Daily prompt: Only Sixteen

Tell us about the person you were when you were sixteen. If you haven’t yet hit sixteen, tell us about the person you want to be at sixteen.

When I was sixteen, I was a first year student in a local co-ed. college. I had a few friends, one of them felt sorry for me, because she knew my sister-in -law before I knew her, she didn’t think too highly of her. As time passed I became aware what my new friend told me.

I wasn’t fond of the new addition in our family, but was afraid to express my opinion for I was scared of my eldest brother who was her husband.

I remember my brother was not nice anymore he believed his wife and she took full advantage of our insecurity. At some point I believed this torture will  come to an end. I will be free to lead my life independently and my brother won’t be able to threaten me.

I carried the feeling of dislike towards both and a few years later, refused an invitation to his house for dinner. He told me he bought prawns, my favorite shell fish, and his wife would cook it for me. I told him, “You eat your prawns I’m not interested.”

My sister thought I was cruel to refuse the invitation. I didn’t think so, the way he treated me and the younger siblings left a scar too deep to forgive him.

I know if Dad was alive I’d have a wonderful time, but too bad he wasn’t and I had a tough time at that young age.

Even though I stayed quiet, the love and respect I had for my brother vanished forever. My home circumstances taught me to mistrust everyone when I was sixteen. I know it’s a terrible thing , I cannot write an amazing story when I was sixteen, it would be a lie if I did.

………………………………. 🙂

 

Daily Prompt: History of Language

Write a piece of fiction describing the incident that gave rise to the phrase, “third time’s the charm.” 🙂

Sorry for delaying this post.

“Third Time’s The charm.”

Hebert a wood cutter, went into a nearby forest to bring some logs to heat his little hut. He carried his axe and the other things he needed in his wheelbarrow. As he walked along the path to the forest, he was stopped by a man who wanted to know where he could get an axe just like his. Hebert was unhappy, the man had taken too much of his time with small talk, the clouds in the sky threatened to pour moisture any moment. Disgusted he turned around and headed home.

At home his wife was waiting for the wood. The empty wheelbarrow annoyed her, she at once started to accuse him of laziness. Hebert was in no mood to explain why he came back without the wood.

It was cold that night,Hebert learned a lesson,he must never try to talk to any passersby while he was going to take care of an important job.

Next morning he went along the same path ignoring everyone he met, singing a very merry tune. He heard a groan followed by a loud noise, at first he could not figure out where the noise came from, he boldly went ahead, what he saw frightened him, there were two black bears fighting with each other over a dead deer. Both wanted all  parts of the deer to himself .

Hebert thought it best to return home, he had no desire to face two angry bears. His wife was waiting for him for the much needed wood, seeing the empty wheelbarrow for the second day in a row, made her absolutely crazy, she yelled, she cried, she swore, but Hebert took it in strides, he believed it was no use confronting an angry spouse. Dejected he went to sleep without eating anything.

He had a strange dream that night. In his dream he saw a woman who looked like an Angel, “Hebert, she said, “I understand what you’re going through, do not give up,go back to the woods tomorrow you will see what you want to see.”

This was his third  morning,  Hebert, dressed up had a pot of juice, and went on his way to get the wood he was struggling to get the past two days.

On his way, he met a jovial clown who said, “I really wish you good fortune today!”

Hebert was delighted, may be this will be a bright day for him.

Hebert was ecstatic, he was smiling as he walked along the path leading to the woods, there above him he saw scores of mynahs on the branch of a tree saying: ” Hello Hebert, are you going to chop some wood in the forest for your little hut, you will see what you will see?”

Hebert did not know what to think, what was he going to see was disturbing him. He walked about a mile, what he saw  totally baffled him. Lined up  in front of him were a group of elves with carts full of chopped up wood. They were arguing with each other to give their cart full  to the nice stranger.One of them sang in his loudest voice,” Third Time’s the Charm, Third Time’s the Charm, You know Hebert,Third Time’s the Charm, fill up your wheelbarrow and take it to your good wife, she’s waiting Hebert, do not delay!”

Hebert was so happy he cried, he told himself he will always remember , “Third Time’s the Charm!”

