~~ And the prompts so far ~~

Originally written on April 17th 2019...
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Hey everyone…

As the weekly prompts completes 15 weeks as of last week – I thought, why not just put up a compilation of all the prompts that have been given out as part of weekly prompts this year from this space and let fellow bloggers help pick any they might have missed reading and thus writing  🙂 Most of these prompts are inspired by what I encounter in my day to day life or my own experiences in the week – so feel free to use your imagination to fictionalize it and present it as a chapter from a story or alternatively, and only if you are fine , write about your own experience around the prompt – totally your choice 🙂

Now, for the first time readers of this post,  the idea of starting this exercise of weekly prompts was to get people to dust their blog spaces and just write about any random topic.. anything that helps to give the wide audience of blogger community here in this space and their imaginations a kick start…  For starters, I was one such blogger who needed to dust my space too and this exercise sure did make me sit up and write quite a few number of posts this year, even if they were just giving out prompts (sometimes not on time :P)… So if you have been wanting to write from a long time and if you get a spark from any of the below mentioned prompts, I’d be very happy to have achieved that 🙂  If not, hey, there’s always the next prompt to look forward to 🙂 Not all prompts can interest everyone, right?

19.15

Imagine that you are leaving someone important behind and traveling half way across the world because of some commitment which cannot be avoided at any cost – Pen your thoughts during the travel

19.14:

Earth starts wobbling and you have no idea what’s going on. Amidst chaos, suddenly, you are made aware, that you are the only one, for some reason, who can figure out and rectify Earth’s rotation. Build a story around it.  As expected, this can be a funny take on the chaos and need not be driven by serious scientifically proven concepts.

19.13:

My daughter, all of 8 years, looked at me with her innocent eyes, brimming with tears, and asked me – Ma, when will I be 18  years old? Why is it taking so long? When can I free you from him? I don’t need him. Ma, please. Listen to me. Let’s leave.

19.12:

I woke up.. It seemed like a peaceful morning. .. I was not yet ready to get out of the bed.. I could hear the early morning noises, the birds chirping, the gurgling noises of the stream nearby, the temple bells ringing at a distance.. The aroma of filter coffee from the kitchen managed to further wake the lazy-me and I slowly turned to my left. That’s when I saw her, sleeping next to me, a sweet serene smile on her face… I smiled back mesmerized by the beauty, only to suddenly wake up completely and recoil in horror – who the hell was this sleeping beauty and what the hell was she doing here?

19.11, 19.10, 19.09 : These were not given by me but voluntarily given by Ramanujam when I went missing from this space 😛 Thank you again, Ramanujam 🙂 (Note: though I linked his prompts in Org space, not going to do so here as that requires me to ask him if he's ok with that and he has already left the organization)

19:08 :  Write a 55F  using the mother-daughter image as the theme. Refer the original post for the image

19.07:  Following must be the last lines of your story. “And there you are – my own happily ever after” Yep, happy endings please!

19.06:  I want you to write about anything that recently made you experience that kind of “peace” or “happiness”.  Basically, what makes you happy? Like, truly happy?  It can be as simple as feeling bliss as you sip hot filter coffee from that steel tumbler or as complicated as you want it to be. It can be a place, a safe memory, a comfort food, a conversation with a particular person, an activity, a hobby or multiple such things  put together.  If you are not comfortable elaborating on a single personal experience, you can also give us your own happiness – list, say, like 15 things (need not be exactly 15) that make you absolutely happy 🙂 Choice is yours 🙂

19.05: I want you to set a timer for 10 minutes and write.  Write every random thought that crosses your mind in those 10 minutes. Do not plan the post, no editing allowed (I cannot verify it, but I trust you :)) –  Just jot down the free flow of random thoughts and publish the post at the end of 10 minutes

19.04:  The prompt for you is to write a post/story using all of the following –

“The Hidden Sun”

“Afternoon on a hill”

“By the sea-side”

and if possible, a reference somewhere to the legendary story of “Rip Van Winkle” (Please google if you don’t know the story)

19:03:  The prompt for you this week is to write a story revolving around a family along the lines of – Theda hai but mera hai – as in “Crazy, Weird, Twisted but Mine”. Write about a family which is as weird, crazy, twisted, different as any other family, but at the end of the day, no one would want it away or any different. And oh, I will be super glad if you choose to write on your own one-of-a-kind family  (I am sure, each one of us has one such) instead of a fictionalized version. Go on, choose real or fiction and then write!!

