To me, Flowers = Smile.
No matter what the day is throwing at me or how the sun is shining, a flower of any kind or anywhere effortlessly helps me to wear a smile. Once I start smiling, the feeble smile cushions me with some sort of strength and calmness instantly.
Whenever I see a flower, I smile at them knowing that they too, are smiling at me.
For photo challenge: Smile
The gentle touch.
The affectionate heart.
A lovely warm smile
…there she was.
I embraced her.
Enveloped in her tenderness;
A mom’s kind heart fluttered,
A joyous music of love and compassion.
Happy were my childhood days.
Confusion got fused with happy during my teenage days.
Now that I’ve seen different colours of life;
most of the days I wear a mask;
Camouflaging myself;
pretending, that today is not the same as yesterday.
Sometimes when the grief is high,
and pretending becomes difficult;
I stick a smile to my mask.
Then, there are some days,
just so good and bright;
that I don’t need the mask at all.
All I need then, is a big fat smile.
A smile that I smile.
A smile that I get.
Makes me happy,
And pretending goes all waste.
Inspired by today’s prompt:Pretend
I sat waiting and watching at the time. Ten minutes or so had passed…there he was.
I wondered what he was trying to do, kneeling down instead of taking a seat.
Everything afterwards seemed like a dream come true as the soft flaky snow touched my skin. My hand in his…for all I saw, was a warm smile and a piece of cut polished ice moving from his hand to mine.
“You do listen to my ramblings.”
“Yes, I know you love snow. I knew you would like it here…this ways.”
Outside Ski World the sun sizzled in Dubai but what did I care…I kept staring at the dazzling white rock that sat on my finger.
Sitting in the veranda, was an old lady. Her glasses, perfectly balanced on her nose. She shook her head from right to left drawing imaginary lines on a newspaper placed on a table.
The sun warmly lit the November sky. Silence was disturbed, momentarily, by the chuckles of children playing on the street. The old lady enjoyed the to and fro movement of strangers and acquaintances. Strangers got a blank look; whereas, the acquaintances received greetings followed by a lengthy smile.
Her shawl was neatly folded and kept on a nearby bamboo chair. She loved talking as she turned the pages of the newspaper. Her friends – a cup and a saucer, a quite chair beside her and her humble shawl – listened to her peacefully.
This peaceful daily act was disturbed once in a week. She welcomed and longed for this disturbance. At a distance a bell would ring which was followed by a speeding bicycle that glided on the gravel path and stopped right in front of her house. Like some miracle she would raise her head… to catch the sight of a postman.
Today was the day; the postman had showed himself after nearly a week.
Greetings were exchanged with warm smiles. Time was automatically spared from the busy schedule of the postman for the old lady. He would sit on the chair in the veranda. First a glass of water was served and then a cup of tea. Their topic of discussion revolved around – health, medicine and their children. Like a ceremonious ritual the postman would first check his watch, then get up and hand over her letter. She would collect it with the same exuberance of a child collecting candies.
**********
Bundles of letters were stacked in the cupboard. All were arranged according to the year.
Time had moved forward. The son had moved away for better prospects. He visited the old lady in the form of many letters and some photographs.
Satisfaction was found in a mother’s heart that her son was well settled and doing good for himself.
On one side hung photos, and on the other side, paint was peeling off from this colourless wall. Her son’s photos appeared in the order of his growth – infancy, childhood, adolescence – and then additional faces appeared – wife and a son.
After a while the photos had stopped appearing, but the letters had continued.
**********
In a city apartment, was a sofa, a center table, a foldable bed and a kitchen stove. On a shelf, in the room, at a far corner was a trophy with initials at the bottom – Leo S. The surface of the trophy reflected a humanly face. This young face had an uncanny resemblance to Leo S. He had promised Leo S. something.
And today as he sat down to write…
Dear Ma,
…nothing came to him. He had been doing this for the last five years. Every time he wrote he remembered his promise – Please don’t stop writing letters or she’ll get worried.
Today, he struggled with words. His desire to continue a lie had pressed his soul hard and made his heart heavy. The old lady was ignorant of Leo’s death.
**********
Leo was a guard at a bank. One day, when the robbers attacked the bank and the people, Leo’s bravery fetched him a trophy but it also drew a wound in his stomach. All he thought it to be a small wound, but it was not. It became the reason of his slow and untimely death along with his ignorant attitude towards medication.
In the room, where the trophy was still standing victoriously, a decision was being formed.
Bags were packed and young Leo was ready to go.
**********
Years back, a traveler had come from a village. Today someone will be tracing back Leo’s steps to reach a someone dear in the village.
I would like to thank Lore from Snow’s Fissures and Fractures for nominating me for the “five days of black and white photography challenge”. This post was long due but as I was struggling with time I could not post earlier. However, as I now get to play along I’m really happy. 🙂
For day 1 I would like to share this photo.
rajnigandha flower buds
Everyday is a new gift with new possibilities and endless realities. Life is sweet and fragrant only if you’d stop, to savour a moment’s beauty. I had bought the stem of rajnigandha flower on a rather sad day. But while photographing the buds I saw its beauty and felt happiness seep into my heart. Rajnigandha is one of my favourite flowers.
I would like to tag Della from The Passion Dew for this challenge. She is a brilliant photographer and I love her photos. I’m sure you’ll be glued to her blog once you are there.
I would love to see you participate. I would also totally understand if you would decide not to participate for any reason.
The rules of this challenge are:
I started cooking and it was a disaster.
Mom cooked on slow heat, and I wanted it quick so the flames were high.
high flames
High heat was my style of cooking.
It was quick.
The food quality was – burnt.
Still food was served, and everyone ate with a smile.
