Daily Prompt: Truth or Dare

Is it possible to be too honest, or is honesty always the best policy?

I was never disappointed when I went with the phrase, “honesty is the best policy”.

I can remember twice I went with my belief truth should triumph. The first time at age seven my classmate tore off the pages in my book, it was my homework she wanted. I could not give it to her because the school  bell  was rung for the teachers and students to assemble for prayer, I was supposed to be there for prayer before the school started.

I came back and found the pages missing from my book. I was afraid I didn’t know what to say to my teacher about the missing homework. When I was called to give my homework, I showed her my book with the missing pages and explained why they were missing. I told her my classmate asked for my homework, I was unable to give it to her because I had to run to the place where our teachers were waiting to start our daily prayer.

It was up to the teacher to believe me or my classmate, who denied tearing the pages. The teacher looked at both of us and said, “I believe Chaman.”

Then when the principal of the school where I was teaching, asked me to find out who amongst us teachers on duty forgets to turn the hall lights off before they left for lunch. I went and asked all the teachers, they all said , “we always do”. I realized then I did not know we were expected to turn off all the lights when we were on school duty before we  left for lunch, I was the one who was guilty of not turning off the lights.

The Principal was embarrassed when I told him I’m the only person who did not turn the lights off before going for lunch. I remember he looked at me, grinned and said, “no it’s not true.”

“Yes it is Mr. Hancock”,I said!

My experience asserts strongly, “Honesty is the Best Policy.”

………………………………. 🙂

Daily Prompt: Forgive and Forget

Share a story where it was very difficult for you to forgive the perpetrator for wronging you, but you did it–you forgave them.

My story is about what happened to me in school when I was seven years old. One of my classmates did not do her homework, she asked me to lend her mine, I refused, the bell was rung, I did not have enough time  as we  were required   to run to join the rest of the people for prayer.

When we came back to our classroom, the teacher asked to see our homework, I took out my exercise book and opened the page where I had done my homework, to my dismay the page was missing. When I ran for prayer my classmate stayed back and tore off the page from my book.

I was scared and did not know how I should tell the teacher, what happened. I went up to her and showed my book with the missing page. the teacher asked my classmate if she tore the page, at first she denied, when she was asked the second time she admitted tearing the page.I cannot remember if she was punished, I was happy that the teacher believed me.

……………………………. 🙂

365 Writing Prompts:

When I think about childhood I must admit they were the best years of my life. I grew up in a large family, Mom was a fabulous cook,Dad was busy with his work. He had a very important 8 to 6 job.

We were very disciplined, school was from 6 to 4. I went to school on the  school bus. I was picked up at 6 in the morning and dropped off at 4 pm. Our teachers were strict there was no room to fool around, tasks had to be completed on time or there was tons of homework, unfinished school work and regular homework.

We had supper as soon as Dad was home. My Dad was a fussy eater, everything Mom cooked had to be perfect or he wouldn’t eat. If any of the ingredients in the food was slightly more he’d call me and tell me to give it my Mom to eat. I was very young ,I never understood the sarcasm, I’d happily take the food to Mom. One such day the meat Mom cooked was not according to my Dad Up to standard.

As usual he instructed me to take it for my Mom , I thought Dad was generous, as soon as I said, “Mom Dad wants you to eat this.”

I felt all hell would break loose, Mom was unimpressed, she yelled something which I did not understand. Once my Mom put too much onion in one of the dishes, Dad called me and said in his sweetest voice, “Ranu ask your Mom if the onion is cheaper these days.”

I knew why he said it, I wasn’t going to ask Mom about the price of onion.

One might wonder why Ranu was doing all this chore, what about the older siblings and the servants. Well none of the siblings or the servants wanted to face Dad when he was in a devilish mood. So Ranu was the one everyone depended on, I wasn’t fond of this duty but like Shakespeare’s character Andrew Aguecheek , it was thrust upon me, I could not complain, I stayed away from Mom’s anger.

As far as music goes we were prohibited from listening to any kind of music, because my Dad thought it would distract us from our studies. He never bought a radio,for this reason.

Once my sister told Dad Ranu can sing quite well, I was summoned by my Dad, when Dad called you had to be there, so I went with a heart beating out of my chest,thinking what was I guilty of.

It turned out he heard I can sing, he was all smiles, “Ranu can you sing a song for me, I will give you money?”

I was very shy singing in front of Dad was unthinkable, besides money was not an attraction, the moment my two older brothers found out I had money, they would make me give it to them. I declined to sing.