19.02: Write about that kid that you were, with a different dream and a different passion and if you want, how you ended up here, good or bad? I know we can pursue dreams even with this job, and if that’s the case, write how you managed to do so. If it’s too personal, you can also fictionalize this prompt and weave a story around childhood dreams turning into passion or otherwise. You get to decide!

19.01: Considering this is the first post and the first prompt of the year  – I decided to have the most cliched topic at this time of the year , as a prompt,  yes, of course, the new year resolutions!! What are your this year’s resolutions? Go on, write about it and let’s then come back end of the year to check what we have accomplished from the list

Its been a while I actually “blogged” – If you get what I mean. Most of my recent posts are just centered around the weekly prompts – with a little background about how the prompt came into being.  And as I type this, I can’t help but sigh, and, yes, I have told this probably a hundred times already but I do miss the old humble and generous blogging community and of course, the comments that used to pour in as soon as we published a post – it was a positive community and at times the encouragement felt too much to handle too!  To be honest, I miss those rants and ramblings those few amazing bloggers used to write, and interestingly, as I look back, those were the ones that has made an impact than anything else, as I seem to still remember them 🙂 Probably because, they were super creative even if it were just rants/ramblings and it also helped the reader connect in a strange way – you just nod along the lines of the rants, that yep, been there, experienced that, you know?

I don’t know how many of you quite understand that blogging is not only about churning out fiction and stories all the time(of course it is for bloggers who create a blog with an intention, passion and interest to do only that), but it’s essentially at the end of the day, a weblog, a platform to write about anything under the sun, a platform each uses for a purpose of his/her own interests, some do it to hone their writing skills,  some do it make connections with people with similar interests, some do it because they are better at weaving words online than in person, some do it to ensure there’s a log of what interests them, some vent out stuff which they cannot anywhere else – why, there are blogs that churn out details about what happens next in the Ekta Kapoor daily soaps – so, a blog can document anything that you want it to depict – its about your personal interests and how you want your space to be when and if you decide writing 🙂   Having said that, every blogger thrives on comments, even if it is a critical feedback or a mere acknowledgement, a recognition that the post has been read does add colour to a bloggers life !

But hey, before I digress further, which I don’t know why I did in the first place, I guess, I just wanted any new to-be-blogger to not have any inhibitions that there’s only technical stuff that can be written on an organization blog (having said that, this is still an organization blogspace and we all need to be mindful of the content posted). So yeah, anyways,  am also planning to compile a list of posts that were written for these prompts soon to let you go find some awesome bloggers who have been writing awesome pieces for most of these prompts (Thanks a bunch :)) – Not all of them have provided the correct tags that I had requested for, but that’s ok, I will look up those posts.. so will take a while, but until then, may be you can pick a few from here and write too and thus stand a chance to feature in that next post 🙂

Keep writing 🙂

If you want to find the original posts of any of these prompts, I am yet to sync most of them here but the one's that are already synced can be found here.. 

~~ [Weekly Prompts – 19.15]: All alone up in the sky ~~

Originally written in my other blogspace on April 15 2019...  I used to give weekly prompts then for the organization internal blogspace.

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Hola from the roo-land!

My blogging journey began when I was in USA and today after about a decade..I am writing again from a different country...

This is my first ever lone onsite trip to a country after being to US about a decade back and staying there for a couple of years...I was single then, had friends there when I reached. Things have changed now, very very much. I don’t exactly remember what I had been thinking the whole long lonely plane trip to USA back then, partly also because the plane was full of screaming babies  and you really cannot think in those circumstances. But this time, leaving a young kid behind, was a nightmare. As I sat all alone at that window seat on the airplane and watched the fluffy clouds pass beneath the plane, all I could think of was my little girl and how this was going to be a huge leap for me and her in our relationship – this separation, this staying apart. People who know us very well, know how protective I am of her and how much of a mommy's girl she is...We have never stayed apart and it was not going to be easy for both of us 🙁

But then,  when the situation and time demands, you need to adapt and learn. You just need to move forward.

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Anyways, as a part of the prompt for this past week, imagine that you are leaving someone important behind and traveling half way across the world because of some commitment - pen those thoughts that cross your mind as you travel...

Get going!

~~ Four Books ~~

For whatever reasons - looks like the alert for yesterday's post never went out.  So if you missed reading that one, do click on the hyperlink and let me know your thoughts.

