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A to Z Challenge – Theme Reveal
Somewhere in January, I signed up for A to Z Challenge in a heightened blogging frenzy. Now, I am in a tight spot if I should do this challenge or not. I am not a quitter so I want to stay true to my word, but at the same time I have my own qualms regarding the challenge. I am a typical introvert online and offline. Which means I find it hard to socialise/network with many people on a long basis. Since networking happens to be one of the aims of the A to Z challenge, I donot know how far I will actually keep up with that. At the…
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Calls Answered
I have never tossed a coin in a fountain and wished. I have never crossed my fingers and wished. I have never looked on a shooting star and wished. …..but, I have prayed to my Lord, with my eyes closed, and tears springing, in the wee hours of dawn to protect me from sadness and grief. I have prayed to my Rabb in the green carpeted Rawdah to remove the difficulties of my family and friends. I have prayed in front of the Kaabah for all my affairs to be set right and bless me with tranquility. I have prayed standing on the mount Safa to bless me with professional…
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Destiny
“How can you be so late?”, she screamed at her driver. This was the fifth time she was reaching late for work. She reached her office only to see firefighters all around. Apparently there was an electric fire in her floor, fifteen minutes back. She muttered a quick prayer and silent thanks to her driver. (Day 6 of Write Tribe’s Festival of Words and today’s challenge is to write 55-words fiction)
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Inspiration around
My mother’s prayers and kindness inspires me. My father’s hardworking nature inspires me. My sister’s perfectionism inspires me. My brother’s drive for knowledge inspires me. My little brother’s selfless nature inspires me. My friend’s faith in love even after being cheated terribly inspires me. My teacher’s strength in fighting her personal adversities inspire me. My aunt’s strong sense of faith even after losing her twins inspire me. My cousin who conveys her emotions through actions, not words inspire me. My professor’s belief in my abilities inspire me. My neighbour’s helping nature inspires me. My colleague’s passion for dentistry inspires me. Search for stories of inspiration not only in famous celebrities…
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The English Patient – Book Review
“She had always wanted words, she loved them, grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape. Whereas I thought words bent emotions like sticks in water.” Set in an abandoned villa/hospital in Tuscany, The English Patient is a novel of four people maimed and broken by the war – A badly burnt and disfigured patient who is mistaken to be an English man but later identified as Count Almasy, the naive and simple nurse Hana who remained back in the villa(even when the rest of the staff left after the war) to take care of the English patient with whom she felt a special affinity, an Indian…
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Distracted Reading
I have been reading the book ‘A beautiful mind’ since a few weeks and I am still on the 78th page. This comes from the person who used to read Famous Five Big edition(3 books) in one night. I cannot read at a stretch like that now….with no distractions. I open a book get in to the groove only to have my Whatsapp tone sound from the corner of the room. I check and reply to the message only to be tempted to take a quick peek onto my Instagram feed. Well, you know the drill. (I try to mute my phone and tab but I am often greeted by…
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Blog Love
It’s the Day 2 of Festival of Words by Write Tribe and today’s request is to showcase a few blogs I love. I would like to share a few literary and creative writing blogs I enjoy a lot. 1) Writing for Life – Creative Writing, Personal Journals To find beauty in the subtle moments, to find a story in daily events, to appreciate funny moments as they happen and to share it in a few words is a gift some bloggers have. She happens to be one of those prolific writers. I enjoy her Funny Quotes section most ! 2) La Tour De Force – Creative Writing, Baking and…
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Demon-tia
‘Mom, I am back home,’ screamed Sarah from the front door. Her mom replied back in a puzzled and frightened tone, ‘ Who are you? Why is there a stranger in my house?’ ‘Oh mom, not today, I am really tired and I cannot bear this drama now,’ came the hurt retort. Sarah went back to her room and sprawled herself on to the bed. Feeling dejected and exhausted from this daily ordeal. Her eyes went to the self-made poster of reminder on her wall. It read – Your mother’s dementia makes her forget who you are but you cannot let that make you forget who she is to you. She smiled,…
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Solitude
Introverts of the world, Unite !
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A grandmother’s wisdom
It was 25th November, 2004. A beautiful Eid morning. After our morning prayers, I was with my friends visiting our neighbours to greet them on the festive occasion. While at a friend’s house, I got the news – “Your maternal grandmother passed away”. My initial reaction was “No, it is not possible. How can it? She was healthy and happy“. Running back to my house, I had only one selfish thought in my head – Please let it be any one else, but not her. Please, let it be that I heard wrong. Please, not her. It was the first close death I encountered and it affected me deeply. A…
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Quarter Life Crisis
Quarter-life crisis is Feeling like you have no one to talk to even when you have people by your side. Watching ‘Gilmore Girls’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ episode after episode, at a stretch. Sleep cycle follows a different time-zone than the one you are in geographically. Living in at your parent’s place after 5 years of college freedom. Unpaid internships and feeling lousy about it. Scary thought of you turning out to be a cat-lady who knits all day. Refreshing Twitter and Instagram page at a rate of million times per second. Tweeting about your every mentally deranged thought. Texting becomes way cooler than actual talking on phone Terrified of the…
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Optimist or Pessimist ?
(Feb 24th prompt from NaBloPoMo : Do you think you are more of an optimist or a pessimist? ) Thinking long and hard on the answer to the above question. I came to this sad conclusion: I am an optimist when things go my way. When its running downhill, I turn in to a dreadful pessimist. How wrong can I get ?! It is easy to see the silver lining on the cloud when we can gaze at the beautiful sky while standing on a firm ground. What happens when the ground is shaking and there is an earthquake? Our ability to find the silver lining depends on how much we actually…
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My solace – Books
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.” ― James Baldwin …and so I am busy with these for the next few days. insha’Allah.
