Daily Prompt: Vivid

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

Some events in life stay permanently in one’s mind, even though it happened  many years ago. I have a vivid memory of  going to our maternal Grandpa’s home. Walking in his favorite  garden, plucking  fruits I had never seen before. Though  not familiar, how tasty they were.

Then this truly fascinating encounter I had with my little cousin one day.I was walking around  in the courtyard when I suddenly heard my uncle calling me, ‘Ranu would you like a mango?’

I said, ‘Mamu(uncle) where will you get a mango now?’

He pointed at one of Grandpa’s  trees and replied, ‘I’ll pluck from there.’

‘Can you climb a tree?’ was my next question.

‘Okay watch me,’ he said, and started climbing the tree.

While this was happening, my little cousin appeared from out of the blue.

He was probably three or four, he asked me,’Ranu Apa ( Apa is used when the girl is older than the person speaking) can I have the first one?’

I said, ‘Yes.’ Since it was his father up on the tree.

Meanwhile uncle plucked one and threw it down on the ground. I let my cousin have it.

My uncle told me he’d pluck another one for me.

I was pleased, but my little cousin somehow had finished the first one in record time  and asked if he could have the second one too.

I looked down at the curly haired toddler and firmly said, ‘No, you cannot.’

Well his reaction was unbelievable, he looked up, he replied. ‘I will not call you  Ranu Apa, anymore, Ranu O Ranu!’

This was his way of showing disrespect to  his older cousin.

Uncle was still on the tree, when he heard his son, he burst into a roaring laughter.

Whenever I think of it, I picture my curly haired cousin looking up at me with his sweet round face which turned to utter disgust as I refused to let him have his way!

………………………………..:)

 

 

Daily Prompts : Contrast

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

When I look at my family, i.e my siblings to be more specific brothers and sisters. We are product of our parents, yet it’s mind boggling to realize how different we are.

The only similarity is our looks, by it one can guess we are related. Our feelings, our actions are different from each other and also we are not like our parents.

I lost my father at a very young age therefore I do not have much to go on regarding his feelings, actions, the way he looked at the world around him and of course his own children. Had he been alive to see who we grew up to be, he’d most certainly be disappointed.

My dad was raised in a village, where people were simple and innocent in his time. He was a brilliant student, his half-brother noticed it, to help him reach his potential, he brought him to the town where he worked.

My dad’s half brother was pleased to watch his little half brother go up the ladder of success.

In contrast we did not inherit the  genes of our uncle, at least some of us. We are more selfish, we believe we should look after ourselves and forget about the other siblings.

This is all about how we are as persons.

Then there are people of various background, white, brown, black, yellow etc. It’s getting better as the world is getting smaller and people are traveling more. We are used to see hear different people, we are no longer afraid to mingle with different races.

I remember once I was in one of  London, England’s tube stations. As the train came in I got on, there were a group of people also traveling with me. One of them came forward to talk to me , she said they were from Australia, in the middle of our conversation she noticed some Africans coming in, she gave them a strange look, and said, ” My who are these people? The Brits are very tolerant . Our government  wouldn’t allow these people to come in to our country.”

I sat there wondering, when is she going to ask me, how I managed to stay in England, I wasn’t white.

I know discrimination exists in the animal kingdom. I wonder about plants, flowers and other species?

……………………………………… 🙂

 

 

Daily Prompts: My favorite

What’s the most time you’ve ever spent apart from your favorite person? Tell us about it.

My favorite person in my childhood was my Dad, the times I spent apart from him was when I went to school and my Dad went to work. Besides when he came home, he had to rest and I’d wait for him to relax in our front garden where I’d sit on the grass and talked to him about many things, most of the time it used to be questions, which he’d answer sometimes, other times, he’d read his newspaper, which meant, “Ma I’m busy.”

When he passed away, I had more than one person to spend my time with, they were my siblings.

When I moved to another city to pursue my education, and I was living in a residence, I spent time with my classmates. On weekends I visited my uncle in the city, he was a very nice man, he’d ask me about my classmates, who they were, what did their father do for a living. This question confused me, I told him I didn’t know  anything about their father.

He cautioned me about these mysterious friends, who he thought might not be good for me to hang out with. I found the girls friendly, I was happy I got to spend time with them, it helped me to recover from homesickness which troubled me a lot in the beginning.

