Notes from an almost-empty-nester
I realise I haven’t written on the blog for a good two months. Time really slips by so very fast.
The saving grace, though, is that I have been reading and writing and creating on my other blog and on Instagram, so that counts for something. Creating reels has been fun, but it has brought home the fact, with even more clarity, that writing will always be my happy thing.
Continue reading “When a reader dares to write”
Linking that bit of introspection to Write Tribe’s Free Write for the Wednesday prompt.
“We’ll take him by force,” – the threats got louder.
The chain of kids simply closed in tighter.
The men moved forward.
The children steeled themselves.
Large hands pulled. Small ones resisted.
And then they hit out at the weakest link.
Oh they were smart they could spot the chinks.
One large shove and the deed was done,
Dangling on the chain was the Tiniest One.
Their friend lay exposed and the little ones watched
as they hacked him to pieces with axes and saws.
Edited to add: This post was inspired from an instance in Faridpur, India when authorities decided to cut down trees to widen roads. Over a hundred students, teachers, social workers and nature lovers got together to form a human chain to protest the move.
Linking to Write Tribes Wednesday Prompt Dangling on the chain..
Tomorrow we get back to the last three authors for the April A to Z Challenge!! What a journey it has been. Whew!
Also linking to Ultimate Blog Challenge
And so I turned to my old forgotten friend, Write Tribe’s Wednesday Prompt for help. The prompt for this week is ‘Just do it’.. and I did just that with a simple 55er.
She lay on the floor, tired, helpless.
He towered over her, waiting, watching.
Come on just do it! 20 crunches never killed anyone,” insisted her trainer.
Till tomorrow then it’s au revoir. We’ll meet again with another story about another author.
Linking to ..
Today’s prompt asks us to do just that. It’s Free Write time at the Write Tribe Festival of Words on Day 3 and I’m stuck yet again. After staring at the computer for a while I gave up and decided to go get some work done to get the mind out of its ‘I am a big blank’ state.
I had to pick a gift for a friend so I walked over to a gift shop near where I live. It’s an amazing place – Warm and cosy and full of amazing knick knacks and deserves a full post.
As I walked in I spotted a little girl of about 10 with a dark mop of curly hair sitting in the shop ‘designing’ book marks. She finished one with a flourish and showed it to her mum, the store owner/manager, ‘How’s it mama?’ She asked eagerly. ‘You think they’ll sell?’
Humouring her, the mum called out to me and asked, ‘What do you think? Would you buy this for Rs 30/-?’
I turned from where I was browsing the wares and looked at the slightly crooked bookmark, then at the little girl’s innocent look of eager anticipation and replied, “Yeah I think I would.” The mum however had no such compunctions. Said she, “I don’t think I would. You need to make the edges straighter and the colouring needs to be more evenly done.”
Without seeming put out at all the little girl started over, diligently cutting out a fresh strip of paper and designing it again. Soon she was back to her mum with a much better piece. “How’s this one? Do you like the design?”
I loved the way the girl took her mum’s criticism… How positive she was. Perhaps she was used to it – this honest and frank evaluation from her mum.
Often in an attempt to spare our children heartache we tell small white lies. I know I do. That really doesn’t work in the long run. It would have been easy for the mum to put those crooked bookmarks in a corner of her shop. But then, when they would have found no takers how heartbroken would the little girl have been. Worse, she would have never trusted her mum’s judgement again. Even worse, if some suckers like me would have bought them (30 Rs are easy to spare), she would have been content with her efforts and would never have learnt to get better.
And so another age-old maxim proves it’s worth …. Honesty is truly the best policy.
A lesson for me too – Sometimes to get somewhere or to get something done, we need to stop trying too hard. Sometimes, the trick, is to let go. I just did!