……………………………… 🙂

 

 

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: Cut Off

When was the last time you felt really, truly lonely?

It was a while ago, my mother went to the village to see her sister-in-law, although my eldest brother and his wife were there, I felt uncomfortable and lonely. My brother had just married, and he was one of those men who was always ready to scold us whenever his new bride complained against us.

During this time my aunt(Mom’s youngest sister) came for a visit with her children and uncle also came. Mom left us a servant who she thought would help us. I hate to say it he was dumber than dumb. All he would do whenever I asked him to do something he’d  find a room and fall asleep. My aunt I’m not sure if she ever did any house work, she was a housewife lacking the skills of being one.

It was just me fourteen years old taking care of cooking, even gave a bath to her infant daughter, aunt would sit around and gab. those were the times I missed my mom and dad, I felt lonely I worked day in and day out but never heard a single “Thank You”. My mom was visiting her brother and his wife and dad died when I was twelve. I never had a soul to talk to. my younger siblings were scared of big brother so they kept out of sight.

Those were the kind of days I wished no one should face!

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/dp-daily-prompt-cut-off/

DP Daily Prompts: Easy Fix

Write a post about any topic you wish, but make sure it ends with “And all was right in the world.”

2014 ATP World Tour Finals :

In 2014 ATP World Tour Finals was played in London,England.Eight players qualified to play this tennis championship.

There were two Swiss players who successfully qualified for this year-end tennis championship. They were 1. Roger Federer and 2. Stan Wawrinka.

Both these players did well in the early rounds and each successfully reached the semi-finals. They are very good friends, no one thought the outcome of this match may break their friendship.

Wawrinka was ahead of Federer it seemed he’d win the match, but Federer somehow turned it around and won the match.

Wawrinka was furious he claimed Federer’s wife distracted his game, this resulted in a serious argument between the two players. Unfortunately Federer could not play the final match due to back injury.

The two were in the finals of Davis Cup against France, everyone was certain Switzerland will take the trophy but Federer’s back injury and the quarrel of the two great friends put a damper on the expectation of Switzerland’s tennis fans and the captain of the team.

A week after the World Tour Finals, Wawrinka and Federer made it known they were friends and they were ready to play the final ,”Davis Cup Championship .”

Federer lost the  first match he played against Monfils, Wawrinka won his match against Tsonga. The score was one all. French team were optimistic of winning the championship.

Federer won the third match against Gasquet, now the Swiss team was ahead by one match. The French team hoped the doubles match will make the score even. The Swiss Captain took a chance and put Wawrinka and Federer to play in the doubles match instead of the players who were chosen first.

The Swiss doubles team Of Federer and Wawrinka won the doubles match and brought the cup home, “And all was right in the world.”

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/dp-daily-prompts-easy-fix

DP Daily Prompts: Call Me Ishmael

Take the first sentence from your favorite book and make it the first sentence of your post.

“So, then. You want a story and I will tell one.”

I just want to caution you readers, please do not be sad, sadness is a part of life, this woman seems to have the lion’s share in this department, or God thought she  can endure it better than anyone in her family.

This story begins in a very small town, there are only ten thousand people here, it includes men women and children old and young.

My story focuses on a particular family, there was the wife the husband and soon there was an addition a child. The parents spent most of their free time looking after her.

Then the wife gets a job she has to leave the little infant in the care of a baby sitter, it was not something the parents wanted to do, the times were difficult two jobs were better than one.

Days were passing by smoothly until the first baby sitter decided to quit her job. It was a trying time for the parents, they were looking for another baby sitter, luckily they found one.

She was the mother of five children, she was looking for a job any job, baby sitting was not the kind of  job she wanted, she accepted it as she waited for some other lucrative job. In the meantime the small family of three were happy to find someone to take care of their little one.

Two years and some months later there was an addition to the family another daughter, meanwhile the family needed another baby sitter to look after two babies the previous   baby sitter left after she landed a very good job.

The family found one, this new baby sitter was very helpful, she not only looked after the two kids, she also baked bread and cooked dinner for the family. Life was good the kids were happy and so were the parents.

