#SoCS Sept. 28/19

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “ent” “ten” “net.” Use one, use two or use all three (bonus points for using two, double-bonus points for using all three). As Linda would say, use ’em any way you’d like. Enjoy!

The prompt ‘ent’ immediately brought to mind Entwood and Treebeard in Lord of the Rings. I loved Treebeard and loved reading about his life. Just imagine trees walking about. I wonder what would have happened if they could do that now. With trees being destroyed in the name of development, where would they run to?

Coming back to Lord of The Rings, I read it to my son in 1994 when he was in 4th std. He had just completed ten years. He has a vision problem called Retinitis Pigmentosa from birth. I love reading and cannot imagine life without books. I did not want him to miss that wonderful world of books. I used to read to him right from the time he could understand books. I still remember those days. It took us forty days to complete the book. The story pulled us into its net and we lived in the Middle Earth. I don’t know how many times I have read the book over the years, sometimes the whole book, sometime in parts and it has never bored me. My son too loved the book. He has BBC adaptation of the story and has listened to it many, many times. The story-telling is very good.

I liked the movie too. Usually movies based on books do not live up to our expectations. Maybe what the director imagines is not what we imagine. I still remember watching The Count of Monte Christo. It is one of my favourite books. And the movie was so bad, the whole story was changed. I was disgusted and decided never to watch movie made from my favourite books. I was very hesitant about watching Lord of the Rings. I did not want to be disappointed. And I was not disappointed.

But, reading a book and imagining that world is any day better than watching it on the silver screen.

RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #272 Empty&Whole

Pain in empty hearts
Heal when filled with warmth and love
Become whole again.

Lollipops (Sunday Photo fiction)

Advaith loves lollipops. There is something very satisfying about them. He sees the shape of a lollipop everywhere. Recently, he was enjoying his vacations in his grandparents’ home. It was the rainy season. He and his sister loved to splash about in the water holding umbrellas.

He liked to explore nearby places with his grandfather. There was a small stream nearby. He loved to make paper boats and run after them as they floated gown the stream. His grandfather enjoyed telling him about the different plants, their flowers and seeds. The wild fruits were tasty too.

One day his grandfather wanted to show him something which he thought would fascinate Advaith. They set out early in the morning to the mountains with sandwiches and lollipops of course. Advaith wondered what his grandfather wanted to show him. They walked along a path when he stopped in surprise and wonder. In front of them were giant lollipops. Some of them looked as if they had been eaten. He knew they were not lollipops but he hoped they were. There would be so much to eat. The duo approached the beautiful plants. Looking at them the grandson wished they were really lollipops.
(199 words)

Photo credit : Morguefile

Everyday Moments (#SOL-2019)

My weekly Slice of Life are my letters to my Doddamma. She is my father’s elder brother’s wife. Doddamma literally means ‘elder mother’. She is 88 years old. She cannot hear properly if I telephone to talk to her. So, I have been writing letters to her since October 2017. I enjoy writing letters and she is happy to read them. They are only about the everyday moments in my life. I post my letters to her every week.

23-09-19
Today afternoon I went to Asare, home for the mentally challenged. I go there thrice a week. My friend and her husband started the institution as their daughter has Downs syndrome. Then our university joined hands and the institution is managed jointly. My friend’s parents were married for seventy years. Their son and family live with them. Her mother passed away on the 19th. She was 85. My friend is worried about her father who is 95. He is surrounded by a loving family but he will feel lonely.

I finished reading a fascinating book called The Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh. I have decided to take a small break from books. We speak Kannada at home and I am learning to type in Kannada. The keyboard is in English and each letter stands for a Kannada letter and there are combination of letters. It is complicated but interesting 😊.

I was reading about the beginning of fall in one of the slices. Here we do not have that season. After the rains stop summer starts but the weather becomes really hot from March. This is the second day without rains and people are worried that it might stop, it happened last year. We have to be prepared for water scarcity next year. But, at present the weather is nice, lots of flowers are blooming. Early morning when I go to the verandah I feel the fragrance of ‘sampige’ from our neighbour’s garden, parijatha and ‘country roses’ in our garden . They are small in size and hardier than the hybrid ones.

I made chutney powder with barley and two types of dal and red chillies. This time I did not add dry coconut. It has become a little too spicy But I don’t make too much at a time. I make little so that it finishes soon and I can make something fresh.
One afternoon we went out for lunch. It was after a long time. The food was good. There are many eating places in our place. Ours is a University town and a large student population. Earlier there were not so many places to eat. Sometimes I wonder if all of them do good business.

Every evening we try to go for a walk. We meet acquaintances and stop to exchange greetings. But on Wednesdays two of my neighbours and I meet, sit and talk. Otherwise we never get to talk to each other and time passes. Soon October will begin and before we realise the year will end.

“Time and words can’t be recalled, even if it was only yesterday.” Yiddish Proverb

Kannada – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannada

Sampige Magnolia champaca – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_champaca

 

 

#SoCS Sept. 21/19

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “wrap/rap.” Use one, use both (for bonus points), use ’em any way you’d like. Enjoy!

The assistant in the book shop rapped on the table to draw my attention to see if I liked the colourful paper she was using to wrap the books I had purchased as a gift. I had been looking at the books on the shelves, lost in another world. I did not hear her calling to me. Her rapping brought me back to this world. Book shops and libraries have been my favourite places.

