The first step

I think it's a good idea for my first post to be about the purpose of this blog; especially since I would need something to always keep me on the right track and stop me from rambling off into arbitrary inanities (I'm quite prone to do that).
Ok,so first questions first.

Conteur ?
Well, that's the french word for a storyteller.That's the most relevent name I could coax out of blogspot.All the others were already taken, apparently.

Why Storylines ?

Because that's all there is to life ... stories.True stories,false stories,the stories of your broken heart,or that of your success ... and so,the art of telling stories, whether true or not, is the oldest and probably the greatest cultural venture of all. A story helps both the author and the reader/listener/moviegoer to discover new emotions and gain new insights.Stories have been used in all the cultures, ancient and new, as a mode of teaching.Stories have always been the tools to incite revolutions and rebellions.And why ? Because thought provokes action, and stories provoke thoughts.
They can take you off into wonderlands,give you food for thought, lift you up when you are depressed (and vice versa), teach you new things, give your life a new direction ... have you ever wondered how much a story can actually do for you ? I'd say the easier question would be : what can a story not do for you?
I have been a bibliophile for as long as I can remember.And that is something that sort of runs into the family,you might say.My father reads books written or transliterated in Hindi, mostly. And one of my elder borthers used to read during his meals (even I did that for many years).I like to read and collect good books.
And I like good cinema ... movies with well-balanced plots,good picturization, and good actors.It's become a habit to criticize a movie /book not only for what it is, but also for what it might have been.I like to think how it might have been done better, and why it was not. And when I come accross something I really like, I ponder on why it's better than the things I usually come accross. A very good example would be 'Lolita' by Vladimir Nabokov. The story doesn't have many twists after the first part ends(when Humbert tells Lo about her mother's death) ... it's quite straightforward and simple from that point onwards actually.But I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book. I don't want to go into the 'why' of it right now, but probably I'll write a post devoted to it later.
And so, to summarize it all ... the blog is about storylines, because I want to write about storylines.And for those of you who are still not satiated, here's something from Lewis Carroll that might help :

"You are old, Father william," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head--
Do you think, at your age, it is right?

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And you have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned back a somersault in at the door--
Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his gray locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment--one shilling a box--
Allow me to sell you a couple."

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak--
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eyes was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose--
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!"