Hi folks,
Not sure how it happened but somehow I have lost all my 500+ subscribers–well, at least I can’t see anyone of you on my list. It seems that WordPress has been busy as usual!
If you think my blog is worth it, could you please subscribe back? 🙂
Also, please forward the message in case some of my old followers are seeing your posts.
Thank you!
@Beetleypete, request your help. 🙂
Make time
to drift through the sky
where stars pave the way
to dreams abound,
just out of sight,
waiting to be found.
As most of you would know, lately I had been working on my second short stories collection, Not a Lore: The Imperfect Tales. It is now published and available on Amazon as an eBook and a paperback (I recommend eBook since it is ecofriendly).
The cover page is designed by Manpreet Kaur who is a professional artist (@ammpryt on Instagram). Nishant Agrawal, Instructional Designer and short-stories aficionado like me, is the editor.
Not a Lore contains twelve quirky stories about curses that kill (or worse, make you to fall in love), monsters who aren’t all that bad and damsels that are better left alone with their distress. A mix of fresh tales and retelling, the compilation is all magic. Written from the point of view of one of the central characters, it is a celebration of my skewed perspective regarding all things magical and mundane.
Here is a short description of the stories in the collection.
The e-book is now available on Amazon. To preview:
If you wish to buy the ebook, know that Amazon Kindle app can be installed on any device and not just Kindle Readers. (I had it on my Android phone. But my daughter forced me to delete it because it is addictive!)
Wish me luck. I will need loads of it. I have two requests.
Thanks a lot! Looking forward to hearing from you all.
Billions
of stars
twisted in braids,
swirling in eternal dance,
Heavens!
Author’s note: Lantern is a Japanese form of poetry with 1, 2, 3, 4, 1 syllables set to share a single thought.
Dreams
sweet, simple;
No worries simmering;
Alas! I miss you,
Childhood!
Egg-tray daffodils and butterfly and the falling-stars-night background coloured by my 7-year-old “Artist-e-Azam” wonder girl. My role was limited to cutting the flowers and flower arrangement.
Lately, my inner child and actual child have taken over my life.
My daughter turned seven last week. She also worked very hard for her exams last month. Hence, I and my husband have been giving her loads of little treats to make her feel special.
So, we have bought her what she loves the most: toys and colours of different kinds. And then let her colour everything around her to her heart’s content. I have throwing random ideas at her, and she is more than happy to oblige.
This egg-tray daffodils and butterfly is just the tip of the iceberg.
There is a toy dragon cut out of an egg-tray and coloured, and ready to be tied together, while another egg tray shivers awaiting execution. 🙂
I also created a reusable frame for her constant flow of amazing paintings.
That is why I haven’t been posting as much. I have let life take over…and its fun!
Dress-up dreams
Dress-up reality
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!
I stand at the subway gates. Her train is late. That has me worried. She is a creature of habit, always visiting the subway at the same time every day. What if she decides not to come at all because of the delay? Could I live through the eighty-six thousand seconds that pass between today and tomorrow?
When I first met her, it was in the same spot when I was called to duty by a church minister to get rid of the riffraff that riddled the enclosed space. I was one of the best guardian angels, killing all the specters at the breath of my sword. But, then, she stepped down from the midnight train, her melancholy eyes drawing me in. She walked towards the subway gate…towards me…and the world around me melted into an array of colours and nothingness.
I think the minister shouted to get rid of her but how could I?!
He called her as the most dangerous one but I couldn’t see why.
I think he sighed, “Not this one too,” but couldn’t care less.
Since then, for Almighty-knows-how-many years, I stand rooted in the same spot waiting for her to step down from the midnight train and walk towards the subway gates–towards me–like the hundreds of other specters before and after me.
(Author’s note: I saw this picture on Unsplash by Andrew Ling and it spoke to me. All I wrote is what the picture breathed into my ears.)
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.
Short Stories | Fish-eye Perspective 