Jyoti Iyer (16), winner of the ClassMate Young Author Contest 2004, (CYAC) sponsored by cigarettes, hotels and agri-products behemoth ITC Ltd and adjudicated by a jury led by Ruskin Bond, believes that the best writing comes from the heart. “If you are honest, it will show in your work. It will shine through.”

A class XI student of Lucknow’s highly fancied City Montessori School, Iyer was adjudged winner in a contest that attracted entries from over 40,000 students in 2,000 schools countrywide. The three-stage contest culminated in a national final shortlist of 12 young authors whose short stories were evaluated by authors Githa Hariharan and Meher Marfatia, who praised the maturity and emotional impact of their work.

Iyer’s prize winning 2,000-word short story titled Post Box No 99, is set against the turbulence of the partition of India in 1947 and draws heavily on the trauma of the times as recounted by her mother. “The partition was the symptom of a deeper cause which is what my story is about. The real story lies in the why. Even today lives are being torn by sectarian conflict,” she says.

Iyer attributes her creative writing skills to a home environment which nurtures the reading habit. “My family has a great passion for the written word and on most holidays you will find all of us curled up in different corners of the house with a book,” says Jyoti who lists Roald Dahl, Richard Bach, Ayn Rand, JRR Tolkien and Munshi Premchand as her favourite authors and adds her grandparents who write in English and Tamil, to the list.

She believes the other reason for her success is encouragement from the CMS management. “If you have teachers who appreciate your achievements and who make themselves available for help and support at any given moment, it does huge wonders to your self-confidence,” she says.

A keen guitarist, born to a banker father and a mother who teaches, Iyer who is studying in the science stream has her sights set on a career in writing or advertising. Last year’s win in the Albert Barrow Memorial Essay Contest held by the Delhi-based Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination has added to her determination.

Encouraged by the good words of eminent authors and writers, Iyer feels she has understood the basics of writing good fiction. “The plot should be strong, every-thing else falls into place. While writing the CYAC story, though I had the beginning and the plot worked out, until the last 10 minutes of the contest I had no idea how the story would end,” she recalls.

With the winner’s prize which includes a seven-day trip to the UK covering London, Oxford, Stratford-on-Avon and Edinburgh with the governor of Uttar Pradesh chipping in with a draft of Rs. 17,000 as pocket money for her trip, Iyer couldn’t have scripted a happier ending for her own story.

Vidya Pandit (Lucknow)