Writing 101, Day Nine: Writing and not writing

Today’s assignment: What do you do when you’re not writing?

When I’m not writing, it depends on the time of day,if  I’m finished writing, early morning, I pick up either the Bhagwad Gita  or Thich Nhat Hanh,’The Miracle of mindfulness.’ It depends on my mood as well. If I’m happy, I listen to songs on YouTube, mostly Hindi or Urdu or my favorite Bengali songs.

Besides writing I am also registered for an online course, where there are lessons given to us, one every week. I study them, pick a question and answer it.

We the participants are expected to read each other’s comment and give our replies. When I first joined the course, I was bothered by someone,  who did not want me to be in the course, because I am  a  Bengali. I did not say or do anything to make her feel that way. My being a Bengali was the only reason.

At first I toyed with  the idea of leaving the course and joining the Memorial University, which is across the street from my house.Then the thought, I have as much right to be in the course as  her, made me change my mind.

I’m continuing the course and still enjoying it, the day I feel it’s a burden, I’d leave and concentrate on writing,reading and cooking too.

At the moment, I’m pleased to stay in the course. Our facilitator is a fine gentleman, I’m actually indebted to him for allowing me to register in the course. It’s a course on Allama Iqbal, the poet and philosopher.I did not have any previous knowledge of him, I have learned everything I know by doing this course.

I also spend time cooking, which I love to do. One time I baked a lot, I do not do it anymore, it keeps me from eating cookies and cakes, which really is not good for me, considering the fact,there is too much sugar in them. I have learned sugar is not the best thing to consume if I want to stay healthy.

These are some ways I spend my time. I love writing, when I have nothing to write I translate songs into English.

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Blogging 101, Day Eleven: Make a prompt personal

Today’s assignment: Publish a post based on your own, personalized take on a blogging prompt.

Daring greatly : It takes courage and vulnerability, to, “dare greatly.” For this week’s inspiration, explore the significance of sincerity,vulnerability, and courage in your writing.

My quest for recognition came in the latter part of 2011. At this time I dared to register in an online course, which seemed to cater to the needs of Pakistanis. It was all about the great Poet and Philosopher, Allama Iqbal. I read two verses of one of his poems and went looking for more. The saying I believe is true,”Seek and ye shall find.”

I read this on the cover of a book belonging to my eldest brother.My brother pointed out the lines to me and said,Ranu read the lines and tell me what it means, I was about nine years old then I told him from my nine year old mind, “look for it and you shall find it.”

At that time my brother smiled and said,”I can see there is hope for you.”

That was then but this is now. I registered for the course. I could sense I wasn’t received well by the participants because I was a Bengali , in their mind I am a traitor, the reason I was an East Pakistani and we are noted for separating from West Pakistan, and have conveniently carved out a country named Bangladesh for ourselves,. I knew they hated me, why was I blamed I had no part in it, the politicians in their own interest did the damage. Let’s come to what’s happening now at this moment i.e same situation with different players.

This year a new group of Pakistanis have joined the course, I quickly told on the blog I was from Bengal. Well the attitude towards me did not change.

In our course we get a lesson every week, we are required to read and answer one question from the four given. The participants are encouraged to write their comment on the reply by each participant. This is where it got interesting, the Pakistanis left their comment on everyone’s reply, except mine. Can this be some kind of oversight or was it done deliberately. Well I think the latter makes more sense than the former.

In this connection I’d admit two Pakistanis wrote their comment, One is an O level student who seems to have some humanity in him , the other one has studied in the US  I assume this may be the reason.

…………………………….:)

 

 

Daily Prompt: Breakdown

Tell us a habit you’d like to break. Is there any way it can play a positive role in your life?

My problem in my life has always been “Procrastination” I could not give up this habit, did not matter how hard I tried. I always relied on  ‘tomorrow’, I will do it then, many tomorrows passed I either missed the deadline or I gave up myself.

Then came a time when I registered myself for an online course. I inquired if I’d be allowed to procrastinate. The reply was for a certain period after that I’d be dropped. This information woke me up. I made up my mind to do the tasks right away, to avoid being dropped.

I succeeded in getting my work done since 2011. I feel better I can get my work done at once and not leave it for the next day. 🙂

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365 Writing Prompts: Mirror, mirror

Finish this sentence: “when I look in the mirror, I…..”

I look in the mirror and tell myself, what were you thinking when you were introducing yourself in the online course? Did you not see there were a lot of paragraphs before the  words introduce yourself?

No mirror I did not, either I thought it was there decorating the page or perhaps for the rest of the participants to read and react.

Two days later I’m telling myself, no wonder my brother always accused me of not observing everything around me. This my dear mirror is one I should have been aware of.

Now one hundred forty-nine comments later, I was curious enough to tell myself, now what are all these paragraphs about, introduce yourself shouldn’t be so long.

It’s no use feeling bad, “so mirror next time warn me before I make a mistake of not reading the most important part.”  😦

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Daily Prompt: Fifteen Credits

If you’re in school,are you enjoying your classes? If you’re out of school what do you miss about it–or are you glad those days are over?

I am doing online courses, it’s not the kind of school where we sit in a classroom or see who are other participants in the course we interact with each other by writing on the course blog.

At the end of each course we get a certificate, which states the course we’ve finished. It is enjoyable, we are gaining knowledge, but it’s not a real school, there is no attendance record. As long as we do the lessons and type our answers on the blog we qualify for a certificate.

