Sweet Cool Comfort https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/01/365-days-jan-18th-free association/

Sweet cool comfort these three words sound good by themselves. When I use it as a title for my post. I say to my self what can I write ,if it is a title.  It’s amazing how we are encouraged to write about something we usually do not think about. If I were to choose a title for my post,this would not be it.

So here I am stuck with something I did not anticipate. Will it make me a better writer I have no idea.

Let me see what I can come up with by using the words separately.

When I think of sweet, I visualize a beautiful baby; a sweet person who has a remarkable disposition and is loved by most people; a delicious dessert, sweet aroma which immediately reminds me of a variety of foods. I can relate sweet to sense of smell and taste.

Next is cool, lot of things are cool e.g ice cream, cool temperature, air, cool person. These are some of the words  I associate with the word cool.

The last one is comfort. We all love the word comfort. There are comfort foods,bed and also I sometimes say, ” I am not comfortable with this person, the reason being they’re too judgemental, they are too critical,or too proud. Any one of these negative attitudes will keep me away from these people.

Having said that, when I join the three words together I get an entirely different perspective.

I am now going to see what I can come up with using the ,”Title, Sweet Cool Comfort.”

First thing that jumps in my inner self is my house. Let me describe my place of abode my way.

Situated in North America on the island of Newfoundland and Labrador is ,”my sweet cool comfortable home. It is not a mansion nor a palace. It is a simple abode I call home. It has everything I need to give me comfort. It provides heat in the frozen days of winter and it is cool on hot days of summer. My home provides all the amenities I need . How can I not love it. It is big enough to have a few guests and small enough to take care of it.

I have excellent neighbors who are always ready to help when I need them. The shopping center,super market ,hospital,airport is reasonably close,it doesn’t take more than fifteen minutes to reach any of these places by car. There is public transportation, it takes a little longer, but not because it’s far but  frequent stops the driver needs   to make to drop off passengers.

I am happy with my home,the city where I live my extraordinary neighbors and the unpolluted air. Where will I find all these things!

D.P. Daily Prompt: Five A Day posted by Ranu

Uncooked, polished, white long-grain rice grains (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

I am exiled to a private island,I am allowed five foods daily.Food is not what  comes to my mind. I am thinking why am I here in this island and for how long? Of course food is one of the most important thing a human being will think about just to survive.

 

These captors seems to me are very considerate.They are actually giving me a choice of five foods I can pick for my daily consumption. There is something odd about this whole thing. Anyway while I am thinking what can I pick,one of the captors  a big burly fellow who seems to have little or no patience ,gives me an evil look.While all the others have made their choice,I am the only one still trying to make up my mind. He takes his whip and hits me and says: “woman you have taken enough time, tell me at once what you want or you’ll get nothing to eat”.  This scares me a little,suddenly I have a mental block,I cannot think of anything.I get a second warning,’you have five minutes to decide’ I get anxious and spit out five foods ever so quickly,’I want tea,okra,egg plant, guava and rice’. The man gets impatient,’are you sure this is what you want’? I say,”yes, besides you only gave me five minutes and my brain is in knots.I cannot think .” After making my choice known I began to feel terrible.I wish I could think of more appealing foods than the ones I listed. It was time for breakfast,I noticed the others were having mouth-watering food and I was served tea and guava.I do like guava, but not for breakfast. The evil man came around to watch us eat,he noticed I was sitting quietly.Immediately he bawled and said,’ Why aren’t you eating, you got what you wanted,I’ll give you two minutes to finish your food? I felt like crying, I knew it was not going to make a dent in his system. I did what I had to do,drank my tea and ate the guava which was hard and green and totally bland.

 

I didn’t look forward for lunch,my choice was either okra ,rice or egg plant,out of the three rice was fine but out of egg plant and okra ,my fear was how are they going to cook it,do they know how to cook these vegetables. I didn’t have to wait too long,my lunch was rice and okra.The cook never saw okra before,he had no idea how to cook it.He took the easy way out,he boiled the okra. I was served sticky boiled okra with rice. Okra is a vegetable which is prepared with special care,it requires spices,oil  onion and salt,if you want to eat it with rice.This was beginning to be a nightmare for me.To avoid being bawled at or whipped by the giant,I slowly started swallowing the food.This was worse than medicine.

 

I knew what was left for me to eat for supper.I sat on the floor of the room and began to visualize what I want for supper.I would like some beef biriyani, a cucumber salad and for dessert a slice of cheesecake and water.I felt sleepy and went to sleep on the floor.I dreamt I was in a large dining hall,there were all kinds of food for us to eat.The waiter to my dismay brought me a large purple eggplant on a plate and handed it to me. I immediately screamed and told him to take it away,’I am not going to eat this useless thing’,I said.Suddenly I heard a thundering voice,’Yes you are,this is your choice.’ I slowly opened my eyes and saw him standing on top of me and pointing at the egg plant he said,’now eat’. This time I could not control my tears, I said ,’Oh God please don’t punish me,I’ll try to be a good person’. The whole five a day seemed to be a test for me.

