Syed Saleem is a popular contemporary Telugu writer who has to his credit an extensive publication record that includes short stories, poetry and novels. His Tales of Rani are being published for the past one year in Rachana a Telugu literary journal as sequence stories. They narrate the experiences of Saif, a Muslim youth and his wife Rani, a Hindu Brahmin girl and the couple’s united struggle to face the challenges of society. Saleem works as an Asst. Commissioner of Income Tax in Hyderabad. He has to his credit four novels, three anthologies of short stories and a handful of poems. His novel Vendimegham won the Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University award, and another has been awarded the first prize by the American Telugu Association. He may be reached at: saleem_652003@yahoo.co.in

How delighted I have been of the festival of Diwali since childhood!! Sparklers … ground chakras … Vishnu chakras … flower pots…. It's the day when all the children's faces glow brilliantly as sparklers transcending all caste and community. The entire city is blown abloom as a colorfully lighted garden … like trees sprouting sparkling gems all at once … marvelous scenes, wherever one looks about.

But in my house alone lay impenetrable darkness of the new moon … my heart always heavy with sadness. It was so every year. The unbearable anxiety of waiting that began ten days earlier would end on the festival day in a sudden flat hush as a damp sky rocket. I used to cry asking for purchase of crackers but Ba's heart would never melt—even when I rolled in the soil crying.

Commonwealth Literature Journal, Syed Saleem, Velthuru Chettu, Tree of Light.