An Accidental Meeting

I was walking down the lane minding my business,suddenly I heard a loud screech, it brought me back to reality. I turned around to see who was making such an ugly noise, and there a few yards from me was a giant monster. He resembled Sasquatch.My heart was pounding fiercely thinking this creature would take me by my neck and kill me. I turned and kept running and breathing hard, fear  made me run faster without looking where I was going. There was a loud crash! I bumped into a trolley carrying fruits and vegetables. The contents went flying and I was hit by a flying potato . Before I opened my mouth,I heard  a shrill voice.

“Hey you stupid moron where do you think you’re  going so fast,Use your eyes, look what you’ve done, all my produce is scattered everywhere, it’s hundreds of dollars worth of fruits and vegetables I was going  to the market to sell.”

“I’m  sorry miss, I thought that giant beast would kill me.”

“What giant beast are you talking about, I don’t see anything here?”

“I swear I saw it,  it was only a few yards from me, I had to save myself, so I ran.”

“Are you hallucinating,  what kind of drugs are you on?” She said.

I never take drugs,why does she think I do,immediately I remembered  my friend Harry  gave me a cup of coffee ,I drank it and was on my way to see my aunt. As I was walking  I felt uneasy, I had no idea what was happening to me, I hope Harry didn’t intentionally add something in my coffee, could he, nah he wouldn’t, last time  he pulled a gruesome prank on his sister,he was grounded for a week . I told myself maybe the excitement to see Aunt Hilda after so long is the reason.

“Listen here buddy stop daydreaming and help me pick up whatever we can salvage,” she said.

“Okay, I really am sorry,  I am Kevin, what’s your name?”

“My name is Sangita, I live close-by, my Mom sent me to the market to sell these,How will I tell her more than half of the produce is ruined,come with me so you can tell her it’s your fault.”

I had no choice I agreed to go,I thought I’ll  apologize to her mom. She turned out to be an exceptionally kind lady, she wanted me to   have lunch with them, she cooked some delicious vegetables and served it with Naan. After lunch I thanked them before leaving and  promised  to see them soon.

Months passed after that incidence I forgot about Sangita and her mother.

I met them again in a shopping mall, where I went  to get something  for my  aunt. After checking in at the drug store, I bumped  into  the mother and daughter , I  made excuses why I didn’t visit, but my voice didn’t sound convincing enough, Sangita’s mother came to my aid, she said she understood kids like me have a million  things to do and he only met them once,it was too much to expect him to remember them.

Her sweet words made me feel guilty, I at once volunteered to go to their house. Sangita’s mom was happy, but her daughter was not. I went with them to their house, Sangita was  quiet I wanted to win her over and talked about my latest invention, the black hole. She was not interested.

An hour later Sangita’s Mom brought a tray full of samosas for me.  These tasty treats made my mouth water. I had an urge to grab the tray and start eating,I checked myself this was only my second day I should not be greedy.

Sangita sensed how eager I was to eat she brought the tray close I was about to take one but she turned around so fast the tray with the treats flew from her hand and struck her mother who was coming with a cup of tea, the cup with the hot tea fell on the floor, the broken pieces and the tea made a mess on  the floor her Mom slipped and fainted . I called the ambulance within minutes the paramedics came Sangita’s mother and I were on our way to the hospital.

Sangita sat on the floor. She waited for someone to tell her what to do next.

This is my submission for speakeasy #150

word count: 733

365 days Jan.9th 1984

I am locked in a room with my greatest fear. I have to think what my greatest fear is.  The year 1984 saw a lot of important and unfortunate events in India.The attack on the golden temple in Amritsar, assassination of Indira Gandhi ,prime minister of India by her security guards and the Bhopal tragedy to name a few. In all of these events a lot of innocent people lost their lives. Politicians are always a target for disgruntled citizens. Where only one or two do the evil deed.

I’m   probably forgetting what I’m supposed to do. Oh I am in a room where I am locked up. What is my greatest fear. I’d say if I had to think of one thing it is the fear of people around me who are guarding me.  I see a variety of them. Old,young,middle aged, bearded,beardless ,tattooed,dark haired and tall burly type. With all of them focusing on poor me is pretty scary. All of them are eating Sheesh kebab, fried chicken, drinking tea,coffee for dessert eating cheese balls in syrup AKA ras gullas. The combined smell is disgusting. They are smoking the cheap substitute of cigarette i.e birhi.  It’s cheap and smells terrible. With all these weirdos surrounding me with their horrible personalities who wouldn’t be scared, considering the fact there’s no one to defend me. I want to scream at the top of my lungs and say,”Get me out of here please”.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/writing-prompts/   jan 9th 1984

DP Daily Prompt: Fear Factor Ranu’s Post https://sabethville.wordpress.com

According to Psychologists , “fear is a vital response to physical emotional danger—if we didn’t feel it, we couldn’t protect us from legitimate threats.”

