I challenge you.....

“I challenge you to prove to me that staying in school = job, … and that by being educated she isn't also ostracized from the social network that can help her survive if she isn't excessively exploited…….Yes, I know "stop prostitution, build schools" is more compelling, but I'm unconvinced …[education]….is a solution.”

Had it been one of my own friends who said this, I would probably have taken her down in a tackle and given her a bloody nose, but since it was a friend of a friend, I took a deep breath…… and realized she was not entirely wrong.

To read on, hop across to my post in Burrowers, Books & Balderdash.
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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

I'm not a Writer

Over the last few days, I have got more than half a dozen invites on Facebook, asking me to confirm that I am indeed a "Writer". Much as it pains me to do so, I rejected all of them. Because, whether I want to admit it to myself or not, I am currently not a writer.

Yes, I love writing. Yes, the stories are there in my head. Yes, someday I hope to write something people would want to read.

But today, I am not writing, so I cannot call myself a writer. A friend of writers, I'll call myself.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.


Not being a writer doesn't mean I can't write about writing. After an insanely long break, I am blogging at Burrowers, Books and Balderdash, on Local Flavour: how much is too much?

Water Facts

There will be more wars fought over water than there have ever been fought over oil, you are often told. I am not sure I agree.
Oil is a luxury that is available and affordable but to a few. No matter what people may believe, we can live without oil.

But Water? Water is a necessity without which neither man nor beast can survive. When we start to run out of water, we start running out of life.

Water Wars, if they come, will make the oil wars look like mere skirmishes. Conserve Water today, so that Day never comes.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

I am also over at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash, delusioning about water facts.

Half the Sky

Most books of fiction are easy to read. Some like Rohiton Mistry's "A Fine Balance" carry you along at your chosen pace, but stay with you for months. Some like Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy" make you pause, rewind and re-play even as you read.

Well written academic tomes make you pause and ponder after every paragraph, but you cannot put them down because of the insights they contain.

And then there is Nick Kristoff's "Half the Sky". Short stories of oppression and courage.  Stories that chill your spine. I challenge you to read more than a chapter a day.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

I am also over at Burrowers, Books and Balderdash blogging about some of my favourite and not so favourite Indian books.

Why does a Heart look like that?

"Do you know a heart has four rooms?"
"It does?"
"Yes. And blood goes from auricle to ventricle. But it doesn't go from right room to left room."
"Wow, I never knew that. Who told you?"
"Teacher! But you know something, teacher doesn't know anything."
"Why?"
"Because she showed us a heart, and it didn't even look like a heart."
"Maybe that is how a heart really looks."
"Then why does a heart has two round round on top and pokey-pokey at the bottom? Is that a different kind of heart?"

I shrugged. It is impossible to satisfy seven-year olds.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

I am also over at Burrowers, Books and Balderdash with a Topical Tuesday post on Valentine's Day.

A Bollywood Love Story

Today I am over at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash, with a Delusional Thursday retelling of a Bollywood Love Story through mannequins.

Characters who do nothing

The other day I read this novella which had more than half a dozen characters who did nothing. They all had distinct names and family relationships, but they were indistinguishable from each other. If they spoke at all, they said the same thing, in exactly the same way. None of them advanced the plot, all they ever did was provide the backdrop against which the story was enacted. And yet, they were there, and I had spent precious minutes trying to get them sorted out.

How can I possibly critique the story without running the risk of losing a friend?

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.


I am also over at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash talking about lessons we can draw from children's books on creating memorable characters.

Hijack Successful!

[When I left the computer untended for a few moments, little did I imagine it would get highjacked by the two rascals.....]

"Hi. I am seven years old, and my brother is four years old."
"No, I am five years old."
"No you are not. You are four years old."
"I am almost five years old."
"But now you are only four years old. Baby."
"But next month I will be five years old."
"So what?"
"But last month, you were six years old, but said you were seven years old."
"That was last month. Now I am seven years old, and you are four years old."
"Bully. I am almost five years old."
"Okay, okay. Don't fight. Mamma will find out."


[For the rest of the story, do visit Burrowers, Books & Balderdash]
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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Brother Love

My younger one drove me to tears the other day. Ten minutes later, he sidled up and tried to apologise, but I was having none of it- he always apologises and goes back to doing the same thing. When I pushed him away for the third time, the older one whispered something in his ears and dragged him again.

