#Shaping Your Story, Week Three

#Shaping Your Story,   Week Three

In my week two #shaping your story, I wrote about Ramadan and the day after. It’s the day when fasting is over and Muslims all over the world celebrate by having a feast with friends and family.

I got an invitation to attend the dinner to celebrate Eid after a month of fasting. when the time for me came to get dressed and visit the friend’s house, a telephone call changed everything, our good friend of many years suddenly passed away. The invitation did not take place. It was time to visit his family to give them moral support.

I think the angle that illustrates my story is why my dinner invitation did not take place.

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Daily Prompts: Modern Families

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If one of your late ancestors were to come back from the dead and join you for dinner, what things about your family would this person find the most shocking?

If  it ever happens, the most shocking thing would be eating leftovers and warming them in the microwave oven. Back in the day, there was nothing left over after dinner. Whatever was left was given to the servants.

Food eaten one day to them loses its taste the following day. They were used to eat fresh food. They were not aware of frozen foods, they would have declined to eat frozen food.

In their time, there were no such thing as canned or frozen foods. They’d be shocked to eat preserved food.

Lot of changes have taken place in our eating habits, whether these are good or not so much is not easy to know. People live longer as compared to our ancestors, probably due to availability of better medication and physicians.

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Daily Prompt: Greetings, Stranger

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You’re sitting at a cafe when a stranger approaches you. This person asks what your name is and for some reason you reply. The stranger nods, “I’ve been looking for you.” What happens next?

I was sitting at ,Second Cup, enjoying my coffee, I suddenly noticed someone coming towards me. I pretended to look sideways, hoping this person will turn around and leave,much to my dismay I heard the word, “Shuprobhat”(good day). I turned around and saw the stranger addressing me.

I wasn’t in a mood to answer in  Bengali. I was irritated  and  said,”Are you talking to me”?

My attitude didn’t deter the stranger from continuing to speak to me, ignoring my reply, he smiled and replied,”Apnar naam ki”?( what’s your name)

Without thinking any further, “I mumbled, Ranu.”

The stranger nodded,”I’ve been looking for you.”

He seemed quite pleased and without hesitation pulled a chair to sit. I felt very uncomfortable as I had never seen him before and wasn’t sure of his motives.

Before settling down he excused himself , stood up to grab a cup of coffee for himself. He  came back and asked  what I was doing in this city. I kept my conversation to a minimum, I wasn’t interested to tell him anymore about me.

He was not willing to give up, he started telling me about his uncle whom he had never seen but heard a lot about. While he was talking I wondered why he was talking to me about his uncle and what’s that got to do with me.

My irritation reached it’s height, I looked at him and could not help asking, “Why are you talking to me about your uncle?”

He frowned and said, “My uncle is your father.”

I was shocked and could not speak for a few minutes, I then replied, “How do you know your uncle was my father?”

“Your father was the older brother of my father.”

I was embarrassed I apologized for my unfriendly behavior.

He invited me to go and meet his wife and children, I happily agreed . I was surprised to know he lived only a few blocks from me.

Meanwhile his wife had cooked a lavish dinner, the aroma of the food reminded me of my mother’s cooking.We had a delicious meal.

After dinner I invited the family to visit me. The stranger amazingly enough turned out to be my cousin, wow I thought!

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DP Daily Prompts: Linger

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Tell us about times in which you linger–when you don’t want an event,or a day to end. What is it you love about these times? Why do you wish you could linger forever?

There have been times when I wanted Time to Standstill. These are occasions when we invite our friends to dinner. It is a very enjoyable time.

It begins by me writing a list of things I’d like to cook for the guests, which dish of mine my friends like, what goes with it e.g, vegetables, rice, salad.

Once I make up my list I go to the supermarket to buy the ingredients. Then it’s preparing the dishes. Some take longer than others. I enjoy preparing it for the friends.

I always ask my guests to come at 6 pm, so they can have fresh cooked food, I don’t have to wait after I’m done cooking, the food loses its taste if I have to keep warming it up.

The arrival of guests is the best part, we are in a jovial mood we catch up with what is new with them.Food good friends are a joy for me, it brings out the best in my friends, we talk about children, food, our recent travels. We leave out work it’s not always pleasant.

After dinner I serve coffee or tea with dessert, I’m always happy to see my friends, they end up staying longer, who would want the evening to end, I like it a lot when it lingers.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/dp-daily-prompts-linger/

DP Daily Prompt: Pace Oddity

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If you could slow down an action that usually zooms by, or speed up an event that normally drags on , which would you choose, and why?

I don’t mind going to parties hosted by friends every now and then, what is irritating about the ones I’m invited to seems to drag on.

Most people in my group of friends have no respect for time, if they are invited for a 6 pm dinner they show up at eight or even later, the hosts wait for every last person to serve the meal, then there is the practice of serving the men and children first and the women after the said people are taken care of.

I went to one once the time given was 6 pm but the guests started arriving after eight, by the time everyone was in, it was after 9;30 pm. I felt the time was dragging on, the hostess kept the food in the oven to keep it warm.

When finally the dinner was served at close to 10 pm in groups, the last group i.e the women were served at almost eleven o clock.

I always respect the time given, I had to wait for close to five hours to be served, by then the food was not fresh, the salad was not fit to eat as it happened to be what was left over after the previous group finished their meal.

I like the food to be served at the time given and everyone i.e men women and children should be served at the same time!

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/dp-daily-prompt-pace-oddity/

365 Writing prompts:Eat,drink and be merry

— for tomorrow we die. The world is ending tomorrow! Tell us about your last dinner–the food, your dining companions,the setting, the conversation.

