Short Story Without Title - Help!!!

This short story was written as part of a writing exercise at the College of North Atlantic - Doha. The Conditions: Less than 500 words; Story to end with the sentence provided. I may have got the ending right but have missed out on the beginning. For the life of me, I cant think of a Title to match the story. Would really appreciate if you could help me out and suggest a suitable title.  :-)

Joy looked at her watch again, for the umpteenth time in the last five minutes. He was late. Something was wrong; the whole plan was going to fail. She started to panic. Stop It! She commanded her mind. This was not the time to fall apart. She had to be strong. If she wanted to pull this off, she had to be brave and patient. The plan was simple and that was why she was so sure it would work. It all depended on Adam now. She wondered again if she was right in trusting him for the job. She looked at her watch once more. Her trusty Timex appeared to be mocking her impatience.

 

Joy thought back to her first few days in the city when she spent most of her time in the museum, studying historic art. She didn’t remember when it was that the idea first formed in her mind, but once it did, she couldn’t block it out. It was a fortuitous meeting with Adam, the museum custodian at the local bar that further cemented the idea in her head.

 

Convincing Adam that she loved him and then making him a co-conspirator in her master plan had been a cakewalk. With her knowledge of antiquities, it was even easy forging those rare coins. All Adam had to do was switch off the alarms for a few minutes after the museum closed for the night, do a quick switcheroo and he could easily leave at the end of his shift with half a million riyals in his pockets. No one would notice the forgery until they were safely out of the country. And once she handed over those coins to that private collector, she could easily get rid of Adam.

 

Joy began to dream of what she would do with all that money, when the phone rang, jolting her out of her reverie. Who could be calling at this time of the night? She almost let the call go to voice mail, but picked it up at the last minute.

“Hello” she said carefully.

“Joy, this is Deena from the museum. I have bad news. They caught your boyfriend Adam trying to steal some antiques. I guess he wasn’t aware of the additional security they recently installed. He came clean about some accomplice; the police are on their way to catch them. I’m so sorry. I know you loved him. Who would have thought....”

Joy cut off her friend midway and replaced the phone in its cradle. She stood motionless for a few seconds, fear gripping her heart, then deciding to make a quick getaway; she grabbed her bag and rushed towards the door.

Just then the doorbell rang.

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Mourning a Friend

Death is inevitable. It is called the final sleep and also a new beginning. But mostly death is about pain and loss. Words unsaid and deeds undone. We generally tend to push death into the background, not thinking about it, ignoring it,  we only understand its true meaning after it places its hand on someone we love.

Last week was a difficult time for me. In the midst of life, I was informed of a death. She was my neighbour and a friend. She had had an accident a month back from which she was healing and recovering, but God apparently had other plans and completely unexpectedly took her away.

Her death filled me with a pain of guilt and loss. She was always a good friend, always helpful and caring but I wasn't. I was so busy with my own life, my work and family that I never gave her the importance or the care she deserved. And now it was too late for that. She will never know how much I cared for her because I never bothered to tell her. Its hard to think that I will never see her again, her lovely smiling face, will never hear her voice again.

Ever since she passed on, her sweet face haunts me, I keep thinking of the last time I saw her and the last time we spoke. Its all I have left of her. Memories!

My heart cries for her family, especially her adorable little daughter, hardly five years, but old enough to understand and feel the loss of her mother. May God give her the strength she needs to accept and live her life.

I believe in souls and I would like to believe that wherever she is, she can hear me.
If you are out there my dear and if you can hear my thoughts, please accept my apology for not being as good a friend to you as you were to me. Forgive me for being selfish. Forgive me for taking life and you for granted.

I miss you Jyothi, and can never forget you....may you rest in peace.

Those we love don't go away,
They walk beside us every day,
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed and very dear.

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.
- Thomas Campbell
 

Love to hear what you think!

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A Trip to Kruger National Park – Adventures & Escapades

 

At nearly 2 million hectors, Kruger National Park is one of the biggest national parks in South Africa and certainly the most popular one. Its official website claims that the park is home to innumerable species including 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammal species.

This Easter we had four days of uninterrupted holiday starting with Good Friday and ending with Family Day on Monday and decided to pay homage to South Africa’s most visited destination.

One of the main gates (out of a total of 9) to Kruger lies in the town of Malalane, which lays approximately 400 kms from Johannesburg and which was where we had booked rooms for our stay.