Ten minutes later, I heard the tinny music from a McDonald's toy. I looked up and saw the rascal holding up a card drawn by his brother.

After seeing how much they cared for each other, I couldn't but forgive him.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

My Delusional Thursday post at the Burrowers, Books & Balderdash is on a different kind of Partnerships. Drop by if you can, and leave a note, even if you think it might offend- I don't offend easily!

Empower a Girl

At nine, a boy plays cricket with his friends. At nine, a girl is responsible for her looking after her younger brother.
At nineteen, a boy spends his first salary on the best mobile phone he can afford. At nineteen, a girl is saving up to buy her first cooking stove.
At twenty-nine, a boy is seeking to escape from his family responsibilities. At twenty-nine, a girl is fighting to ensure her children go to school.

However you may try to deny it, boys and girls are different. And to empower a girl is the only way to enable change.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.


Do also check out my Topical Tuesday post on the same topic at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash.

The Difference between Right and Real

"Isn't Will Solveit a good guy?", asked my son. "Then why does he chat with his friend while his teacher is teaching?"
I had no answer. You really should not be chatting in class. It is not to say I never did- I've passed notes on chits of paper for as long as I can remember. And had the technology existed, I am sure I would have IM-ed too. But it is 'wrong'. No matter how boring the class, you should concentrate. And children's books should not condone disruptive behaviour.

How do you draw the line between 'right' and real?

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

I am also blogging at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash on how Reading helps you to determine what is Right and Wrong.

Passion

Her concentration was intense; she would not be distracted from the task literally on hand. A perfectionist; she had to get every line of the pattern just right.

Her customer had paid her in advance. She only came a few times a year; however satisfied, it was unlikely her customer would ever remember her enough to come back to her. She could have done a bad job and gotten away with it. But she gave it her all.

For her, applying henna was not just a way to earn some extra money. It was her passion.

Passion makes everything worthwhile.
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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

What is common to Maslow's Theory of Motivation and Writer's block? Head across to Burrowers, Books & Balderdash  to find out, and to read an awesome drabble on finding intelligent life on Mars.

The Grass is Greener, even for Goddesses

Lion or Tiger? Looks more like a Horse to me.

Same Goddess. Same Demon. Same Festival. Different Mounts.

In Bengal, Durga rides a Lion. A ferocious creature who thinks nothing of sticking his sharp claws into the demon.
In Gujarat, she is astride a Tiger. An gentle animal who has learnt to pose gracefully for photographers.

The strangest thing is that the only lions found outside a zoo are in Gujarat, and Bengal is the home of the Royal Bengal Tiger.

Wouldn't it have made more sense if Durga rode a lion in Gujarat and a tiger in Bengal?

I guess even Goddesses want what is more difficult to get.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.


Head across to Burrowers, Books & Balderdash if you want to hear me get Delusional about Pirates and men in Pink.

Random Musings

Around midnight, last night, after I got off a telecon with two of my collegues in the US, ironed the school uniform of the older one, and hunted down the missing white sock of the younger one, I realised a Random Wednesday post was due at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash. Since we post at noon GMT, technically, I had 17 1/2 hours to dash out a post, but today promised to be yet another day which could be called rhythmic only if cacophony is a rhythm, and I did not trust myself to find time to write anything reasonably coherent.

I then thought I would get away by posting a couple of truly random photographs. But the very first one set in motion a train of really random thoughts, which I penned down in the 'compose post' window. So head across to Burrowers, Books & Balderdash to see if the post does justice to this photograph.

Writing about Writing- Not!

Writing about Writing always seemed an almost phony thing for me to do. Sure, I have been writing for over three decades (I wrote my first poem when I was eight- wish I had preserved it for when I was famous), but given the amount of time I actually devote to writing, and the magnitude of my output, I have as much right to write about writing as I have to write on how to run a marathon.
But, there is one microscopic sub-sub-sub-genre of writing where I am prolific. So click across to read me talk about writing Drabbles.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Education gives you a good life?

