Fiction : Isolated

Seventeen year old Melanie was tired of living in an isolated village, she pleaded with her mother to leave this lonely village to a larger community where she’d find girls her own age to hang out with.

Her mother wasn’t thrilled with this idea, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to survive with the amount of money she received from her ex-husband.

She wanted her daughter to be happy, she discussed the idea of moving with her close friend, her friend encouraged her to try.

They moved to a larger community close by, mom soon realized every thing cost more, she was running out of money, to get by she sold most of her things.

They were broke, in school Melanie could not make friends, the girls were too snobby, she was unhappy, Melanie and her mom soon understood their small   lonely village was far better, at least they had friends!

……………………….

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/fiction-isolated/

 

 

Tagore song posted and translated by Ranu

Far from the village

the red muddy path

has won my heart.

It is enticing   me

to follow it.

It asks me humbly to come

outside my house

Ah me!

What can I do?

I have become a wayfarer,

Where will it take me,

On which turn will

it show me the riches,

Where will I be stranded,

Where will my journey end?

I am confused!

ttps://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/tagore-song-posted-by-ranu-3/

About me posted by Ranu

This morning I waited for the daily prompt, there was none.

I thought my blogger friend Leslie wanted to see my photograph taken by my friend Evie when I was in college.Here it is Leslie.

Evie had a camera, she liked taking pictures, she did not spend too much time, she was always busy doing something.

The day she took the picture we all had an autograph book to get everyone to sign in and write something. Evie wrote a few lines in my autograph book and then wanted to take a picture of me.

It is our college campus where we were residing at that time. I am wearing a sari, as far as I recall I did not own one, this one belongs to someone in the residence.

In those days I always wore Shalwar(pants) kameez(shirt) and Dupatta( a long scarf).

My Dad told my Mom one day.

Why doesn’t your daughter

put cream on her face

Or comb her hair like other

Little girls do?

She never saw a village

Yet I think

She is worse than

A girl in a village.

Even  those girls

Know how to dress up

Do you think

She will ever change?

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/01/20/about-me-posted-by-ranu-4/

365 Writing Prompts: Daring do

Tell us about the time you rescued someone else (person,or animal) from a dangerous situation.What happened? How did you prevail?

Our school was closed for Summer holidays, my Dad made arrangements to take us to Bangladesh, he had two reasons to visit the place, he’d be able to see his brothers and also for us to know our relatives, whom we had never seen.

We were excited to fly by airplane, it was our first time, and we’d meet our cousins, and aunts and uncles.

On the day of our journey, I had a lot of questions,my mother warned me not to be so inquisitive, besides she must have thought, it would be a brand new experience for us, she’d want us to have our experience of  exploring her home and make our own opinion. Perhaps she thought she might tell us things  she liked about it, may not be the same as far as we were  concerned. My older sister hated to join us, she couldn’t say no because my father would not have agreed to leave her home by herself. She was fussy and cranky, every time my Dad offered something to eat, she refused. I think Dad lost his patience and said, “Tui eli Kaino?” meaning why did you come?

We were having a grand time while big sis was being uncooperative. We reached Dacca safe and sound, took rickshaws to go to our uncles house. The uncle was my Dad’s youngest brother, he was pleased to see us. I wasn’t quite sure of the aunt, she was always criticizing us, one of her major disappointment was we didn’t learn to eat, by that she meant we did not eat enough, our parents spent money on expensive clothes never invested money on food. After a few days with our aunt we were ready to go to our grandparents home in the village.

This time we travelled by train, it was a long journey, we were kids enjoying every moment of it. When we arrived at Feni( name of the station) Dad told us we’d get off and hire two taxis to go to the village.

Our grandparents’ village was very attractive, every one except the servants were my mother’s relative. They all came in droves to see  us, as if were some kind of aliens from Mars, one asked the other, “Can they speak our language?”

My father felt proud, all his kids spoke fluent Bengali, that’s because it was the ground rule, we must know our mother tongue, he refused to let us turn out to be upstarts, this was the word he used.If I was unsure what the new word meant at that time, it did not take me long to comprehend.

The name of our village is “Cheora”, it is a very neat and clean village, all my mom’s relatives were good people always ready to help.

