Daily Prompt : Nervous

In response to daily post’s one-word prompt : Nervous

This morning I’m feeling very nervous, I don’t know why, it seems something will or had gone wrong and I’m afraid to know what it is. Childhood is the best years of one’s life, it’s care free, one I think is not as shaky as we adults are.

As soon as we become adults we are nervous for a number of things, results of an exam, or blood test, even while cooking something makes us afraid, I always think, will my soup turn out all right?

These are worries that takes the joy out of life.

For me to put aside my concerns I take out a book of fairy tales, it’s not real, but it does help to forget about my worries, as long as my focus is on the book I’m reading.

The question I have  is, Why am I unable to face Reality?

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Daily Prompt: Isn’t Your Face Red ?

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When was the last time you were embarrassed? How do you react to embarrassment?

Once in our college, our teacher Sr. Barbara Jeans was looking for students for Shakespeare’s play, The Twelfth night. I hoped she would not pick me, I was extremely shy and nervous. Suddenly she  looked at me and said, “Chaman , are you interested?”

I told her I wasn’t. The teacher then looked for other girls who’d be interested. There was one part no one wanted, it was that of the  priest. The teacher was frantic, she asked my friend Evie if she could suggest someone. Without batting an eyelash Evie said, “Make Chaman take the part, it’s only a short one.”

Sr. Barbara Jean announced ,”Yes Chaman you have to take the part.”

I couldn’t refuse I took the part. On the day of the play, I was extremely nervous, I felt even the few lines I  had to repeat might be difficult.

I remember waiting on the right side of the stage waiting to come to the front , I walked two or three steps and prayed all that time I wouldn’t collapse, to my surprise the lines came out of my mouth like a parrot. I was relieved when I did my part. The audience clapped , one of them said : “The teacher should have given her the longer part.”

Little did they know how hard it was for me to deliver those lines. Was I embarrassed ? Certainly.

I always used to  hide  myself when the teacher  looked  for kids to play certain parts in the plays that were staged in our school.

When I taught in school I made it a point , to pick the shy kids in my class to play the important parts to overcome the shyness. 🙂

 

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365 Writing Prompts: Fictional elevator

You’re stuck in the elevator with an intriguing stranger. Write this scene.

I came out of Selfridges  The department store in London, England for  some reason, I was in a hurry to get the Piccadilly line underground tube train. I took the first available elevator, well this is when my plan to get back to my residence in a hurry failed.

I noticed there were others who were in the elevator, they looked like people from some other planet, their language and their behavior was something I hadn’t encountered before. I took a spot and stood there hoping I’d reach the ground fast.

It was not to be, immediately after I entered the door closed. I heard someone say, ” welcome Miss to our unbelievable device, it will take you wherever you want to go, you need to have patience.”

I think I was scared I never heard  an elevator speaking before, in a moment of frenzy I spoke out loud, ” I do not have time, I have to catch my train as soon as possible.”

I had barely finished talking, when right there before me was an odd looking stranger, half his face was covered with a long flowing beard, the other half was clean shaved, when he spoke his teeth resembled Gabriel and Rafa’s, my feline friends, he was wearing Rumplestilskin’s boots and every second made a noise, enough to frighten the bravest human being. As you can guess I am the most  timid person who ever set foot on this planet.

Upon seeing this stranger I looked for another spot to move into, his form seemed to cover the length and width of the elevator, “Miss stay still this is my order or I’ll turn you into a werewolf.”

“Please don’t change me into anything I won’t move from my spot.” I said.

Hearing me speak brought about an earth shaking laughter out of him, I felt the elevator would come apart.

“This  device will take us to an unknown destination, you’d be able to eat and drink, there will be fairies to entertain you, you must stay calm or we’ll end up in a dungeon,return from there would be impossible,” he yelled!

Those words scared me I completely froze and tried to think of the prayers my mom taught me to escape from danger. While I was trying to recall which prayer  would be more suitable. I heard a loud alarm.

The weird man was trying to get my attention, “Hey you he said, did you hear my warning?”

“Warning? ” I repeated !

“Yes, you forgot about the dungeon, from where you never can come out?”

“I do ,Really I remember, I thought you said something else I did not hear?”

“Want me to speak louder?”

“Oh no, I was nervous, I cannot remember what I said?

He seemed to take pity on me and calmed right down, in a very low and friendly voice he said, “I’ll reach you to the right floor so you can take the tube train to, did you mention Piccadilly line?”

“Yes sir, thank you, thank you,” I said with a frightened voice.

“Here we are”, said the spooky guy. “Do not tell anyone about your experience, if you betray me, I’ll come after you, so beware, just tell them you met this awesome nice guy who took you for a ride in his very own elevator, Cheerio folks!”

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365 Writing prompts: Release me

Tell us about the blog post you were most nervous to publish– and what it was like to to set it free.

It was the first time I had attempted to translate a poem of Tagore. I was advised by one of my classmates in the online course to translate Tagore’s poetry.

He said it because I am a Bengali and that it should be easy for me to do the work.

Over the years I have read Tagore’s poetry and picked one’s I loved because of their rhythm and the beautiful words the poet used to describe nature. I memorized them and frequently repeated them, it gave me a kind of delight I could never explain.

When I was confronted with the task of translating Tagore’s poetry into English it gave me  the jitters, I never thought in my wildest dream I was adept to try it. Rather than tell my friend I was incapable, because the hidden pride in me wouldn’t let me admit the fact.

