Feature writing is not my forte. That’s what I had thought after a series of farcical attempts. I couldn’t even imagine writing one. Really, it is a ridiculous craze. There were frantic efforts to appear in those pre-stigious newspaper colu-mns. As a matter of routine, I would religiously scan ev-ery newspaper to find one of my own works, but in vain.

Every evening I would sit with a paper and pencil in order to come up with a fantastic story. Myriad of topics would deluge my mind. “Ah! What a drab story.” Then I would pick another one and scribble a few more lines. A sense of hesitation would creep in and lead me to scamper for another topic. Anyway, I would drag on and on until I would be in dearth of words. “What a poor vocabulary.” I would grumble and try to delve into the dictionary. Suddenly my naughty sister would howl for hijacking her dictionary, as I don’t have one of my own. Hardly half the page would have been scribbled, when I would escape into the world of another book. As a result, my own words would appear extremely hollow to me. Finally, there would be more pieces of paper than the words it would hold. The late nights would witness another session in futility. What a terrific column craze?

Every morning my mother would be bewildered to see my room and bed littered with pieces of paper and the table cluttered with a pile of dailies. And I myself - pondering over something; with black curls wet over my damp forehead; one paw crumpled under the cheek and the other holding the pen. What a terrific column craze? In the mornings, I would complete one. But it would fall flat on my face, as I would come across sad countenances all over my house. I even approached a few newspaper editors with my best works. Sadly, they were all rejected for want of depth. What next? At last, I stopped grumbling when I came across Thomas Edison’s saying: “I have not failed 10,000 times, I have successfully found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.” This has given me the reason to scribble more pieces. I have now landed into another craze of reading world famous writers. Maybe I’ll land up with a splendid composition soon. What a terrific column craze that refuses to die down?