Long back when my children were small I used to buy books for them. We still have them. I don’t think I will discard them. For the past many years I have stopped buying books. Our son buys books which he thinks should be collected. Books have become so costly so I borrow books from the library. I just finished reading the autobiography of a loved writer, Ruskin Bond called Lone Fox Dancing. I loved the book. I am now reading Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh. It is a fascinating book.

Books take us to so many different worlds. At this moment I remember the quote I had once read- ‘People who say they have only one life to lead do not read books.’ So true. Earlier I had read a book which covered nine generations and in the book I moved in space and in time. Moving from the past to the present brought home to me the very small span of our life. I felt as if we were only a grain of sand on the beach. And life goes on. Changes happen but so much remains the same. That is life.

On this note I will wrap my stream of consciousness here. I enjoy Stream of consciousness because it is fascinating how our thoughts move from one topic to another.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Stacked

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF THINGS THAT ARE STACKED.

A few months ago I read about making bread in food site which I follow.

https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/100-whole-wheat-bread-atta-bread/

I have been experimenting and we are liking the result 😊

Last week I made bread and vegetable soup.

 

 

The Shadow (Sunday Photo Fiction)

Rupa stared at the chairs with tears in her eyes. She remembered that day when she had hurled other chairs in a fit of despair and anger. Anger against her mother who had never cared for her deaf and mute daughter. She gave her food but nothing else. Rupa believed that her mother did not even think of her as a human being. She had not even noticed the bruises in Rupa’s hands and legs. She had not seen the fear in her daughter’s eyes and in her whole body. Rupa had been only twelve at that time.

Her sister, who was much older than her, was away at college in another city. She had come home for vacations. She noticed that Rupa had changed a lot. She saw the bruises and asked her about it. Rupa broke down but managed to convey her fears and misery to her sister. Her sister was shocked and traumatized by Rupa’s terrible ordeal. The two then started living with their grandmother. Her love started the healing process. Rupa completed her studies and started working. She was happy but at unexpected moments memories would surface. The wound had healed but the scar remained.
(200 words)

Photo credit : Pixabay

Everyday Moments ( # SOL-2019)

My weekly Slice of Life are my letters to my Doddamma. She is my father’s elder brother’s wife. Doddamma literally means ‘elder mother’. She is 88 years old. She cannot hear properly if I telephone to talk to her. So, I have been writing letters to her since October 2017. I enjoy writing letters and she is happy to read them. They are only about the everyday moments in my life. I post my letters to her every week.

18-09-19
These are sunny days, the rains have become less but early mornings are cloudy and it rains. Even now when I think of the month of June I wonder about those days- no rains and water scarcity. We were so worried. But days go by.

Last Sunday we went to our village to spend the day with my father-in-law and brother-in-law. My father-in-law is 94 and he lives in his own world but he is able to do his daily activities. For the first time he could not recollect who we were. It was sad. But later he understood. We spent the day with him and returned in the evening.

On the 14th evening we had our book club meeting. We discuss the books we have read in the previous month. It is nice to talk about books and related topics. Once some years ago we all read one book but somehow we did not continue with that. It is interesting that we all enjoy different types of books but some books are enjoyed by all.

On the 11th we were shocked to here that a distant relative had committed suicide by jumping into the river not far from his home. His body has not been found. It is difficult to understand why people give up their lives. They must be in such despair. And those who have gone are gone, but the state of mind of those who are left behind ! It is traumatic when our near ones die due to accidents or due to health reasons. But it must be so difficult to come to terms when they commit suicide.

I have been going to Asare, the home for the mentally challenge, going there is a part of my life. Evening walks too are a nice part of our lives.

There is a Parijatha tree in our yard and it is a pleasure to see the flowers every morning. These flowers bloom at night and fall to ground early morning. They are my favourite flowers. They are simple and beautiful.

I posted my letter to my Doddamma yesterday and I have sent photos of our grandchildren to her. She likes to look at photos.

“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change.”                                                                   Buddha

Nyctanthes arbor-tristis – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyctanthes_arbor-tristis

 

 

RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #270 Pure&Serene

Serene is the soul
Which sees pure silver linings
Behind the dark clouds.

#SoCS Sept. 14/19

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “blue.” Talk about the first blue object you see when you sit down to write your post. Have fun!

For the last two or three days it has been difficult to open my WordPress account. In fact the site has not been uploading. I was worried. Today morning after breakfast I sat down to read the newspaper. I thought I would check if WordPress was available as I wanted to see the prompt.

We read the Deccan Herald and  top of the page  is blue in colour. I turned to see if the sky was blue in colour but it was not. It had been raining in morning and there is sunlight now. The sky is more white than blue or black.
The first article that I read is the addiction to the social media by the elderly. They are as vulnerable as the young. Yesterday evening after our walk we went to the library. I was reading in the article about addiction to gadgets and specially the craze for taking selfies. So many die because they take such risks and all for the appreciation of their ‘friends’. One young girl , just married, fell into the river while taking a selfie. Really tragic.

Anyone would feel blue after reading about people losing their lives for such a trivial issue.
We too take selfies but only when relatives come and we want to include everyone in the photo. Sometimes I  take a selfie of us and so often we look very funny and we start laughing and delete the photo.  I think my WordPress and Facebook profile photos are selfies 😊
My previous post, Sunday Photo fiction is about Selfies 😊.

https://mukhamani.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/musings-of-a-guide-sunday-photo-fiction/