Daily Prompts: Money for Nothing

 

If you’re like most of us, you need to earn money by working for a living. Describe your ultimate job. If you’re in your dream job, tell us about it_ what is it that you love ? What fulfills you? If you’re not in your dream job, describe for us what your ultimate would be?

I agree I’m like most , I need to earn money by working for a living.  I knew from the outset, I wanted to be an elementary teacher. To reach my goal, I registered in a college and university. After completing a  university degree, I knew I had to have an education degree to fulfill my dream of teaching  young kids.

With this thought on my mind I registered for an education degree. I completed this course, I applied for a job and was lucky to get one. This was a job I always wanted, but the environment wasn’t favorable. I looked for a similar job in the big city. I was able to get one, but it was a residential school and the system of teaching was not the same. I tried to get assistance from one of my experienced colleagues’, she always changed the subject. When a week passed I learned no one in the school would tell me anything. I had to learn by watching or observing.

It took me a month to know the difference between a regular school or ( a day school) and residential school.

I wanted to think of this job as one I always desired, soon reality kicked in, the atmosphere in the school disappointed me. I could not work in a place where the Headmaster ridiculed teachers in the presence of students. How can the teachers expect respect from the students, if the Headmaster refuses to respect them.

After ten days I made up my mind to quit, I wrote a resignation letter and handed it to the headmaster, he was shocked to read it and could not understand why I wanted to resign. I really wanted to tell him the reason, but words stuck in my lip and I could not leave the job.

It happened after two years. Thankfully I received a scholarship, I handed my resignation letter second time, I had a genuine reason to leave. By then the headmaster changed but he too followed the same principle of not accepting my resignation, this time he said, “why don’t you wait a couple of years, we will send you.”

I wish I could tell him then, “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”

I didn’t, knowing any wrong step by me might kill my prospect of going to London,he had the power to influence the authorities to  withdraw my scholarship, this is what I was afraid of. Despite the obstacles put in my path, eventually I was able to go to London to study.

When I went back, I did not go back to teach in  the same school.

After two years I successfully got a  job of teaching in an elementary school. The principal was a  nice man who did not interfere with teachers, we were free to teach, the principal respected us. It was a job I always wanted!

………………………………….. 🙂

 

Limerick Challenge Week 7: Aspire

This week’s limerick challenge is : Aspire

My childhood desire was singing

I grew up and dreamed of teaching

I spend time singing

Other times teaching

What difference does it make if I’m enjoying!

………………………….. 🙂

Second Place

 

 

Book Review,Far From The Madding Crowd: Author Thomas Hardy

Wikipedia image

Today I put the finishing touches to the book titled “Far From The Madding Crowd,”I was reading, after The Da Vinci Code. Like the latter it had some interesting episodes but they were different. It kept me interested, as I could not tell how the story will end.

Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy is very different from Tess in, Tess of the d’Urburvilles by the same author. Unlike Tess, Bathsheba the main character in “Far From The Madding Crowd”,had a much stronger personality. She took care of her farm which she inherited from her uncle without much problem. The men in the area respected and feared her.

The appearance of one Sergeant Troy changed the whole scenario. One would never think Bathsheba would fall for a character like Troy, which is what exactly happened, after a  lot of twists and turns, Bathsheba was able to make the  right choice.

It’s made into a movie, I haven’t watched it yet.

The main characters are: Bathsheba a female farmer

Gabriel Oak : a male farmer

Boldwood: another male farmer

Sergeant Troy: A Stranger

The book has 434 pages and has a  soft cover.

I found the book entertaining and interesting. I think it will be well received by the  readers.

………………………………….. 🙂

Daily Prompts: Alma Mater

You’ve been asked to speak at your alma mater__about the path of life.(Whoa.)Draft a speech.

Dear parents, teachers, esteemed guests, my classmates and dear friends:

I stand here before you to talk about the path of life we all at some point need to think of. I remember the day Mom and Dad announced, “Ranu we’ll take you to a new place it’s called a school, you will learn how to read, write and know all the numbers in English.”

“Why Can’t I learn all this at home, I don’t want to go to a school, I’m afraid the teacher will hit me.”

Dad said, “No the teacher won’t hit you, she’d be like your mother.”

When I met my teacher,I looked at her and tried to think in what way was she like my mother,it saddened me to see she was so different,her outfit, her mannerism,her language,nothing was like my mother. How could I believe she’d be like my mother, that I shouldn’t be scared.