There are many rest camps within the park that offer good accommodation from tented camps to comfortable bungalows, as well as numerous restaurants, shops and petrol filling stations. This should be the first choice of anyone visiting Kruger. Unfortunately, our trip was planned pretty last minute and so all the camps were fully booked and we got rooms at Mhlati Guest Lodge, a very comfortable B&B located just 2 kms from the Malalane gate into KNP. We drove the 400 odd miles to Kruger from Joburg through a very scenic route with many rest stops in between and took us around 5 hours.

The Scenic Route

Two of the days we drove ourselves into the park and on the third day went on a guided safari vehicle. The advantage of going on a guided tour is that the tour guide will help you identify the animals and give you an insight into their habits and behaviour. Also you don’t have to drive which can get tiring. It being Autumn, the vegetation which mostly comprises of bushes and few trees was sparse and provided a good platform to view the animals.

On our first day itself we managed to spot many creatures. Our first sighting was of the Impala and we were so excited, I must have clicked scores of pictures of the herd. It was later we realised that Impala is the most common animal with over 1 million of them there. They are beautiful creatures however and quite willing to pose for the camera. Their sheer numbers will ensure that you will spot them every few kilometres into the park.

The majestic male Impala

Another surprise multiple sighting was of the enormously gorgeous African Elephant. We spotted huge herds of elephants frequently during our three day stint at the park. Many of them sauntering right on the road, seemingly without a care in the world. This was my first time seeing African Elephants who are much larger with huge fan like ears as compared to their Indian counterparts.

Causing a Traffic Jam!!

 

The African White Rhino was another interesting sighting. There was this particular rhino that was quite close to our car but still hidden behind some bushes. I had my head and upper torso out of the window in an attempt to get a good click. I could see the watchful eyes of the rhino on me, when suddenly it started rushing towards our car. Rhinos are known to charge towards vehicles and to see this rhino march towards us truly scared the living daylights out of me. We pulled our car ahead, great photo-op be damned, and the rhino coolly crossed the road behind us.

The not-so-happy-at-the-attention Rhino

Giving me a dirty last look

 

Poaching of these beautiful beasts for their horn is a major threat in Kruger and South Africa; everywhere in the park you would find information on anti-poaching and how you can help prevent it. We did our part by making a small donation to the cause and getting an anti-poaching cap as a thank you.

Though we managed to catch a glimpse and sometimes more than a glimpse of many species of animals at the park, the great cats eluded us. With supposedly over 2000 lions in the park, it was terribly disappointing that we couldn’t spot even one. Our guide told us that the lions being the lazy creatures they are, probably were sleeping under some tree. Their skin is such a great camouflage that we wouldn’t have spotted them if they were lying even 300 metres into the bushes. Ofcource even with spending three days in Kruger, we could only explore the south side of this enormous park, so I guess it would be just as safe to assume that the elusive lion decided to spend Easter in the north. After all, he is King and the king doesn’t parade himself in front of photo-crazy tourists like moi.

 

 

Love to hear what you think!

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Happy Fools Day!! Origins! Fun Facts! Pranks Ideas!

Its the day of the fools. Learn a little bit about April Fools Day before you play a prank on someone this year.

On which day of the year do you look behind you every few minutes to see if an unflattering picture is stuck to your backside, or you treat every phone call claiming you have won the lottery suspiciously? Yes, it’s the All Fools Day celebrated worldwide on April 1^st. Every year on this day, the unwitting, and the gullible are taken in by tall stories and practical jokes.

These hoaxes and pranks have been part of our lifestyle for years now. Ever wondered how it all started?

Origin or Is it??

Well, you can continue wondering because no one really knows. One of the theories floating around suggests it was the change of the calendar that started this tradition of tomfoolery.

A lot of ancient cultures celebrated New Year around the 1^st of April. When in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered the new Gregorian calendar to replace the old Julian calendar, the New Year’s date was changed to January 1^st. One of the theories goes that France was one of the countries to go with the change of New Year from end of March to January 1^st. Those who stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and failed to keep up with the change and continued to celebrate New Year in the last week of March, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would stick paper fish to their backs and the victims of this prank were called ‘Poisson d’Avril’ or April Fish—which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fool.

