Discover Prompts, Day 15: Scent

Of all the perfumes I bought,
Joy has the best scent I thought.
I looked for it for a long time
The new Joy produced by another company,
Is not as fragrant as the one produced by Jean Patou.

Daily Prompt : Scent

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

image from wikipedia

Basmati rice has a very distinct smell. There have been times when people visiting me would ask, ‘What are you cooking, it has such an amazing aroma, I feel like having some?’

When I’d say ‘it’s a different kind of rice, it’s called basmati rice. ‘

Upon hearing it’s rice their enthusiasm to eat lessens. I guess they think it’s rice how different can it be. I think it tastes much better than, long grain or uncle Ben’s rice.

I use this rice to make biriyani, it’s a kind of casserole where the ingredients are rice, meat, potatoes,l tomatoes, onions and spices. It’s a complete dish. I have cooked it several times and our friends from NEWFOUNDLAND, love it.

The dish has all the scents combined such as clarified butter, different spices, the rice and meat.  We serve it with yogurt salad, which is a combination of cucumber, tomato, onion, green chilly, sugar and salt, and  lemon juice.

Even our feline friends get excited when they smell this biriyani dish!

………………………………………… 🙂

Writing 101,day fourteen: Recreate a single day

Assignment: Recreate a single day

You can tackle this assignment in a number of ways:

Start in the middle of the action and zig  zag through time from the moment you woke up to the last thing that happened before you retired for the night.

I heard something as if in my sleep, noticed the sound was persistent,I opened my eyes to check what it was so harsh in sound with no sweetness in it. I looked at the clock, it was 5 AM, I realized I set the alarm to wake up for morning prayer.

I woke up washed and got ready for my usual activity of the day i.e. prayer. I was thankful someone invented the clock to wake up lazy people like me.

Twenty five minutes later my first activity of the day was done. I had breakfast, which is nothing special, two crackers,lathered by peanut butter and a cup of tea.

I turned on the computer to remind myself of day thirteen writing assignment, compose a series of vignettes, this wasn’t something I was familiar with.What kind of anecdote will I write, then it seemed my inner voice whispered, “Why don’t you write about your pilgrimage to Mecca(Makkah)?”

I was thrilled to have a lasting companion who talks to me when I need help. I gathered all the information in my mind, I had no photographs to show the places, we are not allowed to use cameras. But I assumed ‘Wikipedia’ could be helpful. And it was, I got the pictures I needed.

After putting together all the information, I was ready to hit the publish button and link my post to the commons.

I was relieved I had my assignment done. what was I going to do next was troubling me. “Go for a walk was the instruction.”

I got ready and stepped out the back door, on my way out I checked the mailbox, there it was the visa bill, since I was out , I changed my plan of going for a walk to take a bus ride to the bank. There weren’t that many people in there, I was served almost immediately.

It was a sunny bright day, I walked  to the ‘Supermarket’ to buy a few things for supper.It didn’t take me long, I had a lot of time left, I walked over to the bus stop to go to the mall. I waited fifteen minutes, there were wasps flying all over and I was not happy to see them. In came a young woman with three bags of groceries,the scent of her food items attracted the attention of one measly wasp, it came right in the covered bus stop and buzzed around her.Before this incidence I wasn’t aware the wasps like our kind of food. Maybe there were not enough flowers for them.

Somehow the young woman got rid of the lonely wasp and everything was fine.

In the mean time the bus showed up, I was on board in search of a tape recorder in a store in the mall. They do not carry them was the verdict. I came home.

I fed the felines, then had lunch and started cooking cauliflower and then chicken. With the cooking done I took a shower and waited for my daughter to arrive. She came at 5 PM, supper was ready. She was happy she didn’t have to wait for it.

In the evening I wanted to relax and have some entertainment. I turned on the TV watched ‘wheel of fortune’ followed by ‘jeopardy’ I was tired enough ,  I went  straight to bed!

……………………………. 🙂

Tagore song–singer Srikanto–posted and translated by Ranu

Starry skies!

Universe full of life,

In the middle of it I found ,

I found my space.

This is  why   my wonder struck

mind awakens with songs.

Starry skies!

Unlimited time,

surging waves,

ebb and flow of tide

Oscillates the world.

I feel a pull in my blood vessel,

This is why my wonder struck mind

Awakens with songs.

Starry skies!

I walk on the grass

on my way to the forest

I was surprised by the

scent of flowers,

I was overwhelmed

I realized there before me

was the gift of happiness.

This is why my wonder struck

mind awakens with  songs.

I lend my ears, open my eyes

I gave my heart to the earth

I searched for the unknown,

This is why my wonder struck

mind awakens with songs! 🙂

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/tagore-song-si…slated-by-ranu

Tagore song (title happiness) post and translated by Ranu

watchful waiting (Photo credit: jeffreyw)

I am happy to watch and wait,

the games of sun and shadow,

changing of season from monsoon

to spring.

Strangers passing me by

with their news.

The soft breeze spreading its

pleasant scent.

I will have my doors wide open

I’ll be alert all day,

waiting and watching

for the auspicious moment,

when it suddenly shows up.

I will be able to meet.

Until then I’ll laugh and

sing inwardly.

Feel the soft breeze with its

beautiful scent floating my   way

As I happily wait for the auspicious moment!

Nazrulgeeti by Rafi Post and Bangla translation by Ranu

Mohammed Rafi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Untie your hair my dear,

this is where my heart is captured.

Your charming hair with

its metallic ribbon

has made my blind love helpless.

When the scent of your hair

enticed humans to come secretly

you fainted and collapsed on the hand

and locked up on the arm.

You kept the heart,

attached to those earrings,

turned away your eyes,

and let me steal.

You  came for a stroll,

in the confines of the body,

and never went back.

Untie your hair,

this is where my heart is captured.

This is a song written by Kazi Nazrul Islam. He used Bengali and Urdu in the lyrics. I didn’t know he could be so funny. I tried my best to translate this . It may not sound funny in English,but I laughed a lot while I was translating it.

(Aabortaun) Revolving by Tagore Translation by ranu

Note A (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

20120907_1908_into_Upheaval (Photo credit: LarryB08)

(Aabortaun)  Revolving  by Rabindranath Tagore

Perfume wants to mix with scent,

scent wants to latch on to perfume.

The musical note wants to surrender itself to rhythm,

rhythm wants to travel hurriedly to musical note.

Feeling wants to appear as part of beauty,

beauty wants to stay away from feeling.

Infinite wants a close relationship with limit,

limit wants to lose itself in infinite.

Upheaval in creation who knows  whose idea it is,

the continuous movement from feeling to beauty__

the confined are looking for freedom,

freedom is praying for confinement in the home.