girl’s restroom, looked in the mirror, and realised that she had been betraying herself by telling herself that she could never succeed and everyone else was ahead of her not making any mistakes.

She told this to Kavita, when she confirmed to her that everyone including herself always went through times when they simply couldn’t achieve their goals overnight and had to do the job bit by bit. Surabhi was hit by a wave of discernment, how she had been gatekeeping a lot from her friends without actually knowing. When she was with them not much came out of her mouth and she just tried pushing her fears and problems under the rug because why would she trouble them with her problems, wouldn’t that just make her ‘uninteresting’, ‘cry-baby’ or ‘too sensitive and uncool’.

Kavita told her that it’s always okay to feel your feelings and first sort her things out before approaching a friend. Surabhi felt renewed and comforted for the first time in weeks and just decided to be grateful.

------------------------------------------- The End ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Shambhavi Nautiyal 

Class- 10

Ahlcon Public School

Quaint Little Bookshop - AI Chatbot

A short story
This is fiction, and any resemblance to any character or persona is just by chance; we did this to test an AI Chatbot and see how we could draft a story for a book. Shmooz AI is a WhatsApp bot based on GPT 3 model from OpenAI. 

Once upon a time, a quaint little bookshop was tucked away in the heart of Dehradun called The English Book Depot. It was owned by a young woman named Millie, who was passionate about books and deeply loved the English language.

The shop was small, with shelves of books overflowing onto the floor. It was a cosy place, with a warm ambience and the scent of freshly brewed coffee filling the air. Millie would often host readings and discussions at the shop, inviting people to come and share their thoughts on literature.

One day, a young writer named Rohan stumbled upon The English Book Depot. He had been struggling with writer's block for months and desperately needed some literary inspiration. He wandered through the shelves and soon found himself lost in the pages of a novel.

As he sat reading, sipping on a cup of coffee, Millie started conversing with him about the book he was reading. That conversation led to a friendship and eventually blossomed into something more. Rohan and Millie bonded over their love of literature and spent hours discussing their favourite books at the shop.

Over time, Rohan began to write again, finding the inspiration he needed within the walls of The English Book Depot. He even published his first novel, which Millie proudly displayed on a shelf in the shop. People would come from all over the city to visit the little bookshop, drawn in by Millie's welcoming vibe and passion for literature.

Years passed, and though the shop remained small, it had become a beloved fixture in the community. Millie continued to inspire people with her love of books, and The English Book Depot remained a haven for writers, readers, and literary enthusiasts alike.

Fun exercise, Shmooz AI and Grammarly work in tandem to put together this story!

Disclaimer: This post is purely for fun and a chatbot experiment. Please read as a piece of fiction, and the blogger and the authors take no responsibility for the content or the language generated via the AI Chatbot.