Stinged!(55 words)

“Can you come?”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

I listened for some more time and went out.

We worked at it just the way we had thought and went our ways.

We both had fulfilled our resolution to catch him before the coming New Year.

THE MINISTER resigned. He had been caught on camera for propositioning a girl.

Resolutions...

my resolutions
made before morning light
escaped at twilight

John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden

John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” is a fascinating book that traces out story of two generations of two families whose lives are somehow interlinked. We can say that its by chance rather than design. Their lives are correlated to land and nature as was the norm in those times and even now we can see that in our world. In that way nothing has changed in all those years. The rebuilding of the man in the face of adversity, the tenacity of mind and body, mind eternally seeking and questioning, trying to find answers for his faith and belief and in some case just acceptance.

Are we not all questing to find answers about ourselves, our convictions or about the paradox called life?

It has well etched characters….so well that we can identify with them.

LEE: I think he is one of best character in the book. He is unlike any other servant. He himself says that a servant can be the master of the man he is serving. But we never see him imposing on Adam Trask at any place. He is more of a family to them than anyone else. He is the one who brings up Cal and Aron single handedly. It is he who keeps them together. He is practical, down to earth and lots of philosophy going inside him. Even when he leaves for his dream bookstore, we want him to come back as soon as he leaves. He does come back when he realizes that it is only thing he wants and they are the only family he ever had. Hence we see him unpacking his things and making a home for himself. It is he who teaches about choices and from him we learn that it is what we want ourselves to be and not the blood, which flows within us. His study of the Old Testament goes much beyond mere academic interest. He reminds us of Timshel----“thou Mayest.”

LISA: Somehow she made a great impression in my mind. Loaded with faith, belief, practicality and hard work, she knew how to look after her large family. She with her no frills, no nonsense attitude reminds me of the matriarchs of our own land. As long as there is plenty of food on the table, other things did not bother her. She kept her family together and accepted life and death, as they should be.

TOM and DESSI are like any other brother and sister…. loving and affectionate. Despite that they could not communicate with each other as both had a few demons to slay and did not want the other to worry about those. Maybe if they had shared, both would have lived. Maybe….who knows…

CAL and ARON: of the twins Cal is more interesting. He behaves like any other sibling in the circumstances where he knows that his brother is more loved and favoured. Just one look at Aron, everyone loves him but Cal has to fight for it. Most of us have gone through these phases in some way or the other. So we can identify with him. Best thing about Cal is, he knows what he does is wrong but in his jealousy he does not realize it. It comes later after the deed is done. He has deep love for his father and his twin, Aron. He does not hate his mother either. He is simply indifferent towards her.

Aron lives in a world of his own. Where everything is perfect. Only goodness and brightness prevails. Even the girl he loves is perfect in his eyes with no flaws. He cannot accept imperfection. He cannot accept that his mother is a whore. He seeks escape the only way he knows by joining the army.

CATHY/KATE: Much has been written about her. She being evil, a monster, what drove her to it no one knows. But we do see flashes of loneliness. I think even she was not aware of those. In her world, there is no place for any one other than herself…no one and nothing. She is beyond redemption.

Like in this timeless novel, East of Eden, we can still find people just like those. We have Sams, Lees, Adams, Charles, Lisas, Toms, Cals, Arons and above all Cathys amongst us. Good and evil have to coexist or how do we distinguish one from the other. If there is GOD, there is SATAN too.

Christmas Celebrations for me....

Christmas celebration for me..............

....is exchanging greetings.

....being with my mom, three brothers and their families.

....buying gifts for everyone.

....holiday seasons gets into the spirit.


Though traditionally we do not celebrate Christmas but we have all been together on XMas Day as long as I remember..

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY BLOGGER FRIENDS!!!!!

Reflection......Ecphrasis!!

A CHILD'S THOUGHTS

After one look at him, the child turned towards GOD.

“Oh my God!" Is he my future?”

“Yes, my child, he is.”

“But he looks so wrinkled and queer.”

“Does he?”

“Yes.”

“Do not look a t his outer appearances. See what’s beneath it. Learn from him, his wisdom, his worldly experiences, his thoughts about life. Carefully absorb what he tells you. And child, don’t you see the love in his eyes?

“Yes, I can.”

“Enjoy and savour that. He is the only one who will love you unconditionally, without any reservations. He will pamper you and indulge you…….”

“Wow!”

“Yes, my child, after you get to know him, you will love him and want to be just like him.”

“Thank you GOD. For making me see light.”

“Bless you my child.”

God disappeared leaving the child and his grandparent alone together.
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Grand Parent's Yearnings/Blessings!

In you, I see a part of me
You, I bless with all my heart


How I wish to be as innocent as you
How I wish to be as young as you
How I wish to be as sweet as you
How I wish to have more time with you

How I wish to be part of your life
How I wish to watch you grow
How I wish you teach you all about life
How I wish just to be with you


Go ahead and see the world
Learn to live and learn to love
Do not grab but only give
Remember what goes round comes around

What you sow is what you reap
What you give is what you get
Remember this diktat, my child
Love is what makes the world go about

Give unconditionally and watch the fun
No more hatred, killing none.
This is what I can teach.
Before I go, before I sleep.

But now my day has come
I have to go, have to leave
HE has plans for me unknown
Smile for me and let me go!

The race goes on……..

Slowie the tortoise and fastie the hare started the race just as their ancestors had done. From the same place.

Fastie was out of range in no time, throwing dust on his way.