My greatest fear is a barking dog. It was a while ago , when I was six,my sister  gave me a note to deliver to her friend . I was happy to oblige her. It was early evening, I was almost close to the house, when I walked into the driveway,I noticed a few dogs in the veranda. I am not sure why I suddenly felt scared. I took slow steps,all the while thinking,’should I go or turn back’,the dogs probably sensed it, all of them jumped off the veranda and were coming towards me, they started barking , I was so terrified I began to run,the dogs came to the end of the driveway and stopped.

Fear Factor Live

Fear Factor Live (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I walked home crying ,I told my sister, I’d never take her notes to her friends. Now whenever I see a dog I am scared. My neighbor knows it, she is very sweet ,she locks her dog in the bedroom, so I can visit her.

DP daily Prompt: Fright Night Ranu’s post

From "The Non-Stop Fright" (1927).

From “The Non-Stop Fright” (1927). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fright Night

Fright Night (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am afraid of so many things. I don’t know about others,I am terribly scared of flying. Where I live it’s almost the only way if I want to get out of the island. There is by road,if I want to drive for ten hours to get out of the island,then take the ferry to go across followed by more driving depending where I am planning to go. I have not overcome my fear of flying,I still fly and pray while we are taking off and landing,which according to my brother are the crucial moments.

I am also afraid when it is dark to be clear night time travelling.I had to do that too.

Where I live we have a lot of snow,sometimes when the temperature warms up and melts the snow and then freezes the ice on the drive way,street,pavement is dangerous.I have the fear of falling and breaking some part of my body. So far I have fallen a few times.

When I was teaching,it was known throughout my school,’Mrs.Asgar is afraid of ice’,I didn’t feel embarrassed when an eight year old who watched me walking ever so slowly,asked me if I needed help,I gladly took her hand and resumed walking little faster,I had help.

These are some of the things that frightens me. What helped  me was I got Divine help from above , and human help on earth!

 

 

Valkyries Novel by Paulo Coelho (5- conclusion) post by Ranu

To see his angel ,Paulo needed to do three things:1. break a pact, 2. accept forgiveness,3. make  a bet.

To meet his angel Paulo needed help from Valkyries. He promised he’ll never raise his hand against himself. He promised in the name of St. Michael,only God’s hand will be responsible for everything. He would have to come out of darkness to break the pact.

He found the door that led him to the shining sun.Next step for Paulo was to accept forgiveness.Paulo could not forgive because he had hatred in his heart and therefore he thought he was unworthy of seeing his angel.Rotha the young Valkyrie couldn’t see her angel because she had fear in her heart.Valhalla the eldest Valkyrie put them together to help each other.Paulo was able to forgive and Rotha conquered fear.Paulo was glad he met two out of three conditions.The last one to make a bet was simple.He almost failed the third,his angel’s protection prevailed during channeling,he was able to speak with the angels! he realized then he will see his angel because  he met the third condition.

I found the book interesting.There were a lot of rituals,and magic.I at times found it confusing.I didn’t understand the whole thing by reading only once.There are instances there which makes me wonder,whether I  comprehended it fully.

The author himself admitted having difficulty writing it from beginning to end.

About Me; continued post Ranu

A map of the languages spoken in Bangladesh, i...

A map of the languages spoken in Bangladesh, in English. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was happy to be in a girls college. No one there to tease me or make fun of me. We can look for a perfect world,sadly that doesn’t exist. I tell myself,’What’s wrong now,you got what you wanted’? Yes I did. but this is just a different problem. One of the girls who happens to be from my home town ,made life impossible for me. She always said something negative,if I said anything.I was fed up with her.She happened to be my mother’s distant relative,which didn’t help.

