365 days, June 27th: The Artist’s Eye

An Artist’s Eye

This is a painting of a Japanese artist. We bought it several years ago, from Franklin mint.

It seems the peacock is telling me, ‘see my long wide tail? Look at the colour combination, how pretty it is. I’ve found a perfect place to perch, the flowers around me heightens my beauty.

A painting does speak to me when I look at it with my imagination. What is it thinking when it spreads its tail in full view. It’s trying to attract the peahen, it’s been roaming around the garden, it feels the only way to attract anyone’s attention especially the peahen is to perch in a way that get its compliment.

………………………………….. 🙂

365 days, planes, trains and automobiles

Our journey by car

It was a cold November day, we sold our house, stayed overnight in our house. Early in the morning we locked the doors, gave the keys to the lawyer and were on our way to a new city.

We sadly bid goodbye to a little town that welcomed us with open arms. Life is cruel, when the call comes to move, man has no choice but to leave for the unknown which presumably for us had more opportunities health-wise.

It was a three and a half hours drive, we decided to keep going until we reached our destination.

The bright lights of the gas station alerted us we were entering the city which will be our home for how long who knows.

Within an hour we turned on the driveway of our house. Finally we were able to stretch our arms and legs in our kitchen. We had a late breakfast.

It was time to rest after a long journey, we decided our body needed rest, therefore the bed would be the ideal place to have a short nap.

……………………………………………:)

365 days, June 25th: 21st century citizens

Do I belong in this day and age?

I was born in the twentieth century, therefore I have more love for it than the current century.

The twentieth century helped me grow up get educated and the privilege of meeting some great personalities who taught me, how to be successful one must think of reaching the sky.

There are pros and cons I and my parents went through an age when we became slaves of our own country. But with time our leaders worked hard to be an independent country.

To all those who gave their lives to make India independent deserves my unconditional love and praise.

The present century has its own flaws, which is less favourable for those who are not white. It makes me wonder, why man has not yet learned that, each and every human who walks on this planet in this age should have the same rights and privileges. That anything less is returning to the dark ages.

How do I feel about the present century, not great at all. I wonder if I belong in an age where man is destroying man.

…………………………….:)

365 days, June 24th: Morality play

Morality Play

I went to a convent school in Rawalpindi. I was in third standard. We had a lot of subjects some of them were familiar. There were two that were new and quite interesting. One was Moral Science, and the other was, Good Manners.

I liked Moral science a lot, there were questions and answers that we had to learn by heart. I was never used to rote memory. We had to learn a few pages at a time and then given a test. I always scored 100%.Naturally it was my favourite subject.

I remember a few, questions and answers. One of them was : Did man make himself?

Answer, no man did not make himself.

Who then made man? God the maker and creator of the world also made man.

What is temptation? Temptation is an inclination to commit sin, which needs an effort of the will to resist it.

There were others but I just mentioned a few to let everyone know where I got my Moral Science education.

Of course my mom also taught about right and wrong.

My eldest brother always teased me when he saw my, Good manners Book. He said, ‘see how quickly your teachers knew you must learn to be mannerly, that is why you had to buy the book? ‘

……………………………………..:)

365 days, June 22nd: No thank you

No, thank you.

If I could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?

I’ve read this prompt more than once, the only word that comes to mind is the four letter word, which is the “F” word.

I feel it belittles a person who utters it, and degrades a person who receives it.

Surely the English language has a very rich vocabulary, why should anyone destroy its beauty by demeaning it.

………………………..:(

365 days, June 20th: Moment of kindness

It was on an afternoon in winter, I got out of my school and headed home. The strong winds and poor visibility because of snow, made my life miserable. I’d walk two steps and the wind blew me back from where I started. It takes only five minutes to reach home on a good day.

This afternoon was not normal, I was caught in a winter storm, it was difficult to hold on to my bag and the spelling test papers I was carrying. All of a sudden I heard a swishy sound with it my test papers flew out of my arm and were scattered on the street. To my utter dismay they kept flying further and further from me.

I stood there completely baffled, thinking, ‘Do I try to pick up the papers or leave them and go home?’

Nature once again played a trick on me, I couldn’t go back as the wind changed its course. I was about to walk home, when I saw a car stop and a stranger came out started picking up the papers. I was embarrassed thinking what might he think, here is a teacher letting the test papers fly away, what will she tell her pupils, ‘I lost your papers you’ll have another test?’

And I can hear the kids protesting, ‘no miss no more test, you’ll have to give us 100%.’