Now a days my favorite companion is my book, I spend hours reading it. I only stop when it’s time for my prayer, or to feed the felines or eat when it’s lunch time. Sometimes I spend time away from my book when my eyes start to be painful or when I suddenly feel the need to take a nap.

I was relieved when I finished reading, “Atlas Shrugged,” it was a wrong companion I chose. I’ve learned my lesson, now my book companion will be chosen very carefully.

I’m reading one now, Paulo Coelho is the author. I’ve completed reading more than half of the book. I’ll be ready for the next one hopefully tomorrow.

A book I feel is the type of companion I like, I put it aside when I’m tired, I don’t have to do anything to please it, unlike a real person who can be demanding, who expects me to be pleasant all the time, which is not possible for a human being like me.

………………………… 🙂

 

Daily Prompt: When Childhood Ends

Write about a defining moment in your life when you were forced to grow up in an instant(or Instants).

After spending two years in the local college in Comilla my hometown in Bangladesh. I suddenly realized I was too unhappy to continue my education in the same college.I must look for a different  one, a girl’s college, but the only one I could go to was in the big city.

I packed my things and traveled by train at 3 AM in the morning to Dhaka, in Bangladesh. When I reached the college and met some of my classmates in the college dormitory, I realized instantly it was my time to grow up.

Mom and my siblings won’t be there to complain or talk about my new classmates, good or bad, I’d have to, ‘grin and bear it’ I had some help from a friend of my parents who lived in the same city, who did more than I could ask from a real uncle.

He invited me to go to his house every week-end. I was slowly getting used to living far away from my home. This is where my process of growing up was happening. Occasionally I felt a twinge of pain, I  tried to overcome it by starting a conversation with my uncle or  the classmates in college whoever happened to be there at that time, but  it was persistent, I tried to fight it off by concentrating on stories my classmates used to tell me, but it was not easy.

The only antidote for my pain were the songs I learned in school when I was in third standard, in presentation convent school, I used to sit by myself and hum the tune. Those childhood memories took me to a world where I had the most fun.

I grew up but it was not easy.

………………………………… 🙂

Daily Prompts: Brilliant Disguise

Tell us about a time when someone had you completely fooled, where the wool was pulled right over your eyes and you got hoodwinked, but good. Was it a humorous experience or one you’d rather forget? What was the outcome?

Once my uncle came to visit us, he was a politician who always disguised himself so no one would recognize him. This particular day he had a long bushy beard, we never saw him with a beard. My brother did not know who he was, both were arguing, my brother was about to throw him out, when I heard him I was in the bathroom, I recognized his voice,I told my brother it is our uncle.

My brother was embarrassed, I had a  good laugh, I told my uncle, it was good  he didn’t disguise his voice, if he had my brother would have thrown him out of our house.

My mother was praying at that time, when she heard the noise she came out to see what was going on, she smiled and said,  “Dear brother, when will you stop being so silly?”

……………………………………. 🙂

Daily Prompt: Familial Feasts

Many countries celebrate Father’s Day and Mother’s Day.If you could dedicate a holiday  to a more distant relative, who would it be– and why?

If I could dedicate a holiday to my distant relative, I’d choose the  person who was not my relative but was very good to us.  We called him uncle, his wife treated my mother as her real sister. Even after she died uncle did not abandon us . He invited us to stay in his house when we visited Dhaka city(Bangladesh).

We stayed in his house for days , he always welcomed us. He was much better than our own uncles who did not care much for us after my father passed away.

If I could dedicate a holiday to a distant relative, I’d choose my distant uncle.

………………………………..:)

 

Daily Prompt: Greetings, Stranger

You’re sitting at a cafe when a stranger approaches you. This person asks what your name is and for some reason you reply. The stranger nods, “I’ve been looking for you.” What happens next?

I was sitting at ,Second Cup, enjoying my coffee, I suddenly noticed someone coming towards me. I pretended to look sideways, hoping this person will turn around and leave,much to my dismay I heard the word, “Shuprobhat”(good day). I turned around and saw the stranger addressing me.

I wasn’t in a mood to answer in  Bengali. I was irritated  and  said,”Are you talking to me”?

