Books To Read

How important are book covers in getting you to read a book?

I don’t choose books because of their covers. When I am choosing a book I see first who is the author. After that I look at the gist of the story on the back cover. If that entices me to read further then I take it with me.

At the moment I am reading a book by Sophie Kinsella. It’s name is Twenties Girl. It’s very lively and fun to read. Before that I finished a book, “The Weight of Silence,” by Heather Gudenkauf. It is an emotional story of a parent’s worst nightmare.

I don’t like it when people who want to mark the page they are reading fold a corner of that page. Please mark what you are reading with a bookmark. If you don’t have a bookmark with you, use a slip of a paper, or a feather.

Please don’t mutilate the pages. My heart twists when someone does that to my books. At that moment I want to hide my books to keep them safe from harm.

http://en.bog.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/nablopomo-november-2013/
Books To Read

Outfit

Describe an outfit that makes you feel good. (It can be from any period of your life) Double points if you post a picture of yourself in the outfit.

The dress in the above photo is one of my favorite. I like mauve colour. It is two years old. Whenever I wear it to parties I do get compliments .

I had this dress stitched for my sister in law’s daughter’s wedding. Weddings among us tend to be three days affairs. Women belonging to our culture buy glittery clothes. I am a different person and I don’t want to waste money on a dress which you can only wear to weddings.

When buying clothes I try to keep in mind that I should be able to wear it for other occasions. Anyway after some times the clothes lose their appeal and I give them away. This one I still like to wear.

http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/nablopomo-november-2013/
Outfit

DIY And Safety

Daily Prompt: Safety First
Share the story of a time you felt unsafe.
Show SAFETY.

It was the year our house was fourteen years old. It had started to look shabby. I wanted new carpets and a new lick of paint for the house. It was falling on deaf ears.

My husband was, “What?”

You repeat yourself.

Again another, “What? To me it looks perfectly all right as it is.”

Then, ” Who is going to move all these things around?” Gesturing towards the furniture.

“I don’t have the stamina. Don’t expect me to do anything. Whatever you want done, do it yourself,” and so on.

I did get money for new carpets, but there was no sign of paints and men to do the job. Un deterred I dipped into my own money for paints, brushes and other items needed.

Looking at my kitchen walls they looked more grey than white with years of grime and dust. I spent a lot of my time in the kitchen and it looked depressing. I watched television, curled up on the built in kitchen seat. My reading was done there too. That place was my heaven on earth.

I started on the paint job myself. I had never done it before, so I was a novice. I learnt as I worked. It was scary to climb the ladder as the walls were fifteen feet high. I was always scared that I might fall down and break my legs,arms or some other part of myself.

I tried to be extra careful. When I would move the ladder I would see to it that all the four feet were firmly on the floor. I double checked that they won’t wobble when I climbed up.

I did all the rooms except the kitchen. The walls needed extra cleaning. For that my husband did call a man to do it.

Finally my home looked brighter and sparklingly clean. When everything was in place I did breath a sigh of relief and happiness.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/daily-prompt-safety-first/
DIY And Safety

My First Friend

Tell about your first friend.

My father was an Army Officer. Obviously we never used to stay for long at any place. My memory fails at recalling my first friend.

I have a dim memory of a girl living next door. We played together with dolls. Then I remember a girl in Class One. But my father got posted after six months, so I have forgotten her name as well. Later on the whole class was my friend leaving out boys.

From Class Four onwards I was best friend with P Khan. The whole class called her P. Actually her name was Perveen.

We were inseparable. She would come home with me to stay. We shared our lunches. Mostly she would bring special treats for me made by her mother. Those were the days we (my siblings and I) had acquired our step mother.

Both of us used to feel if we parted our hearts would fail but that proved otherwise.

Our friendship continued through the first year of college. My father died of heart attack suddenly. We (my brothers, sister and I) got shifted to another city to live with our elder uncle. He became our guardian.

P and I continued being friends through letters to each other.

I missed P. I would talk about her to my cousins. My cousins thought that maybe P is a boy that’s why I only say P. They were very suspicious. They wouldn’t believe me till I showed her photo to them. At the back of the photo her full name was written.

