Daily Prompt: Lazy learners

Is there something you’ve always wanted to learn but haven’t gotten around to? What is it and what’s stopping you from mastering the skill.

I’m very fond of learning a variety of languages. When I was studying for my Master’s degree, I saw a lady in the university walkway.

I was curious and enquired who she was and what was she doing in our university. One of my classmates informed me she was a French teacher.

I immediately followed her to her classroom, introduced myself and expressed my desire to learn French.

“You are two months late chaman,” she said.

I begged her to take me, I promised I’d make up the time I lost. She allowed me to register.

From the first day I joined Madame would ask me questions to make sure I was making an effort to learn. It went well, she was pleased.

Then there was no more opportunity to continue. I registered in a different university to study Bachelor of Education. The opportunity to continue with French was not there.

After my marriage I joined my husband in Montreal. I was thrilled I’d get a chance to improve my scanty knowledge of French.It didn’t happen as we moved from Montreal to Gander, Newfoundland, where my husband agreed to work as an ophthalmologist.

I was also lucky to get the job as a teacher. I did short courses in French arranged by our Board of Education, it wasn’t enough. What I needed  most was fluency in speaking.

I tried to learn Spanish too, I did some courses, found it easier than French, but after a year of correspondence courses I had to give it up. I had too many things going on in my life, teaching, house work, helping my children to be better students and last of all baking.

With this many things on the go, French and Spanish had to be dropped.

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Writing 101, day 18

Writing 101, day 18, a map as your muse.

Wikipedia image of Burton’s Pond , memorial university residence for students in St. John’s Newfoundland. Newfoundland

The above is the picture of Burton’s pond, the building behind it is the residence of Memorial university students, in St. John’s , NL.

I’ve never been inside  the building but had walked around it a few times. I live very close to this place. In fact when I go for a walk to Churchill Square, I pass by this building.

I have visited the pond, it’s a small one where you can see ducks wading and having a good time, or so it seems. No one is allowed to feed them. But some do to see the reaction of the wading ducks, of course they come in groups to get the food. Who wouldn’t?

If you are a living human, animal, insect, vegetation, food is the most important thing.

Times have changed, there are a lot more cars belonging to the students parked there. One time there were only a few.

Right now there are a lot more parking lots  constructed for the students and faculty.

Some students rent places close to the university, it is convenient during winter when driving can cause a lot of headache, because of snow and  freezing rain.

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Writing 101, Day 17: Things we leave behind

Writing 101, Day 17: Mine your own material or : Things we leave behind: Tell us about a time you’ve left an object, place,person, or even an idea behind_ and had to move on.

As I couldn’t mine my material, for there wasn’t much I wanted to write about. I  therefore chose to write about memories of a place we left behind, not because it was our wish to do so, but cruel  fate  ordained it for us.

I had just turned twelve when everything was going wrong, the place we loved the most, turned its back on us, it was no longer feasible to hold on to it.

My eldest brother and my mom decided it was time for us to leave Rawalpindi and go to my parents original country Bangladesh.

It was not only the city, but the house, the garden, the three majestic Eucalyptus trees we had to say goodbye to. None of these things belonged to us, we were tenants, but we  loved them and wanted to stay there  forever.

Our time was up, memories of that city, the house , the garden , the trees is still fresh in my mind,as if it was only yesterday we played, we walked all around the house, went to the nearby race course to watch the horse races and were  rooting for our gardener cum jockey’s white horse.In the beginning it was  leading the pack and suddenly  we saw all the other horses were leaping forward, and our favorite horse came last.

Disappointment was written all over our faces, when the gardener came to work next morning. I had too many questions he had to answer, he took the easy way out. It was not his fault, the owner instructed him to slow down. He tried to make it simple for me, I was a kid who refused to understand that the owner would do such a thing. These things although in the past brings back memories of our joyful days, and joy is always followed by sorrow. This unfortunately is the fact of life!

 

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Daily Prompt: Yin to My Yang

How do you define the term “soulmate,” and do you believe in the existence of such a person_ for you?

A soulmate is a person with whom one shares an interest,passion, or bond,esp.a friend or spouse.

I do not believe such a person exists for me. My spouse and I did not have the same interests. We got along fine but our interests and passions were different. I loved music, he did too but not the same kind.

I had a passion for Novels, make-believe stories he liked to read about stocks and bonds, different investments, how to make money. I wasn’t interested in these things.

I studied History, he studied Medicine, as far as the studies go our paths were different.

I have friends and they are very good to me as I am to them, this is where the similarities stop.

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Writing 101,Day 16

Writing 101: Search your stats for a post idea. If you don’t glean anything from your stats page, consider one of these prompts instead.