I know I haven't been posting the each day post of "Ten day you challenge" in a continuous flow - I myself needed a break from posting that every day and so skipped a few days in between and posted something else for a change :P  

So the next one on the challenge was to post about four books - now, how can I ever pick just four from the huge favorite list I have - its absolutely impossible.. So I am gonna tweak it to list the genres that I enjoy the most and then list my favorite authors/books from those genres... Too much of tweaking, I know, but, its definitely not possible for me to list just one book even if I narrow it down to a genre :P

Favorite Genre 1 - Thrillers: I absolutely love reading thrillers. I need to read a thriller to get me back into reading mode when I have tried a book from any other genres. The anticipation of the ending, the process of deduction as I read, figuring out the climax, and then waiting to see if I was right, the legal intricacies and exciting twists and turns, the nail biting reads that doesn't let me sleep a wink sometimes - thrills me. My favorite authors of this genre are John Grisham(legal thrillers), Dan brown, Jeffrey Archer, Robin Cook(Medical thrillers), Mary Higgins Clark,  Agatha Christie, Lee Child and Stephen King. I cannot list just one book of any author as my favorite book - every single book I have read of these authors are my favorites for its own reason.

Favorite Genre 2 - Romance:  This was not my initial favorite of genres. I read one "Mills and Boons" novel and I was forever done with this genre. All of it changed when I read " The Bridges of Madison County" by Robert James Waller - Thanks to a friend who loaned it to me for a weekend. I didn't read it until Monday morning breakfast time and I then bunked office that day for completing it (I have not even bunked in college, forget bunking work, so that's something very huge in my life). For such a dry title, the book is not at all that. The myth was broken and I finally understood romance genre doesn't mean only Mills and Boons. I moved on to "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell and this is my all-time favorite.  The other worthy mention that made me not ditch this genre is "P.S. I Love You" by Cecelia Ahern. 

Favorite Genre 3 - Fantasy: This is a recent addition to my favorite genres. I must admit, I haven't tried a lot in this genre and the one that I can really boast of is the Harry Potter series. Oh, I hated these books and movies initially for all the hype it had created - and it didn't help that I watched one of the movies (probably the third one in the series) before I read or watched it in sequence, and I couldn't get head or tail of whatever was happening on big screen. It didn't pique any interest in me for these reasons - But being the curious one, I bought the box set just to see for myself the reason of hype around this. It was on my book shelf for a quite a few years, before I braved to read it. I couldn't stop once I began, and I now cannot stop feeling silly for ignoring it for so long. A definite potter head now.  "A Song of Ice and Fire" is something I haven't been able to generate any interest similar to Harry Potter series - but since having this experience with Harry potter series - I have now marked this series to read next in fantasy genre (If you want to gift me, "A Song of Ice and Fire" box set should be your  first choice :P) .

Favorite Genre 4 - Fiction that doesn't fit in any of the above three genres: I really don't know which genres I should fit these books in as they are quite diverse and am constrained here to list only 4 - so I titled this point broadly so :P Following are my absolute favorites apart from whatever I have mentioned in the previous three points:

The help by Kathryn Stockett,  To kill a mocking bird by Harper Lee, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger , The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Erich Segal 's Novels, Khaled  Hosseini's novels - Oh, I think I will go on to list everything I have read at this pace :P  So, I am going to stop here. 

If you want to know what I have read till now - my humble list is available here.

Do you have any favorite books? Can you try to list just four :roll:

Well, I don't mind if its more, you know? I will definitely make sure to add it to my never ending to-read list if its not already there :P :)

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20 for 20 - Others

Twenty for Twenty - And here goes the rest of the 12 Goals

Travel/Vacation :

• Take a break per month to unwind – even if for a day (0/12)
• Explore local weekend getaways – try visiting at least 5 new places close by (0/5)
• Plan proper vacations – Try to cover at least 2 from my bucket list (0/2)

Health :

• Meditate: Meditation can be intimidating for me as my mind is always buzzing with thoughts.  I am planning to use the first 10 minutes out of my travel time to just close my eyes and think about nothing - difficult, I know - Lets see how it goes.
• Walk at least for half hour every day (0/366)
• Squeeze in 10 mins of yoga every day (0/366)
• Drink more water

General:

• Stay strictly offline after 10pm - Go to bed at a reasonable time (0/366)
• Declutter - Let go of unwanted stuff
• Watch a movie per week (0/53)
• Go to a stand-up comedy show (0/1)
• Resume dance classes

I have a journal (a sort of bullet journal) where I track a lot of stuff - but then, even there, I felt, it was not tracked diligently this year. The main reason I wanted to post these goals out here was to have some kind of accountability - which I hope to maintain this time. 

