On Writing

So i read this short story by a colleague (With the warning that i will tell her my truthful opinion about it but i wont criticise!). Luckily i wont have to lie , its pretty good and funny in places. Which brings me to my own works (Everything is always about me!). The first short story i wrote was in the 4th or 5th standard. It ran upto 42 paragraphs and was a detective story with such a twist that i feel embarrassed now. I think i felt embarrassed immediately after i read it and it was subjected one afternoon to the harsh flames of self criticism. Ashes to Ashes.
The second one was for TSEC's story writing event in Avalanche. You were given 4 titlkes and had to choose one and make up a story. I chose "And they lived Happily Ever After" and wrote the continuation of what happens after Prince Charming marries His princess. Including a brief look at their honeymoon, the princes refusal to slaughter any more dragon's thanks to their endangered species listing, and other events that gradually led to the prince becoming the beer bellied couch potato and the princess a middle aged nag. Oh yes I'm a cynic , but i still think that some parts of the dialog were funny. I won second place which was enough to please me , were it not for the fact that the organisaer came up to me and said my story was good was the one that won was far superior!. Sometimes i think only two of us actually submitted in the papers when the time was up.
I Then Teamed up with another (i)schumck we wrote an essay for the crime fighting vehicle of the future Dina -Mite ( which was basically a dinosaur chained to a bullock cart) with fearsome capabilities of excreting tons of materials to entrap fleeing felons, text by me , illustrations by my colleague.
Another attempt to participate in avalanches story writing competition came to naught. This time you had to spin a story around six words (treasure , princess ,sand, jewel) and i concentrated so much on the ending that i didnt such a poor job on the start and beginning that i almost didnt want to submit it. Didnt win any honours this time!
And so what makes a good story?
It should entertain
It should make you think
It should make you change your mind about an opinion you had (for the better of course)
Any writing that can do all the above is priceless.

Nature and Beauty

No this is not about Bhoomika or Gracy
A colleague once remarked to me , when i showed marked unenthusiastic for seeing the beauty of a waterfall , that i had probably not seen any.
Not quite true i think i have seen a couple, but that's not the point, the implication was i had no eye for the beauty in nature, whereas i was trying to make the point that nature is beautiful everywhere , and the waterfall is not so much better looking than say a tree on the roadside, though most people would not notice the tree. There is right outside my window a plain tree on which a crow has made its nest. The nest is probably ugly made of Long twigs haphazardly arranged. But its ugly only till you think of the effort and expertise that went into making it. The nest rests on a Y shaped branch and how The crow has managed to successfully balance the nest ill never know. Now a leaf flutters down from the tree twirling into the breeze before resting softly on the ground. The crow is joined by its mate. There don't seem to be any chicks but i guess they will be coming . I'd throw some food but I'M afraid my mother will shout that next the crows will be in the living room, so i resist(atleast till my mom's not present)
And i still wonder do i need to go to pune to see some natural beauty?

Opinions

If we assume for a moment that something called the right opinion exists, then does it also matter why we have that opinion? Is doing the right thing for the wrong reasons acceptable
What brings on this issue is a book im reading about the Srila Prabhu somethings views and opinions and included among them are whether we should be meat eating or not, abortion is right or not. Now the end result is the same, Im a vegetarian by choice and i dislike the practice of abortion(except certain cases like rape,or the mother's life being endangered). The srila whatisname has the same end opinions but the reason he has these opinions are very different from mine. It irks me to think that if it came to a debate , said specimen would be on my side.
But is he a lesser evil than perhaps those who would disagree? I think not.