If you were forced to make your blog private, would that affect your writing?

Overnight you discover you’ve gained 50,000 blog subscribers, what would you write for your next post?

One day you notice a strange stat. Write a short piece of fiction or poem that describes what you see and/or what happens?

I was awakened from my sleep one day,

The computer was telling me to turn it on right away.

Being a lover of sleep I yelled out ‘can you be calm?’

‘No I can not’ said the machine,

‘For it  will do you plenty of harm.’

‘Really’ I said ,’you got to be kidding.’

‘No ma’am I’m not,’ it replied laughing!

I turned on the machine what did I see?

On the state page,

My Dad was busy writing a story for me!

“I know I’m not a poet but I love it , sadly I  do not have the gift of writing poetry.” Ranu!  🙂

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Daily Prompt: When Childhood Ends

Write about a defining moment in your life when you were forced to grow up in an instant(or Instants).

After spending two years in the local college in Comilla my hometown in Bangladesh. I suddenly realized I was too unhappy to continue my education in the same college.I must look for a different  one, a girl’s college, but the only one I could go to was in the big city.

I packed my things and traveled by train at 3 AM in the morning to Dhaka, in Bangladesh. When I reached the college and met some of my classmates in the college dormitory, I realized instantly it was my time to grow up.

Mom and my siblings won’t be there to complain or talk about my new classmates, good or bad, I’d have to, ‘grin and bear it’ I had some help from a friend of my parents who lived in the same city, who did more than I could ask from a real uncle.

He invited me to go to his house every week-end. I was slowly getting used to living far away from my home. This is where my process of growing up was happening. Occasionally I felt a twinge of pain, I  tried to overcome it by starting a conversation with my uncle or  the classmates in college whoever happened to be there at that time, but  it was persistent, I tried to fight it off by concentrating on stories my classmates used to tell me, but it was not easy.

The only antidote for my pain were the songs I learned in school when I was in third standard, in presentation convent school, I used to sit by myself and hum the tune. Those childhood memories took me to a world where I had the most fun.

I grew up but it was not easy.

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Daily Prompt: A Storybook Day

You have to spend one day as or with your favorite fictional character.Which  one would it be and what would you do?

I read many books and while reading a particular book, I fell in love with the main character and found that my love for the character   was only temporary, and when another book and another character came along, I transferred my loyalty to that character I was presently reading about.If this is what happens to me from one  book to another, how will I be able to choose my favorite character.

I’ve decided to choose a real person who wrote about the facts of life. Instead of choosing a favorite  fictional character ,I have selected a real life person and chose his thoughts about, ‘Giving’, the book is written by Kahlil Gibran and the topic is ‘Giving’.

In his book ‘The Prophet’, the author introduced his thoughts in a fictional manner. His thoughts are presented by his main character,Al Mustafa.

Mustafa returns to his Isle of birth, where the inhabitants plead  with him not to leave them until their questions were answered.

Al-Mustafa answered the questions, one at a time. When the rich man said , speak to us about giving , I joined with the rest of the people , I was interested to know about ‘Giving’ what is the best way of reaching my goal without anyone knowing, only  myself and the Divine.

You give but little when you give of your possessions, for these are something you guard and keep because you think you may need them tomorrow.

Speaking about possessions I could think of the clothes I have, when I give some of them away, do I give it half-heartedly, because tomorrow I might need them? I don’t like this type of giving which constantly reminds me what I gave away I could have used at a later date.

I agree with Mustafa it is  better to  give when unasked than asked.

Another thought that Mustafa presented which he didn’t like, was give to those who are deserving, how can one know who is deserving?

The trees in the orchard say no, nor the flocks in your pasture. They give so they may live, for to withhold is to perish.Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and nights is worthy of all else from you.

And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.

The  day I spent with Mustafa was the most useful day  for me. I understood what giving means.My love for the fictional character,Mustafa is permanent, because he explains the real  facts of life in a beautiful way!

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Writing 101, Day Fifteen

Write today’s post on ideas from your list. If you don’t have any ideas to choose from , not to worry. Here are four passages you can choose from to get you going.

I’d like to use the following passage:

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”

I love music always did from my childhood. I used to sit in a corner of our house, which was always vacant, it gave me an opportunity to sing songs I learned in school.

Once I went with my older sister to her colleagues house. She didn’t know how to entertain a quiet teenager like me . She quickly got her record player and Played a song by Tagore. I fell in love with that song and listened to it thirteen times. After the thirteenth time I did not ask to continue listening, I thought she might feel I am weird.

I loved the lyrics of the song, Tagore was a magician when it came to writing lyrics. Since it is in Bengali my mother tongue. I will translate it into English.

