Just another Neem tree residing in a palace courtyard with not much to do except litter the place with golden yellow leaves every spring.
Rooted to the spot and bored to her core, she yawns and rustles her branches. Oh the tales she could tell, if anyone cared to listen.
And lo behold she has gathered quite a few fresh green followers glistening with eagerness – now if only one of them could type 😉
Linked to Becca’s Sunday Trees – have a wonderful day.
It’s time for Cee’s odd ball challenge – with full license (well more than usual [if that is possible]) to play as we like, with whatever we like, no questions asked. So here are a bunch of odd photos that I hope will enjoy browsing.
Caught this one showing off her (his?) lip job 😀
A tea drinking crow! Photo courtesy my lil sistah
A fan from yester years.
An ultra modern cutlery holder
I was trying to capture the window when this girl came by – I thought it looked cool. Do you think so too?
This has to be my favorite COB shot 😀 All those people posing to catch the tip of the Vijay Stambh which if you remember I had showcased in an earlier post. The contortionist photographers were also quite a sight to behold. No wonder all those langurs were out in hordes. 😀
Thanks for stopping by – any personal favorites? Do tell.
“What are you doing Nani?”
“I am measuring the rice for cooking.”
“Why do you ritualistically put in some extra rice grains and then put back some in the container?”
“Traditionally we cook a little extra for an unexpected guest and make sure to keep some for tomorrow.”
“As if that tiny bit will help!” I scoffed. “Superstitious nonsense.”
“No harm done…”
“My cook’s son lost his job. There’s an opening for a driver but she refused.”
“Why?”
“The astrologer advised against it.”
I scrolled down for the Friday Fictioneer photo.
Damn. Where could I spot a flying crow at night?
***
Words 101
Note: For the uninitiated, myna birds are very powerful and accurate fore-tellers.
I have no idea where this originated from but it is 100 % true especially the one for sorrow. Although I’m not sure if photos count 😉 Psst just in case you can’t find a flying crow, make a circle with your forefinger and thumb and cut (open it) with something (thrice!). 😀
Well I confessed mine 😛 What’s yours?
Written for the Friday Fictioneers – a story in 100 words or less. Thanks to Rochelle for hosting it and Douglas M Macllroy for the photo prompt. To read the other stories inspired by this prompt, click here.
Image from Google Maps
All Worked Up
Words 150
“What’s up Sia? You look upset.” Her colleague, Nisha asked.
Sia made a moue. “The Boss is mad at me for taking leave at such a crucial juncture.”
“Damn that woman.” Nisha said. “Why were you on leave? All well?”
“Not exactly.” Sia said. “My father-in-law is in the hospital…”
“Oh I am sorry. What happened?”
“He had a heat stroke while exploring the Old Fort.”
“You went exploring in this heat? Are you crazy?”
“Don’t blame me! Explore your city is part of my son’s holiday homework.”
“Home*&%^#work!” Nisha cursed. “That took us to the brink of divorce.”
“What?!”
“I had to stay up till late to complete my 6-year-old daughter’s assignments.”
“Uho.”
“Things came to a head when she had to make a family tree.”
“What happened?”
“My mother-in-law accused me of deliberately pasting a photo that made her look old and fat.”
“Did you?”
“Err, well…”
***
I was inspired by Penny’s double entry to What Pegman Saw and of course the view to attempt this challenge – a story in 150 words or less. Thanks to K. Rawson for hosting the challenge and Google Maps for the photo. To read the other stories inspired by this prompt click here.
Oh shoot! It’s Story Club time and I clean forgot all about it. So much has been happening lately, travel, wedding, trying to capture scissors and ladders, studying art whew! No wonder it slipped my mind. Oh well, better late than never right?
So here’s Story Club number 6, the last one for this year. And in honor of that, I am tweaking the rules – since it’s already late, I am skipping the pre-announcement of the story. Besides, nobody seems to be reading them in advance in any case 😦
And instead of a short story, I am picking up a book this time.