Gradually our letters to each other petered out. Now she is just a memory in my heart.

http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/nablopomo-november-2013/
My First Friend

The Quiet Ones

Tell us about a blogpost you didn’t publish.

Our house in the village is purported to have Jinns (spirits, spooks) living there. Whenever we keep a watchman he goes and sleeps in the servant quarters away from the house. As a watchman he should sleep in the servant room in the house. But God knows who ever we keep, that person at night stays away.

In a way it is good, any burglar won’t come during night time. Although a few months back with the connivance of our watchman someone did burgle the house. Probably he did it during daytime. I had to tell my brother in law to sack the watch man.

My daughter in law she is afraid of spending nights there. She would close the windows and draw the curtains. She would keep a light on the whole night.

Before coming here to live with my son, I went and stayed for a few days. My purpose was to visit my husband’s grave in the family graveyard and say good bye. I stayed alone in the house. It was very peaceful.

I was a bit apprehensive being the only person in the house. My husband’s relatives did suggest to me to call the watchman’s wife and tell her to sleep with me. I didn’t want a strange woman breathing down my neck at every turn I took. She wouldn’t have slept in an adjoining room and would have insisted in sleeping in my bedroom. I did think the spooks seeing me alone might make an appearance to frighten me. Thank God they didn’t. They went about their business very quietly not bothering me at all.

At load shedding (meaning no electricity) times I was not troubled. It used to be pitch dark. A lot of trees surround the house and when there is no electricity and moonless night the darkness is oppressive.

My conclusion is, I think the spooks didn’t want my heart failure at their hands.

http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/nablopomo-november-2013/
The Quiet Ones

I’m Confused

Daily Prompt: Land Of Confusion
Tell about a time when you felt out of place.
Show CONFUSION.

A letter to iPhone5 s:
I wanted to write to you earlier but I was in a state of confusion. Why do I say I was? I’m still confused.
This confusion is giving me mental agony.

Let me make a confession. I hope I don’t feel embarrassment later on.
I like you.
I want you.
You are like no other I have come across.
You are the planet on which I want to build my virtual home, my aspirations and my hopes for future.
Alas! I long for you.

With your help I may feel serenity. I may get back my confidence with you in my shoulder bag.

Now wait I have to decide between you and Samsung N7100 GSM. It’s bigger and has a stylus.

I like you, but I don’t. I want you,but I don’t. I’m fine, but I’m not. None of it matters, but it does.

Life is so confusing. What we want, we can’t decide.

I’m confused.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/daily-prompt-confusion/
I’m Confused

The Hallway Spook

This story is real life story . The first one was, “The Slaps,” dated Nov 2nd 2013. The second one was, “The Spook Who Prayed,” dated the same date. This one is the third one.

S was drinking a cup of tea in the hallway. She was having a chat with her friend.
Suddenly her son who was nearby gave her a shove to get her out of the way of someone passing through.

She got mad at her son.
“Why did you give me a push?” She demanded.

Her son replied,”If I had not moved you out of the way, someone would have given you a bigger push.”

“Who would have given me a push?” She asked perplexed.

“Didn’t you see who passed through here?”

She still didn’t get it.

Apparently her son could see the hallway spook who used to slap V their servant for sleeping in the hallway.

http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/nablopomo-november-2013/
The Hallway Spook

Myself

Daily Prompt: Love to Love You
What do you love most about yourself? What do you love most about your favorite person? Are the two connected?
Show LOVE.

What do I love most about myself?
That got me thinking. I had never thought that way. I think when others love you the way you are, it is they who know what they love about you.

That said I kept thinking what do I like about myself.
The answer is ……….. I don’t know.

I can tell you who I love.
I love my children and their kids.
They love me back. That’s my assumption. 😊

My husband got attracted to me was how I looked. Later on he loved me because I was his wife, mother of his children and his life companion.

My children love me because I am their mother. I have brought them up. Guided and helped them grow into two lovely human beings, and I feel proud about them how they turned out to be.

I remember I used to lie between them when it was their sleep time. Both would hold one of my hands in their small ones. My son wouldn’t sleep. He would keep my hand tightly in his and wouldn’t let go. My hands would go stiff but I would keep waiting till they fell into deep sleep.

I asked my son, “What do you love about me?”
His reply is too mushy for words. 😁. I cringe ….
His answer: “Because you are my mother.” Further what he said:
“You took care of me when I was small. You were always loving and caring.
You encouraged me to study and be good.
You used to make my favorite dishes.
When I was sick, you took care of me.
You baked me cakes and cookies.

You were my friend and I could discuss everything with you.
You were the person to whom I told my secrets.
You used to save me from father’s wrath.”

And the last reason:
“You helped me in finding me my beautiful, green eyed wife.”With this he looked lovingly towards his wife who started laughing.

To get an answer from my daughter I phoned.
My grand daughter M2 picked up. My daughter was not at home so I asked M2, “Why do you love me?”
Her answer made my day.
“You are sweet and you are caring!”

And finally I did get my daughter’s reply and that was she loves me because I am her mother.

Why do I have a sinking feeling that there should have been more ……….

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/daily-prompt-love-2/
Myself

A Family Drama

If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romantic comedy, an action film or science fiction?

I think it can be a family drama, serialized on television on weekly bases. It has the right ingredients for it. Mother dying with the children getting scattered among relatives. How the relatives deal with the children.

The producers of the drama can show a young man trying to bring up two of his five children all by himself. I can be the adorable little girl with two pig tails fawned upon by the father. An elder brother who browbeats his younger sister.

A number of women who are interested in the young handsome father and pursue him for marriage. The father afraid of foisting a step mother on his beloved children. When the servants are on leave the father cooks . He does the cleaning too.

The father eventually gets married. The dreaded step mother with four children from her former husband does come. The step mom starves the children. The step mother alienates the father from his children. Later on the father dies of a heart attack leaving his children fatherless as well.

Later on what happens to each of the children is a long narrative. How the young girl (who is me) is married and later on how she is treated by mother in law is worth making a few episodes.

I think my life story can generate a family drama.

http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/nablopomo-november-2013/
A Family Drama

Looking For?

Daily Prompt: FAQ
Interview someone — a friend, another blogger, your mother, the mailman — and write a post based on their responses.
Show Details.

I B drinking his milk

I thought it would be easy interviewing my grandson I B, but it turned out to be an incomplete interview. What happened read on —–
I B studies in Second Grade. He already dogs my footsteps and I don’t have to go anywhere, this was the consideration when I decided upon him.

Q1: Whom do you like more? Mama or Baba?
Answer: Mama.
Me: Poor Baba (I B’s father) must have felt let down. He was sitting right there, and it’s Baba who hugs him more and brings him whatever he demands.
Once he told Baba to buy La Mart. (That was his name for Walmart). He needed some toys and he thought with his father buying Walmart (as if his father was a billionaire), he will have his heart fill of them.

Q2: What is your favorite food?
Answer: Cup Noodles.

Q3: Favorite cartoon?
Answer: I’m not sure. I like all. Then he thinks … Teen Titans.

Q4: Fave game?
Answer: Mario Kart.
Me: I have seen you playing Minecraft?
Answer: I like that one too.

Q5: What do you want to become when you grow up?
Me: He smiles at me and his mama says, “A Doctor”.
Me: Why don’t you tell me?
Answer: Mama told you.

Q6: Book you like?
Answer: Star Wars with 3D glasses to look.

Q7: Favorite toy?
Answer: Two toys. A toy truck and Bey Blade.

Sorry, I wasn’t able to load on the video of Bey Blade.

Q8: Name your friends.
Me: He gave me a shy smile, and looked at me from beneath his lashes and said nothing. I kept prodding on. His mother told him to say their names but he wouldn’t. It turned out his school friends were girls and that’s why he was keeping quiet. They are Charlotte, Mackenzie and Sophia.
He started crying at why his mother told me and my interview came to an abrupt end.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/daily-prompt-details/
Looking For?