Month: October 2023

MWWP: The Magical Village

Hello and good day to you. Today I am participating in Eugi’s Moonwashed Weekly Prompt. The prompt is Magical Village. It can be any variation of the prompt or the image (below).

The photo is rather magical and made me throw caution to the wind and attempt a free verse. Actually, I am not even sure, if that’s what it is – anyway, here goes.

The World of Trees

Fireflies line the path

Magical village

Hiding in plain sight

A lush rustling village

No wants and little needs

Strife there was none.



Oblivious of taunts, curses

and betrayals

Partners for life with

ample space for young’uns

Once they grew roots

they too stayed put.



Some were short, some tall

some colorful, some shy

The naked and the  bedecked

together, no bite in their bark

Phoenix rising from the ashes,

They were that magical.



Passing travellers stop by

Catch a break, 

have a stretch, grab a bite,

Scratch an itch or build a home

They leave without even

A hug, a pat or a backward glance



Once in a while

When the weather is fine,

a light wind blowing

they nod and

wave to each other

going about their daily chores



Day in and day out, these

voiceless master chefs concoct

magic out of thin air

Some make tea, some coffee

Offering children of their heart

an arm, a leg, their whole being


With no expectations

the tireless village plods on

in pursuit of its

Endless thankless task

-- Feed and sustain

20 quintillion lives and counting

***

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments and suggestions. Have a super weekend.

Note (8/10/23): I changed the title of the poem as I felt that otherwise the poem was very obscure for most readers. Do let me know your thoughts. Thanks

FF: Spinning a Yarn

Hello! Hope you are having a super day. Here’s my attempt to participate in the weekly flash fiction party hosted by Rochelle where everyone is welcome to join. Click here to read the other stories inspired by the photo prompt below.

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

Spinning a Yarn

Words 100

“I want my order on the 15th,” the customer said.

“But Madam,” Rekha pleaded, “30th was the agreed date. Chikankari* is handmade, it’s time-consuming and back-breaking ….”

“I can pay extra.”

“They’re award winning artisans, one can’t just order…”

“How about 30% extra?”

“I‘ll request them.”

 “So darn hot!” Rekha moaned at her artisan’s makeshift shop, a mat, under the banyan tree.

The wizened woman looked up from her embroidery.

“When will my order be ready?”

“Another 10 days.”

“5 days.”

“Sorry Madamji. My son isn’t well and my…”

“Not my business. For each day’s delay, I will deduct 10%.

***

A/N * Chikankari is the technique of creation of a chikan work, which is a delicate hand embroidery on a variety of textile fabrics. Traditional chikankari is white floral embroidery on soft pastel shades of light muslin and cotton. You may visit this link for more information

Thanks for visiting. Would love to know your thoughts. Have a great day 🙂

TankaTuesday #2

Good day! Another attempt to write tanka while participating in Colleen’s #TankaTuesday challenge where the rules are to to write in any of the 24 syllabic forms of Japanese poetry using a kigo or season word as an inspiration. While there are 24 seasons in Japan, we are allowed to use season words as per our region.

I am trying out a tanka and have used ‘Dandiya’ as the kigo word here. Dandiya Raas is a folk dance of western India mostly in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. This popular socio-religious dance is performed during the Navaratri (literally – Nine Nights) festival in honor of Goddess Durga who is believed to visit her home on Earth along with her children and their unique animal companions, (but that’s another story for another day, perhaps). This festival usually occurs in the period of late September to late October with the actual dates varying from year to year. Dandiya is performed in memory of Goddess Durga’s victory over Mahishasura (literally – buffalo demon) and the colorful sticks (called dandia) used in the dance represent her sword.

I took this image from this site just to give you a better idea. I hope the kigo word is acceptable?

And the tanka is

trees

swaying in the breeze

dandiya practice

he joins up unaware

of her fracture

Initially I thought of going for just the haiku (the first 3 lines) then felt it could be a tanka as well. Also the explanation seemed a bit disproportionate to the kigo description. Still is actually 😀

That’s it folks. Do let me know your thoughts, comments and tips. Have a great day and thank you Colleen for the challenge.