That day passed quickly, I began to trust the teacher, her voice was so sweet and she was always ready to help me. At home I was only allowed to speak, Bengali, my mother tongue.

In the neighborhood Hindi and Urdu which I learned from my friends.

Now at age five I’m introduced to another language, English they called it. When I asked, my Dad assured me it was necessary to have a solid foundation. I’m almost sure my Dad did not realize I had no idea what is foundation.  I felt if my dear Dad says it’s good for me, it has to be.

The  years were going by leaps and bounds, suddenly all the happiness I shared until I was twelve, came to a screeching halt, my dear Dad passed away.

Things were uncertain from then onward, where shall we live, who will take care of us, and other things only a twelve year can be curious about. My inquisitiveness  did not last long, my mother announced, “we must move out of this place and go to Comilla , Bangladesh.” Where my parents were from.

Within six months we moved out of Rawalpindi, Pakistan and moved to Comilla. I started school immediately, my older siblings were afraid, I may get used to staying at home.

I had to get used  to  this new environment, or else my mother threatened  she’d marry me off. This was enough for me to listen to her.

Today I’m standing before you to express my feelings about my Alma Mater and also talk about my path of life. To a  fifteen year old like me it seems like a tall order. I’ll do the best I can about this subject, forgive me if I fail to make sense.

Right now I’m thinking of my older sister, I’ll do the same as her, she went to college, studied hard and successfully got her Masters Degree in English. I’m hoping to follow in  her footsteps. How difficult can it be, if she could do it, chances are good I can too.

I’d ask you all to pray that I can achieve this goal of my life. If I’m unable, I’d blame no one but myself for not trying hard enough.

Thank you all for coming and listening to me. I hope I’d make my mother, teachers and siblings proud of me.

……………………………… 🙂

Daily Prompts: Quirk of Habit

Which quirky habit annoys you the most, and what quirky habit do you love__ in yourself,or others.

 

I’m always annoyed when the sink in the kitchen is full of dirty and the master or mistress of the house deliberately leaves them for hours, or sometimes the whole night.

This was the case every single day in my charming brother-in-law’s house.  We’d get up in the morning in his house, before we could have breakfast, we had to deal with the dishes left unwashed the previous night. Having no alternative, my husband and I washed the dishes which took more than an hour daily.

I was fed up, I told my husband to buy them a dishwasher. We bought one to make our lives simple while we stayed in their house. They were either too naive to get the message or didn’t care.Nothing changed, only now the dirty dishes were in the dishwasher and in the sink.

I’m not sure if I can call it a quirky habit or an unfortunate habit.

I of course am strange when it comes to going out, I know my  family is not so happy about this habit. I’d get ready to go out, I look out I see some snow falling, I’d immediately change my mind about going out. I’d say, “I don’t feel so good, you go out without me.”

All my family members would turn against me saying, “You ruined our day, we won’t go either.”

I am good when someone asks for something, one of my neighbors wanted to have  a dessert which is famous in Bengal. At first she wanted the recipe, then she wondered if I could show her how to make it.

I asked her to get the ingredients, promised I’d go to her house and make the dessert. She called me and said she’s got the ingredients. I went over and made the dessert. The only thing that annoyed me was when her husband woke up came to the kitchen and said, “You used so much sugar?”

This is the dessert: 

Guess what he ate most of it. 🙂

 

Daily Prompts: Sudden Shifts

Wikipedia image

You’re at the beach with some friends and/or family, enjoying the sun,nibbling on some water melon. All of a sudden within seconds, the weather shifts, and hail starts descending from the sky. Write a post about what happens next.

This prompt reminds me of a day in London ,England . The sun was shining brightly I decided to go for a walk, as soon as I came out of my room , Tanya Yakimoff who lived next door, came out with a broad smile she said, “Where do you think you are going?”

I smiled and said, “I’m going for a walk Tanya.”

“Is that so,” she said ,”Perhaps you have no idea of London weather, if I were you I’d carry an umbrella.”

“Carry an umbrella on a bright sunny day, I hate to carry it?”

“Don’t say I did not warn you.” With these words she went back to her room.

I was torn, should I carry an umbrella, but it’s such a nice day, I hope Tanya is wrong I mumbled and went on my way out. I went to Russel Square tube station, bought my ticket to go to Oxford Street.