Hey hey!! Pipe down will ya? I can’t hear myself type. Just read me out 😉 The thing is I am way behind in my reading target for this year, so I thought why not kill two birds with one post? Tick off a book (or two) from my list and get in the Story Club as well – great idea isn’t it? 🙂
What about you – you ask.
Well how about reading the review and then you make an informed decision whether or not you would like to read this book? Come on admit it, that’s what you usually do don’t you? Anyway, since this is a book and I know it is short notice, I won’t give away any spoilers.
Okay, all set?
On the same page?
Let’s go.
The book I have chosen for last Story Club of 2016 is Everything a Man Knows About a Woman by Alan Francis (1930) who is a comedian and writer from Scotland.Not much is known about Francis as an author but this book has an average rating of 4.3 on 5 on Goodreads and 49 reviews. He first published this book in 1987 in consultation with Cindy Cashman.
I read the book in one sitting. In fact I don’t think I wasted any time drawing any breath either. It was gripping right from Page 1. The book was particularly fascinating from a woman’s perspective. It was a real eye-opener and made me understand men better than before. I have to confess that exposure to this book has given me significant insight into the male psyche and softened my harsh attitude towards them. I am a softer and mellower person particularly towards my significant other. I thought of gifting this book to him. But then I thought no point, he already knows all this (he may not admit it of course), better to gift to my girlfriends. They are bound to benefit richly from this fresh and rich insight and vision into the minds of the men who matter. I can almost guarantee you won’t regret reading this book.
Amazon is offering a 25th Anniversary Edition (1995) as well and the E-book costs just over 3 $ while the paperback edition is just under 4 $
But tell you what – If you are interested, I would be happy to ‘give’ you a copy of the book for free this Christmas season – ahem ahem I have inside information 😉
So, if you are hesitant to purchase this slim book of 128 blank pages of what men know about women, do let me know 😀
On the other hand, if you are willing to spend a little bit more in this holiday season (and expand your reading list for the year 2016), you could try What Every Man Thinks About Apart from Sex by Sheridan Simove published more recently in 2012. This is a thicker volume, about 200 blank pages.
In an apparent bid to decode the female psyche Dr. Melissa J Marshall jumped on to the bandwagon and published What Every Woman Thinks About (June 2016).
However, I personally found this book rather misleading and self-contradictory. I mean the author must have thought about what women think? And only after thinking about the topic did she come up with book of blank pages – did she not? And hey come on – does she or every other woman not think incessantly and ad nauseam about shopping, diamonds, how to steal their girl-friends’ boyfriends, murder their mother-in-laws etc etc?
You might call me biased but in my defense, I would have lauded the book if it had been titled What Every Woman Knows About Man. Now that would have been an epic tale.
Inspired by these priceless books, I am tempted to publish, “What Every Woman Should Know About Men.”
A hardbound book with a dark handsome beautiful cover design but no – the pages wouldn’t be blank. I have some plagiarized (suitably edited) material (from somewhere on the internet):
“Men have 2 interests: hunger and hanky-panky, and they can’t tell them apart. If you see a gleam in his eyes, make him a sandwich.”
Look forward to reading your reviews (and contributions to the above book) while I add 3 books to my list of books I read this year. Apparently I can add a few more before the year is over 😀
As a peace offering, here is a short film (20 min) in Marathi with English subtitles – it gives a glimpse of Indian culture, traditions and psyche. Even I was unaware of this particular ritual. I would go so far as to say this is one of the best short films I have seen in a long time. Seriously. No hanky-panky. Off to have a sandwich.
By the way, just in case something isn’t quite clear in the short film, please do read the comment section of the video or even better we could discuss it here 🙂
If anyone wishes to join the Story Club (including this one) most welcome. Just post a review and link back to this post. Or you could host the next month’s Story Club?
You can read the other Story Club posts and rules here. Or leave me a comment below or mail me at mysilverstreaks@gmail.com.
Please free to discuss, comment, suggest and protest 😉
Stories and more 