Poor Slowie! He trudged along wearily but was not defeated. He knew of the old story where his grandfather had won the race. So he kept along, not pausing anywhere in between.

When he reached the half-way mark, he saw Fastie sleeping so peacefully. He smiled and with a burst of energy, he walked along with gusto….

When he reached there, he saw Fastie nibbling a carrot at the finishing line. But he could not recall the hare running past him. "May be I had missed him," he thought and walked away dejectedly.
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He never realised it was Fastest,the identical twin of Fastie! Both had planned this for years!

Rescue...Part 2...55er!

“You?”

“Yes.”

Short while ago, he had been damning her to hell but had saved her from drowning!!

“What happened?”

“Bill left me.”

“Huh?”

“Will you take me back?”

“I love you.”

”Me too.”

He held her close, kissing her with deep passion. Slowly he held her away from him.

“Goodbye,” he said walking away.

Emptiness

What is emptiness?
Only a state of mind
thoughts filled in

Crumbling with time....Ecphrasis

What use is this mausoleum built of stone?
Which will anyway crumble with time.
I will use words to shroud my rotting bone.
Neither do I want pyramids as a shrine.
Wishing by the light of sun and moon,
Rustling winds whispering name that’s mine


Picture Courtsey: Ashish Gorde of Eureka Express

When one writes prose or poetry inspired by a painting or a photograph or an image of any sort it is known as Ecphrasis.

All is lost

“What am I supposed to do now?” he asked himself looking at his basket of bananas.

“How do I tell him to let her go? Holding on to the past has lost us everything, our banana grooves, depleted our finances, and for what?”

“Here I am selling the bananas from the same garden which I owned once and all he does is look at her grave.”

“There he goes, sitting always at the same place. And never giving another thought for me or the poor kids of his.”

The old man kept talking to himself. Their only source of livelihood now was selling bananas in front of the mausoleum which his son had built for his beloved wife…..after selling everything they had owned.

Picture courtsey: Ashish Gorde from Eureka Express( see my blog link)

Lucky?.....(55 words)

“Ouch.” It just missed being hit.

“It will only take a while.” The voice was disembodied.

“Please, I cannot take it anymore.” Very timidly.

“Just relax.”

All this seemed to come from so faraway.

“Congratulations.”

It had been spared the ordeal of being killed in the womb, as it turned out to be a HE.

Where and how do I write?

When a seed of an idea comes into my mind, I just play around with it in my head. With a stub of a pencil, I put that on a piece of paper in no particular order. I do it sitting amidst my students. Watching them fills me with creativity and only then I can write......

I need endless cups of tea....or just plain hot milk.....

I work on my obsolete PC for the finishing product. Thank GOD for small mercies!

Reunion.....

“At last.” He thought, waiting for her to check out. He was elated as he was going to see her after 12 years.

Though they had been corresponding for all those years but had had no opportunity to meet. He remembered her as the chubby faced pigtailed teenager.

And she had refused to send her picture, as she hated being photographed. Not even to him, who loved her so much.

Anyways, it did not matter now. She will be there in front of him in a few minutes. He was getting impatient, though.

There she was. He would have recognised her anywhere. She looked just the way he had visualised her.

She looked around and saw him. "Hello," she said shyly.

“My, my, how you have grown! And you look so good,” he replied.

“So do you,” She said, poking her finger into his chest and hugged him close.” I have missed you all these years.”

Hugging her back, he said, “So have I, little sister.”

55 Fiction.............What is it......

The first rule of 55 Fiction writers may seem obvious, but it's broken more often than you might think. One should remember that these are fiction, not essays or poems or errant thoughts.

A lot of people have a hard time getting that straight, no doubt because they have a hard time believing that writing something so short is really possible. They usually end up with only part of a story, often with their character stranded in a situation going nowhere.

So although some may have a more complex definition of just what constitutes a "story," for our purposes, a story is a story only if it contains the following four elements: 1) a setting; 2) a character or characters; 3) conflict; and 4) resolution.

For those who think this is limiting their creativity, consider for a moment that:

* All stories have to be happening someplace, which means they have to have a setting of some kind, even if it's the other side of the universe, the inner reaches of someone's mind, or just the house next-door.

* Characters can have infinite variations. People, animals, clouds, microbes. Anything.

* By conflict, we merely mean that in the course of the story, something has to happen. The lovers argue. The deer flees. The astronauts wait in anticipation. Even in this last example, something is happening, even though no one is moving or talking. There is conflict, which leads us to:

* The outcome of the story, known also as the resolution. This doesn't necessarily mean that there's a moral ("Justice is its own reward," "In the end, love triumphs"), or even that the conflict itself is resolved. It may or may not be.

But what it does mean is that when the story ends, someone has to have learned something.

In this genre, there are no descriptive adverbs or adjectives, but the reader should be able to see the entire scene perfectly. The author stretches the form by having his story start even before his narrative begins, and end beyond his final phrase, making it seem longer than just 55 words.

The main advantage to suggestion is conveying information economically. When the reader knows what you're talking about without your saying so, fewer words are needed. The disadvantage, of course, is losing sight of whether the reader is following you. Too much suggestion becomes obscure and confusing. That's a common error. So is trying to tell too complicated a story in such a tiny space. This 55 Fiction demands a tight focus.

Telling a story in a traditional narrative mode is probably the best approach for new writers, but keep in mind that 55 Fiction encourages experimentation.

MOST IMPORTANT:

It should be a whole story, not a broken thought.