There you go, seems simple enough goals to me.. but will have to wait and see what the new year brings :)

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20 for 20 - Reading and Writing goals

Twenty for Twenty - Reading/Writing goals: 

Blog at least once a month (0/12):

Now, this depends on you :) The more you leave comments, the more I feel encouraged to write.

One Blogathon per year (0/1):

Blogathon as such is hard. One who takes it up, knows the effort that goes into it. Writing every day takes a lot of determination and of course, effort.  Irrespective of other commitments and responsibilities in life, you need to resolve to write daily during a blogathon. Since this is something I want to do each day of my life - a blogathon helps me with the discipline aspect of it. I don’t plan the content beforehand. Sometimes I don’t even proof read. So when I do a blogathon, the content I post is straight from the heart, those raw emotions, those pent up thoughts, the real me -  it is such an interesting experience when these emotions get flushed out every day. And to top it all, the pure joy that every single comment on each post of blogathon brings is something I look forward to – Now, who doesn’t want to experience a month of smiles, right?

Finish the draft of novel:

For those of you don’t know – I have already self-published a set of short stories. I have been meaning to publish a proper novel from so long. Have written mere ~5000 words. I need to commit to finish at least the draft of this one in 2020. If I haven't completed the draft by start of November 2020, I will need to attempt nanowrimo.

Reading challenge(0/20):

Goal would be to read 20 books this year. I’d want to finally pick the ignored books that beckon me from my bookshelf. I also ought to charge and sync my Kindle regularly, and of course read a few short stories there.

Sync the external blog space with all the posts:

From a few years now, I have made it a point to post there first before I even post here. That way I don't have to worry about syncing later on. Syncing is hard. I am yet to sync a few very old posts and ensure I add all the relevant blog links in my newer posts to link these old posts. I plan to dedicate some time for this work, this year. I also want to jazz up my external blog space a bit - so yeah, that too.

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So these are my resolutions in reading/writing category! How about you?
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And before I forget, a very merry Christmas to you all :-) Hope big ol' Santa delivered all your gifts :-)

20 for 20 - Career goals

Twenty for Twenty- Career Goals

Work life balance:

My morning is chaos. The first proper breathing minute I get for myself is when I board the bus to office around 7:45am. The first thing I do after I buy a ticket is check my mails/chats (Its already noon in Australia, so there's already lot out there waiting for us to come online). This helps me prepare mentally for the day ahead. Yep, not good. I was worse earlier, I used to check emails/chats as soon as I’d wake up. I have now somehow managed to restrain myself until I board the bus. At times, I just start responding immediately and then, there's no stopping after that. Same cycle repeats when I start home in the evening as well and this time with my teams here. I am not proud of this. I want to be able to let things be and deal work stuff only in working hours. I am in awe of people who know how to draw this line. I also appreciate people who do not have this urge to check and respond to emails or chats on a holiday - you are on a holiday after all. I currently don’t draw a line. I want to do that. A small step at a time to practice the much needed detachment and balance.

Get certified:

I started learning something new this year. I hope to get certified in that area of expertise in 2020. Wish me luck  :)

Appreciate often:

Refer my last point of this post.

~~ Five foods ~~

Ah! The post about food.

But, wait, no, its so unfair,  am supposed to list only five - now, that's going to be very very difficult!!

I thought for quite a few hours about my favorites - but I figured, I just can't list top 5 foods. So finally, here I am, with five favorite cuisines - now, that's better, isn't it :P :P :P 

1. South Indian - Of course! I love everything about South Indian food - the aromatic spicy spices, the ghee laden curries, the fried bajjis and pakoras, filter coffee, the crunchy vadams and pappadums, the typical home made comfort food of idlis, dosas, vadas, sambhar and rasams, bisibelebath, vangi baath, tomato baath, puliogarai, those occasion and location specific snacks and sweets and last but not the least, the pickles - Oh, I can go on and on. 

2. North Indian - The paneer curries, the samosas, the finger-licking-yummy chaats and the plethora of sweets, the aloo parathas with the pickle/curd combo - oh - what's not to like!  

3. Konkani cuisine - Now, this is my favorite comfort food. If you need to make me happy - just offer me a plate of ghee & coconut laden Konkani comfort food and I'd be super happy woman. Nothing beats this. A funny aspect of this is that I have noticed that you need to be a born Konkani to share this love for Konkani cuisine - no offense, no one loves Konkani cuisine as natives do :P  

4. Italian - Pizza's and Pasta's :P  Awwww....... my favorites are Indianized Pizza's (the ones with the Paneer masala etc) and White Sauce Pasta's ... I also love their mushroom dishes, especially the Funghi Trifolati -  easy to prepare and just yummy... am droooling already... The funniest thing is that the bestest Pizza's and Pasta's I have had so far was in India and US -  not Italy :P 

5. Mexican -  Its very difficult when you are a vegetarian and you step outside India. There are times when I have survived only on chips, French fries and Hashbrowns. The only thing that came very close to the feeling of having Indian food was having Mexican food - In US, Chipotle was like home away from home.  Their Mexican Burrittos and Quesadillas though quite different, atleast felt close to Chapathi and Rice from home :P 

There you go - my five favorites - how about yours? 

