Daily Prompt: The Golden Hour

6:AM : The best hour of the day, or too close to your 3:AM bedtime?

Since the 18th of June my best hour of day is 2:AM , it will continue till the 17th of July. Ramadan started on June 18th and will end after 17th July.

I wake up at 2:AM to eat something, say my prayer and go back to bed at 3:30 AM.  My Golden Hour  in my mind is 9:03 PM . This is the time I get to eat and drink my meals after 19 hours of fasting.

In the morning I wake up usually at 7:AM , today I stayed in bed till 8:AM. Yesterday my quiet routine was interrupted by loss of heat and hot water. The system probably took a break, I could not let it because every room in the house was freezing. In June you may ask, yes our weather does not observe the same routine as the other places on the planet.

Fortunately we have 24/7 burner service, the men very kindly came and fixed what was ailing our furnace. It’s working like a charm, and I hope it continues!

…………………………………..:)

Tagore song: singer Hemant Kumar Posted and translated by Ranu

গোধূলিগগনে মেঘে ঢেকেছিল তারা
আমার যা কথা ছিল হয়ে গেল সারা ।।
হয়তো সে তুমি শোন নাই, সহজে বিদায় দিলে তাই –
আকাশ মুখর ছিল যে তখন, ঝরোঝরো বারিধারা ।।
চেয়েছিনু যবে মুখে তোলো নাই আঁখি,
আঁধারে নীরব ব্যথা দিয়েছিল ঢাকি ।
আর কি কখনো কবে এমন সন্ধ্যা হবে –
জনমের মতো হায় হয়ে গেল হারা ।।

The clouds in the evening sky covered the stars

I was able to say what was on my mind.

Maybe you didn’t listen,

which is why you bid me goodbye with ease-

The sky was resounding with shower of rain.

When I looked at you , you failed to look up,

The darkness quietly covered the pain.

Will there ever be an evening like this-

Alas it is lost forever!

……………………………..:(

 

365 Writing Prompts: 21st-century citizen

Do you belong in this day and age? Do you feel comfortable being a citizen of the 21st century? If you do, explain why– and if you don’t , when in human history would you be?

As far as I know, I’m here and it won’t make any difference whether I like it or hate it. Each century brings with it good and bad, if I could take all the good things that happened in each century and give it a name it would be superb.

It is not only unthinkable it is ridiculous. I like reading about the century when Mughal Empire thrived, all those beautiful architecture, music, poetry and the gorgeous buildings are thoroughly pleasing to read about, but there amidst all this beauty there lived people who were poor and down trodden, they were living in the century, but could not appreciate all the wonderful things surrounding them, they were unable to be part of it, they were haunted by poverty. In that era only the rich were fortunate to enjoy everything around them.

Twenty-first century seems better comparatively, poverty still is a factor, but the people are looked after by their respective governments, although in some countries this is not the case.

I don’t mind living in the twenty-first century, it is easier to travel, we get news of the world instantly. There is so much to do, so much to see one cannot be bored.I think I like the twenty-first century.

………………………….. 🙂

Daily Prompt: Bad Signal

Someone’s left you a voicemail message,but all you can make out are the words: “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you months ago.Bye.”  Who is it from, and what is this about?

Let me see a voice mail message: “I cannot understand the first few sentences, all I can hear is ” :

“I’m sorry,I should’ve told you months ago. Bye.”

Told me what months ago, I keep thinking, who promised to do what for me, I’m racking my brain, what did any one promise me, I just cannot make any sense out of this incomplete message. So I sat down thinking, one  after another I started scratching names of possible persons who could have called and left this useless message.

Suddenly I remembered it was Kavita who told me months ago she was coming to my city for a visit and would I mind if she stays with me, I had told her I’d love to see her. I have everything ready and now this message, some people if I may say so are ill-mannered, did their parents forget to teach them courtesy, I wonder. After I went through all the work she leaves me a measly unfinished message. Next time she says she wants to come to my place for a visit I’d just have to make my excuses.

May be there is something good coming out of this, at least I won’t have to cook or take her  out to see the city. Goodbye Kavita, nice knowing you!

……………………………:)

 

 

365 Writing Prompts: Morality play

Where do your morals come from — Your family? Your faith ? Your Philosophical worldview? How do you deal with those who don’t share them,or derive from a different source?

Beliefs about what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior, in my case came from my parents, especially from my Mom. She spent a lot of time telling us how to behave with our elders, guests, teachers. We were always discouraged to say anything negative about these people.

My Mom always believed that teachers have a special place in our lives. They are the ones who give us knowledge, take time to explain things we do not understand, after our parents they look after our well-being for we spend most of the time during the day with them. Someone rightly said,”they are your second Mom.”