But this explanation does not fully account for the spread of the April Fools tradition in other European countries. In England, for example, the Gregorian calendar was not adopted till 1752, but the April Fools day was already well established by that point.

The March-April Springtime period is time where throughout the world a lot of fun and crazy festivals are celebrated. Noted among them are  Saturnalia, Hilaria and of cource the very popular Indian Festival Holi.

Its origins may be suspect but that doesn’t stop the hilarity that ensues every 1^st of April. With the advent of the internet era, a lot of websites have gotten involved in the horseplay.

Google has it -

Google has over the years come up with many ingenious plots to fool the naïve searcher. Some of their most creative hoaxes were the MentalPlex (which claimed to read the user’s mind about their search requirements), Gmail Paper (A new service where users would just click and Google would print all their email and send it to them via traditional mail) and Google Gulp (a fictitious drink that would optimize the drinkers’ intelligence). Google has been running so many interesting hoaxes on April Fools day over the years that when Gmail was launched in 2004 with 1 GB of free storage space, many considered it a hoax as its only competitors Yahoo and Hotmail only provided around 2-3 MB at the time.

Good, Bad and the Ugly -

To this day, one of the best hoaxes is said to be the one played by BBC in 1957, where they broadcasted a short clip about “pasta farmers” in Switzerland harvesting a crop of spaghetti and showed a short video of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti off some trees. Hundreds of people wrote in to BBC enquiring on how to start their own crop and this pronounced the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest hoax a resounding success.

But not all pranks end up in laughs; many times practical jokes can go horribly wrong.

A London City Hall employee was working on a big report with a far-away deadline when he received a memo that said it was due in 2 weeks. He got so agitated trying to finish it on time that he had heart palpitations and collapsed, causing him to take leave from work. He sued everyone at City Hall after he found out it was a not-very practical joke.

Another sad example is Randy Wood’s infamous April Fools joke. In 2004, Wood asked his ex-wife to come over so he could show her something. When she arrived at his house, she found him hanging from a tree in his front yard (he was actually supported by a safety harness). His unknowing ex-wife called 911 before he could reveal the gag. He was fined $1,000 and jailed for a year.

Play it safe -

It is definitely fun to plan and play a prank on an unsuspecting target, but you must anticipate the possible repercussions also. When playing practical jokes on peers at school or co-workers, make sure you don’t use April Fools day as an excuse to ‘get’ a colleague or school mate that you don’t like. Once you know what you are getting into, forget the hassles of everyday life and have safe fun and a bundle of laughs this April Fools day.

And the gullible….well, watch out!!

Prank it up with some common April Fools day tricks.

Running Late

While the victim is asleep, reset all the clocks ahead two hours. When they wake up they will panic and think they slept late and are late for school or work.

While You Were Out

Leave a phone message for the victim that says that a “Mr. Lyon” called (or Mr. Behr also works), and wants to be called back. Then list the phone number of the local zoo.

Door Ambush

This is the most classic and simple prank ever. Balance a small disposable cup of water on the top of a partially open door. Then wait for the splash!

Mouse Trap

Take a Post-It note and place it over the eye of the victim’s optical mouse. When the victim tries to use his or her computer, the cursor won’t move. Be sure to write “April Fools!” on the note! (if they have a standard mouse, you can perform the same trick by taping a piece of paper over the ball underneath the mouse.)

Weakling

Steal all the victim’s pens and replace them with pens that have the caps glued on.

Don't Cry Over Spilled Cola

Tell a friend that you know a great trick. Put your hand palm-down on the table and balance a full glass of Cola (or any liquid) on the back of your hand. Bet your friend that they can’t balance a glass on both hands at once (with your help to put them in place). As soon as you have the glasses balanced, stand up and walk out. They will be trapped and will have to spill the drink to escape.

Rude Awakening

Sneak up on your victim while they are sleeping and put some shaving cream in their hand. Then tickle them on the nose with a feather and watch while they give themselves a face full of foam!

Leave a Mark

Take a coin and use a pencil to trace around it—this will leave pencil dust all along the edge of the coin. Hide this coin in your hand for now. Go to your victim and tell him you want to show them a trick. Tell him you can do something that you bet he can’t. Take a different coin and roll it down your face from the top of your forehead, over your nose, and down to your chin. Challenge your victim to do the same thing—handing them the “marked” coin. When your victim finishes, congratulate them and walk away. Let them figure out for themselves that you tricked them into marking a big line down the middle of their face!


