Daily Prompts: Leap

 

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

Jack and his brother George were walking along the banks of a river,  apparently George saw something, he told his brother to wait, that he’d be back in a flash.

When George took longer than usual, Jack went back to see why was his brother taking so long. When he reached the place, he heard a faint cry for help coming from somewhere in the middle of the river.

Without another thought he took a big leap, swam as swiftly as he could to follow the voice. On reaching the middle he found Henry so called friend of his brother was holding George down with all his might.

Horrified he pushed Henry, released his brother and slowly helped his brother to come out.

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Daily Prompts: Counting Voices

A lively group discussion, an intimate tete-a tete, an inner monologue_ in your view, when it comes to good conversation ,what’s the ideal number of people?

A group discussion is a group of individuals with similar interest, who either meet together either formally or informally. They bring up ideas, solve problems, and give comments.

There were five of us who taught the same grade, so we had similar problems, we brought up difficult situations we faced in our classrooms, what worked what did not. It helped us because we were a small group, teaching kids who were 9 years old.

I found a group of five helped us .

 

 

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Daily Prompts: Pat on the Back

Tell someone you are proud of just how proud you are.

I was very proud of the teenager, who came to shovel my driveway.  We had at least 30 cm of snow the previous day including high drifts because of the storm.

I was thinking how I’d clear the snow, added to my problem was the city plow which dumped hard blocks of ice at the end of our driveway.

I sat on my settee trying to figure out what would be the easiest way to get it done, my daughter was out of town, my student moved to another place, it was a trying situation for me.

After my early morning prayer, I asked God to please help me find someone to help me clear the snow. At exactly 8:30 am my phone rang, I thought it was my daughter, no, not she it was my neighbor,she asked me if I needed someone to clear my driveway, someone was asking her if we neighbors, wanted our snow cleared.

I was ecstatic, “please send him over  to my house,” I said.

A tall thin guy came to the door, asked me if $20.00 was  too much. No I said, I’d give you $5.00 more. He began shoveling and soon my driveway was cleared, I then asked if he’d mind shoveling my  patio. He did that too. Such a lovely person, I was impressed by his work. I did not think of giving a pat on his back,but I gave him  extra money for lunch.

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Book Review: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

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A Book Review: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene 

This is my 8th book. I still have 17 more to read to meet the challenge of reading 25 in 2016.

I liked the book it is simple and concise. There were some highs and lows. The author managed to put his point across.

The main characters were :

Sarah

Henry

Bendrix

The story revolved around these three.

There were others who had the supporting role.

Parkis was the detective employed by Bendrix to follow Sarah.

The end was somewhat tragic, one I didn’t suspect. There lies the beauty of the story. It makes it interesting and urges the reader to keep reading to know how it ends.

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Mind and Matters Challenge, Week 8, limerick : Lost

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I lost my temper I know not why

My  scared  little girl began to cry

Oh do not  cry please

Come look at those trees

Can you see their image in the sky?

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Daily Prompts: Drawing a Blank

When was the last time you walked away from a discussion, only to think of the Perfect Comeback hours later? Recreate the scene for us, and use your winning line.

I never had the opportunity of walking away from a discussion. I do remember once my  cousin told me that my sister-in-law (my brother-in-law’s wife) passed some hideous remarks about  the way I wear my sari. Since I heard it I’ve been thinking of telling her off when I met her.

Unfortunately, I did meet her a few times, but could not tell her off as I had planned. Had she said it on my face I’d tell her off. She said this behind my back, a coward that she is!

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Daily Prompts: The Road Less Traveled

Pinpoint a moment in your past where you had to make a big decision. Write about that other alternate life that could have unfolded.

After I was back from, London, I saw an ad in the newspaper about a teaching job in a city literally thousands of miles away from my home. I thought about it for a few moments, and decided to apply.

A few days later I received a letter for an interview, in my old school. On the appointed day I arrived at the place of interview. I saw a list of interviewees, there were six of us, among them was my age old rival since my college and university days. I ignored the thought of meeting her, sat on a chair and waited for my turn.

I was the first one called.The Principal was a nice lady, she asked me a few questions and gave me the job on the spot. I told her I had to find out from my mom if going away so far away in an unknown place was okay.

I asked my mom, who  pointed at my elder sister, thought she’d know better. When I asked  my sister she  said, ,”Ranu it’s too far away, do you think you should take the job?”

Already I wasn’t sure I wanted the job, her words helped me make my decision. I wrote  the principal about my decision to refuse the job, mainly because it was too far away,I wasn’t familiar with the city, it was better for me to look for a job in a city closer to my home.