I have no idea how others will react, if they know the world is ending tomorrow! Who will think about food it’s something I do not think I’ll think about. It’s a scary thought.

This is what I will do, I’ll get all my family members, discuss how we treated each other, talk about things  we did wrong, ask forgiveness and for once sit together and talk only about times we enjoyed being with each other.

If we gather together food would be something we’ll eat but it’s not going to be the main attraction, there’ll be no special setting,  we’ll eat simple foods and apologize to each other for all the things that went wrong because we were stubborn and did not care.

The most important thing to do would be to pray that we do not suffer,that death comes without pain!

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/365-writing-pr…k-and-be-merry

DP Daily Prompt: Why, Thank You?

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What’s the best (or rather ,worst ) backhanded compliment you ever received? If you can’t think of any—when’s the last time someone paid you a compliment you actually didn’t deserve?

When I first came to Montreal, my husband invited his friends to dinner. My husband was unaware of my cooking skills, he therefore cooked everything himself.

His friends enjoyed the food, before they left, they said, “thank you for the excellent food, you are such a good cook.”

I felt very uncomfortable I knew I did not cook anything, I replied, “thank you, but my husband cooked everything!”

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/dp-daily-prompt-6/

DP Daily Prompts: 10,000 Spoons

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….when all you need is a knife might not be ironic, but it is unfortunate. Add your own verse,stanza, or story of badly–timed annoyance to AlanisMorisette’s  classic:

An old man turned ninety-eight

He won the lottery and died the next day

It’s a black fly in your chardonnay

It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late

And isn’t it ironic— don’t you think

 

It’s like arriving to dinner an hour late

The dining hall is closed, oh why didn’t they wait

You are hungry there is no food to eat

You see the cook giving his dog some treat

And isn’t it ironic — don’t you think

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/dp-daily-prompts-10000-spoons

DP Daily Prompt: Odd Trio Redux

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Time for another Odd Trio prompt: write a post about any topic you want,in whatever form or genre, but make sure it features a slice of cake, a pair of flip flops, and someone old and wise.

I always look forward to Summer, it means holidays, bright sunny days and the best part it’s longer than winter days.

The past winter was tough for all of us, we had too many snowstorms, piles and piles of snow to clear up too frequently, the days were short and extremely cold. We’d sit around in our living room and plan how we’d spend our summer holidays.

We had to wait for real warm summer days, the months of May and June were not so promising, we had to heat our house we wore warm clothes to go out. It was discouraging to feel that cold in May and June.

Then we hit July, days were slightly warmer, the trees were getting filled up with leaves, the grass was green and above all my perennials were looking bright with all the beautiful flowers we planted.

I thought we spent too long staying indoors, it was time for us to get involved in summer activities, we packed our bags and headed to go to the mainland, we passed by Nova Scotia , New Brunswick and finally reached our destination, the city of Montreal in the province of Quebec.

My daughter had made arrangements to rent the apartment of a local resident. When we reached the place we found it quite spacious for the two of us, he had everything we needed, we only had to buy groceries.

There was a supermarket close by, we bought all the groceries we needed for two weeks.

Our landlord and his wife were two wonderful people, we thought of inviting them for supper along with their two sons. I cooked chicken curry, plain rice, and fresh vegetables, my daughter prepared a tasty salad.

My daughter volunteered to prepare dessert, it was her favorite cheese cake. I said, “you’ll bake cheese cake?”

In reply she said, “yes mom a cheese cake, everyone loves this dessert.”

The dinner went well our guests enjoyed the food, the boys were delighted to see the dessert, they had a large helping, their mom and dad loved the chicken and rice.

The family had to leave right after dinner, they were expecting a guest from New York, I offered to give them a slice of  cake for their guest, which they were happy to take with them.

My daughter and I were busy clearing the dishes after our guests left, suddenly the door bell rang, I didn’t know who would come to see us at that hour, since none of our friends knew we were in Montreal. To my surprise I saw the younger son, I wondered what he wanted, apparently he had left his flip flops and was back to get them. We looked for them and found them under the dining table, the little boy politely said, “merci beaucoup” and left.

My daughter and I sat and talked about our landlord, his wife and children and how amiable they were, my daughter said,”Mom I almost forgot to tell you about an elderly man I met in the park where I was running, he said he can read palms, I was anxious to know my future, I let him read it, you cannot believe what he told me, I was very happy, before I left, I told him he was a very wise old man.”

As I was leaving he waved his hand  and replied, “And you are a very wise and sweet girl, God bless you!”

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/dp-daily-prompt-odd-trio-redux/

 

DP Daily Prompt: Modern Families

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If one of your late ancestors were to come back from the dead and join you for dinner,what things about your family would this person find the most shocking?

I’d say if my father came back and joined us for dinner , the most shocking thing for him would be, how loud we talk, how much food is wasted and there are too many things on the menu.

Let me elaborate about ,how loud we talk , when our father was alive we were taught one thing that is ,we must eat our food quietly, concentrate on eating and nothing else. I find it is a very valuable advice because eating and talking is not recommended there is a danger of food getting stuck in your throat which can sometimes lead to violent coughing and even death.

Secondly we were always told we must not waste food,keeping in mind all those people who go hungry each day,  would welcome some food, this is where charity is a good thing, the proportions we put on our plate can be measured so nothing is wasted, the excess food should be given to those who are needy.

Thirdly, there are too many varieties of food,to be healthy we should stick to ‘Canada’s Food Guide’. Portion control is a necessity,if we have more than a dozen variety of food we will overeat,which will make us obese and we’ll be lazy and sick.

Our ancestors were hard working people it will shock them when they watch our eating habit!

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/dp-daily-promp…odern-families/