Different Memoirs - A Book Lover And A Hint Fiction Lover's

Day 1: The Best Book You Read Last Year

By songsnwords | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

The "Memoirs Of A Geisha" published in 1997 by Author Arthur Golden, uses a fictional narrator to describe the life of young girl Chiyo; sold off to a tea house and her struggles through the World War 2 in Japan...

It also depicts beautifully and sometimes meticulously her growth as both a geisha and a person.

It brings an almost lost chapter and often a disturbing practice in Japanese culture.

What sets the book apart for me is the strong love that a young Chiyo(renamed Sayuri ) develops and nurtures for the kind man (referred to as Chairman) she meets at the temple. It is this need to be his concubine that makes Chiyo accept her reality and try to perfect her art and rise through the ranks.

A love story that never seems to pick till the ending which leaves us with a contented Sayuri at New York.

The Geisha system in my mind being similar to the archaic Devadasi system in India. Though the lofty ideals of being God's earthly consort, a Devdasi leads a life very similar to that of a Geisha.

Despite the controversies surrounding the book, its subject - exploitation of women for rich men's pleasures...it is the girl's struggles and her love story that moved me...

This is the first part of the 30 day book challenge created by Paulami at her blog Acotation Al Margen.

Do have a peek if curling up with  a good book is one of your favourite pastimes.
 Newer entries here

By songsnwords | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Added to Saturday Centus . Check different endings on 

offer at Jenny Matlock's meme...

her blog off on my tangent.

Entranced

She watched the dusty plains....the journey drawing to a close. The destination soared ahead...even from the distance, amidst the hillocks; the silent sentinels stood, as they had for centuries past.  The group broke up, wandering around the place. Pieces of history were scattered everywhere, some in ruins while others as sturdy as the day the work was finally completed.

She marvelled at the painstaking effort involved, the sheer mastery commanded, the talent and creativity showcased.

As they clicked pictures which would never do justice; touched the columns in awe, "The legacy of heroes..."  transported them to a bygone era of kings and their townships.

(based on Hampi- one of the many architectural marvels of India)

Image Courtesy Tourism India Today

He Rode Away

Lost in trance

 glistening eyes saw her lost son.

the bike rider he drove on,
unaware of  the shouts to stop.

she still stood, awaiting.

Haiku 15, # 39 RandomMusings For The Day

Lost in heavy trance

her son, glistening eyes saw

the bike rider start.

he drove on; unaware of shouts to stop,

she still stood, awaiting.

Added to Haiku Heights (first 3 lines), Grandma's Goulash (all 5 lines).

# 39 RandomMusings For The Day

If being a blood sucker is cool, aren't mosquitoes the coolest?....they don’t even sparkle in the sun. ;D

Exhilaration

A normal (rainy) day in Bangalore.

Cloudy thunder


dark lightning

wind swept

the heralds of the end



droplets soft

tinkling splashes

gently seeps

the wetness beckons



face drips 

neck goosebumps

back tickles

arms outstretched standing



primal smell

alluring scent

delectable fragrance

parched earth first shower



laughing mouths

dancing eyes

sloshing feet

puddles seem cool



cleansed body

invigorated mind

rejuvenated soul

the rain gods smile.

Why Men Are From Mars, Women From Venus - 3

 Sometime in Feb 2004

By songsnwords | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

# 38 RandomMusings For The Day

Based on the recent statements in the media and also reports of overdose of chemicals affecting crops in parts of China

By songsnwords | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Untitled - Fallout?

Image Courtesy Fantasy Art Design

The sentence falls, the distance calls
musings of another time and place

centres around the tree of grace

People look back askance

where were they perchance??

 the devil smiles in disguise

the pantomime player’s rise

another planet another show

that’s how time will ebb and flow

beautifully disgraced, molten thoughts

spewing poison on them all.

*Thought I’ll try this...turning unplanned thoughts into poetic words.....

 just deleted the last three random lines to stick to the 55 words limit.

Adventures Inc

Dull cloudy Friday, was it the 13^th?

It tantalised and teased,

Started off easy enough as

they port keyed in, screaming for dear life

landing on a pissed off Jill

Scampering on to tumble into Humpty dumpty....

The king’s men chasing the hungry souls

to a witch selling hot cross buns

For the lad and wench, she simpered....

too tired to deny, no galleons to exchange

a silver ring for passage paid...

The stone doors creaked wide

King Arthur and his knights rode astride,

curtsied in jeans and tops

snitched off pastries from the festive lot...

dozing off to find themselves squeezed

 in the Mad Hatter’s chair.

Barely escaped to be waylaid by hunting orcs

the side trip to middle earth all her fault...

Hiding under the great oak in time to watch

the huntsman dragging a pale Snow White.

She managed to catch her errant champ

Muttering “yea might be mistaken for

the prince, the way you wince!”

The Grey bad wolf chasing Red Riding Hood

acted as the last straw....clutching at the star

to be at the place they were before.

She clamped the clasps shut,

tiny hands adding their strength

against an unrelenting Giant; 

standing on the Beanstalk.

