THE END

Post fest, Sharon Bakar and I finally got a chance to sit down and catch up on lots of stuff - literary and otherwise. We were neighbours at Honeymoon and didn't quite discover that till the festival was over.

One of the things we spoke about was Silverfish New Writing - which is now into its 7th Edition. Sharon had her first short story published in an earlier edition, Silverfish made her a "proud Editor" and she spoke as one would of the little baby who grows up only too soon.

Raman had given me the earlier editions and some of the stories in it were exceptional. The collection provided just the platform writers need. How we were to know that as soon as we were finished with hailing its success, we'd hear of its end.

"By the way, this will be the last in the Silverfish New Writing series. We have decided to stop here. There will be no Silverfish New Writing 8, nor anymore after that in the foreseeable future. To all those who have contributed in the past, thank you for making the series an unqualified success."

I'm sure the reasons for this are sound. Publishing isn't for the faint-hearted and Raman did open so many possibilities for aspiring authors, some of whom are now full-fledged novelists. And for that he deserves to be applauded. I do hope that someone will see the potential of such a publication and continue what he so bravely started.