The best thing I liked about the village is the large pond of my grandparents,one day our cousin, Lily, my sister and I planned to jump in the pond, none of us knew how to swim, we were not scared, up to that time the word drown was not in our vocabulary, we stayed in the shallow end of the pond, suddenly Lily convinced my sister  to float  with her a few feet in the front, neither knew how deep the water was, both of them were having a whale of a time,then the worst happened my sister was drowning, none of us could swim, my mother happened to be there when she heard our screams she jumped to rescue my sister, she did not know how to swim either, she managed to grab my sister’s leg and pulled her towards her, my sister was fighting to get away she didn’t know mom was trying to save her, mom shook her and said, “Shelly it’s me your mom.”

When she heard mom, she stopped struggling. In the meantime the news spread like wild fire, Mr. Sabeth’s daughter has drowned, my Dad was frantic, he was blaming everyone in sight, it was their fault for letting these young girls go to the pond.

The end result of this incident was my Dad told us we were not allowed to go near or even look at the pond. One of my uncle’s claimed he  swam like a fish we should have called him. Had we waited for him it would have  turned out to be a tragedy.

The last few days we were in our grandparents village we were only allowed to walk on land and never in the water.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/365-writing-prompts-daring-do/

 

 

365 Writing prompts: Sink or Swim

Tell us about a time when you were left on your own, to fend for yourself in an overwhelming  situation— on the job, at home, at school. What was the outcome?

I remember once my mom went to see her sister-in-law out of town. My younger siblings and I were left to fend for ourselves, it would be fine if it was just us.

One fine morning my aunt and uncle arrived with their kids, mom was not at home, we had a servant who took care of getting groceries and cleaning the house.

I was barely fifteen, had no experience in cooking , I could do the simple stuff, but wasn’t good enough for company. My aunt was one of those people who was not fond of any kind of housework like cooking or cleaning, it was always done by her four daughters, they were younger than me.

My mom had no idea she had her house full of guests, she was having a grand time with her sister-in-law in the village.

I did the cooking, I’m not sure how good or bad it was , my aunt and her brood were satisfied as long as they didn’t have to cook.

My mom came back after a week, my aunt told my mother, ‘Ranu is a good cook!’

My mother and I knew it wasn’t true, but she  was happy I was able to look after my aunt, uncle and their children.

I was nervous in the beginning but as days went by I became somewhat confident that no one will be sick eating what I served!

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/365-writing-pr…s-sink-or-swim

 

 

365 writing Prompt: Ready for your close-up

Cast the movie of your life.

My original homeland is Bangladesh.My father was born in a village. It’s name is “ABURKANDI”,it is a small village in Bangladesh.

My father always believed  one should know,his/ her mother tongue before any other language. We were encouraged to speak our mother tongue when we were in the house.My mother tongue is,”BENGALI”. It is spoken in Bangladesh and the Indian states of west Bengal.

I learned Urdu from  neighborhood kids and later learned to read, write and speak it. I learned English in school where the medium of instruction was English.

Later on I learned some French in the university, it happened when I saw a lady in our university. Naturally curious I asked some of my friends who she was, I was told she taught French. I got interested and asked the lady if I could join her class,at first she refused because she had started the course two months ago and didn’t think I could catch up. She gave in when I promised I’d work hard.  I did well according to the teacher.

When I came to Canada, little bit of french I learned in Bangladesh came in handy, I studied the books my husband had. Canada is a bilingual country, we are expected to know both English and French to get a job. I took a few courses to enable me to teach French to the kids in my class, it was only basic French, nothing complicated.

I don’t recall how or why I took an interest in Spanish, I took some correspondence courses in Spanish. I found Spanish easier than French.

I believe if we fail to practice speaking the languages we learn we lose it.

At the moment  I spend my time participating in online courses and blogging. I enjoy both.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/08/28/365-writing-pr…-your-close-up/

 

 

 

 

365 days Writing Prompt: Four Stars

Write a review of your life—– or the life of someone close to you— as if it were a movie or a book.

I  will write about someone who was very close to me. He was born in a village in Bangladesh, the name of the village is ‘Aburkandi’, how they chose the name is something I don’t know.

From very early in life he was a brilliant student, he didn’t have to pay tuition fees in school, he received a scholarship for all of his education.

He moved to a small town to continue his education, luckily his half brother lived there, so he lived with him until he finished his undergraduate degree.

After completing his degree he went to Calcutta( now Kolkata)to look for a job, he was offered a job at the post office, a few months later his services were borrowed by the ministry of defense for two months. His performance impressed the authorities, who decided to keep him.