One-to-Three PPC Challenge #2

Hello to you 🙂 Venturing into the domain of photography I am participating in XingfuMama’s photo challenge. The challenge is simple: take one photo and get creative with it by processing it three different ways.

Here goes:

This is the original. This was taken last month at Kochi harbor in Kerala, India. It was a cloudy cool morning and it was such a treat to watch her grow bigger and bigger as she floated back home. I took it on my Samsung Z fold 2 phone camera. No particular setting.

Err, I can’t help but also post a haiku, or attempt at one, inspired by this image. Haiku, as you may know, captures one or two moments  by using clear and vivid images. A haiku, consisting of a phrase and a fragment, is an unfinished poem – the readers interpret what it means by putting the images together. Do share your thoughts and interpretations 🙂

she returns

after a long journey

sigh

This is the Pen and Wash style availabe in the phone itself.

This is the Watercolor style. Earlier we used to attempt watercolors (not that I ever could!) based on photos and now its the reverse. Fascinating stuff.

For this one, instead of the Styles function, I tried to play around with contrast, exposure, shadow, sharpness etc.

On second thoughts, the version one and two look quite similar, don’t they?

So, what’s the verdict? Suggestions? Tips?

Thanks for visiting. Have a super day.

SSC#1: Number of Fences

This my submission to Terri’s Sunday Stills Challenge on fences of any kind. Initially I thought I wouldn’t be able to participate but now I think I have too many.

Entry for humans beyond the fence is offensive to the law of the land and jungle 😀

“There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” Will Rogers

You can of course see the fence but it is the gnarly tree that captures one’s attention, isn’t it? Doesn’t she look as if she is involved in some long standing feud with her own self?

“I am a woman in process. I’m just trying like everybody else. I try to take every conflict, every experience, and learn from it. Life is never dull.” Oprah Winfrey

This is another shot another side from the same spot. No sign of conflict here, just peaceful coexistence.

“Coexistence reminds us that together we are stronger.” From the internet

A makeshift fence to demarcate private land cultivating precious spices. Can you guess what the long leafed shrub provides?

“A green pearl on the banks of the river Periyar in the South-west mountains”. Chanakya wrote in his ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, political science, economic policy and military strategy, Arthashashtra. It was written in Sanskrit in the 1st millennium BCE.

The photo is also taken around the same place as mentioned by Chanakya and is considered the Queen of Spices. I presume you must have guessed it by now – yes, it’s the green cardamom.

Here the audience is fenced out as experts demonstrate the ancient martial art, Kalaripayattu. Originating in Kerala, India, it is one of the oldest surviving martial arts in world. Kalaripayattu differs from many other martial arts systems in the world in that weapon based techniques are taught first, and barehanded techniques are taught last. Elements from the yoga tradition as well as finger movements in the nata dances, were incorporated into Kalaripayattu.

It was truly a treat to watch the masters fight with swords with sparks flying. They were so swift in their actions, from the shot it appears as if they are bare-handed when actually they are using swords.

I hope it was worth your time to visit. Do let me know your favorite photo – if any. Bye.

WLC#40: A Circular Rainbow

Hello, hope you are having a great day. Today, I am participating in the challenge hosted by XingfuMama which is about Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge – It could be anything: a picture or you can go into detail and tell it as a reflection, story or poem.

So it’s a picture with some detail, processing and a poem 🙂

Recently while on an early morning flight, I was surprised and delighted to see a rainbow that was a circle. Frankly, I had never really thought about it before and always considered the rainbow to be a semi-circle (with a pot of gold at the end) 😀

Apparently, a circular rainbow is a very rare sight, requiring sky conditions to be “just right.” Without any further ado, ta da….

Amazing isn’t it? While this is the original photo, I couldn’t help playing around with the brightness, contrast etc.

Which one do you like better?

Also posting a tanka inspired by this – hope you like

flying high –

the rainbow has no

pot of gold

traveling far and wide I find it

on my couch

Do let me know your thoughts – thanks for visiting and have a super week.