The kids passed different stages of their life and soon they were leaving home for higher studies. After completion they went their separate ways for jobs in cities they liked. They were successful.

The second child however always told her sister, she wants to live as far away from her parents as possible, she was finally in control of her destiny, and did not feel the need for parents because it would mean having them over and entertaining them,she didn’t mind making the occasional phone call    she didn’t want to lose her  inheritance  after the death of the parents.The second one is happy, she has her own place, to make sure none of her parents came to visit her she emailed her mother, she said,”I only want to have a courteous relationship with you.”

This was unexpected the mother had just finished saying her morning prayer, she turned her computer on  and found this message, as shocking as it was she did not delay writing her back, she wrote “You do not need to have any kind of relationship courteous or otherwise.” then she mailed it!

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/dp-daily-promp…all-me-ishmael/

365 Writing Prompts: Hear no evil

Tell us about a conversation you couldn’t help but overhear and wish you hadn’t.

I did overhear something I wish I didn’t. My husband invited some of his friends to dinner one day. All his friends knew he was a Bengali and his wife was a Bengali too.

One of my husband’s friend was from Karachi where Urdu is spoken by most people.I learned Urdu when I was very young, we had neighbors who spoke it.

My husband’s friend seemed to be in a sour mood that day, he called his friend to talk to him about his family problem. I understood what he said.He didn’t think anyone in that party knew his language, unfortunately I heard everything he said against his wife. I did not try, he spoke loud enough for us to hear, only I was the one who understood everything he said.If this is overhearing I am guilty.

This happened to me once, our British Prof. was walking past us one day, I told my classmate in Urdu, “Oh look Mr. Baird is coming!” He quietly walked by without saying anything.

Next day in the classroom, he told us, “Oh by the way, Miss Sabeth speaks very good Urdu.”

I was so embarrassed I did not know what to say, Mr. Baird was a linguist, he lived in India for two years,I had no idea!

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/365-writing-pr…s-hear-no-evil

365 Writing Prompts: Sad but true

Tell us about the harshest ,most difficult to hear— but accurate criticism you’ve ever gotten. Does it still apply?

When I was fourteen my newly married eldest brother, told me I was never going to be anything,because I did not put in the time to study, he was going to marry me off to a farmer, according to him ,it was the best punishment for me.

His new wife complained I was watching too many movies and wasting my time, I had only watched one movie with my aunt who wanted company, and asked me if I’d go with her to watch a movie.

My sister-in- law was peeved because she was not invited, she complained I was not studying.

The criticism was not accurate, I wasn’t a poor student, he knew that, he had to please his wife.

It certainly didn’t apply then and not now either.

Since that time I have successfully completed all the courses of studies I registered for. In the ensuing years he never repeated those terrible words, I did not give him any reason to.

One thing I’m sure about is my father, if he was alive then and heard my brother say those words to me, he’d tell him to pack his bags and leave.

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/365-writing-pr…s-sad-but-true/

DP Daily Prompt: Long Exposure

Among the people you’ve known for a long time, who is the person who’s changed the most over the years? Was the change for the better?

There is one friend I’ve known for a long time. We became friends from the day we met, she is very understanding, she’s one of those friends who’ll spend hours listening to you.She stays away from giving any advice. It’s not always possible to give the right one, I am not interested to get it   from anyone unless I ask for it.

Over the years I’ve found her the same good friend, I haven’t seen much change in her. She is a devoted wife and mother, it hasn’t changed.

She has a few health issues, it’s not unlikely to have them if we don’t take care of ourselves. She loves company and too frequently she visits other friends for dinner.

Dinner invitations is a big thing in our culture, the foods prepared our usually very rich, then added to it is the time when it’s eaten. I watch TV where they advise us to stop eating after 7 pm this rule is never followed at our parties, eating rich food after 10 pm and going to bed shortly after is a big No according to Dr. Oz.

My friend and her husband love this food and they have it at least four times a week. This is why she has health issues. She is easy going and does not take life seriously when it comes to food.

She is very good- natured and I  value her friendship.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/dp-daily-prompt-5/