While all this was haunting my brain, the stranger came towards me and said, here are your papers, ‘I hope you’ve got them all!’

365 days, June 15th: Singin’ in the rain

Rainy Day

Rain as I remember was a welcome change after intense heat. Bit by bit the rain cooled off our part of the world. Rain was a gift to us from nature. It finally realized we needed a break from the intense heat.

We celebrated the falling of rain by singing, Tagore’s song, Translation by Ranu.

Before I translate, I’d like to let my readers know that, Ulala, is not part of the lyrics of Tagore.

On a crazy breeze of a rainy day,

My insane mind wakes up.

It thinks of an unknown place

where it runs towards without any reason.

Will it go back to the house

Anymore?

the mind says it won’t , it won’t___

it’s walls are shattered.

The intoxicating evening rain,

makes me think whose disciple am I,

My dream is surrounded by dancing drunkards.

I want what I’m not supposed to ask.

What I cannot get, where will I get!

I will not get it, I will not get it,

I’m losing my mind trying to get the impossible.

…………………………………………………

365 days, June 13th: Person of the year

Person Of The Year

I’m thinking of two persons who qualify as, “Person Of The Year,” One is Prime Minister Of Canada and the other, Prime Minister Of New Zealand. Both are trying their best to deal with COVID- 19.

Since I know very little what steps the New Zealand prime minister is taking to help her citizens, I will nominate Mr. Justin Trudeau, as Time’s Person Of The Year.

I watch the Canadian Prime Minister daily on TV, he is making sure that the citizens of his country are getting the best possible care. He does not say, ‘I’m doing a good job,’ or he doesn’t blame another country’s leader as someone who should be held responsible for spreading the virus, neither does he claim that it’s nothing and it will disappear within a week.

The Canadian Prime Minister takes his responsibility seriously not by saying how great he is, but by actually working hard to make sure certain restrictions are implemented to help Canadians.

……………………………………… 🙂

365 days, June 12th: You’ve got the power

I believe good people become corrupt when they have the power to put fear in the minds of those who work for them.

I’m thinking of leaders of countries who are made to believe they have absolute right to treat these people as slaves. As a result I see some honest citizens are converted to liars to hold on to their jobs.

I’ve watched some relatives of mine who are politicians, who have this notion that truth will not help them win an election. I know it’s a terrible thing.

If I had the power to erase corruption in the land, I want to enact a law, so that the leader is fired immediately if he or she tries to use his/ power to bully the citizens to carry out his orders.

…….………………………………… 🙂

…………………………………….:)

365 days, June 9th: The Normal

There are many reasons why being normal is a good thing. One example is when one is a teacher for forty- two boys in one classroom.

This happened to me. I took a job in a Residential Model School for boys. I was hired to teach 42 boys in grade two. The school Principal asked me, ‘Do you know how to discipline kids in a classroom?’

I was surprized to hear this question, ‘I replied it depends on the kids.’

It was my first day, I did not detect anything wrong with the boys, they were quiet and I suppose they were watching me. I was new, what went through their mind was, ‘How long will it take to get rid of this teacher.’

One of the boys got up from his seat, announced, ‘You are our sixth teacher.’

I looked at him, did not pay attention and said nothing.

The recess bell rang, I heard a noise it felt as if we were having a quake, which is normal considering where the city was located. I realized immediately no it’s the boys who jumped and cleared the room in a matter of seconds.

I came out from my classroom to look for the boys, found the gym teacher next door who told me how bad they are and he had to discipline them because their teacher could not.

I understood why the Principal asked me if I was capable of controlling a room full of overactive seven year old boys.

The Principal’s question and the seven year old boy’s statement aroused my mind. I felt I’ve seen how my mom disciplined us when we behaved badly. But we were twelve, eight sons and four daughters. I had to deal with 42 boys which is almost four times more.

Next morning I found them more energetic than the previous day. I told myself if I’m unable to put these hooligans where they belong I do not deserve to be in this profession. I checked my watch, the bell will ring in five minutes I thought, I must think of something. I checked my watch second time. The boys were stunned when I told them, ‘If anyone stands up after the bell rings, there will be no recess for you for the rest of the school year.’

The bell rang, no one moved. I asked them to stand beside their seat and wait for my instruction. They did what I wanted them to.

From that day they were never unruly and I did not have any problems.

Those boys were not normal, and if I didn’t correct them. They would get worse each passing day and eventually become a threat to the school.

Being normal is not a bad thing as we can see how the world is suffering because of abnormal leaders.

…………………………………….. 🙂