Daily Prompt: Through the Window

Go to the nearest window. Look out for a full minute. Write about what you see.

I recall writing this prompt some time ago. the nearest window is the one in my bedroom. Since I’ve already looked out and expressed how awesome it looked through this window. my mind wants me to do the same with the one further away from me, it’s one facing the front of the house.

As I stood there William Wordsworth came to mind, what he would have written compared to   my meaningless  words. I went to my window further away, saw a runner plowing away trying to keep her body fit, while I looked on. There were two others a mother and daughter I presume racing with each other trying to see who can get there first, where I don’t know but the spectacle caught my attention.

Moving on I gazed at the majestic maple trees now in full bloom, green are their leaves and attractive. They know it wouldn’t last the ‘Fall’ would very cruelly shed their leaves on one stormy day and they’d be standing still with nothing to boast of, but  bare trees with naked branches.

On the material side I’m watching a group of men with their machines replacing the green grass with asphalt to convert the place into a parking lot, all because the owners want to make money by renting it to vehicle owners. I feel terrible the greenery is replaced by black tar.

This shows how we’d do anything to wipe out  traces of nature. Why do we complain about the weather, we are responsible for changing the climate, which reminds me, “you reap what you sow! 😦

Daily Prompts: Finite Creatures

At what age did you realize you were not immortal? How did you react to that discovery?

I have learned man is ephemeral at the tender age of twelve. I watched my father take his last breath. I came to the sad conclusion I’d never see him again.

Bit by bit I grew up knowing , every living thing comes to this world for a certain number of days, months or years that it varies from plants, to humans, to animals and so on. It was a constant worry for me that my mom like my dad will leave us some day, when it happened I was far away from home, no one saw my tears and did not understand how painful it was for me to lose my mom too.

This I told myself is the cycle of life : we are born, grow up slowly, reach adulthood, get old our organs go through the process of deterioration, the clock of life tells us the journey is over and we must leave. The cycle is complete.

I always knew legendary status is not for me. I will never be remembered like Hitler, thank God for that. He was so brutal,who would like to be remembered as he is reminisced about  today.

But Tagore is a legend who has claimed the status of immortality by his life’s work. He was the youngest of his siblings but his name so far has not disappeared from our hearts, as long as we “The Bengalis” are alive Tagore’s name will be alive.

William Wordsworth’s poetry will always warm our hearts and we will say how great he was.

Who can forget Longfellow’s poem : “Tell me not in mournful numbers , life is but an empty dream.”

Yet another poet and Philosopher is worthy of mention in the long line of legends is Iqbal: The following is one of his many poems we love and repeat:

Two planets meeting face to face ,

One to the other cried ‘How sweet

If endlessly we might embrace,

And here forever stay! how sweet

If Heaven a little might relent,

And leave our light in one light blent!’

 

But through that longing to dissolve

In one,the parting summons sounded.

Immutably the stars revolve,

By changeless orbits each is bounded;

Eternal union is a dream,

And severance the world’s law supreme.

I’ve always known I am not immortal. It wasn’t a surprise for me. I did not have any reaction!

……………………………………….. 🙂

Blogging 101,Day Four: Identify Your Audience

Today’s assignment: publish a post you’d like your ideal audience member to read, and include a new-to-you element in it.

Today I have chosen Rabindranath Tagore my favorite poet to write about. Tagore’s poems and song lyrics portrays everything from nature, to human misery, to happiness, he has covered it all.

I will write his poems and song lyrics which is all about nature. I am positive, he felt the same as William Wordsworth who wrote and I quote here: The world is too much with us ; late and soon, getting and spending , we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours; we have given our hearts away, a sordid boon.

Tagore loved Nature which is why he hated to study in an enclosed building. Humans should have the freedom to enjoy nature. With this in mind, he built the school named, Shanti Niketon(house of peace) here students studied outdoors, they had the freedom to move around.

Tagore loved children, he wrote song lyrics and poems with children on his mind.One reason could be he lost his mother when he was very young, this probably encouraged him to write poems about the interaction of a child with his/her mother.

I have known Tagore’s poems from a very early age, partly because the poet and I speak the same language i.e. Bengali ,I lived in Bengal, my parents were Bengalis. I am very fond of poetry and Music, Tagore’s work provided all of that.

Today I have embedded  a children’s song , the lyrics are written by Tagore. The subject is “Freedom”.

This is my translation:

Let us have freedom,do not hold us back

just like the birds in the woods that  fly around happily

Like the heavy rain, that falls without resistance

Like the  bondless  clouds and wind that move around in the skies

Like the dance of the firewood that encircles everything

Like the thunder that roars from the cloud

Like the roar of uncontrolled laughter where there is no barrier.

Let us have freedom, do not hold us back!

 

This is my day four assignment. I have tried to attract those adults who are children at heart as I am.

…………………………………………….. 🙂

 

 

DP Daily Prompt: Seat Guru

You get to plan a dinner party for 4 –8 favorite writers/artists/musicians/other notable figures, whether dead or alive. Who do you seat next to whom in order to inspire the most fun evening?

This will be an interesting prompt for me to do. My guests are :Allama Iqbal,Jalal ud-din Rumi, Rabindranath Tagore, William Wordsworth, Hemant Kumar, Waheed Murad, Mohammad Rafi and Roger and Hammerstein.

Now the seating arrangement has to be special for my honorable guests.  I’ll put Allama Iqbal beside Rumi; Tagore and William Wordsworth would be comfortable beside each other;  Waheed Murad and Mohammad Rafi at his side will be awesome; Hemant Kumar the musician will fare well with Rodgers and Hammerstein the duo. Since all these are celebrities, I have decided to have catering service.

There is going to be some restrictions about food. I’ll ask for chicken and fish to be served, for beverage water is the best, it’ll keep everyone happy, for dessert I’ll order a few e.g cheese balls in syrup for Tagore and Hemant Kumar; Cheesecake for Wordsworth,Rodgers and Hammerstein; I’m hoping Waheed Murad,Rafi Iqbal and Rumi would love Persian dessert.

Dinner was a success, all the guests enjoyed the food served.  It’s time for tea or coffee, during this time the guests will be energized to speak to each other. There in the corner I can hear Rumi and Iqbal having a deep conversation,I quietly walked over, this is what Iqbal asked Rumi, “How could one make his journey towards immortality?”

This is what Rumi said, “It is like a  rebirth. Just as you arrive in this world through a birth, another birth takes you out of this world. However, this rebirth comes through the inner strength of Love. Remember, the essence of humanity is the power to see God: The body cannot hinder your flight once the power of true Love takes over the soul.”

I wanted to stay and continue to listen, but I am the host I must walk around and treat all my guests equally well. I went over to see if Tagore or Wordsworth needed anything, they didn’t even notice I was there, Wordsworth was explaining to Tagore what influenced him to write the poem “Daffodils”.

Suddenly I heard a heated dialogue between Waheed Murad and Rafi, they were discussing the song in Waheed Murad’s movie Armaan, Rafi was asking what exactly was the meaning of the song, my ears were ready to grasp the lyrics, Waheed explained it was not meant to be an ordinary love song, it talks about Love but in a different sense, between two states that were united once and split, but are trying to settle their difference spiritually. I couldn’t hear all of it.

Rodgers and Hammerstein called me, they were planning to play the music of “Edelweiss,” I was delighted I told them to go ahead, to my surprise the cast of the movie, ‘The Sound Of Music’, appeared and were ready to sing the song.

The dinner went well, they all enjoyed listening to the song. I had a great time!

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/dp-daily-prompt-seat-guru/