Madera: A young Madera writer has distinguished herself as an author with the publishing of her first short story.
Mandeep Kaur Rajpal of Madera was selected is a winner in the Trumpet Club’s 1993 Young Authors of America Contest. The fact that her story, “The Bus Ride,” was one of only two selected from more than 6,000 Rajpal in very select company.
‘The Trumpet Club, headquartered in New York City, proclaims itself “Much more than just another school book club,” noting it as one that is “Bringing you the best in children’s books.” The company plans to publish Rajpal’s story in a special Trumpet Club book that will be available in January 1994. In addition, her name and photograph will appear in the January 1994 Trumpet Club brochure. Mandeep Kaur Rajpal is presently an eighth grader at SiJoachim’s Catholic School in Madera, California. She found her inspiration in the encouragement of Alpha Elementary School sixth grade teacher Steve Detjen, who submitted Rajpal’s story to the Trumpet Club. A former student of Detjen’s, she began getting serious about writing while in his class. Although Rajpal had written stories ever since second grade, she didn’t get much of a thrill out of it until four years later.
Deijen regularly assigned her class one to twopage short stories Lo construct as a way of getting the students to open their minds and use their imaginations, an ability he said many young people have lost due to their frequent use of television and video games. Detjen would read a story to the class, have them picture it in their minds, and then require the students to write theit own ending.
Rajpal used as her subject for the story someone else she got to know well and was greatly influenced by.
“Mr.Detjen told us a lot about himself last year.” she said. In “The Bus Ride,” Rajpal founder herself taking a trip back in time, and meeting a teenaged Deijen while on a Madera Unified School District bus. In the story, she describes Detjen as a nerdy kid who talks about The Mickey Mouse Club and Annette Funicello and fixes watches. This skill comes in handy, since her watch has stopped. But the strange thing is it stopped on 1964, not 1992.
Rajpal really is surprised when she finds out the kid she’s talking to is actually her sixth grade teacher, only his facial hair has been replaced by pimples. Detjen said Rajpal creates very imaginative plots and has excellent writing skills, He would like to see her write more, but Rajpal wants to become a doctor. Still, she said she would like to pursue writing in the future as a hobby.
Mandcep Kaur Rajpal is the daughter of Ranjit Singh Rajpal M.D, (Cardiologist in Madera) and Jarjat Kaur Rajpal. Even though Mandeep attends a Catholic School she practices areal Gur Sikh way of life. Every day in the morning she does path of ‘Panj Bainain’ and has also learned to perform melodious gurbani kirtan at 1.1.6.S. She is always in the 1st Honors of her class. In addition she loves swimming and playing tennis. Editor’s Note: The World Sikh News and our whole Sikh community feels proud of Mandeep Kaur. We wish her all the best in her ambitions and look forward to reading her name frequently in the years to come. Keep it up Mandeep Kaur jee.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 30, 1993