I got off and immediately thought of doing some window shopping. I went inside Selfridges, got on the escalator going up, checked out  the floors, what was on sale. Instantly I recalled I had come to window shop not to buy anything, besides it wasn’t as if I had a pocket full of money.

After taking about two full hours in the department store, I checked my watch, it was time for me to head back to the residence. I came down  on the lift with all kinds of people.

When the door to the lift opened , I was on the ground floor, I walked fast to get out of the station. To my dismay the outside looked dark, “Is it evening already?” I thought.

Oh no, I exclaimed ! I did not bring my umbrella, it’s raining heavily. I waited for what seemed eternity for the rain to stop.

Eventually the rain stopped, I could see a rainbow, I felt hey now there’ll be no problem, I’ll get to my residence without getting wet. I walked out, to get to Oxford Street Station, it was not too far, I’ll make it I thought, but nature wanted me to get wet on that day, within minutes the skies went dark and rain started falling, I couldn’t go anywhere for shelter, I kept walking.

Finally I was at the station, bought my ticket to go back. Within ten minutes I reached my destination, Russel Square station. I came out but the rain did not stop. I was soaked head to foot before I reached my residence.

I quietly walked up the stairs, hoping Tanya wasn’t there, before I could turn my key into the lock, out came Tanya, “So did you enjoy your walk?” She said.

All I could say was,”I better go in and change my clothes or I’ll catch a cold!”

As I was getting into my room, I heard  Tanya burst into a roaring laughter. 🙂

…………………………………….. 🙂

Daily Prompts: The Stat Connection

Go to your Stats page and check your 3-5 posts. Why do you think they’ve been successful? Find the connection between them and write about it.

• I checked  my three posts.
• First one is a translation of Tagore’s poem. It’s a prayer to God.

In this prayer, the poet asks God not to save him from danger, but to strengthen his mind so he’s not afraid of danger.

If he’s unable to find a companion, he prays to God to make him able to carry on alone.

He wants resilience in the face of defeat to protect his mind. He doesn’t want God to save him but to help him so he never gives up.

He doesn’t want his burden to be lightened but he wants inspiration to carry it gracefully.

In his days of happiness he wants to  be humble and recognize God, and  keep  him from doubting God in his sadness.

• Second one is a limerick challenge I wrote using the word “Feral” or its synonym.

My limerick is about an innocent chicken, playing in the garden, it was mercilessly scooped up by a hawk  for its dinner, neither the chicken nor its owner could save the chicken, all the owner could do was watch the whole scene and be sad. This is the story of our world the strong always oppress the weak, the weak are never saved from the tyranny of the strong as was the case with the chicken.

• My third post is about a nomination for an award. I answered a few questions, perhaps I did well, which could be the reason for its third place.

……………………………….. 🙂

Book Review: The Da Vinci Code

Book Review: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

I finished reading this book on February 7th. I do not want to say too much, I rather not spoil the fun of reading it by writing any part of the novel. I say this much I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

There are many twists and turns, just when you think you know what’ll happen, a completely different thing happens. There are characters in it who  give the reader a good feeling for a little while, but  turns out they are not so good after all.

What I’ve learned from it is I must be careful who I trust.

I found out about the characters after reading the whole book. It’s full of suspense and mystery. It’s the first time I read a book where I couldn’t tell what will happen or how it will end.

Author ,Dan Brown was remarkable.

The book with illustrations helps.

……………………………….. 🙂

Mind and Life Matters Limerick Challenge: Feral

 

The wild hawk came down from the  sky

Scooped the chicken and flew up high

Its grip was  so firm

We could only squirm

With heart-wrenching we said good- bye!

……………………………… 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Prompts: Live to Eat

Some people eat to live, while others live to eat.What about you? How far would you travel for the best meal of your life?

I think I eat to live not the other way around. We all have to eat to survive, but I don’t go crazy for different foods. I like spicy foods which I can cook myself.

I’m always concerned about my food, especially how many calories I’m eating, would I be able to burn it or let it store in my body as fat?

There are so many different kinds of foods, but not all of them are healthy for us. Sometimes I get tempted to buy desserts from the store after eating once or twice I feel guilty, I let my daughter take it to her work, I do not like wasting it.

No I wouldn’t travel far for the best meal, I’ll only eat food that is healthy.

…………………………….. 🙂