The brave girl threw it in the air watching

it slide back against its nature

to the dark corner of the ancient shelf

Rubbing his hands free of the dust, he said

"these tomes are not for the faint hearted, Aunt"

 Slunk away together; one to her Barbie Doll, 

the other to watch "Lighting McQueen" nitro boost away;

the third fast asleep on her lap 

oblivious of the preceding chaos and mishaps.

*My silly take for my Muses- my nephews Sidartha and Akshay and niece Aishwarya

* Jack Edward's poem on the Zodiac had me thinking if I could go something similar.

Just Another Ordinary Day

The heat seeped in...Sweaty faces everywhere.... patient, stressed, desolate odds...

The lunch break took forever....

The child in the cramped corner bawled incessantly hearing the loud, aggressive voices.

Hush little baby, don't you cry...she whispered to the scared, sleepy child.... the distraught mother who was from a poorer background soothed with kind words of hope...

The bells clanged in the red bricked building, a living testimony of the British Raj....the crowds dissipating into the rooms in the corridor.

They waited silently.....the pronouncement was as expected. Minutes later, handing her the cheque; asking her to use wisely not just the money but the chance at a meaningful life...

Dedicated to Ms. Rajalaksmi, my firebrand divorce lawyer who won an election in my home state last week and has become a Member of the State Legislature...she had hinted at our last meeting of a role in politics but this was unexpected....I hope she uses her new powers for the betterment of women, especially victims of domestic violence.

Mother's Day - Haiku 14

Image courtesy where did my smile go

World's force feeding /

Turning poison to nectar /

 A mother's touch //

Zeitgeist?? # 35, # 36 And # 37 Random Musings For The Day

Is today's "shout out to be heard" world not really for introverts and shrinking wall flowers  ???......

Is a pretty face a prerequisite for a singer or can the voice outshine everything else???

A post on Susan Boyle and her acidic reception on Britain's got Talent on a blog I visited got me thinking.....

Does character assault and bullying start at kindergarten??

Yesterdays - At The O.T

Oblivious to all, pain and blood…she lay, her wounds being sutured, her right leg amputated below her knees…a journey, fending off robbers of her gold chain, a fall from a speeding train…and the volleyball player's dream lay shattered on the tracks. Right now, blissfully unaware of the blame game and aspersions cast on her story.

He was dying; he knew it as did the surgeons…..the woman on the plastic chair looked distraught and scared. A freak accident, her fault. Nobody told her, opening the car rear doors in a busy street could cause a biker a bleeding, painful end. She mulled their fate as those moments passed before her eyes.

They held hands, hope in their speaking eyes, prayer on their silent lips….they shared a loss neither regretted; their husbands shared more than a common affliction. They would be sharing theirs spouses kidney swapped. An uncommon exchange, perfect matches among then strangers.  A difficult sacrifice, would theirs better halves have done the same for them?

Xanthippe Widow

Image courtesy Claude Renault

She stood in the doorway, a creased face, paan stained red lips and a perpetual frown on the face….

A scowl said that I was standing in her way….She grumbled at "today’s kids" and their lack of traditional values….Funny, she should consider a 30 something one…

My friend was irritated at the stooping old woman as she walked fast for her age, despite her cane.

We made our way to the temple, there she was, the one I bumped into…she reprimanded me for not covering my head… I laughed and informed her that in our community only widows of old wore them that way….

Her eyes watered and she slunk away without taking her evening meal, the free Prasadam offered to the devotees.

 I felt guilty, the price of having a nagging voice in the head that enjoyed lecturing to my discomfort.

Back at the cottage I questioned the caretaker about her as she swept the verandah…

Married off at 12, send to live with her in-laws and absentee husband at 14, widowed at 17, the childless, now, 70 year old thrown out of her marital home a year later for being unlucky…Vrindavan had been her haven for the past five decades…

Doing odd jobs, eating at temples, spending the night at the cottage premises…she had it lucky than many others out in the temple town or other places…

Time and people had made her what she was today….and yet she blamed no one but her bad karma for a life without a husband… ironic that mine was alive and yet not a part of my life anymore and nobody seemed (well who am I kidding) bothered by it.

Life for a poor widow in rural India is often a nightmare…the woman’s life marked by the father, husband and then son…she on her own had no voice, no freedom, no rights, no dreams, no hopes…

Long after I boarded the train back to the safety of my home…her face and her story haunted my thoughts….till today…hopefully, the voice won’t nag me about her anymore….

*Xanthippe : nagging, peevish, ill - tempered woman

 344 words to be made into 500

Valiant Spirit

"Akshay" meaning
 'Eternal, immortal, indestructable

 a short post on my nephew  akshay who celebrated his  first birthday last week…he is just one of the thousands of babies born everyday, you might say…but he is special not just because he is my Brother’s kid but because of the fact that he is a fighter to the core…

He was born too early, almost two months before time…a premature baby whose first home after his mother’s comforting womb was the incubator….he was not alone, more than enough company but that doesn’t take away the pain, the fear, the worry, the heartache watching a tiny baby with more tubes than his tender body could hold, more medicines than an adult can withstand….