Lesson was learnt and so I’d let food simmer in low heat.
But there also, a problem arose.
I forgot about cooking until a slow burning smell would touch my nose.
It would make me run to kitchen.
Thank God! I’d say the food was not yet burnt.
When served everyone ate with great pleasure.
fish curry
Sure the food would be good to taste, I thought.
OMG! I forgot to add salt to taste.
What would any food be without any sprinkle of salt?
It would certainly not be good, I thought.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/shaken-and-stirred/
I was at a local grocery store buying things. In a queue of two people ahead of me,I was standing quietly. There were boxes lying around me- fresh merchandise, I guess. As the evening hours were approaching, the employees were removing the boxes and placing its stuff hurriedly.
I hear a voice behind me, “excuse me,” and an employee in front of me makes an eye contact with the voice. I ignored as I thought the voice wanted employee’s help with something. I heard “EXCUSE me” for a second time and after some time I realized that it was for me. It was hard to ignore because of the harshness in tone. To me – “excuse me” sounded more like, “you fool, I’m talking to you.”
Normally a person would not get irritated on requesting you after two or three times but this one got angry the second time itself. Normally people would ask in a requesting tone rather than a commanding tone. I thought that she would have had her reasons to be so rude…she could have had a bad day or had too many things to carry or getting late as I was blocking her path or she was just the way she was.
Anyways, on turning my head I saw a girl in her twenties wearing black rimmed thick glasses and a pony tail tightly tied backwards. The face mattered more to me than her body or her clothes. I could have responded by repeating the anger or moving silently from her path. Normally, I would have chosen silence and then been angry for the rest of the day cursing, fretting and frowning at others or self. But that day I decided to respond differently. I decided to smile. With a big smile stuck on my face I said, “Sure, why not? Please, go ahead.” Even with a pretentious smile you can’t pull anger (at least on your face and even if angry you don’t sound so).
Although I must say it was a difficult smile but then I was happy or should I say satisfied with my reaction. That smile made her slightly embarrassed.
When I smiled at her I didn’t think of embarrassing her or saving myself from being embarrassed in front of the employees…I just smiled because I wanted to. I chose my response.
So why did I decide to smile inspite of being inflicted with that bitter tone. I have read so much about – taking control of your life and actions…not to give the control to others…chose your response…. In that moment I felt that whatever I’ve read and if that’s true I should do what they always ask to do…smile. And it turned out to be true – you can’t hold on to anger with a smile stuck on your face.
I was so happy with myself that day – for smiling, for taking control of the situation, for choosing my response rather than reacting, for not behaving like the other person and most of all for following and not failing. With a smile I put an end to the event then and there rather than letting it simmer in my head.
“Come, with me,” says a voice and I float after it.
Lost. My identity lost. My body lost but I know I’m still there in some form of existence.
I’m swimming through a void of memories and dark and bright pathways. I face darkness first and then the bright white light of eternity engulfs me.
All of a sudden – a last memory – a distorted smile trying to pull me back. I try to wipe this memory clean and see… a man. A Face…young, hair… black, eyes…sparkling. It looked familiar. A view from distance helps me to see another face…a woman, young, black curly hair, eyes light brown. She was smiling and had something in her hand.
“Who is this?” The existence asked the voice.
The voice, “Don’t you remember. It’s you.”
“Which one – the man or the woman,” asked the confused existence?
The voice said, “The woman… of course. Now let’s hurry, we are getting late and the portal will close soon.”
Ok.
The existence started following the voice without any choice.
“Wait! Wait.” She shouted and said, “I remembered that moment. Keith…I think. Yes! That was his name. He had proposed to me. My ring. I can now see in that moment much clearly.”
Good! Now let’s go.
Wait, why is everything getting grey? Why is it so bright, now? I can’t see anything from that moment. Please! Please, make it stop.
“I’m sorry I can’t”, said the voice with some softness in it. He continued, “However, if you want I can let only one thing remain for eternity in your memory – in the same form as it was real. Fast. Time is running out of your hands and mine as well.”
golden ring
Fine! Don’t shout. I choose my hair…no, wait I choose him…no, no. I choose my brown eyes…no.
Fast kid!
Wait…wait, wait. I choose…that ring…the golden ring. With his name inscribed and our promise of love. I ask you to let the golden ring never be black or grey or white. Never be lost in time and space.Let its golden glow be forever. Let it shine like a sun… forever.
It’s not easy for me to make friends, but once you are on my “friends list” you are their forever.
This is what I do. I would observe a person first and then approach rather than approaching instantly. I feel this way it is easy to face any rejections or embarrassment.
In order to make friend, I would carry:
A smile
A confident look
Be direct in approach
When I finally arrive at the spot with all the tools in my hand I would start the friendship game.
1) The first thing is to introduce myself. Hi! My name is ….?
2) Then if the person introduces him/her self. Good! All you have to do is build a rapport now.
3) If the person doesn’t introduce or shows any signs of hesitation or you sense it, first try… before giving up.
4) In the next attempt… try to find a common interest. Maybe where is the person from, which department he/she works in, share information that could be helpful… “you can find a good eating joint nearby, you can come with me for a match, I buy the children’s book at a discounted price from this place.”
5) If this is difficult the best is to smile and compliment something about the person or that he/she owns. “Wow where did you buy this from it’s looks beautiful…I’ve been looking for it. You have a pleasant smile (As I said I’m very observant and then approach, so I would know a little about the person’s behavior and attitude by now).
These are “my sweet simple and easy approach to making friends”. I have been successful so far. Number doesn’t matter to me. What counts is “even if they are few they should be there forever.”
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/prompt-cant-we-be-friends/
Emovere 
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