He moved to Delhi where he went up the ladder of success and soon was promoted to the Assistant Secretary of defense.

His sister-in-law was impressed by his performance and felt her sister should be married to him. At first the parents declined their argument was they didn’t want two daughters to be married in the same family. Undaunted the sister-in -law kept pushing the marriage proposal until the parents gave in to her demand.

Soon after the young man was married to his sister-in-law’s sister.

While working the young man studied law, he felt it would be helpful in his job and it did.

He was interested in learning languages,besides Arabic, he learned Urdu and Persian. Since English was the medium of instruction he learned to speak the language fluently.

He had a number of children, he was always interested to see his children well-educated. His eldest son turned out to be a disappointment, he was one of those parents who didn’t like to force his children to do what they did not want to do.

He loved his children and always did what was best for them.

He fell severely ill, at the age of forty-seven he died, leaving behind his wife and  children.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/06/06/365-days-writi…mpt-four-stars/

 

DP Daily Prompt: Green-Eyed Lady

We all get jealous from time to time– what wakes the green-eyed monster for you.

Green-Eyed monster I am not

When I become human

you better watch out!

I am usually pretty laid back and don’t worry about who’s getting more attention than me, what I’m saying is little unimportant things don’t spark any kind of jealousy in me.

When I notice someone who is not deserving, but getting far more attention than me I become furious. My feelings go unnoticed for a while, but I take care of it by my “don’t care won’t talk attitude”.

A few years ago my stingy brother-in-law wanted my husband to invite his in-laws to their village home. We were going to Dhaka, my brother-in -law lives in the states,he found out about our trip,without wasting any time he told my husband that he should invite  my brother-in-laws, in-laws to their village home for a meal.

As soon as we arrived in Dhaka,my husband started calling his brother’s in-laws to their village home. His enthusiasm was too much for me to bear, so I sat there in the veranda waiting to give him a piece of my mind.

The opportunity came almost immediately,he asked me something about what did I think, I stayed quiet, he asked,”Is anything wrong?”

I told him he should be ashamed of himself for inviting his brother’s, in-laws and completely ignoring my family. Oh he made a mistake he said and he was going to call them, I didn’t let him because he deliberately did that .

This was one of the times I felt hurt, angry and jealous, I am human after all.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/daily-prompt-green-eyed-lady/

 

 

DP Daily Prompt: Trains,Rails, Automobiles Or Something Else entirely different by Ranu

Rowboat (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have chosen a rowboat for this prompt. My husband’s family lived in the village. Two days after my marriage, I was scheduled to travel to the village, where my in-law’s lived.

This was my first experience on a rowboat. My father was not too enthusiastic taking us to his village because of transportation.Here I was on a narrow boat,the ceiling touching my head. I was a new bride and therefore it was not appropriate to complain.The pace was slow,I wasn’t aware how long it would be before I could free  myself from the pressure of everyone around me.

The boatman was taking his time rowing,he was used to this. He felt great, he was feeling important,my husband hired him.

After about two hours we reached the place where we were to disembark. The wharf,where we were supposed to get off looked like a slimy mound of earth. I was terrified,this was my first time,and I was wearing a sari not the best attire to alight on a slippery path. Embarrassment aside I asked my brother-in-law’s help. With his assistance I was able to walk on the path and reach the building. I breathed a sigh of relief when I crossed this hurdle!

DP Daily Prompt: Place Post by Ranu

Place is the word that came to me.It can mean a particular portion of space, it can be a situation, or a city town,village,neighbourhood,street, room or outdoor building, or role,position or function,a point reached in a book,or duties or entitlements in office, or a place in a race e.g first ,second ,third,fourth,or a last place,place an order, put a person in his place,imagine myself in my friend’s place to understand how she feels.

My friend was having a rough time in her life.Her children were not behaving. She wasn’t getting any help from her husband. Her whole house was in disarray.She told me how difficult her life was. When she asked me if I could give her some advice how to deal with this terrible situation. I did not think much,I said this is easy, discipline the kids,tell your husband to help you.I solved the problem within minutes. She was stunned to hear my answer,as if it can be done in minutes. I could see she was annoyed to hear what I had to say. She looked at me straight in the eye and said, “Ranu, put yourself in my place and tell me how you are going to solve this.” I was speechless!