Daily Prompt : Snack

In response to the prompt : Snack

  A Snack is not dinner!

One day Mr. Ismail had a guest for dinner. As soon as the guest came, Mr. Ismail received a call  for an urgent business. He had no alternative but to leave his guest in the house, while he went to take care of his business

Before leaving he instructed his servant to serve dinner to his guest. The servant was full of enthusiasm, he cooked a delicious meat dish which he served with a kind of tortilla fried in butter.

The guest loved the food, son after he took a nap.

Mr. Ismail came home and apologized  for leaving his guest alone  to eat dinner . He then asked, ‘Did you enjoy your dinner?’

The guest replied, ‘I did not eat dinner,  I  had a snack.’

Mr. Ismail was furious, he  called his servant and said, ‘I told you to serve him dinner, not a snack.’

He ordered the servant to serve dinner, the servant served the fried tortillas with meat, Mr. Ismail was hungry he invited his friend to have dinner. They enjoyed the delicious meal.

After the meal he thanked his servant for cooking such a delicious meal. He then turned around and asked his friend, ‘Did you enjoy the dinner?’

The friend replied,  ‘I enjoyed eating the snack again!’

Mr. Ismail’s friend was from Bengal, the staple food for Bengalis is rice not  tortilla.  They eat rice at noon and at night. If you serve them chapatis instead of rice they think, they ate a snack, or a light meal!

………………………………………….. 🙂

 

Daily Prompt : Magnet

In response to one-word prompt : Magnet

I’m not too happy when the house flies come out of nowhere, when  I  fry fish. They act like a magnet circling around my frying pan.

When I was in Lahore, I smelled someone frying fish, I  followed the aroma and found a man frying fish by the side of a road. I saw the same kind of  house flies circling around him. I told him,  ‘I do not like the flies above you.’

He smiled and replied, ‘these are nothing, only a few, if you want to eat my fish fry you must ignore them.’

I realized if I want to eat fried fish, I’d have to pretend, there are no flies!

…………………………………… 🙂

My Favorite Holiday : Eid al Fitr

 

The Birth Of The Holy Quran

On the 25th June, I celebrated Eid al-Fitr, a festival which follows after one month of Ramadan.Let me write a few words about Ramadan. It is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Islam uses a lunar calendar- each month begins with the sighting of the new moon.

The Islamic calendar is eleven days shorter than the solar calendar used elsewhere. Islamic holidays move each year.

In 2014 Ramadan began at sundown on June 28th. For more than a billion Muslims around the world –including some eight million in North America– Ramadan is a month of blessing, marked by prayer, fasting and charity. Ramadan focuses on self-sacrifice and devotion to Allah(God).

Why is this month so important? Muslims believe that during the month of Ramadan. Allah revealed the first verses of the Holy Quran, the holy book of Islam.

Around 610 AD , a caravan trader named Mohammed was wandering in the desert near Makkah( in today’s Saudi Arabia). While thinking about his faith, a voice called him from the night sky. It was the voice of Angel Gabriel, who told him Mohammed was chosen to receive the words of Allah.

In the days that followed, Mohammed found himself speaking the verses of the Quran, these words were then transcribed,  and was the beginning of the Glorious Quran.

After a whole month of fasting, we the Muslims celebrated, Eid al Fitr. It is a holiday which announces the end of fasting and the beginning of a  celebration with friends and family.

Eighteen to nineteen hours of fasting which began at 2 am in the morning for me and ending at 9: o3 pm in the evening. It was something we as Muslims have to endure to understand how those less fortunate than us live each day of their lives.

Eid Mubarak to you all!

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Daily Prompt : Sunny

In response to one word prompt : Sunny

Our little island is incredibly funny,

It hides the sun when we want it sunny.

It plays hide and seek,

which makes us weak,

We can’t complain we’re afraid to lose days that are sunny!

……………………………………. 🙂

 

Daily Prompt : Wheel

In response to one-word prompt : Wheel

The man drove his vehicle so fast,

One wheel came off with a blast.

He stopped to see what was wrong,

The traffic stopped with a loud bong,

And  the cop gave him a ticket for driving so fast!

………………………………. 🙂

 

 

 

Daily Prompt : Local

In response to one-word prompt : Local

Here in my neighborhood, we have a small strip mall, there are a few stores here, but most of the space is  for parking. There was a time when there were no parking meters,  this convenience is no longer available because  the mayor thought it is a good opportunity to make money.

There are city workers whose only incentive is to watch the meters like a hawk, if God forbid a vehicle owner is late by a half a second, he’d have to pay a fine of fifteen dollars.

At the end of the parking lot the city has donated a small area for vendors to bring their local produce to sell.

One day I went to see what kind of produce the vendors were selling. One of the vendors’ had a variety of vegetables, what caught my eyes were green chillies. I picked one up, which was about the size of my index finger, now I wasn’t thinking of buying one but a nice bunch. I asked the vendor, ‘How much is this?’

She looked at me and said, ‘one dollar each,’ and added, ‘I grow it in my green house.’

I looked at her, said, ‘thank you,’  and came home.

I think the local vendors charge too much money for their produce. This is why they are unable to sell it!

…………………………………………:)

 

Daily Prompt : Commit

In response to one-word prompt : Commit

When I entered the teaching profession I made a commitment to do my job to the best of my ability. I  tried my best and I  am happy each student I taught got my full attention.

At age nine the child  did not comprehend what I was trying to tell him. Some ended up quitting school. In my profession, not only the teacher, but the parents and the child also need to work hard. The teacher is unable to help if the rest of the people related to  the child do not give enough attention for the benefit of the child.

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Daily Prompt : Paper

In response to one-word prompt : Paper

It was a better world when humans wrote on slate,

We invented  paper and now slates are out of date.

It is a sad invention,

For trees face extinction,

We will regret for using paper instead of slate!

……………………………… 🙂

Daily Prompt : Loop

In response to one-word prompt : Loop

Racers running around a one-mile loop,

Were anxiously thinking of the tasty soup,

When they came to the house,

They saw a large ugly mouse,

Eating the last drop of the tasty soup!

………………………………. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Prompt : Meddle

In response to one-word prompt : Meddle

People who meddle must keep  in mind,

They’re  not welcome, and they are not kind.

No one should interfere in others’ business,

It is far better to mind their own business.

Let’s try not to invade anyone’s privacy,

Honestly it is not considered a good policy!

…………………………….. 🙂