I am out of the school where we are required to be present week days, do homework and study for exams. Frankly speaking this school I am glad is over.

What I miss about regular school,is the interaction with other students, where we see our friends, talk about different things and in class watch the students sneaking out of the classroom after roll call. Studying hard for final exams, competing with each other. It has its own kind of pleasure.

……………………………………:)

365 Writing Prompts: Person of the Year

You’re asked to nominate someone for Time’s Person of the Year.Who would it be, and Why?

When I think of all the good things that has happened this year in our online course, I’d gladly nominate our facilitator,Mr. Khurram Ali Shafique.

He is a good teacher. He is humble and he knows his subject well. He offers online courses on,  “Iqbal” who is  a highly acclaimed Muslim Philosophical  thinker of Modern times.

I have learned a lot from him and I thank him for giving me the opportunity of learning about the great Philosopher.

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Writing 101,Day thirteen: Serially Found

Today’s prompt: Write about finding something. Interpret this theme of “finding something” however you see fit.

Today’s twist: If you wrote the day four’s post as the first in a series,use this one as the second installment– loosely defined.

My day four post serially lost was all about my ambition to study M.Ed, it didn’t happen, I had too many other things that got in the way. None of them were unsatisfactory, they changed my course of action.

Then I read a comment by “a writer’s Helper” which said: “Life has a way of popping up to set us back from what we thought were our goals. I’m interested to see where your story leads to.”

I’m delighted to let the blogger know I am doing an online course which is giving me satisfaction and joy.

The prompt, “Serially Found” is perfect for me to write what I finally found after losing the opportunity to study M.Ed.

I found a course which has taken me back to continue my studies. It’s an online course offered by Khurram Ali Shafique. It’s a study of Poet and Philosopher, Allama Iqbal.

I started this course in November 2011 and am still  continuing, what I am learning from it is different from what I would have learned had I completed M.Ed as I planned.

The course is one that opens the door for many possibilities. I’ve learned about some of the religions,e.g Buddhism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism, their point of view about pain,sorrow, sin and struggle.

We dealt with the question, whether human being is essentially good and peaceful.

This is what Iqbal says: “If man can realize his sense of respect for his own individuality and can move fearlessly on earth, he will then respect the individuality of others and will become perfectly virtuous.”

I am thrilled I am not letting my brain become  idle.

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365 Writing Prompts: First light

Remember yesterday, when you wrote down the first thought you had this morning? Great. Now write a post about it.

Yesterday I woke up with a strange thought, I have not written the answer to the question in my online course. The more I thought about it more concerned I became.

I sat in front of my computer reading and rereading the questions, I succeeded in selecting one which was what I was required to do, I was elated I selected the question but was deflated when I realized I hardly knew what to write.

I got some books to find out some info about the subject, but Raphael the feline wouldn’t let me, he felt I must spend time with him.

I doused him several times to leave me alone, he was relentless, I was tired stressed out and put the books away, I was in need of a relaxing nap.

In the evening I did nothing I watched TV.

This morning I kept the felines out to complete my work which I did,I am feeling much better now!

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/365-writing-pr…ts-first-light/

365 writing Prompts: Far from normal

Many of us think of our lives as boringly normal, while others live the high life.Take a step back, and take a look at your life as an outsider might.Now, tell us at least six unique, exciting, or( just plain odd things about yourself).

We all have a different perspective about our life.What I think is normal, someone else may not. My life as I see it is simple, I wake up before sunrise to pray, if I’m up to it I stay up, if I feel my body needs sleep, I go back to sleep. I have, my breakfast, after this I come back to my room turn on my computer, I go to the page to see what the prompts for that day is, I start writing.

Today’s prompt is all about normal, it is something that varies from person to person. I think my life is normal, my neighbor might think it is boring. I’ve heard the word boring,if I define this word all I read is, uninteresting, tedious, dull. To me all these  meanings are foolish.

Can someone honestly tell me writing is dull, uninteresting or tedious. Tedious can have room for it when I am stuck, but I cannot really say it’s uninteresting which reminds me about the fox and the grapes, just because he couldn’t reach the grapes on the tree he declared that the grapes were sour.

Same thing applies to writing I console myself by saying, “It’s uninteresting.”

I consider my life normal, because my days are planned I know exactly how I’ll spend my day. As far as high life goes it’s not normal for me and I do not feel the urge to lead a high life.

I’m not sure I can call it unique, but here are six things about myself: 1. I write every day. 2. I love studying about Iqbal.3. I think these online courses are awesome.4. I spend a part of my time listening to my favorite songs. 5. My daughter and I have two very cute felines. 6. I do not like heavy snowfall, it disrupts my movement, when and if I want to go out, and I am not fond of shoveling.

The above is all about me or part of it.

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/365-writing-pr…ar-from-norma

 

 

DP Daily Prompt: Breaking the law

Think of the last time you broke a rule( a big one, not just ripping the tags off your pillows). Were you burned ,or did things turn out for the best?

The last time I broke the rule was a couple of days ago. We were given a question in our online course, where we were told to give brief answers, no more than 100 words, at first I did write a short answer, but my online friend asked me to write the longer one I had talked about. I made my excuses why I could not, some one else already wrote almost the same as I was thinking about.

When I got a second request,  this time it was from  the facilitator to write the longer answer, I felt it was safe to do it. I broke the rule but when the  person who made the rule wanted me to write the longer answer, I felt confident to break it.

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/dp-daily-prompt-7