 

Guava fruit on white background (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

Eggplant (Photo credit: AsianLifestyleDesign)

 

 

Bucket of raw Abelmoschus esculentus (okra) pods (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Getting Lost By R. Tagore___translated by Ranu

Getting Lost

My little daughter

she heard her friends calling her

she was going down the stairs to meet them

it was dark, she was scared ,she was taking careful steps.

She was holding a small open flame, little lamp,

she was cautiously keeping the lamp from the breeze with the corner of her sari.

I was on the roof watching the sky

in the dark night in springtime was full of stars.

Suddenly I heard my daughter crying

I ran down to see her.

While going down the stairs

a sudden gust of wind extinguished her lamp.

I asked her,’What is it Bami?’

She cried from downstairs, ‘I am lost.’

On that night of spring the sky was full of stars

I went back to the roof

while watching the stars I visualized as if I was a little girl like Bami

holding the corner of my blue sari

walking  alone ever so slowly protecting the lamp.

If the lamp was put out, stopped giving light suddenly,

there will be an echo of a tearful voice from the whole sky,’I am lost.’

Lahore—–Pakistan

Children at Data Durbar Complex (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Shrine in lahore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Food street Lahore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: A 4 Megapixel picture of Badshahi Mosque, Lahore, Pakistan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Aphie and Susan were interested in Mughal architecture.I knew they have already seen the ones in India.My idea was to take them to Lahore,and decide for themselves if there were any similarities and difference between Lahore and Delhi. I wanted them to visualize what they have seen in Delhi and compare it with Lahore.This might give us a chance to exchange ideas.We can also know our preferences.We know we all think differently,it would help to have a kind of debate on the subject.This way we can awaken the giant lying in all of us. Gepetto however was contented to see,enjoy and also from time to time give his input whenever it was feasible. We were satisfied with his reply.

Lahore is the capital of Punjab.It is the second largest city in Pakistan.It has a rich history going back over a millennium.Lahore was ruled by Shahi kingdoms in the eleventh century,Ghaznavids in the twelfth century,Mughal Empire in the sixteenth century.In the nineteenth and early twentieth century it was the capital of the Punjab region under the British Raj.

Mughal structures such as the Badshahi Mosque,The Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens and Mausolea of Jehangir and Nur Jehan are tourist attractions.It is also home to many British Colonial structures built in the Indo-Saracenic style,such as The Lahore High Court,The General Post Office,Lahore Museum,and many older universities including the University of Punjab.The Lahore zoo is,thought to be fourth oldest in the world,has its roots here.

It is known as the cultural heart of Pakistan.It hosts most of the arts,cuisine,festivals,film-making,music,gardening.It is known for its affiliation with poets and artists,It has the largest number of educational institutions in Pakistan and some of the finest gardens on the continent.It is an important religious centre.There are a lot of temples,mosques and shrines like Data Durbar Complex.

A 2010 government estimate puts the population of Lahore to be ten million.It is ranked thirtieth in the most populated urban areas in the world and the eighth largest city within the organization of Islamic co-operation.It has almost doubled area-wise in the last twelve to fourteen years.The Guardian has rated it as the second best tourist  destination in Pakistan.In the ancient days it was known as Lavapuri (or city of Lava in Sanskrit.It was founded by Lava or Loh. He was the son of Rama the Hindu deity.Even now ,Lahore fort has a vacant temple dedicated to Lava also pronouncedLoh,Loh-Awar or “The fort Of Loh”).

The twentieth century Egyptian Astronomer and Geographer mentions a city called Labokla .This probably is the ancient city of Lahore.The city of Lahore went through a lot of changes.It was ruled by a lot of different rulers. It is now a Pakistani city. It is also the capital of Punjab.

The climate of Lahore is hot and semi-arid.It has extremely hot summers and dry warm winters.

The Pakistan-Railways has its headquarter in Lahore.The central railway was built during the British Colonial era.It is located in the heart of the city. The government built a new city airport in 2003. It is named Allama Iqbal International Airport .It is named after the great,Poet-Philosopher of Pakistan. It also has a general aviation airport.

Punjabi is the native language of the Province. It has a number of hospitals,the current literary rate is 74%,

It is a beautiful city and has a variety of things to do and see. If possible one must try to visit this great city.

Susan,Alphie,Gepetto and I,Ranu had a great time in Lahore.If you are there,don’t forget to taste aaloo chholey.It is delicious.

We hope you all have enjoyed our presentation.Thank you for visiting. Thank you to all our friends,who take the time to leave their comments,what can I say they are a superb group of people!

Allah Hafiz and God bless you all,all the best till we meet again!

English: Sacred Heart Cathedral, Lahore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: The Punjab University Old Campus Building aka Allama Iqbal Campus Picture taken by Pale blue dot on June 21, 2004. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Shalamar Gardens is a Persian garden built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lahore Museum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)