~~ Six Places ~~

So, here comes the fifth post of the ten day you challenge! It's to write about six places... 

Here goes my six favourites...

1. The first place that comes to my mind, is, of course, my hometown, Udupi. A place where we used to come for summer vacation every single time and never wanted to be anywhere else  :-p 

2. Initial years of my childhood had been in Mysore. I love the city for its calm and peaceful atmosphere. It still is how Bangalore used to be ages ago. I have beautiful memories of this city. One of which is going to Mysore Palace on Sunday evenings -  find some space to sit in the palace garden and munch on roasted peanuts savoring the sight of the well lit palace - that was like a family tradition of sorts. 

3. Most of my teenage years were spent in Tamilnadu. I absolutely have great memories of growing up here. I dont feel much nostalgic as such when I visit Mysore. But I sure feel a lot nostalgic when I visit the places I have lived or travelled in Tamilnadu. I also know that the person I am now, the core of my personality, is strongly and mainly influenced by the most empathetic and "giving" environment in which I grew up when here. My best friend is from this place and we still are in touch. Miss it. 

4. Even before I could properly explore India, (Thanks to the standard summer vacation destination during  childhood and later of course our own financial conditions) - I went to US of A. Absolutely a time I cherish. It helped me grow financially, of course, but it also helped me grow as a person. I know, I changed heaps during my stay here. I pushed myself out of my comfort zones and the stay brought in a lot many changes in my way of thinking. If I am open minded about a lot of things now, somewhere, this 2 year onsite stint would be the major contributor to it.  I travelled and covered all the coasts in that 2 year stint and even managed to win a jackpot in Las Vegas :-p.. but if I have to pick a place that I absolutely loved, it'd be New York, just for the fact that it reminded me so much of home. I must say, I am very glad that I travelled and stayed in USA before marriage. I know now that my husband is not much of an "exploring new places" kinda person :-p  ...The only regret I have is that I couldn't make my parents agree to visit USA during my stint there. They did not agree. I begged them to come and stay with me, but it never materialized :-(.. Like any middle class families of those years, the first priority for them, was to ensure that I saved that expense for my future and never be dependent on any one. It's to that and many more such sacrifices that I owe that house I managed to buy even before I got married.  

5. Europe: My brother is in Europe and we visited him recently. The trip to his place and rest of Europe is one of the most memorable family trips. Every single place that we covered in that month long trip is still fresh in my memory and it's difficult to pick just one place. I would strongly recommend exploring Europe on your own than opting  for package trips, especially if you can plan the whole thing and dont have fussy eaters with you.  Believe me, the experience of exploring on your own is worth it (Of course,  you just need to be wary of limited food options if you are vegetarian)

6. Australia: My most recent visit was to Australia. It was a short time assignment and as luck might have it, it was during my daughter's summer vacation. I have never lived without her and though company wouldn't sponsor her or family expenses due to short term assignment(which is fair), I still wanted to take her for the odd 3 months - I couldn't  imagine staying away from her for so long. I also forced my parents to join me this time. My parents again sang me the saving for future song, but I didnt budge, nor did I care. I had to travel first, but had applied for their visas through a travel agent before leaving. Booked their tickets online after their visitor visas were processed and finally they arrived.  The whole process till they arrived was quite nerve wracking as tracking progress of Australian visitor visas is nothing less than a nightmare. The void of not being able to get my parents to come visit and stay with me when I was in USA was finally filled this time. Of all the places we managed to visit when we were in Australia, our absolute favorite was the Great Ocean Road stretch. If you ever go to Australia, make sure you have this on your itinerary. You'll not regret it. 

So there you go, my six favourites. How about you?

~~ A to Z ~~

Have been reading too much about CAA and NRC from yesterday.. So to distract myself, I thought I'd better do some random meme today.. so here goes.. found it in my meme folder from years ago...  do try it out .. :-)

A- Age - Huh, Like am going to reveal that.

B- Biggest fear - Losing people I love.