A couple of hours after his sixth birthday party, my older one started planning his next one. He wanted a "big" party at Pizza Hut; I have been trying to steer him towards something a little less extravagant. With barely three months to go before his Big Day, the topic came up again last night.
"Can I please have my birthday at Pizza Hut", he began, staring at me with a plaintive look in his eyes.
"Why don't we take a few of your really close friends out for an afternoon?", I asked.
"But it would be more fun to have a party at Pizza Hut", he argued.
"Wouldn't it be fun to spend an afternoon with your friends, and have lunch with them?", I asked, before adding. "We can even get you a Spiderman cake, if you wish."
That seemed to tilt the scales a little. "Okay", he said. "But why can't I have a party at Pizza Hut."
I debated for a second, before deciding this was as good a time as any other for a lesson in sharing. "Because, a big party at Pizza Hut is more expensive than an afternoon out with friends", I explained. "We can give all the money we save to some poor kid who needs it."
"But what will the kid do with the money?", he asked.
"Maybe his parents can use the money to send him to school. Then he will learn things, and when he grows up, he will have a good life."
"Will he really have a good life is he goes to school now", my son asked.
"Yes, of course", I replied. "Education is the key to everything. Now, the child is poor and doesn't have a good life. But after he gets an education, he will get a good job, and be able to earn money, and then he will have a good life."
He was silent for a few minutes. Then said, "Okay. I will have a smaller birthday party, and you can give the money to the kid's parents. But don't tell them I gave it, okay. Let it be a surprise."

I was so proud of my son, I nearly agreed to give him his party at Pizza Hut and also make a donation to an institution working to impart education, but contented myself by hugging him tight and telling him how proud I was of him.


Poverty is, perhaps, the biggest problem facing the world today- and Education is the most effective tool by which to fight poverty. Every child in a school, every adult literate- that should not have to be a distant dream. If every one of us is aware of the magnitude of the problem, and is willing to do our bit, we would be a little closer to the solution than we were yesterday.

Today, September 8, is International Literacy Day. Can you take a few minutes off to reflect on what literacy means to you, and if possible blog about it, to spread awareness. And if you can, could you also do your bit towards contributing to the education of a child? There are many organisations which allow you donate online. And even if you can't do either, do check out Burrowers, Books & Balderdash for some unbelievable statistics that Mari has put together on (the lack of) literacy.

A few moments of peace

The mail that should have been sent off an hour ago mocking me.
"Mamma, he is kicking me." "No, Mamma, HE is kicking ME."
A friend on the phone- it has been 43 minutes and still no sign of hanging up.
The TV blaring in the living room- a spider and two ants watching.
Beeps on the phone- is that a client or a telemarketer? You can't check, because you haven't yet figured out how to use call waiting yet.
"Mamma, potty." Will they ever lean to clean up?

What would I not do for a few moments of peace?
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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

And as a perfect counterpoint to this mad rant, I also have a Delusional Thursday post up at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash. Hop across if you are sure you want to find out whether or not Lord Voldemort was a Virgin.

Lenticular images

Remember those lenticular images you played with as a child? You know, those cards with a ridged surface where you saw one image when you looked at it full on, and a completely different image when you changed the angle of view. Do you remember the hours spent in alternately looking at the two images and trying to see if you could perhaps find a third image hidden somewhere?

Many years later, I discovered that most good writing was nothing more or less than a succession of lenticular images. But they went by a different name; they were called PoV.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

I was at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash yesterday, rambling on about PoVs and lenticular images. Do drop by if you have the time.

Running and Writing

Running and Writing. Two ends of the spectrum. One a physical activity, the other a mental exercise. One stretches the legs and lungs, the other uses the fingers and the eyes.

On the face of it, you would think there is little in common between Running and Writing. But if that is the case, why is it that so many of my writer friends are also runners?

Maybe there is more in common between Running and Writing than is apparent? Maybe running better prepares you for writing, and vice versa.

To find out more, hop across to Burrowers, Books & Balderdash.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Motivational Friday, at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash

I don't need to read

“I don’t read”, he said. And he said it with pride. “Reading is a waste of time. I get all I want from the electronic media.”

“Information maybe”, I conceded. “But what about fiction? Surely you read books.”.

“Who has the time for books?”, he replied. “Movies get over in two hours, and they are much more entertaining than books.”

I was speechless. Was there anything left to say? A large part of the joy of reading is in filling up the blanks. In imagining things. If that is lost to a person, I can only feel sorry for them.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

The full post was first posted two weeks back on a Reading Monday at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash. For a new Reading Monday post, and other great posts, do visit us at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash