happy birthdays

_{DAY 50 OF MY CREATIVE WRITING JOURNEY. THE PROMPT WAS TO CONTINUE WRITING AFTER THE SENTENCE ENDS “At a certain point in her life…”}

At a certain point of time in her teenage, Raha decided to stop celebrating her birthdays.

She was just a fifteen-year-old girl. Her birthdays used to be grand celebrations.

This year was special for them as their only child was going to be sixteen-year-old. Therefore, this year’s event was going to be larger than ever before.

She had heard her father talking about booking an island somewhere in Indian ocean. They had hired a special agency for this very event.

Yet, Raha didn’t inform them about her decision until a few days before her birthday, when she heard about the booking of tickets and hotel rooms.

But as she shared her decision with them, all hell broke loose. It was a shock for them, as they were unable to comprehend the reason behind such a harsh decision.

Her parents pleaded her for hours to let them know the reason. She just said over and over again: – ‘Mumma, there is no particular reason, I just don’t like birthdays anymore, especially mine.’

But it was not enough for her parents.

After asking her for hours, her mother said – “okay, you don’t want to tell, don’t tell us anything. But if we can’t celebrate your arrival in our lives then we won’t be celebrating ours as well.”

Was it just an empty threat? Raha thought for a moment.

She knew that her mother was a woman of her words. So, it worried her and brought her into tears.

She said, “Mumma, I find it overwhelming when so many people are around me, cheering for me, wishing me ‘happy birthday’ and bringing me presents from distant parts of the world. I just can’t handle all this. I want a simple life. I can’t handle the change in treatment towards me on my birthday and then next day.”

Listening to her daughter, Raha’s mother also began to cry, tears rolled on her cheeks.

She hugged her daughter and said, “okay, my baby! We won’t celebrate your birthday in the grand manner that we do. Whatever you wish, we will do. But can we wish you the way, we treat you every day.”

“Yes, Mumma,” said Raha, and hugged her mother.

PS – This is the 50th day of my journey to write everyday for next one year.

a problem

_{DAY 49 OF MY CREATIVE WRITING JOURNEY. THE PROMPT WAS TO CONTINUE WRITING AFTER THE SENTENCE ENDS “After a really hard day at school…”}

After a really hard day at school, Meh decided to pick up her notebook to reflect upon her situation.

She had left her day job after nearly 13 years.

She was considered a pro at this job, but she wished to learn more to do some challenging stuff.

The issue of narrowing future opportunities also pushed her to take this call. But school wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be.

She wrote in her notebook, “It’s really hard to start learning again. I mean it. Some say that we don’t ever stop learning, but I believe that we do. I say so because I feel that when you are studying regularly in school, you kind of learn for a longer duration, at least a year’s time, if you are one of those students who study to move ahead in their school. But when you start learning after a couple of years of work experience, you don’t easily get in the flow zone.”

This was a problem that she will have to solve to realize her true potential.

PS – This is the 49th day of my journey to write everyday for next one year.

colors

DAY 30 OF MY CREATIVE WRITING JOURNEY. THE PROMPT WAS TO CONTINUE WRITING AFTER THE SENTENCE ENDS “why does the color of my…”

“Why does the color of my skin matter less than yours?” asked Roe to her friend Edger.

There was not any emotion on her face. She did not look sad, angry or frustrated.

Her eyes looked like the surface of a calm lake which fails us in sensing its depth.

She uttered this line as if she was talking about a pizza slice.

“It is sad but true. And it is not just color, the texture of your voice, your entire existence matters less than a white person’s. The word of a white man values more than a person of color. And it would remain so for coming decades.” Replied Edgar.

“I know,” responded Roe.

“But we can’t let it remain the fact,” added Edgar.

PS – This is the 30th day of my journey to write everyday for next one year.

An accountant’s unfinished business

_{DAY 12 OF MY CREATIVE WRITING JOURNEY. . THE PROMPT WAS “WRITE A DIALOGUE BETWEEN TWO CHARACTERS TRAPPED IN AN ELEVATOR..””}

“Sometimes, I think that our world is sort of an unfinished business…”, said Shea to the stranger in the office lift where they had been trapped for the last hour.

It had started like a normal day for Shea. She packed her lunch and reached the office after traveling on a bus for about thirty minutes. She was an accountant in a small firm in a small town, not like the character played by Ben Affleck in the movie ‘The Accountant’.

She was obsessed with finding and fixing little flaws in accounts. It was an unfinished business that kept her in her office until 11 PM.

And she hated unfinished business. She believed that such business brings down giants, literally and figuratively.

But as she was going down the stairs, she spotted a guy in his forties. He was a stranger to her. He followed her into the lift.

“Isn’t this guy a little too dressed up for 11 PM?”, Shea asked herself while looking at her phone.

“Yes, I am a little too dressed up for 11 PM,” said the stranger.

This shocked Shea.

“Are you speaking to me?”, asked Shea.

“Yes,” replied the stranger. He seemed like an okay sort of person to Shea.

“Hi,” said Shea.

As she finished the word, the lift came to a halt. She tried calling for help by buzzing the alarm repeatedly to no response, but the stranger reassured her. In order to appear calm and composed, she casually asked, “What brought you here at this time of day?”

“What do you think about unfinished businesses?” asked the stranger.

“They bring chaos,” replied Shea.

“So shouldn’t we finish unfinished businesses?” asked the stranger.

She replied, “Sure, you can try, but this entire world is an unfinished business; the more we try, the more it remains unfinished.”

“So, should we do nothing?” asked the stranger.

“Oh, I didn’t mean that,” replied Shea. “I meant that we should not believe that we are finishing the business; we are just adding our bit, so no load whatsoever. You, me, or anybody else is not responsible for the world.”

“Are you sure?” asked the stranger.

“Yes,” replied Shea.

Upon this, the stranger pulled out a gun and pointed it at Shea’s forehead.

She didn’t flinch at all, just said, “The world is going to end one day after all…but you aren’t finishing the unfinished business. Keep it in mind.”

As the stranger was looking up to look in her eyes before pulling the trigger, Shea slit his throat.

PS – This is the 12th day of my journey to write everyday for next one year.

Shark in a Sand Dune

_{DAY 11 OF MY CREATIVE WRITING JOURNEY. THE PROMPT WAS “DESCRIBE WALKING IN A DESERT SURROUNDED BY SAND…”}

“There is no way to tell you what it actually feels like walking on the sand dunes”, said the camel.

He was conveying his experience of living in a desert to a great white shark. This conversation was taking place in a space ship, hurtling towards the Mars.

“Sand dunes, what are those?”, asked the great white shark. “Aren’t they like waves like we have in Atlantic Ocean back on earth?”, the great white shark added.

It perplexed the camel. As he has never seen a water wave nor an ocean before. He was lost in his thoughts about what’s an ocean could be.

Suddenly the room was filled with blinding light. Their ship just passed a huge asteroid burning like a sun to its death.

PS – This is the 11th day of my journey to write everyday for next one year.

The forest god’s next birth

_{DAY Ten OF MY CREATIVE WRITING JOURNEY. THE PROMPT WAS “WRITE 100 WORDS ABOUT A SONG THAT MAKES YOU SAD..”}

There is a song. It goes like this Bonomali Tumi, Poro Janam main Hoio Radha.

I couldn’t listen it in its entirety. It’s been used in a documentary called ‘Bird of Dusk’ made on the life & work of Rituparno Ghosh.

I haven’t seen any of his film in entirety. I have been meaning to watch them soon.

But the songs of his films are nothing but magical.

The experience and lyrics of listening these songs made me listen to his interviews and I am an admirer of his work since then.

The song mentioned above is a bit mystical as well because I couldn’t understand the meaning of it.

It goes like this Bonomali Tumi, Poro Janam main Hoio Radha…that roughly translates to the forest god may you become Radha. I didn’t understand it because we’ve never heard this sentiment on part of Radha.

PS – This is the tenth day of my journey to write everyday for next one year.