C- Current time: 11:41pm

D- Drink you last had: A warm glass of turmeric milk

E- Every day starts with: Snoozing the alarm!

F- Favourite Song: There's just too many. But since Linkin park is on loop from yesterday, any song by that band.

G- Ghosts, are they real? I guess :evil:

H- Hometown:Udupi

I -In love with: People I love :-)

J- Jealous of? Nothing, really. 

K- Killed someone?: Do Mosquitoes and Cockroaches count?

L- Last time you cried?: Today, while trying out a new nose pin which was stuck and refused to let me go. Painful. 

M- Middle name: Alevoor

N- Number of siblings: One

O- One wish: Happiness

P- Person you last called? Mom

Q- Question you’re always asked: Are you a Bengali?

R- Reason to smile: Many

S- Sounds that annoy you: People talking loudly on phone in public.

T- Time you woke up: 6am to snooze alarm and then 7am :-p...Hey, its Saturday!

U- Umbrella colour : Light blue

V- Vacation destination:  Just too many to list 

W- Worst habit: Procrastination

X- X-Rays you’ve had: The ones during company sponsored yearly medical checkups 

Y- Your favourite food: Just too many to choose

Z- Zodiac sign: Aquarius

~~ Numb ~~

Yesterday was a nightmare. I stay about 60kms away from office, so it was a bit scary when I got to know that buses were not plying and that curfew was imposed. I do have relatives near my workplace, so there was an alternate, of course, but then, home is home, right? More importantly, at these times.  On the way back home, I saw kids as young as maybe 7 or 8 years old, marching in the protest - I couldn't believe my eyes. I just went numb.  I vented it out in a group where I can vent out without hopefully getting branded as pro or anti any political party and hopefully not offending anyone. I was exhausted after all the vent as it went on and on about how few things were right and some things were not and all that related blah - I didn't want to write more here yesterday. What's happening is quite numbing and to me, a bit confusing too.

Things have been pretty okay at my place today - office was closed for safety reasons, but a few of us who could, connected from home.  

The whole day - only two lines were running in loop in my mind - 

"I've become so numb, I can't feel you there, Become so tired, so much more aware" 

In these trying times, I hope and pray for peace. Lets all do. 

Trivia that's not required, but I thought I will give out anyways: The above mentioned lines are from a song - not related to any context of whatever is happening currently - the actual complete song deals with some other emotion altogether - but these two lines just kept coming back to me today. Listen to it if you haven't yet (Numb by Linkin park - one of my utmost favorites). The first time you hear it, you may not like it. I didn't, honestly. And then, you hear it a few times (why? Because your brother forces you to) and then it slowly grows on you and ends up being your utmost favorite song. And then you hear some more songs from the band (again, because your brother thinks all that screaming is so meaningful :P) and after a few forced listening sessions, it ends up becoming your favorite band and you end up liking all that meaningful screaming too! Yep, happens. Now that I think about all this screaming even more with a context - the song "In the end" by the band replaces the "Numb" song running-in-loop-since-so-many-hours and "In the end" is now stuck in an infinite loop!  Sigh :(

This is what is running in my mind now - "In the end, It doesn't even matter"  So true, isn't it? 

Peace!

~~ Let Go ~~

Thank you all for your kind wishes yesterday.

Every time, I remember, I have hit the goal of 200 posts this year – I grin ear to ear  

I hope I do justice to all the love I receive and write more in the coming year 

So, today I had to do a hard thing. I had to let go. Let go of a companion who was with me most part of this year.  A companion who gave me so many laughs, a few tears, a few smiles and a few learnings too. A companion who I so wanted to hold on to – despite my realization about the compromise it needed of the personal space that I usually dedicate for a dear old loyal friend. I had to choose. This was new and exciting –  but the other companion had been dear too. I so wanted to hold on to this new friend and did not want to let go of the old friend too. I figured that I should find ways to be able to split time between both. But then, deep inside, I knew, I had tried to do so this year, and had ended up ignoring the old dear loyal friend.  Sometimes letting go proves more tough than holding on. And in any case, I am very bad at letting go of anything. But I had to do it. Cut ties. Cut the cord.  I read this somewhere that anything that we cannot control teaches us actually to go the path of letting go. And it’s probably true.  After about a month long thought provoking thinking and quiet deliberation, I finally took the big step today.

I finally cancelled my Amazon prime subscription which was my constant companion(prime video) this year during travel to and from office (taking over that time I usually spend with my dear old loyal friend: books). It was hard to click the unsubscribe button which screamed to give it one more chance, give it another year. Every teeny tiny cell in me tried to persuade me to try reading on my way to office and watch series/movies/stand-ups on the way back. Find a way to manage both. But I knew, I would end up staring at the mobile screen to and fro – like I did this year. So with a very heavy heart, I cancelled my subscription just a few moments ago.