I took out Tagore’s collection of poems, I picked one that I had recited as a child, I started translating it, it took me a long time to complete it, then the editing, reading and rereading began. I came to a point where I was tired of it.

When I was convinced I have done my best, I nervously clicked the publish button.

Then I waited to see the comment from my friend. He was very generous in his comment and I was ecstatic, I had crossed the first hurdle!

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/365-writing-prompts-release-me/

 

DP Daily Prompts: Ready,Set,Done

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Our weekly free-write is back: take ten minutes– no pause–to write about anything–unfiltered and unedited.You can publish the post as-is or edit a bit first–your call.

It is 4.52 p.m. in my neck of the woods. I went out to run an errand. I had to wait for twenty minutes to the  place I intended to go.the bus took its time to show up I was freezing, it seems winter cannot  wait to show its face. Well the bus came i boarded it got off several stops later. Got my stuff, came to the stop to catch the bus to come home. Another twenty minutes it took for the bus to arrive.

I was on my way home, unfortunately I rang the bell one stop earlier, stayed in my seat and pull the string again for the stop, apologized to the bus driver for my mistake, came home and fed the kittens, they were glad to see me I think.

Now I am writing this, the time allowed is ten minutes only, oh I have two minutes left,the kittens are sleeping I am writing, still writing, I am nervous I do no know how many mistakes I made still writing, writing , done!

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/10/02/dp-daily-prompts-readysetdon

 

365 Writing Prompts: Naked with black socks

Are you comfortable in front of people ,or does the idea of public speaking make you want to hide in the bathroom? Why?

Public speaking or not I am a bit jittery when I have to speak in front of a gathering. After the initial five minutes I feel okay.

I won’t admit I love speaking in public, however I can if I have to. Someone once remarked, ” you are a teacher how can you be nervous in front of a public?”

My reply was,”I do not have trouble teaching, but it’s different from public speaking, here I have a group of kids whom I see every day, a friendship develops and the fear factor is removed.

This is a kind of fear, where I feel I may not be able to do a good job, it makes me nervous.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/365-writing-pr…th-black-socks

Writing Prompt : Unconventional love

Over the week end, we explored different ways to love.Today tell us about the most unconventional love in your life.

Two weeks ago we bought a Siamese Himalayan breed kitten. My daughter and I were very happy, the little kitten was very nervous, on the first day,it didn’t eat or drink,next day it hid under the quilt, it didn’t come out. Almost a week went by we couldn’t make it comfortable. 

My daughter and I decided to get its brother from the woman, as soon as it saw its brother, it’s whole temperament changed,it was no longer the shy scared kitten.

I love them,we named the first one Gabriel and his brother Raphael. Gabriel and Raphael are the most important members of our family.

Three weeks ago I didn’t think we’d ever get kittens. Today we have them and are very pleased.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/writing-prompt…ventional-love/

DP Daily Prompt: Exhale Post by Ranu

English: The waiting area at London Heathrow a...

English: The waiting area at London Heathrow airport’s terminal 3. Terminal 3 uses a centralised waiting area rather than seats at each gate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It happened at Heathrow airport in London. We were traveling to Dhaka,Bangladesh. It was evening,we were patiently waiting for the flight. I looked up and saw our flight was boarding, I told my husband, we then dashed off to get to the gate, I cannot recall the gate number now,but we knew we had a long walk ahead of us. As soon as we reached the gate,my husband looked for the boarding passes,he couldn’t find them. I was nervous,what are we going to do,”I said”?

The look my husband gave me could give anyone a heart attack.I guess I have a strong heart, nothing happened to me. As you can see I am still alive. It never helps when we are nervous,we fail to realize things are not that bad. My dear husband had the passes in his hand. Neither he nor I thought of looking. That was one long deep exhale for us,Wow!

About Me Posted by Ranu

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shalwar_kameez-olivegreen1-001 (Photo credit: snowfoxcreations✿)

English: WORD URDU, WRITTEN IN URDU SCRIPT IN ...

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

Yeah,I said I am in college now. It was a co-ed. college. My classmates stared at me,like I was someone who dropped from the sky without notice.Actually I didn’t study in any of the schools they went.The question in everyone’s mind was, who is she,where did she come from,can she speak Bengali,why is she taking Urdu,instead of Bengali? I said, ‘wait, I will answer all your questions.’ It irked them because I wore Shalwar Kameez and not a Sari. It’s all changed now,every Jill,Mary and Penelope wear nothing but Shalwar Kameez.My how the times have changed.

I started my classes in Victoria College,Comilla. I liked all the teachers,at least they didn’t have a whole bunch of questions about me.I found the Urdu class the most difficult.I found the atmosphere tense.I was the only girl in this class,the rest,you guessed it,were boys.I was so nervous,I hardly spoke.One day the teacher asked me a question,the boys were all ears,waiting for my reply.One of them said out loud,’Yeh bol sakti hai.'( she can speak).The teacher kept quiet,pretended he didn’t hear it.The two years in that college proved very uncomfortable.I told my sister I wanted to continue my studies in Dhaka.My sister suggested to take admission in the university.I declined,it would mean co-education again and I heard the boys were much more difficult to deal with than the local college I went to. I told her,no I want to go to a girls college.Okay she said if I didn’t do honours in under- grad,there will be a lot of hurdles to overcome.I wasn’t old enough to know the difference,so I got admission In ‘Holy Cross College.’

To be continued!