As far as I could see I probably would have taken the job, stayed in the unknown city no more than a couple of months, and eventually I’d   quit the job and be back in my familiar surrounding.

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Book Review: Reading Lolita in Tehran, A Memoir in Books: Author, Azar Nafisi

Book :Reading Lolita in Tehran

Author: Azar Nafisi

A Memoir in Books

The characters in this book are real innocent people who unfortunately happened to be raised in a country where the word freedom did not seem to exist especially for women.

I often wonder why there is such a strict rule about covering ones head. The women in this story were not in favor of it. Can you believe they were flogged imprisoned even killed because a strand of hair of a girl or woman was visible, and to the authorities this was the worst possible crime a human could commit.

The author was expelled from her job because she refused to wear the veil. While one country punishes their women for not wearing the veil, there are others in the world who detest the veil. It’s all against the women.

My question is why is there so much restriction against women?

Before I lose track of what the book is about, I must rein in my thoughts and stick to the story of this book.

After losing her university job, the author selected seven or eight women students to her house to talk about literature. It was a fun way of learning ,it also gave the students an opportunity to talk about their life and the characters in the novels the author taught. She mentioned Nabokov’s novel Lolita more than others, among the novels they discussed were :Fitzgerald’s  ,  The great Gatsby, Austen’s  Pride and Prejudice, and there were others.

The girls and their teacher had a great time. The best was when they had coffee and pastries, every time they met. I think it was once a week on Thursdays. Pastry brings back fond memories of my childhood , there was a  man who visited us  once a week with his huge trunk of pastries, Dad would call us to pick our favorite.

This gathering of the teacher with her eight students was a time when I did not have to read the horrors of war, or missile attack from the neighboring country which lasted for eight years.

There are pages in the book where I felt as if I was part of the characters in the book. I remember feeling awful when one of the girls told her teacher that one of their classmate and friend was shot to death.

This was the way of life for them, although it pained me to read what they were going through, I could not stop reading it, I had to know whether the teacher and the students were all right in the end.

Azar Nafisi the author mentioned the novel, ‘Lolita, ‘ very frequently. I was curious to know what it was about. I went to the local bookstore and bought Lolita to satisfy my curiosity. You guessed it I’m planning to start reading it today, God willing.  🙂

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Daily Prompts: Karma Chameleon

Re-incarnation : do you believe in it?

Re-incarnation is the philosophical or religious concept that the soul or spirit after biological death can begin a new life in a new body.This doctrine is a central tenet of the Hindu religion.

Professor Jim Tucker believes past lives are possible. Here is one story I read, “when I was your age, I changed your diaper,” said the dark-haired boy to his father. Ron, the father looked down at his smiling son , who had not yet turned two. He thought he had misheard him.

But as Sam made similar remarks over the next few months,-Ron and wife Cathy pieced together an odd story. Sam believed that he was his deceased grandfather , Ron’s late father, who had returned to his family.

The parents asked the baby, “how did you come back?”

He responded, “I just went whoosh and came out the portal.”

The parents were stunned to hear him use the word,’portal.’

I always thought of re-incarnation as a fairy tale, until I read these stories, now I’m not sure what I think.

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Daily Prompts: Mad Libs

Turn to your co-workers,kids,Facebook friends, family, anyone who’s accessible— and ask them to suggest an article, an adjective, and or a noun . There’s your post title! Now Write.

Punjabi Mix

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Punjabi Mix: this is a snack my daughter and I love to eat. She went to Toronto last week for a course. She wasn’t sure where she could find it, luckily we have a great friend who helped her find it. Three large packs of it.

These are very simple food but the pleasure we find eating it is incredible.

The ingredients in it is mostly lentils, a few peanuts, cashews, some spices especially cayenne powder, it is hot and spicy, I love it.

Try it if you like spicy food.  🙂

It reminds me of the vendor who came every week with this mixture, he instantly made a song of it to attract our attention.

In Hindi or Urdu it’s called chana choor, it’s made up of lentils, nuts, some raisins and cayenne powder.

This is the song lyrics: Chana choor garam, hot and spicy snack,

barey mazedar: very tasty and he’d repeat chana choor garam

jis ko khatey hain Bengali: which is eaten by Bengalis

jis ki dhoti dheeli dhali: Whose pants are loose

I’d say this song was dedicated to us kids, so we’d run and buy some. We were the only Bengali family in our neighborhood, but he was a bit mixed up about the attire, my dad and brothers did not wear dhoti. But he rhymed his song well. 🙂

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