I’ll miss you, Dear Amazon Prime.. I’ll   Promise 

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As a prompt – let me know of anything very very dear that you had to let go of or if you do not want to reveal anything personal – weave a story around  a character who finds it difficult to let go(of maybe a relationship or a habit or even a thing), but eventually does.

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~~ Seven wants ~~

This is my fourth post for this challenge – to post seven wants. Let me see where I go with this one 

So here goes –

1. I want to be happy – just plain happy. Not that I am not now. I am in a happy place, but still. Again, this doesn’t mean I want to be super rich or super smart or super whatever. No, I am ok with each day of the rest of my life to be as mundane or boring it can be – but yet be peaceful and happy 

2. I want all my near and dear ones also to have a peaceful and happy life.  I have seen a lot many people who cannot tolerate someone progressing well in life, a lot many people who feel very happy when someone falls down and struggles to climb up in life, a few who do not feel happy for other’s achievements or happiness, and a few more who will go to any extent to pull a person down with negative comments especially when that person is happy – and all I feel for such kind is pity.  The insecurity amuses me to no end. Anyone feeling happy for someone else’s misery is beyond my comprehension. I cannot do that. I don’t feel sad when others are happy. I don’t feel jealous of other’s achievements. I can only be happy for someone’s happiness or achievements(of course, if it's by fair means, otherwise I just roll my eyes for faking it and silently wish them better stuff). I want to stay the same – to be able to feel happy for others.

3. I want to be the best mom that I can be for my daughter – not perfect, I am still learning, but I still want to just as best as she needs me to be. As she grows up, I want her to know that I have always wanted her best. I want her to know that I have braved the world for her in ways I never had imagined I could before she came into my life and that I will always be there for her. I want her to know that I have tried my level best to create as many happy memories for her as possible.

4. I want to be a successful writer, someday. Miles to go, I know.

5. I love teaching. I used to give tuition to school kids during my school days and engineering days. The most satisfying part was to see my students getting interested in learning and then improving by leaps and bounds. Someday, I want to be able to resume teaching, if I can.

6. I want my house to have this cozy space –  just a couch, a foot rest, an easy chair, a swing – numerous books and a coffee table. Large windows would be an additional bonus.

7. I want to travel and be able to understand the historical significance of the places I visit – see the world as much as I can before I kick the bucket.

There you go, my seven wants – how about you?

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~~ Eight Fears ~~

Well, to be very very very honest, I am quite a scared being. More so, after I became a mom. I fear a lot of things so to narrow it down to eight might be a tad difficult. But I'll try.

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1) I fear losing people who are close to me - Family, Friends. I cannot imagine a world without them.

2) I fear disease, disabilities, the thought of being dependent on someone creeps me out.

3) I fear animals - Domestic/Wildlife - I am not partial here :P  I know dogs are faithful and cats are adorable - but I can love them or "ooh" or "aah" at their cuteness only from a distance. 

4) I am scared of what the world is turning into - so much hatred, so much violence, no humanity, so much drama, so many lies, so many cheaters - scares me to bits. I am scared for the future of my next generations to come -  so much pollution, no water, drastic weather conditions, plastic wastes, things going extinct, prices for everything skyrocketing - oh, I can go on. 

5) I am scared of driving - especially two wheeler. Driving two wheeler creeps me out. 

6) I always thought I'd die during child birth - thanks to melodramatic movies which always used to show this as the only possibility at times. This fear is no more now, but if someday, if only, I ever plan for another kid, I am sure this fear will re-surface.

7) I fear natural disasters. Tsunami, Earthquakes, Floods, Volcanoes - There are quite a few trips I didn't want to take to a few places because there have been Tsunamis, Earthquakes or Floods in the past there :(

8) Last but not the least, I fear my ever increasing weight.  I fear I will always stay like this and will never go back to my original weight :( 

There you go - my eight fears.  How about yours - Let me know :) 

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~~ Nine Loves ~~

It felt great when Rixi asked me about the next post of the ten day you challenge :P  I was so very glad that someone noticed :P :P  I did not abandon it, no, I just skipped it for a day because I wanted to post some spooky prompt for Friday, the 13th :evil: 

Here come's the next one in the ten day you challenge - Nine Loves.