The thrill of hearing him cry, the joy of seeing the relief on his parents' face when he was certified as healthy enough to be taken home, the satisfaction at seeing him grow slowly, millimetre by millimetre, Grams by grams is something one can only experience…

The picture at the side belies the trauma this sweet angel of ours underwent at a nascent stage of his hopefully long, healthy, happy life. His smile, mischievous ways, tantrums belies the struggles, making them a distant memory best carpeted…

Unstable Undetected??

Glances here, there, everywhere


pain, heartache never ending, relentless...






A brewing storm, clutching at ribs,


Dragon's fire - belching bolts


the heart asunder.


 dull eyes, shimmer less gaze,


blank stares, sees no face


tethering on the edge, 


thin line divides


sanity and craze.






Bright lights invisible


to all save one


pulls on, farther away.


mind craves, falters, yields to


the cold caress of light and dark in turn


echoing laughter off the wall, rebounds.






Flowing torrent as sudden as death,


dim recognition fails, gone for now,


 in the blink of an eye.

Torturous Days

Life is never straight nor calm, tragic

when he turns on that so called charm

Not a funny bone in the body

and yet speak of comic timing.

 The party is on in full swing

wishing you have a shift to still be in.

The stunned silence isn't quite adulation

the life of this one?, funny thought.

Costume themed? definitely not.

 Bet, you purposely forget.

 Blue velveteen and floppy ears

stands out among jeans and T shirts

This to mock me, I know

Easter bunny stunt pulled out,

just means, "now is time"

to give you the marching lines...

Added To Saturday Centus

Silly Story - Cat Tales - 1

He slouched lazily on the loft looking haughtily at the customers, visitors and owners alike . He declared himself almost bored, when he saw her....aah...he thought, straightening up, finally some one to impress and end the day on a  high note. He got up, swished his tail, stretched himself to his magnificient length and wiggled around to rid himself of all the dust and dirt...Walked all the way to the end in a manner that would put ramp models of Paris out of work. He stood at the edge, gazing at the rafter a few feet away with one critical eye, the other on her....yes, her attention was still on him. That's all he needed...he jumped James Bond style (making Sir Sean Connery proud, if only he knew), he would never reveal but for a second before his paws felt solid wood, he was scared shitless. She was watching in awe....and his chest puffed with pride. He stood planning his next stunt to floor her completely, when her attention was diverted to the task at hand. He waited patiently for her to look up but it seemed like he was forgotten. 'Hmmph, I'll show her still', with this thought he jumped without hesitation, over 5 feet to land with a loud thud on cartons near her. She was startled, and turned to her side to find him next to her, a proud stance, a smirk, a look which said, "A perfect shot, won't you say?".  Before she could stage a witty comeback, he leapt of the cartons, slunk away (some would say in his wild cousin cheetah’s style) with a true blue Cheshire grin, never glancing back...Leaving her to rue not taking a picture....but pray, who ventures into the friendly neighbourhood fruit vendor's shop with a digital camera in tow!!!!

(P.S. don't even mention your mighty IPhones & Blackberry's...their picture clarity and quality is nowhere near even the modest of Digi's. )

RandomMusings For The Day #33 and #34

If Black is the colour of darkness, why does every woman worth her salt fancy a little black outfit for those "wow" moments.


Why is it, if you do your thing, you are staying true to character.....but if I do my thing, I am an older woman rebelling??


P.S : Thanks to A.M. Trumble at http://www.bttrflyscar.blogspot.com for deeming me worthy of the stylish blogger award. :)

Qué Será, Será - Whatever Will Be, Will Be.....

Makes me ponder...its it really okay to let things in the future be?...be complacent....a Zen like contentment...

Not sure, how would the stories end if the heroes and sidekicks let things drift on their own....

Where would our greatest love stories be if the feuding families adopted this philosophy?...

How different would our world have been if Thomas Edison had adopted this piece of advice and stopped trying?...candle wax on our hair and clothes most likely...not to mention this post wouldn’t have happened!!

On the other hand..it may have its uses...

If Colombus and Amerigo Vespucci hadn’t kept on searching for India in the wrong places, the Aztecs and Incas wouldn’t have literally vanished from the face of Earth.

The nuclear wars wouldn’t be a scary Damocles Sword hovering over our lives....

A simplistic conclusion, not quite ...but sometimes the ruthless pursuit of changing fate or the future leaves a green house planet heading its way to Mars- like barreness.

Past And Present

Past -

“Think it’s possible?”

“Frankly Andy,  the skull is too small  to be human.”

“Request Brown to create a new branch. Lucy*  will soon be passe.”


*Lucy as in Hominin of whom only one species - homosapiens (us) survives

Added to Grandmas Goulash

Present -

Hammering talks of Pattinson’s hair everywhere
Swear never has anyone else been discussed threadbare.
Can understand a hyper, emotional teen,

But an older  woman screaming, a disturbing scene.

If omelettes were to be his tingle,

A vegan’s wife will soon be single. 

Added to Magpie Tales 62, Thurdsay Poets rally 42