Recently, Guardian published a piece by Julian Barnes, where he has changed the ending of Madame Bovary. Taking off from there, a journalist friend of mine has written in her weekly column that she would like to change the ending of Ramayana, where Sita refuses to undergo the trial by fire and leaves Ram instead.

That got me thinking. If we had the chance, the ending of which work of literature would we change? And why? Eric Segal's Love Story, in which Jenny would conquer her illness and the couple would live happily ever after? But would that be as memorable as it is now? Would Romeo and Juliet be as popular had they lived? Maybe, Juliet would find Romeo too impulsive and leave him after a year. Maybe Romeo would fall for Juliet's attractive cousin who has this thing for balcony romances.

What'll happen if Dr Zhivago left his wife to live with Lara? Humdrum exitence of everyday couples don't make for great literature. Unrequited love does. It arouses the sob-aholic in us, the eternal yearning (and sighing) for things beyond our reach.

After Scarlett O Hara lost Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind, Alexandra Ripley tried to repair the injustice (so most of us thought) with Scarlett, the sequel. But while we had fervently prayed that Rhett would forgive Scarlett and return, what a damp squib that prayer turned out to be in writing. Scarlett was wish-fulfillment, but darn it! the book was so disappointing that we almost wished that we didn't wish!

So, friends, what books would you change the endings of? Would you like Robinson Crusoe never to return to civilised society, but build an alternate civilisation on the desert island? Would you prefer Mowgli to realise Shere Khan's plight and actually counsel Baloo and Bagheera on the importance of saving the tiger?

Do write in. This would make one helluva interesting never-ending story!

Some more photos from Berlin.

Here is Riju being a monkey in Berlin zoo. We made this trip on the day of the Finals. Predictably, despite it being a Sunday, the zoo (Tier Park) was largely empty. Spread over a huge area, the zoo tested our walking stamina alright. We missed the food counters and had to lunch on candies and cashew nuts.

At Checkpoint Charlie, the junction of the Russian-occupied and American-occupied Berlin. Riju is the archetypal American soldier, saluting Cap'n Mom. The cap was priced at 10 euros, so we handed it back to the shopkeeper after our shoot.

Riju and Dhiman in front of the Smart car. This 2-seater is an eye-candy all the way. And equally popular across at least 3 countries.