1. I love my daughter & my family - Of course, don't think this comes as a surprise, does it now? Anything that brings a big wide grin on my daughter's face or makes my dear ones happy  - I love those moments :)
2. I love cuddles, snuggles and hugs especially from my little one :) 
3. Having a good laugh with family, friends - laughing till my tummy hurts and eyes brimming with tears - reminiscing - creating new memories - love these moments :)
4. I love dancing, reading, writing, drawing, painting and sometimes singing :P
5. I love watching movies - big screen + a bucket of popcorn = happy me :)
6. I love trying out new veg cuisines - I love milk products - I love milk based sweets - I love dark chocolates - I love home cooked food - I also love junk food - Guess all I want to say is I love delicious food and I am a big foodie :P
7. I love Kajal/Kohl - absolutely love them - especially if they are home made :)
8. I love travelling, exploring new places, collecting souvenirs - travelling helps us remember that we occupy such a teeny tiny space in this whole wide world and thus the importance of staying humble :)
9. I love striking off things from my multiple to-do lists - I have quite a few of those lists - to-watch, to-visit, to-travel, to-read etc etc . Striking something off any of these lists gives me immense pleasure :cool: 

There you go - these are my nine-loves. As I finished writing this one, I remembered, I had definitely written something similar about a decade back :P I looked up my old posts and guess what, I found it  :lol: Such a contrast to this post :lol: 

I love that young girl who is so different from who I am now :)  To be honest, I actually still do love whatever is mentioned in my old post - but interestingly, those were not the first few things that came to me when I started writing today.  This is exactly why I love keeping journals/blogging. It transports you back to a few moments in the past - re-live them - manages to bring a smile on your face - and finally it always makes you question yourself - Gosh, what the hell was I thinking when I wrote that??  :lol: 

Anyways, go on, let me know your nine loves!

~~Dance like no one's watching, but what if someone is!! ~~

One of my greatest joys of life, is dancing. I love dancing. Though I don’t dance as regularly now, it was different when I was younger. I’d switch on the tape recorder, insert some random cassette and start dancing. And believe me, the dancing would be inclusive of all the relevant expressions needed. I’d dance for every song that’d be playing irrespective of the emotion being dealt and I’d try to imitate the actual heroine or the character from the song.

One such fine noon –  I was home all alone. I don’t remember where everyone else was. It was a perfect opportunity to dance to heart’s content. So I chose some random cassette and began. Typically each side of the cassette took at least half an hour and once a side was done we had to switch the cassette sides. Half an hour later, I was about to flip the cassette’s side when I heard a sinister laugh followed by a slow whisper of something I didn’t wait to listen  I screamed and screamed, ear-splitting screams – only to hear laughter ringing in between those screams. I got more scared and there were more screams and of course, more laughter. With my eyes closed shut during the screams, my heart racing like mad, I began trembling with fear.  I was in the drawing room and I knew I was all alone. I did not know what to do. The laughing suddenly stopped. I mustered all the courage and slowly opened my eyes to face my fears – to face whoever it was, but, there was not a soul in sight. I was scared to explore the rest of the rooms in the house. I stood rooted to the spot not knowing what to do next. I then heard someone say “Hey, Deepthi, psst, psst, am here”  I let out a muffled scream  The ghost knew my name too  Oh dear lord, what was I to do? But then, the voice sounded familiar. I slowly scanned the room, just in time to catch a shadow outside the closed windows. My heart skipped a beat  My horror-struck eyes met those big black twinkling eyes  Those eyes were staring at me through a small gap in the window that we had deliberately left open for the postman to drop any posts.  I screamed, he laughed, I screamed some more, he laughed some more  

And then I heard amidst my screams – “Hey its me, its just me, stop screaming, Arjun here, I came to fetch Nithin. Is he there? We are going to play now, ask him to come”  

Yep – It was just a friend from the neighborhood who had come to fetch my brother for a cricket match  . He heard the songs playing from the drawing room and was certain one of us would be there. He thought it would be a better idea to peep in from the window to call out to my brother instead of using the door bell – so he need not disturb anyone’s afternoon nap   Instead he found me and my histrionics  He seemed to have tried to grab my attention, but then, I just wouldn’t stop dancing and at the first instance that he did succeed getting my attention, I had already begun screaming  

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Now – here’s your prompt if you want to take up.

You are all alone at home/office/wherever – you have just finished cooking/dancing/painting/singing/writing/reading/working – doing whatever it is that you love to do. As you finish, slicing the silence, there’s a voice that says, “Well, now that you are done, can I start?”  …. 

Write a horror story with this premise and a word limit of 500 words ..

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