My attitude didn’t deter the stranger from continuing to speak to me, ignoring my reply, he smiled and replied,”Apnar naam ki”?( what’s your name)

Without thinking any further, “I mumbled, Ranu.”

The stranger nodded,”I’ve been looking for you.”

He seemed quite pleased and without hesitation pulled a chair to sit. I felt very uncomfortable as I had never seen him before and wasn’t sure of his motives.

Before settling down he excused himself , stood up to grab a cup of coffee for himself. He  came back and asked  what I was doing in this city. I kept my conversation to a minimum, I wasn’t interested to tell him anymore about me.

He was not willing to give up, he started telling me about his uncle whom he had never seen but heard a lot about. While he was talking I wondered why he was talking to me about his uncle and what’s that got to do with me.

My irritation reached it’s height, I looked at him and could not help asking, “Why are you talking to me about your uncle?”

He frowned and said, “My uncle is your father.”

I was shocked and could not speak for a few minutes, I then replied, “How do you know your uncle was my father?”

“Your father was the older brother of my father.”

I was embarrassed I apologized for my unfriendly behavior.

He invited me to go and meet his wife and children, I happily agreed . I was surprised to know he lived only a few blocks from me.

Meanwhile his wife had cooked a lavish dinner, the aroma of the food reminded me of my mother’s cooking.We had a delicious meal.

After dinner I invited the family to visit me. The stranger amazingly enough turned out to be my cousin, wow I thought!

……………………………………. 🙂

 

DP Daily Prompt:

If I could take a break, I certainly would register to study Philosophy. I wasn’t aware it is such an interesting subject. It would also come in handy for the online course I am doing.

I was once advised by one of my uncle’s to study Philosophy, at that time I was too young to understand how valuable this subject is.

…………………………

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/dp-daily-prompt-7

365 Writing Prompts: Mentor

Have you ever had a mentor? What was the greatest lesson you learned from him or her?

Whenever I hear or read the word “Mentor” I automatically look for one outside my home, a teacher, a friend, an aunt or an uncle. Strangely enough I never could answer the question. None of the above people ever took the role of a mentor in my life. I reassured myself, not everyone needs or has a mentor, so just accept the fact you did not have one.

This morning the word raised its head in my mind yet again. This time I inwardly went through all the names in my mind, the answer was still the same,no I did not have one.

Suddenly my daughter yelled out,  “Mom”where is my … she barely completed what was on her mind, immediately I thought of my own Mom, here was someone who from the time I could talk and walk taught me between right and wrong.

Be respectful to your elders, greet them when they visit, listen,do not speak until you are spoken to. I remember once my sister and I were deep in conversation,my mother came quietly , she said: “what are you talking about, I hope you are not criticizing someone.”

My sister immediately remarked, “No Mom we are stating facts.”

My mom replied, “I don’t understand what kind of facts you’re talking about, make sure it’s not about anyone.”

Then she went on to explain to me that God does not like back biting, if we couldn’t say anything good about someone we should not discuss them at all.

There were so many other things such as ,”Be humble” when you walk look at the ground and not the sky, do not be overbearing, and there are so many other things I learned from her. What she taught me I could not learn from someone else.

The greatest lesson I learned from my Mom was treat everyone kindly, it will bring you dividends, I truly believe as humans we ought to treat other humans with respect. These were some of the things I learned from my mother.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/365-writing-prompts-mentor

 

365 Writing Prompts: The guilt that haunts me

Share a time when you were overcome with guilt.What were the circumstances? How did you overcome your guilt?

When I was studying in the university, my local guardian was my parent’s very good friend we all called him uncle, he was a very nice caring person.I was very homesick in the hostel, my uncle was aware of it. Every Friday he’d come to pick me up from the residence  to spend the week-end with his family and then dropped me off on Monday.

After I completed my studies I got a job and continued to visit him. One week-end for some reason I did not go to his house, I called him and told him I’d go to his place next week-end, he said he missed me, he had bought all kinds of food that I liked, I told him I’d see him the following week-end.

Next morning I got the newspaper it was weird I felt I must check the obituary list, first thing I read was my uncle’s name, he had died in the evening. I went to his house,his daughter-in-law and the Grand kids were there. I felt very sad, I spoke to him in the afternoon, he died the same evening.

I felt guilty for a while but was able to overcome it with the help of my friends.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/365-writing-pr…that-haunts-me/