The Heavenly Editor

When children of her age were busy playing with toys, Aurona, a girl of eight was busy playing with words. She was a naive girl and always busied herself in composing short poems on nature, family, friendship and emotions. This hidden treasure within her was discovered by her maternal Grandpa. Soon she started writing short stories and when her Grandpa read them, he was surprised at Aurona’s use of words in such an ornate manner. He exhorted her to write more and he became her mentor.

She was now an adolescent and was full of zeal to write her own book of stories and poems. But sometimes adolescence causes excess adrenaline rush which is enough to make someone arrogant. By now, she had already written 125 short stories and had composed hundreds of short poems. But as the times passed, a lot of things did change between Aurona and her Grandpa. Earlier when Aurona used to complete a write up, she would show it to her grandpa to get them edited. But as days rolled on, they saw less of each other. Now, technology took the place of a grandpa. Whatever Aurona wrote now, she got them edited by her computer, for the computer was more accurate and faster than her grandpa.

“Aurona, haven’t you written any story?” he would ask.

“Yes grandpa. My computer has edited them all.”

“But my child, a box with artificial intelligence cannot replace human intelligence. Show them to me once so I can edit them.”

“There’s no need of that grandpa. Now I’ll show them to you when they will get published in my book.”

A few months later….

“Yeah! The day has finally come. And I’ll be known as the author of “Stories That Will Make You Wonder “ from today.” Exclaimed Aurona. Everyone was curious to know that why the name of the editor of Aurona’s book was ‘My Computer’ to which she answered that though her talent was discovered by her grandpa but most of the stories which her readers were going to read have been edited by her computer and it has helped her a lot more than her grandpa in writing the book.

When grandpa finished dreading the book, he was very disappointed as well as worried for Aurona. In each and every page, he found no less than hundred errors. “I told her to show her stories to me but she didn’t listen. First impression is the last impression and her readers already would have started laughing at her follies and foibles.”, uttered grandpa in a low tone. The next day when Aurona went to school, she had expected warm welcome, lots of praise in the morning assembly followed by a thunderous applause from her schoolmates. But little did she know that she was going to be the topic to laugh on. All she got was insult. She was in doldrums³ . She should have understood that sometimes experience can outshine efficiency too.

After school, she decided to meet her grandpa. When she reached there, she found a huge crowd in front of his home. She made her way through the crowd into the house and after that what see saw made the ground under her feet slip. She became a stone. Her grandpa, her mentor, the person who recognised her talent was now reduced to a corpse- pale, cold, lifeless. He was holding something in his lifeless limbs- Aurona’s book. She couldn’t stop crying. She was shrieking, cursing herself for not listening to him, slapped herself and did whatever she could to hurt herself, for her, she has already pained someone very much whose guilt was never going to liberate her. When she opened her book which her grandpa was holding, she found that on every page there were underlines and circles of red ink highlighting her errors. “Why didn’t I listen to him? He kept on telling to show my stories to him. Why? Why?” and cried louder and louder.

Days, months and now a year have passed but Aurona was still struggling with two things- her guilt and her writing career. None of the professional publishers were willing to publish Aurona’s works and she faced multiple rejections. Everyone closed the doors of opportunity to her just because Aurona’s first book was a failure. “You don’t write stories Ms Aurona, you write errors.” They would say and make fun of her. This world is full of hypocrites. One hand they say that failure is the pillar of success but if someone fails, they make him/her repent more for that. This distressed Aurona a lot. She was now completely dipped in despair.

“Okay! So from today, I’m not going to write even a single alphabet.” Shouted she.

She was on her way, returning from a publisher after getting rejected and CRAAAASHHHH!!!! A madly moving car hit Aurona. She was in a pool of blood with her book in her hands. Some pedestrians gathered and took her to the hospital. She, in a subconscious state was whispering, “Grandpa, please edit my stories. Please, please, please….” And her heartbeat was alarmingly sinking.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself amidst smoke, mist, beautiful flowers and green trees, much like a garden. She strode forward and found someone sitting under a tree. It was an old man with a bald head, melon-like stomach and face covered with a book. And the sight was jaw-dropping when Aurona saw the cover page of that book- “Stories That Will Make You Wonder’ it read. “Hello” said she and the next moment she couldn’t believe her eyes. It was her grandpa, reading and editing her book in heaven.

“Where are we? How are you? Why did you leave me alone in that world of cruel publishers and readers?” cried Aurona in her grandpa’s lap.

“My dear, everyone has to depart one day. Mine was that. But now as you’ve come, let me show you how I have edited your book. No sooner you return, get it published once again.”

“But grandpa, how can I go back? I’m on heaven and once died no one returns.”

“But you will. You have many more stories to write. Many more publishers to burn and show the numerous readers your true talent.” Said grandpa.

Here, back on earth, the doctors had already declared Aurona as dead. Her parents broke down into tears. But after a few moments, a miracle happened. Aurona started breathing again, heartbeat became normal and she was out of danger. Doctors were dumbstruck. They had never seen such a case in their lifetime. Everything now returned to normal, as it was before, except her book. It was an edited one. When she gained consciousness, she closed her eyes and smiled out of satisfaction.

After a few months of her recovery, Aurona published her book again. This time her book was a huge success with overwhelming response from her readers. She was now the ‘Star Child Writer’ and author of the national bestseller- “Stories From Another World’. Everyone loved her book and she was now the talk of the town. Finally, no more she will have to live with that guilt. Her writing career got a rocket start. But the thing which left everyone curious was the editor’s name in her book which was- ‘MY GRANDPA, THE HEAVENLY EDITOR’.