Dress-up dreams
Dress-up reality
Dreams vs Reality
Category: Random Thoughts
What all goes into a rainbow cake
Do you know what all goes into cooking a rainbow cake 🎂?
My daughter is turning seven this month. Also, for the first time, she was dealing with exhausting end-of-year exams (Children her age have been going to school since they were 3 but we homeschooled her due to COVID.) I wanted her to remember these days with fondness rather than dread. So, I built her a 4-inch oven the out of a cardboard box.
She was so excited upon seeing the gift that she decided she will begin using it immediately. That is when it all snow-balled.
It started with a small paper pizza 🍕, complete with mushrooms 🍄, onions 🌰, tomatoes 🍅 and capsicums.
The next day, a 3D cake 🎂 the diameter of my smallest finger and the half the height appeared. It was cute with rainbow colours and seven candles on the top, ready for the big doll party–apparently, my daughter’s doll is ready to celebrate her seventh birthday too.
But of course, it wasn’t enough because it didn’t really have any ingredients, just paper. So, my daughter took it upon herself to create them. You see, the quickest way to get a toy is to build it. So, on the next day, a paper flour bag 🌾appeared, along with a paper milk jug 🥛, a couple of eggs 🥚🥚and a bowl of sugar. Not sure where she found the recipe–I don’t bake. I don’t even have an oven. The items are a little rough around the edges since she is not allowed to use scissors yet. But that never managed to curb her enthusiasm.
The next day, paper icing cones started appearing. Soon, we had strawberry 🍓, orange 🍊, mango 🥭, kiwi 🥝, blue berry, black berry and black grapes 🍇 flavours. I thought it should be enough for the cake, so after a lot of ministrations from our little chef, the cake went inside the oven.
And then she realised that it is a party, and she can’t offer just a piece of the rainbow cake to the guests. So, over the next few days, paper cupcakes 🧁, burger 🍔, four varieties of shakes 🥤, a whole lot of other food stuff of unidentifiable variety 🥗🧆🍥 started appearing. It was, of course, done using the milk-jug 🥛, eggs 🥚🥚, icing and flour 🌾 prepared previously.
And then came a whole set of paper fruits 🍓🍒🍎🍑🍊🥭🍍🍋🍌🍇 and serving trays. I reminded her that she had plastic fruits and trays as well, but the suggestion was declined on the premise that everything has to look similar.
Yesterday, after her exams ended, my daughter had the big doll birthday party 🥳 with her friend. Four guest dolls along with four soft toys–a deer, a monkey, a dog and a penguine–were in attendance. The party was a huge hit and everyone nose-dived into the rainbow cake 🎂 since they didn’t have the patience to cut it neatly into pieces (which would have destroyed a real piece of art).
I am glad my daughter’s knowledge of baked items is limited, or else the party would have to be delayed until my daughter had the complete range of baked goods. I hope now the party is over, the bake frenzy would end, or else slow down to one piece a day.
Well, one can hope!
Repost for a Dear Dog
Republishing this story to reminiscence Ollie, beloved dog who turned into an angel yesterday. He was the muse for this story. Full of life and antics, he was much admired and loved across the blogging community. I hope he continues chasing squirrels where he has gone.
Perseverance, eh?
I am currently reading a novel “Sealed Divine Throne” by Tang Jia San Shao, which is a translation of a Chinese web novel. It is a journey of a light-element hero, Long Haochen, from age 8 onwards. After 600+ episodes, I have reached age 25 and am still a long way from the end. Out of the original 72 demon gods, he still needs to kill 67. So, at least 600 episodes more.
Hats off to the writer who has built an entire world based on calculated spiritual energy and tool-based magic. The thing that has kept me wondering the most is the perseverance of the writer (and the character too, of course). To stick to a set of characters for so long and let them grow bit by bit…
It is something I wish to achieve one day. Right now, it is a struggle to stick to a story for a week. Even in school, I was one to write the shortest answers. During exams, other people used to fill two or more sheets and ask for more until the examiners ran out of paper. But I was bent on conserving natural resources and hold the record for saving half the pages of examination answer sheets.
So, when I started out as a short story writer, I kept it really short–I mean really tiny-winy three-four lines. Since my sole audience was my two-year old daughter, she never complained. It is difficult to explain the aesthetic side of a stork’s journey down the crocodile’s stomach. She would certainly ask intelligent questions, like how come the stork’s beak managed to get inside and how on earth did the crocodile digest it, but I never had to write it in The Lord of Rings detail.