 

Fooled me!!
One of the most hilarious pranks that was played on me was by a friend when I was in Dubai. A cooking competition was running at that time where a famous Indian actor would come for dinner to the winners house. My friend told me that his aunt had won this competition and she could have a few people at her house when this superstar visited. Since I was a huge fan of this actor, my friend had arranged an invite for me. I was super excited and had even finalised what to wear for the occasion when the joke was revealed. Needless to say I was super embarrassed but also did tremendously enjoy the prank with my only regret being that I couldn’t play prank back.

I'm sure many of us would have had such an April Fool experience. I would love to hear about it. Tell me about an amusing prank you played on someone or an embarrassing prank that was played on you.
And have fun!!

Part of this post are excerpts taken from a feature penned by me for 'The Woman' magazine – Gulf Times Doha

 

Love to hear what you think!

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Happy Women’s Day!! Really???

I woke up this morning to the new message beeps on my phone. They were to wish me a Happy Women’s Day. I hadn’t quite realised it was this ‘special day’ for women until I got these messages.

Every morning, watching the news during breakfast is a ritual in our household. And today’s headlines were all about rape with the most shocking one – the rape of a 3 year old girl. It is quite an irony to hear such news on the so-called ‘Women’s Day’. We talk about celebrating Women’s day but what we women need is not a celebration but respect and a right to live our life. A right to just survive and not be tormented or tortured by those stronger than us. Before being treated as an equal we need to first be treated as a human being. We may not be able to stop all the atrocities towards women but we can try to make a difference in our own way.

Unfortunately it’s a woman who treats another with contempt. It’s a woman who calls another a slut or a gold digger; who dictates class by looking at a another’s bag or shoes; who laughs behind another’s back and shows off one’s good fortune in front of the less fortunate; who’s malicious gossip slurs someone’s character. Men do enough to make a women’s life hell? But can we stop doing that too? Can we stop doing that to each other? Can we learn to respect and honour the women in our life?

This got me thinking about the important women who have influenced my life. Despite the cliché, I could always say it was Mother Theresa or Joan of Arc or even (yes!) Duchess Catherine. But have they really influenced me? I don’t think so. It’s true they have led illustrious lives but I don’t know anything about them except what I have heard. The women who have influenced me are the ones who are closest to me. They are the ones whom I wish to honour today.

The first spot would definitely go to my grandmother who has been the influential factor that has shaped my personality and made me who I am today. I have never seen any other grandmother care or love their grandchild the way she has. Growing up, her word was law for me, not because I was afraid of her but because I never wanted to hurt or disappoint her. She taught me that it’s not fear that sparks obedience but love; for fear only fuels a rebel.

The next place of honour would go to my mother. During my teenage years, there was hardly a day when we didn’t fight. After all, which teenage girl doesn’t hate her mom. It was when I approached womanhood myself that I realised what she means to me. It is being away from her that makes me realise how close we are and how much I really need her. Her strength is amazing. She smiles, makes jokes and laughs at the most difficult times of life. She inspires me to be cheerful when everything looks bleak and makes me wish I was strong like her.

Another person who holds a place in my heart is my aunt. She is the smart, chic woman who I always looked up to as a child. She wore these fantastic stilettoes and I, quite literally, wanted to fill into her shoes. Her style, her confidence has always charmed me. I wanted to do everything she could do. So much so, that my dad still teases me that I would drink a particular brand of cola only because she liked it. She considers me a daughter and has always loved me the same. Maybe the passing years has simmered down the idol worship, but not the closeness that we share even today.

These women in my life have faced tremendous atrocities and difficulties in their individual lives, but I have never seen them shattered by it. They have always beaten the odds and survived as strong individuals. With women like these in my family, I don’t need outside influences.

And when I talk about women in my life, how can I forget my close friends. I have been blessed with good friends in every phase of my life. Friends who not only support me in all my idiosyncrasies but also who never judge me no matter what stupid and senseless thing I may do. I wouldn’t like to name anyone here as I am afraid of missing out someone and offending them. But you know who you are, Thank you!

This post has gotten unbelievably long and I would now like to say a special thanks to all of you who have stuck with me till the end. Good Day n God Bless!!

Love to hear what you think!

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