This college was run by American nuns.They were very strict,one of the teachers Sr. Joseph Mary,would come up to our dormitories, to make sure our beds were made,also we weren’t allowed to sit on the bed.We were provided with small stools made of wicker,which is called ,’Mora’ in Bengali. Bedtime had to be strictly observed,lights were out at 10.30 pm. It was not a problem for me, I always went to bed at 10.00 pm.

Our principal was Sr. Augustine Marie, she wanted us to study every waking moment or else she would call a meeting and take us to task. In the evening we all had to assemble in the library and study.One evening we heard a noise,before I could think what it was, all the girls ran out of the library,I was not far behind. We left our sandals and ran bare feet,screaming,sister,sister,there were thirty-three of us, you can imagine the noise we made.Sister Augustine Marie went straight to the library to investigate.She found nothing ,but our sandals scattered in the library.The face she made when she came out was priceless! Despite our fear, we would have burst out laughing. But this was the principal we dare not make fun of her or she would send us packing!

More later!

DP Daily Prompt: Turn,Turn,Turn posted by Ranu

View of St. John's, Newfoundland, from Signal Hill

View of St. John’s, Newfoundland, from Signal Hill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After all those months of blizzard,freezing rain and lots of it. We in St.John’s look forward to sunny warm days. Visiting different parks,going for walks to signal hill,cooking outside,barbecuing,these are all the fun things,we can enjoy in Summer.We no longer have to turn up the heat, deal with short days,and freezing cold.We can wear clothes without the big Parka which makes us look like a bear.

Flag of St. John's

Flag of St. John’s (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Summer is the most wonderful season here.It doesn’t get hot like Chicago. We can see our neighbours and watch the little kids on their way to the playgrounds.Suddenly it seems the city is awake!

I also like it because there’s no fear of flights getting cancelled, for inclement weather.It gives us a lot of freedom to enjoy without fear,that it’s too cold,too stormy or something else.

DP Daily Prompt:Third from the Top “Blogs I follow” post by Ranu

Personally I can hardly wait to start going through them. My friend gave me a variety of things  I can write about.As I was going through  them,it became harder to pick one out of the list. I narrowed it down to five.I liked all five of them.It was crunch time,I had to settle for one and forget the rest. In my mind I wondered, do I have to tell why I picked that particular one to write about?I know it’s the easiest I don’t have to think too hard,it is all about me.

After completing my degrees,I took a job to teach in my town.It was a brand new school,there were only three teachers,myself and two others.We were sailing along beautifully,I had taught for eleven months,I was in no hurry to change jobs. We had a few day’s holiday.During this time I went to see my friend from school in Dhaka. She told me I should leave my job and look for one in Dhaka.I could not warm up to the idea,simply because I did not have a place to live in Dhaka.You might be thinking,I can rent an apartment.This is where all the problem lies a young unmarried woman living alone in an apartment.Are you kidding me,the city is unsafe for a woman. Mini came up with the idea of applying for work in Residential Model School. It sounded reasonable but there was no Ad in the papers about a vacancy in that school. How can I apply,when they are not looking for a teacher. Mini’s next move was,’Do not worry,my sister-in-law is a teacher there, I’ll ask her to arrange an interview with the principal.’ It was all settled,I went to see the man,he was a Major. He was warm and friendly. Among other things his main fear was, what if she gets married immediately after she is hired.He took care of it by telling me, I cannot marry from five to seven years.

I took the job,I did not give him any assurance that I will not get married within the specific time mentioned by him. It is so difficult to know any one in only an hour. I wrote my resignation letter after ten days.I could not bear to see a principal humiliating the teachers in front of the students. My mind was made up,this atmosphere is not my cup of tea.Hence,’Chaman leave this place before it gets any worse.’ But then again I remembered the saying,’Man proposes,God disposes.’ I stayed in that institution for two more years and five days until I got Divine help.

PleaseNote: The third post is”Time To Be Inspired” and the third sentence is:’Personally I can hardly wait to start going through them.’

Life’s Journey by Tagore Translation by ranu

Life’s Journey     Rabindranath Tagore

Your journey is beginning.     Mine is ending.

You and I together will flow on forever.

Your light is shining, you have a companion.

I have the night before me.   The stars are shining above me.

Your journey is beginning. Mine is ending.

You are on land.     I am in the water.

You are sitting calmly.    I am restless and moving.

Your hand is young and strong.   My hand is old and rusty.

In your mind you are fearful.     I am free from fear.

Your journey is beginning.  Mine is ending.

You and I together will flow on forever.