Here is the song I copied from YouTube:

Translated by Ranu.

The title of this song is “Forever Me” or “Chiro Aami” (Bengali)

There will come a time when my footsteps will not be visible in this market,

You will not see me rowing my boat,

before this happens, I will take care of my buying and selling and will pay my dues.

You will not see me visiting this market__

You do not have to think of me, or remember me,

Do not look up at the stars and call me.

You will feel my absence when you look at my things.

My musical instrument will be covered with dust,

Thorny creepers will grow around my house,

The garden will show signs of neglect as I would not be there

to take care of the grass,

Moss and lichen will surround the pond__

I do not expect you to remember me at that time or call me.

Everything will be the same,the flute will sound the same,

Days will go on the same as today,

The wharves will be filled with boats,

The shepherds will look after the cattle and play,

The cattle will graze, life will go on as usual.

Do not remember me or call me then.

Then one bright morning who can say I won’t be there?

Of course I will, I will have a new name and new friends,

I will take part in the games as before only I will have a new identity.

I will go on forever!

………………………… 🙂

Blogging 201, day nine

Day nine: The Buddy System

Are we nearly done already? Time evaporates when you’re having fun.The commons is filled with lively conversations and tons of support.

Do you have a blogger who comments thoughtfully on your posts_ that person who always takes the time to ask a good question or add something   witty or insightful to add to the conversation? Your thoughtful commenter might just become your blogging BFF. If there’s a blog that always brings out the best in you,that’s another place to start.

There is a blogger I’ve known for three plus years. He and I started the online course on Poet Iqbal at the same time.

He is the first one who started blogging which gave me an idea, something I’d never known before.

He has become a very good friend. He always writes his comments whenever I post something. He is witty and insightful, he never fails to encourage me and my writing.

He I think is my most thoughtful commenter. Yes I think he does qualify to become my blogging BFF.

His name is Robert.

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Writing 101,day fourteen: Recreate a single day

Assignment: Recreate a single day

You can tackle this assignment in a number of ways:

Start in the middle of the action and zig  zag through time from the moment you woke up to the last thing that happened before you retired for the night.

I heard something as if in my sleep, noticed the sound was persistent,I opened my eyes to check what it was so harsh in sound with no sweetness in it. I looked at the clock, it was 5 AM, I realized I set the alarm to wake up for morning prayer.

I woke up washed and got ready for my usual activity of the day i.e. prayer. I was thankful someone invented the clock to wake up lazy people like me.

Twenty five minutes later my first activity of the day was done. I had breakfast, which is nothing special, two crackers,lathered by peanut butter and a cup of tea.

I turned on the computer to remind myself of day thirteen writing assignment, compose a series of vignettes, this wasn’t something I was familiar with.What kind of anecdote will I write, then it seemed my inner voice whispered, “Why don’t you write about your pilgrimage to Mecca(Makkah)?”

I was thrilled to have a lasting companion who talks to me when I need help. I gathered all the information in my mind, I had no photographs to show the places, we are not allowed to use cameras. But I assumed ‘Wikipedia’ could be helpful. And it was, I got the pictures I needed.

After putting together all the information, I was ready to hit the publish button and link my post to the commons.

I was relieved I had my assignment done. what was I going to do next was troubling me. “Go for a walk was the instruction.”

I got ready and stepped out the back door, on my way out I checked the mailbox, there it was the visa bill, since I was out , I changed my plan of going for a walk to take a bus ride to the bank. There weren’t that many people in there, I was served almost immediately.

It was a sunny bright day, I walked  to the ‘Supermarket’ to buy a few things for supper.It didn’t take me long, I had a lot of time left, I walked over to the bus stop to go to the mall. I waited fifteen minutes, there were wasps flying all over and I was not happy to see them. In came a young woman with three bags of groceries,the scent of her food items attracted the attention of one measly wasp, it came right in the covered bus stop and buzzed around her.Before this incidence I wasn’t aware the wasps like our kind of food. Maybe there were not enough flowers for them.

Somehow the young woman got rid of the lonely wasp and everything was fine.

In the mean time the bus showed up, I was on board in search of a tape recorder in a store in the mall. They do not carry them was the verdict. I came home.

I fed the felines, then had lunch and started cooking cauliflower and then chicken. With the cooking done I took a shower and waited for my daughter to arrive. She came at 5 PM, supper was ready. She was happy she didn’t have to wait for it.

In the evening I wanted to relax and have some entertainment. I turned on the TV watched ‘wheel of fortune’ followed by ‘jeopardy’ I was tired enough ,  I went  straight to bed!

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