I’ve probably presented a very gloomy picture of my childhood, it wasn’t,  nothing could match the wonderful time I had in my early childhood.

…………………….

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/365-writing-prompts-2/

DP Daily Prompts:Hand-Me-Downs

Clothes and toys,recipes and jokes,advice and prejudice: we all have to handle all sorts of hand-me-downs.Tell us some of the meaningful hand-me-downs in your life.

“Hand-Me-Downs, ” I like this thoughtful and wonderful title.

I have some meaningful hand-me-downs from my Dad and Mom.

These are some I always think about and abide by: One day my Dad came back from work, for some reason he came to my room, I had my books scattered on the floor I was doing my homework, he was not happy to see me on the floor, or do my work in the dark, he turned on the light and said, “never do your work in the dark, you’ll have problem with your eyes.”

I sat up and replied, “All right, Abba.”( Abba is an Arabic word for Dad).

I resumed my work, my Dad smiled and said, “Are you doing your homework?”

I replied, “No Dad,I’m doing my friend’s homework?”

His facial expression immediately changed, he was angry, “Ranu, he said, I do not ever want to hear you’re doing your friend’s homework, my advice to you is do not let  anyone take advantage of you.”

After that incidence my Dad was never angry with me.

My Mom had plenty of advice for me, I spent most of my time with her when I wasn’t playing with my siblings.

My Mom was a very religious person she told me stories about the prophet on one of these occasions the subject changed to telling lies, she once told me, “Ranu you should never lie, God will not forgive you, the only time you’d be forgiven is when your life is in danger, another thing back-biting she said was a serious sin, you must never talk about other people, if they are mean, ignore them, she also said otherwise their sins will fall on your shoulders.”

I know these from when I was six years old. Do I remember these, I do most of the time but when people are mean I cannot help talking about them.

The above are the hand-me-downs I treasure because they were advice from my parents.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/dp-daily-prompts

365 Writing Prompts: Ballerina, fireman,movie star

When you were 10, what did you want to be when you grew up? What are you now? Are the two connected ?

When I was 10 I never thought what or who I wanted to be when I grew up. At that age the only thing that gave me immense  pleasure was waking up at 3 a.m and watch my mother make a different breakfast each morning.

Then almost unwillingly get the school bus at 6 a.m. I liked school but the burden of homework each day was wearing me down mentally and physically. It was as if I was born to be  in school from sunrise to sunset and when I was back I had piles of homework to do, there was no time to play with my younger siblings.

On week-ends my siblings and I would take long walks in and around our neighborhood, it was sheer joy for me to play with my younger brothers.

My parents never talked about what I wanted to be, I was contented to keep that phase of my life silent. At twelve suddenly I faced the harshest reality, the passing of my father. The whole world changed for me, the thought We’d have to leave this wonderful place and move somewhere we didn’t know anything about came as a shock to all of us.

As they say our destiny is already, “Written”, and we have to accept it.

I started studying to complete my high school exam, and then college and university followed. I was like a ‘Robot’, studying to make myself useful with no particular aim. After completing my masters I started thinking about teaching, I enrolled in the education faculty.

After completing my education degree I applied for a job in the local school.

I never thought who I wanted to be at age 10, I knew the teaching profession is good for me, when I was 22 years old. To me age 10 was the time when you don’t take anything seriously, you enjoy life by having fun with siblings.

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/365-writing-pr…emanmovie-star/

DP Daily Prompts: Adult Visions

As a kid, you must have imagined what it was like to be an adult. Now that you’re a grownup( or becoming one) , how far off  was your idea of adult life.

When I was a kid I only saw my parents as adults, in my opinion then it meant they have a lot of power, they can tell us what we can and cannot do, in my case the little bit of money I had I wasn’t allowed to buy any kind of junk food, because according to my dad I’d be sick. I wasn’t sure what I am to do with the money if buying junk food is not allowed.

Then mom would force me to eat food I disliked such as egg, eggs always made me sick, my mom only believed me when I threw up, after this incidence mom stopped forcing me to eat eggs.

Oh I forgot to mention my big sister she was really a pain, whenever I wasn’t able to complete my homework I’d stay home, I was afraid of the punishment by the nuns, they were strict. On the day when I stayed home the school bus driver would keep honking for more than five minutes, I knew I was in trouble then. My Dad was very sweet he’d call me from his room and say ‘Ranu , you didn’t go to school?’

I’d say, ‘Dad I have a tummy ache .’