They (the teachers) deserve our respect, to not show respect to them is morally wrong.

I think we learn morality from our family and also our faith and educational institutions, to me it is a combination of all these that builds our character.

Our faith tells us to treat everyone equally regardless of their social status, we are created by God , who expects us to be kind to all His creation. While we all try most of the time sometimes we fall off the wagon because of outside influence which can make us ignore certain things which is inappropriate. Some of us do realize that inappropriate behavior towards anyone is wrong, we try to correct it because our conscience reminds us bad behavior makes us inhuman.

……………………………:)

Happy birthday to everyone born on this day! posted by Ranu

Happy birthday to Mr. Khurram Shafique!

Daily Prompt: Snapshot stories

Open the first photo album you can find–real or virtual, your call –and stop at the first picture of yourself you see there. Tell us the story of that photo.

This photograph was taken by one of my Chinese classmates in Llanberis , North Wales.It’s a black and white photograph, the month was November and it was cold. I’m wearing an olive green warm woollen coat, on top of my Sari.

I have a handbag which is quite large and I am smiling. It shows I’m enjoying my two week stay in North Wales. Behind me I can see mountains and some trees and houses.My hands are in my pocket to keep them warm.

The grass I’m standing on is pale yellow, it’s because it is cold in November.

This is all I can write about me in the photograph.

…………………………………….:)

365 Writing Prompts: Island of misfit posts

We all have something we’d like to write about, but that doesn’t really “fit” our blog. Write it anyway.

Ramadan Mubarak to everyone. Today is the sixth day of fasting. Here in St John’s it is easier to fast because so far the days are much cooler than  in  places, i.e. Dhaka Bangladesh, Karachi Pakistan.

I woke up at 2:02 a.m it meant I have to get up wash and eat something, food this early wasn’t appealing to me, however I knew I must eat or else I’d have to wait until it’s 9:02 pm to eat or drink anything.

I went to the kitchen got my usual two Jacob’s crackers, took out a slice of cheese, put them on a plate and microwaved it for twenty seconds. Next I poured some milk in my mug and heated it. I was ready to eat.

It took me less than ten minutes to eat my early breakfast.

Next I said my prayers before the morning prayer. At 3:03 I said my morning prayer, read a part of the Qur’an and went back to bed.

Although I intended to sleep till 8:am I could not and had to get up at 6:30 am. Since I left my bed, I’ve done a few things like wrote a five sentence fiction, added another paragraph of comment to my previous comment on the course blog.

Now I’m writing the 365 writing prompt. I’m writing something that doesn’t really “fit” my blog, I’m writing it anyway because the title of the prompt is ,”Island Of Misfit Posts.”

Before I conclude I must add, the fasting this day will be over at 9:02 pm in my neck of the woods. I hope Readers I did not bore you to tears! 🙂

 

Five sentence fiction: Waves

“Did you ever see such high waves”, Nadia said out loud, she  was visiting Malta with her parents, the waves fascinated her and they were so noisy, she couldn’t go too close to the shore, she was afraid she’d be drenched by the water the waves were spraying out.

Mom and Dad were having a great time watching the noisy Mediterranean sea  waves and soaking up the gorgeous sun, it was a perfect day to have outdoor picnic.

Mom made arrangement with the hotel chef to prepare a delicious basket of food, the chef’s assistant brought the food basket, Nadia couldn’t wait she dragged her parents to a spot which she had planned ahead of time.

The three spread the sheet they borrowed from the hotel and sat down, while Nadia was busy checking the food, she overheard her father say,”Hi Harry fancy seeing you here, come join us for lunch!”

Nadia was disgusted, she mumbled not him again he is such a show off, the thought that Harry would engage her parents into a conversation enraged her, she wasn’t hungry anymore, she took out a book and began to read, some picnic she said under her breath!

………………………………..:)

Image from Wikipedia

Daily Prompt: Toy Story

What was your favorite plaything as a child? Do you see any connection between your life now, and your favorite childhood toy?

Our family members did not have a special toy for each of us. Yes we had board games, there was snakes and ladders and Monopoly.

Monopoly was my favorite, most of us could play it and there were  all kinds of tactic we used to win the game. It was not easy. The winning depended on what numbers we got when we rolled the dice. We did learn to count money buy and sell houses. We had a very enjoyable time.

I learned the art of saving and counting money and also buying and selling houses by playing Monopoly. In real life I neither became a ‘Real Estate’ agent nor an Accountant.

I settled for teaching which in a way helped the experience I got in playing Monopoly,i.e how to do things in a calm manner.

……………………………….:)