DP Daily Prompt: Not for Thee

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received that you wouldn’t give to anyone else? Why don’t you think it would apply to others?

The principal of my college once told me: you know what, you always write your exams too quickly, if you learn to take your time when you write them, your results will be much better.

I knew myself I had this bad habit, once I complete my exam I hate to reread it, I also write very fast, if I’m given three hours to complete my exam, I finish it in one hour.

I do not want to pass on the advice my principal gave me to someone else, they may not appreciate it or might think I’m acting like a know-it-all.

However I think my advice would only work for those who happen to be my students.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/dp-daily-prompt-not-for-thee/

 

 

DP Daily Prompts: Brevity Pulls

“I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn’t have time.” Blaise Pascal(did Pascal mean a longer letter?)

Where do you fall on the brevity/verbosity spectrum?

Sometimes I have nothing to say when I’m writing a letter, so I begin by writing how are you? And end by regards,there are a few reasons for being this brief :a) I’m not thrilled to write to this person; b) I don’t want this person to have any weapon against me, if I write too much my inner feeling may be exposed; c) my fingers don’t want the trouble of writing.

Also when I’m sitting in an exam hall and the questions before me needs short and to the point answers if I don’t  I have the danger of losing points for beating around the bush.

This is where I choose brevity.

When I choose verbosity, it is because I like this person so I won’t hesitate to write from kittens to what I had for dinner and who we entertained. When I’m finished I’m amazed to see how long it is, the other party has to be interested before I write that much.

In conclusion I’d say I am in the middle,because everything depends on who the letter is addressed to.

365 Writing Prompts: life, happy,sleep!

Scribble down the first ten words that come to mind.Pick three of them. There’s your post title.Now write.

and, poets, reality, be, gone, life, sleep, eat, gone, happy.

You may wonder why I chose the above three words to write my post. My feeling is they seem to connect with each other.

There are certain things important in life such as: happy and sleep. you cannot be happy, if you are unable to sleep, for your body it’s necessary , after the day’s hard work your body needs rest, sleep is the best way of getting rest.

A tired body cannot be happy. I know when I’m awake all night I’m a very unhappy person, I value my sleep too much.

When I was in the university, my room mate suggested I should not go to bed earlier than my classmates, they will do better in the exam than me. I took her advice and studied till 2:00 a.m before my exam next morning. I was sick in the exam hall, my mind was blank I couldn’t recall what I had studied that night. I thought I’d fail, I was worried, luckily I was able to calm down and finish my exam.

From then on I advised my room mate, not to give me anymore pointers how long I should study, I knew what I needed to do well, it was to have a good night’s sleep before the exam.

I believe in the phrase,” early to bed,early to rise makes a person, healthy and wealthy and wise.”

nk: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/365-writing-prompts/

 

DP Daily Prompt: By The Skin Of Your Teeth

The daily prompt for today is : Share a time when you narrowly avoided disaster.  My case is slightly different. It was not the threat of losing my life . It was the threat of losing my reputation. In my university residence I shared the room with a student a year older than me. She always gave me advice about my study habits.

One afternoon she questioned my habit of going to bed early while others were studying hard.  She told me I must also study till 2 am in the morning if I expected to do well. At first I wasn’t convinced but she continued to badger me.I gave in and studied till 1:30 am. That night I went to sleep at 2 am.

Next morning I got up to get ready to go  for the exam. I felt dizzy , I told myself you’d be okay. This assurance I gave myself was not working. I entered the exam hall and sat in my designated seat. The invigilator distributed the question papers. I was not feeling any better.  I picked up the question   paper, read all the questions. My mind was totally blank. I told myself this cannot happen,I studied the whole year,I prepared well. I should be able to answer all the questions. I put the paper on the desk and began to think what will be the consequence if I don’t do my exam. It was my only chance or else I’d fail and repeat the year.

So I did the only thing I could I sat calmly for a few minutes. I straightened myself and read the first question,suddenly my memory was coming back. I began writing and took an hour to do all the questions. I knew I could not give up because that would be a disaster and my reputation will suffer.

When I came back to the residence I told my room mate in future she should never try to change my habit. I was fortunate I could pick myself up that morning and finished the exam. I resumed my habit of going to bed early and waking up early in the morning. It was a lesson both my room mate and I learned, ” Early to bed and early to rise makes a person healthy and wealthy and wise.”

DP Daily Prompt: Drawing Blank Post by Ranu

I seldom take part in any heated discussion. So drawing blank is irrelevant. However I did draw blank in my masters exam. Upon the advice of my roommate I stayed up till 2 a.m .in the morning of one of the exams.I was feeling sick,I did not have enough sleep. The invigilator handed me the question paper.I glanced from numbers 1 to 10. I was required to answer six of them. Well six, I could not understand any of them.

So I started to panic.I promised  that instant.I will never let anyone interfere with my regular sleep hours. The question was,I said to myself,’what I’ll do to that roommate for her bad advice ,is not the immediate issue,how will I deal with all these questions staring at me’,they were telling me, ‘answer six or else failure will be knocking your door’.

I pulled myself together,started reading the questions slowly,telling myself,’Ranu never mind the sleep, you were prepared to handle this,you have studied enough,now take a deep breath and concentrate’. I said a little prayer my Mom  taught me for emergencies. I started praying,I promised God I’ll never make such a foolish mistake again. It calmed me . I grabbed my pen and started writing.One by one my brain was spitting out the answers as if by magic. I finished the four hour exam in two hours.I did not want to review. I handed my answer sheets to the Prof. who had his sharp stinging eyes on me. ‘Are you finished,have you checked everything’?   ‘Yes Sir I have’ was my reply.

Daily Post: Pride

English: WORD URDU, WRITTEN IN URDU SCRIPT IN NASTALEEQ FONTS (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have to think way back.  I was getting ready for my degree exam. I was known by everyone including my mother,I was one of those students who would do anything but study for an exam. When I give that kind of impression to my dear and near ones,it is hard to energize myself to study. I wasn’t too confident of passing the exam myself either.I went about quietly trying to remember the things I had studied. I was good in History and knew it well.Unlucky for me the question  I was sure will be in the exam,was missing. I answered all the questions.The next was English literature.I found it okay.Economics, however was tricky,but I knew the answers. The one I was most worried about was Urdu literature.I did not have a good back ground,amazingly enough I was able to answer the questions.My Mom was sure I will fail the course. When she heard I passed,she could not stop crying. Now she can tell all the doubters I was successful.She held me in her arms and said,”I have no words to tell you how proud I am,God bless you.”