Dad wouldn’t ask another question, my sister was a whole different personality, she’d scream from her room and yell,”Rani you didn’t go to school?”

Notice how Ranu became Rani, to her it meant she was the boss and to show it the spelling of my name changed.

In my mind I thought when will I be able to boss around younger kids like my sister.

I didn’t like being nasty to younger kids, also if I wanted their attention I’d have to be nice or no one would care to listen to me.

When I’m upset the only thing that works for me is,”Silence”, if I stop talking my kids are afraid.

I was far off I thought when I grow up I’ll also be bossy like my sister, but I soon realized that kind of thing turns off young and old alike.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/dp-daily-prompts/

DP Daily Prompt: Futures Past

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? How close are you from that vision?

I love talking about my childhood, in my early years in school,I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was always concerned about the present,one of my weakness was ‘homework’, if I got it done it was great, if not what kind of punishment will I endure, especially when nuns are your teachers. I didn’t wait to see I took matters in my own hand, pretended I was sick. Some days my excuse was it’s too cold, or I had a headache or stomach ache.

While it satisfied my father it didn’t my big sister, she’d scream at the top of her lungs accusing Dad for spoiling me.Then there was my big brother who’d sit by my side and with a broad smile would ask,”what was your excuse today?”

I of course would reply, “Do not talk too much big brother.”

This excuse of mine went on for a while, my father never questioned me, I’m sure he knew I was making an excuse to skip school.

When my father died the whole thing changed in my life , we moved to my parents city, my brother bought a house for us to live. There was no fooling around with school, big brother was at the helm, not knowing what he’d do made me very cautious, I started thinking about what I wanted to do when I grew up,the idea of teaching was on the top of my list.

I studied as much as I needed to get through in school,in college the pattern didn’t change, when I stepped in the university it suddenly dawned on me, I must study seriously or I’d fail the courses. I worked hard, my teachers were pleased with my performance, I was slowly reaching the top of the ladder of success, big sister of course was not ready to believe me but my teacher’s did which was more important than what my sister thought.

My final step to success was an education degree, which I was able to get without much trouble. My sister thought I shouldn’t tell anyone I have an education degree, people will make fun of you she said!

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/05/30/dp-daily-prompt-4/

 

DP daily Prompt: Saved by the Bell

 

Tell us about a time when you managed to extract yourself from a sticky situation .

This happened to me when I was in third standard,one of my friends didn’t do her homework I just went into the classroom to unload my books, she got hold of me and asked me if I would lend her my book so she could copy my work.

I didn’t really want to do that, I couldn’t think of an excuse, I was hoping the bell would ring and I’d be able to make that as an excuse not  to share my work with her, to my delight the bell did ring, I told her I couldn’t give her my book because we were required to go out and join the rest of the school for prayer. I thought I dodged the bullet but no, when I left she tore the pages off my book. The story didn’t end the way I wanted.

 https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/dp-daily-promp…ed-by-the-bell/

 

DP Daily Prompt: Sorry I’m Busy Post by Ranu

It happened a long time ago. I was in school,the bell was rung. I was preparing to go and join the students of my school for prayer. I was barely out of the classroom door,when I noticed a frantic classmate of mine trying to wave out to me. I stopped for a fleeting moment. I was told she could not do her homework,will I help her.

I was torn between helping her or leave for prayer,I chose the latter. I excused myself by saying,’Naseem I’m sorry,I’m busy’. I left without explaining myself.

I felt terrible. Later that day,she told me she was punished and decided I can no longer be her friend. You see for me  what’s more important to join the prayer or help her.I chose the latter. I ended up losing a friend.

DP Daily Prompt: Island Of Misfit Posts

I know this little incidence,really is a misfit  here. I cannot think of anything else,here I am once again trying to bore you with my weird story.

I was a seven year old attending a different school for the first time. Our teachers were Nuns,they believed in the saying,”Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child’.  I was in jeopardy of getting flogged. What did I do? Nothing. My classmate failed to do her homework.She asked to borrow mine.I was in a hurry,the bell was rung,I had to run for the prayer. You guessed it.I did not lend her my homework and ran for the prayer.

We were back in our classroom.The teacher asked us to bring our homework. I took out my exercise book,I looked for my work.The pages were missing. I was scared, I wanted to cry. I gathered enough strength to go up to her.I opened my book and showed her the  the space where the pages were taken out.

I related the whole story of the time before the bell.She called Naseem and asked her,she of course denied. The teacher looked at both of us,and said, “I know Chaman is telling the truth”. This was one incidence I’d rather forget!