Tagore song Posted and translated by Ranu

নূতন প্রাণ দাও, প্রাণসখা, আজি সুপ্রভাতে ।।
বিষাদ সব করো দূর নবীন আনন্দে,
প্রাচীন রজনী নাশো নূতন উষালোকে

Give new life on this auspicious morning.

Remove all the depression with delight,

Eliminate old nights with new at day-break.

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Daily Prompt: The Happy Wanderer

What’s your travel style? Are you an itinerary and schedule driven,needing to have every step mapped out in advance or are you content to arrive without a plan and let happenstance be your guide?

I travel to the places I know and I do depend on an itinerary and schedule, I fly by air and I have to book early, have a schedule and an  itinerary to keep track of when I am supposed to  depart and arrive.

I either book a  hotel  room where I’d stay for the week or let my friend know when I’d be arriving so they can meet us at the airport.

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Writing 101,Day Nineteen: Don’t stop the Rockin’

Today is a free writing day.Write at least four-hundred words, and once you start typing don’t stop. No self-editing,no trash talking, and no second-guessing : just go. Bonus points if you tackle the idea you’ve been playing with but think is too silly to post about.

Four-hundred words one at a time Go.

I spend hours thinking how my childhood could have been if it was not cut short by my father’s passing. I know we’d live in the same house, we had to my father was working and we’d need a place to live. We lived in an ideal place at least my memory of childhood tells me so.

A large house, a race course nearby to walk and watch the horse race, the jockeys trying hard to win it for their owners. It was wonderful to watch, then we’d walk further to see if there were other things that would catch our fancy, oh yes, one after the other life was showing us the beauty of the place we lived.

Then the worst happened Dad was with us no longer. We moved to a far away place  we knew nothing about. The people sold vegetables ,fish, chicken from door to door. While I watched and complained to mom that the potatoes were too tiny and the onions were unattractive, mom would laugh and say the reason is the soil, the weather and things like that.

I’m not sure she convinced me but I know I did not like the place so I picked everything negative about it. We started growing up all the while thinking Dad would come back because he cannot leave us forever.

Then big brother was married, he changed, he did not love us anymore. He was always angry with us. I was terribly scared of him and stayed quiet thinking if I say anything he’d hit me. At the same time wondered would he have changed so much if Dad was alive, my mind said, no . Dad certainly would not let him do so.

I wished we’d be the happy family we once were, but things did not let us be happy. Mom was constantly worried about money, she had to spend as little as possible to save some of it.

I finished high school, went to college, I did not like how the boys used to tease me. I managed to get admission in a girls college, to avoid getting teased everyday, it was awful.

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365 days Writing Prompt: Cringe-worthy

Do you feel uncomfortable when you see  someone else being embarrassed? What’s most likely to make you  squirm?

This is a true story: I had joined the staff of Residential Model School, only a few days ago. We were in an assembly suddenly I heard the principal screaming at one of the teachers, in the presence of the students.

The students were enjoying watching the principal harass the poor teacher. I was upset and embarrassed and made up my mind that second I will resign my job.

Early one morning I handed in  my resignation letter to the principal. He read it and had a surprised look, then he said :”Is this a resignation letter?”

I said ,”Yes.”

“But you’ve only been here ten days, how can you resign so fast?” he said.

I did not want to tell him his behavior towards the teachers made me  write the resignation letter.All I could say was,”I do not like it here.”

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Writing 101, Day Eighteen: Hone your point of view

Today’s Prompt: Write this story in first person, told by the twelve year-old sitting on the stoop across the street.

What can I tell you folks, I’ve been  sitting on this platform ,thinking about Mrs. Pauley, she has lived here for many years. I’ve heard she had six boys, and her husband, Mr. Pauley worked as a day laborer for as long as the old folks here can remember, making enough money to feed his boys, himself and his missis.

Times were tough with Mr. Pauley with no education to show had to take any odd job he could get to feed them boys, the missis and himself. I remember I said ‘Hi’ one day just to be decent nothin else he barked at me as if I was gonna steal his stuff, stuff he had nothin to his name. Then I said, watch what ya think  Derek, be kind , the man I bet never sleeps a wink thinking about money and his family.

Mrs. Pauley God love her, she never forgets to smile when she sees me. It worries me to think, the six boys whom she raised, worked hard for them are gone. How heartless are they, why don’t ya guys come and help mama, she needs you. But oh no they’re so selfish, what kind of a world are we living in , sons don’t help parents, how awful!

Now Mr. Pauley is gone, died of heart attack I tell ya, why else would he die so suddenly? I see that cruel landlord       is here with a bunch of policeman to throw her out of the house, I know she can’t pay the rent, but be human, let her stay for a little while longer so she can find a place to stay.

