Emotions form an integral part of human heart and become genesis of great pieces of literature. Present book has developed into socially purposeful stories out of such thoughts. Tragedy of India’s partition is a hair-raising story but is softened by the balm of love. Pure love sometimes results in pain of separation and is a heart wrenching tragedy of a love story. Children, a source of great strength for their parents, sometimes become cause of grave pain on account of their insatiable ambitions. Story of a simple housing problem brings out scores of problems of our sick and ailing social and democratic systems. Caste still continues to be a bane in our marriage system. This social evil has been woven into the problems of our judicial system. How a poor innocent girl brings joy and happiness to an old pilgrim who is handicapped by the language problem is a subject matter of an interesting story. Pure love and desire to raise a happy family lands a poor fisherwoman in jail. Humour, a part of our life, has been built as an integral part of some stories to lighten the impact of seriousness yet retaining the purpose and essence of narration. In short, real and imaginary ideas form the core of the stories that leave food for thought for the reader to ponder over long afterwards. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Contents Pieces of Pebbles —Pgs. 5 The Patched Gown —Pgs. 9 A Leaf in the Garden —Pgs. 26 A Log of Wood —Pgs. 47 To Let —Pgs. 74 He, She and Me —Pgs. 99 The Broken String —Pgs. 133 A Pair of Handcuffs —Pgs. 158 A Lost Pilgrim —Pgs. 185 When the Storm Comes Again —Pgs. 203