And then I attended one-hour workshop on tiny story writing at work. Bingo! I could write three-line stories for adults! As an instructional designer, the “conciseness” suited my temperament–my motto had always been that if it can be written in a half-a-word, why use a full word–sheer wastage of energy! (This rule only applies to writing. Otherwise, I am certified chatterbox.)
So, naturally I never felt the need to expand when I published my book, The Forest Bed and Other Short Stories. It had 30 stories with a word count of 100-200 each–most of the pages were filled with illustrations instead. The stories were still longer than I normally would write. But I realised that I had to to reach a minimum count of words to call it a story book.
After that I strived to write longer stories. But they take too long to finish. For me, anything that I can’t finish in a single sitting is a lost cause. I will most certainly forget about it the next time I open my computer.
So, I was wondering how people manage to write long novels/serials.
Do you have any suggestions regrading how to stick to a story for a long time?
Leaf Sheep Sea Slug
I am a Sheep Leaf Sea Slug.
Residing within deep ocean of myriad thoughts;
Eating chloroplast made by others;
Absorbing plots, phrases, ideas;
Using them for my own photosynthesis;
Shaping the onslaught of stories;
Giving birth to something original;
As I turn into a plant myself.
I am Sheep Leaf Sea Slug–
I cannot exist until you do…
Author’s note: Sheep Leaf Sea slug is around one centimetre long mystery found in Japanese ocean waters. It is the only known animal able to do do photosynthesis using chloroplast made by other plants. It looks like a cute sheep that developed leaves! I saw the pic today and it was love at first sight! 🥰
Image from https://www.facebook.com/story.php/?id=100064630361709&story_fbid=6229719240399925
Lost and Found
Weird it is that you’re seemingly lost
yet you find ways to find me;
I see through eyes that aged long back
the dreams that once defined me;
Whatever would I do if I go looking
for whoever I left behind me.
No where close to who I was
I stand to be someone I can’t stand,
My calm hides raging storm within–
lightening and thunders without rain;
Yet unyeilding shell of fake smiles,
hides rawness in the refined me.
Mirrors I hate for mocking the old me
that sold me…
Ghost
I keep waiting for you to leave,
Watching the corner where you stand
Shaking your perfect head at me;
Finding fault
picking at me.
Surely you can’t still be here.
You left without a backward glance
Reducing me to tears.
Begone the ghost
of lost years.
A Fresh Start? Ha!
Nothing changes in the new year–
Same resolutions broken on day one;
Shivering under covers in the morn;
Punctuation mistakes on files;
Playing dolls (because when do I get a choice?);
Snotty kisses that make me smile;
Bird watching under the sky;
Same good old life.
An year gone, another arrives.
I’m keeping the happy memories;
N’ letting the sad one’s slide.
Author’s note: What was you favourite part of the old year?
Cover art: By my 6-year-old daughter, taken without consent, hoping to be forgiven. At least it will get me a few likes 😄
Blue Painting – Pink Painting
She tries avoid looking in that general direction
Where, in her room, hangs the pink painting–
A gift from someone who loves but doesn’t understand.
Her eyes roam everywhere except that wall.
You could mount a stag’s head there and she wouldn’t notice.
She doesn’t want to notice
the typecast.
….
In his room, hangs a blue painting,
Something he bought along colourless clothes
To erase all doubt per chance;
Something he hated at the first glance;
A reminder of the bondage that sets him in the mould
And throws him in the inferno
Hoping he would fit the cast.
…
Wish they could switch…
Wish they do switch…
Nothing worse than a painting
That speaks against your heart.
Kash asman surkh aur zameen neeli hoti,
Sabko apna jahan khud rangne ki ijazat mili hoti.
Translation
If only the Sky was red;
If only the Land was blue;
If only everyone had the right
To colour their own view.
Author’s note: A lot is often lost in translation. Please read the last bit again with the following in mind:
Asman or Sky is considred male in Urdu while Zameen or Land is considered female.
What do think about typecasting people in gender roles?
Memories
Yu toh mukurane ki zindagi me wajah na thi,
Me tujhko yaad karta raha aur muskurata raha.
Translation:
Though life offered no reason ever to smile,
I kept thinking of you and beamed at the skies.
Short Stories 