Landlords! The most cruel people on earth. Wait a minute I’ve got a plan, I will help Mrs. Pauley, let me find my two buddies, Sam and Shawn.

I’ll call them now: “Hello Sam, can you bring Shawn with you, we need to be good Samaritans today, it’s important, I’ll tell you why I want both of you to come to my place.”

There I can see both my buddies, “Hi Sam , Hi Shawn, am I ever glad to see you both.”

Sam and Shawn( together) “why what’s up?”

Me : “You see the man and the policemen, the man is the landlord, he’s brought the policemen to get rid of Mrs. Pauley, she’s a widow, she has no one, her husband died three months ago, her sons have gone, she has no place to go, do you think we can help her?”

“Sure”, Shawn says, “My mom has a spare room in the basement, I’ll ask her to let Mrs. Pauley stay there.”

“You sure?” says Derek , “She won’t mind?”

Shawn says, “My mom loves helping people in distress.”

Sam says : “Derek how can I help, I can do something, like bring her food and bring some goodies too, is it a good idea?”

Derek: “It’s a superb idea, I’m so glad to have you as my buddies.”

Derek : “Can I tell Mrs. Pauley not to worry we will take care of her?”

Sam and Shawn : “You sure can, let’s be on our way, we’ll move Mrs. Pauley before that selfish man insults her.”

I am so happy we have been able to get Mrs. Pauley settled with Shawn’s family.Now I can breathe a sigh of relief, it feels so good to help people.

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Daily Prompt: The Full Moon

When the full moon happens, you turn into  a person who’s the opposite of who you normally are. Describe the new you.

I’m always a happy person by nature. A full moon to me means a joyous occasion, everything is bright, the dark night changes into a very bright sky, the earth, the people are all happy.

To be opposite of me would be to be an unhappy me  instead of enjoying the bright moon I’m sad, I’m cranky,I dislike everything around me . I sit and sulk, I stop smiling, I want everyone to leave me alone and I write poems that makes humanity cringe.

I’d rather write a poem that makes all of nature happy, like:

Come one come all the full moon is here

Let us celebrate with fiddles and drums

Wake up all of you let’s look and sing

For this is a time to be jolly and giving

Do not stop smiling, do not start sulking

For nature will invite the clouds

To cover the full moon and darken the sky

We’d be looking up and saying

Please clouds let the moon be free

So we can sing about the full moon with glee!

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Fiction: Departure

This is my five sentence fiction the title of my story is: Exit

Barbara was walking down the long corridor looking for the sign that said: Way Out.

She knew she would be late for her appointment if she could not find the door to go out, frustrated she sat down and began to cry.

The custodian noticed her came right up to her and said: “Miss what’s wrong?”

“The door, I can’t find the ‘Way Out’ sign.”

The custodian burst out into a roaring laughter and replied: “Miss did you not see the ‘Exit’ sign, it tells you to go out!”  🙂

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Writing 101,Day Seventeen: Your personality on the Page

Today’s Prompt: We all have anxieties, worries, and fears. What are you scared of ? Address one of your fears.

There was a situation when one know it all started dissecting my answer to a question, point by point, I totally lost it and wrote what I thought of it in my style. But my politeness got the better of me and I deleted my reply.

My fear is if this creature did it again , I’d let her have it and say, Yo Miss know it all, if ya know everyting why don’t ya teach and leave us alone.

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Tagore Song posted and translated by Ranu

Phool bauley , dhonno aami matir ‘paurey         Flower says I am fortunate to be on this earth
দেবতা ওগো, তোমার সেবা আমার ঘরে ।।                            Oh goddess, I worship you in my house.
জন্ম নিয়েছি ধূলিতে দয়া করে দাও ভুলিতে,                                I am born in the dust, kindly let me forget

,                                                                                             it,
নাই ধূলি মোর অন্তরে ।।                                                           My inner self has no dust.

নয়ন তোমার নত করো,                                                        lower your eyes,

দলগুলি কাঁপে থরোথরো ।                                                          the petals are trembling violently

 

চরণপরশ দিয়ো দিয়ো, ধূলির ধনকে করো স্বর্গীয়-                       let  me touch  your feet, make the earth’s

treasure heavenly-

ধরার প্রণাম আমি তোমার তরে ।।                                             I earth, prostrate before you.

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Daily Prompt: Menagerie

Do you have animals in your life? If yes, what do they mean to you? If no, why have you opted not to?

Two little kittens we managed to adopt

Both are Himalayan and Siamese breed.

One is Gabriel and his sibling is Raphael

Gabriel is calm but Raphael is not

How did they turn out so  different

Coming from the same lot?

When it comes to eating

Gabriel is finicky

Raphael of course is just the opposite.

They mean a lot to us

They are definitely a part of our lives.

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