# A to Z Challenge

I have decided to nudge myself to participate in A to Z Challenge, of course with no particular theme for that would be an unnecessary limiting factor.

I only wish that I am able to write and post on all days, excepting Sundays, of coming April; posts that some of you would find interesting.

My best wishes are with all the participants.

Please do read my posts for the challenge and do endorse your comments if you find something engaging.  

Maestro

                                                                         Photo prompt- copyright-David Stewart

“Are you certain? I thought he had passed away.”

“I met him two weeks back. But he is in a pathetic condition. He lives in a one-room flat, surrounded by all those faded photographs of him receiving awards and performing at different events, and dust wrapped trophies and awards that are of no use to him.”

“How does he survive, financially I mean?” 

“Occasional donations; but donations are too infrequent.”

“Does he still play flute?”

“Never; he wants to hate his flute but he can’t.”

“Think of all the adulation that he received?”

“Wish he had been a bit worldly-wise?”

*******

A post for Friday Fictioneers on a photo prompt.

Word count-100

An Offer

“I will make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

His tone was grim and menacing. He had seen ‘Godfather’ at least ten times and he firmly believed that he looked and sounded like ‘Michael Corleone’.

“Out with it.” I tried to be as polite as I could be. He had often treated me with utter contempt; or so I thought.  But I could already sense what he was going to say.

“Think very carefully before you chose to refuse my offer. I would not take any blame for the consequences of your refusal.”

He did his best to scare me with his sinister looks.

“You are being too dramatic. Now don’t waste my time.” I tried to pretend that I was not impressed by his performance.

“Well, this is my offer, if you agree to complete all my pending assignments of Physics I will let you play guitar in my band but only for one week. But if you refuse to do so I will tell mama that you had been …..”

“I accept your offer.” I had almost shouted for, from the corner of my left eye, I had seen mama entering our room.

“I knew that, sensible as you are, you won’t refuse.” He tried to give me a cold smile.

I gave him a dirty stare but I knew that he had again pulled a faster one on me.

It is hard being a younger brother, even if one is younger by a few minutes only.

********

A post for Two Shoes Tuesday

Word prompts-offer, out

The Old Tree

The boy and the girl were madly in love. They very well knew that their families would never approve of their relation. But they were so engulfed by their love that they were just not worried as to what anyone said or thought about them.

The old, grey tree on the other side of the river was ever eager to receive the lovers and provide them a serene and safe sanctuary; as if they were two innocent birds lost in the confusion of that bewildering forest. 

The tree loved them as they loved each other. But the tree would often feel sad. It had perhaps foreseen futility of their doomed lives.

Their families had eventually lost their patience with misdemeanours of the foolish lovers and had decided to deal with them in a manner befitting  any honourable family.

Both families were known for their arrogance and cruelty. The poor lovers were not prepared for the fury that over took them.

No one but the old,grey tree had the courage to give the two lovers a refuge. The tree, like an indulgent mother, hid them in its bosom and forever.

*********

A post for Magpie Tales on a photo prompt.

Vulnerable

When they decided to kill her first unborn daughter, she protested but not vehemently. She herself was not much enthused by the pregnancy. She was not even nineteen and did not want to become a mother before her first marriage anniversary.

She acquiesced to their persuasion but her protest had annoyed them. That was not what they had expected of her.

But when they wanted to kill her second unborn daughter she reacted, almost violently. They were prepared; they would not be deterred.  They said, and with equal violence, that she ought to be grateful that they were only killing her unborn baby and not her. 

They literally threw her on the operation table with her hands and feet tied. The follow up business was concluded with clinical efficiency.

Third pregnancy sent a shiver down her spine; but her fear was of no consequence. She was alone and vulnerable.

She saw them talking in hushed tones and, like a miserable trapped animal, could sense what was to become of her. She wanted to cry. But she could not utter even a word; for them her feelings counted for nothing and her pain was meaningless.

She knew that this time it would not be her unborn baby who would be killed. They would kill her.

******

A post for Three Word Wednesday

Word prompts-annoyed, hushed and pain

Ancestral House

                                                                                       Photo prompt-© Rachel Bierke

She had come to her ancestral house after twenty years. It was in a pathetic condition. She felt a stab in her heart.

She saw the fountain; she vividly recalled the times when she had danced around it; pretending to be a fairy who loved to tease the wizard who lived deep inside the fountain.

“Mama, I have seen this place in my dreams, we come here and there is a wizard who wants me to help him.”

She could not believe what her daughter was saying.

“Is there a wizard in that fountain?”

“Yes, and we will help him.”

*****

A post for Friday Fictioneers on a photo prompt.

Word count-100

Last Walk

Little did I know that it was the last time we would be walking together in this park, where dry leaves of Chinar* had been raining incessantly for past few days.

A huge patch of grey cloud was floating unhurriedly in the deep blue sky.

As we walked leisurely we could feel the crunching of dry leaves deep within our hearts. I glanced at him. He was lost in himself.

“I think I can no longer put off this decision. My parents are getting worked up and it hurts me. It is so unreasonable of them.”

I could see that he was reluctant to take any decision.

“But what’s your problem? You have not been able to give me even one good reason for this procrastination.”

“That’s my predicament. If I have not been able to convince my best friend then how can I convince my parents?”

“What are you up to?”

“I think I will try to buy some time, may be six months or so.”

He caught a dry leaf floating in the air and kept playing with it; there was a wan smile on his lips.

The grey cloud had stopped moving, or so I thought.

“Che sara, sara.” I tried, but weakly, to humour him. He looked at me quizzically and let the dry leaf fall on earth.

It was our last walk in that park.

Few days later he was killed in a road accident, leaving his parents devastated. I moved out of the town before the onset of next autumn.

********

In memory of a friend who died in a road accident in 1978.

A post for Two Shoes Tuesday

Word prompts- leaf, little

*Botanical name of the tree is Platanus orientalis

Death of the Hills

One by one every tree was felled and the wood was transported to different places all over the country.

One after another, new buildings cropped up on the land denuded of its green cover.

But the hills were displeased for they loved the trees and hated the concrete structures that were erupting like blisters everywhere.

One by one the hills began to fall sick and began to die.

One late evening, thousands of houses perished and hundreds of people died and the river coursing through the hills laughed in vindictive pleasure.

******

A post for Five Sentence Fiction

Word prompt-vindictive

Psycho

As he came out of the shop he happened to see the woman who was standing in the store on the other side of the street. He thought she was staring at him.

He felt he had seen her somewhere. But he could not recall where and when he had met her and that irritated him, for no apparent reason.

Was she the one, the only one, who managed to escape? When was it, last year? No, two years back? He was talking to himself. He shuddered.

He knew it was needless to worry for she could not have seen his face. He had always kept himself wrapped in a black mask. He would not remove the mask even after the victim had died.

But why should she glare at him?

He felt giddy. But it was only for a moment. This giddiness always came for a moment and what followed was inevitable.

Lewd thoughts took control of his mind and he laughed like a hyena; for he knew what he wanted to do; had always wanted to do.

******

A post for Magpie Tales on a picture prompt

And for Three Word Wednesday

Word prompts-giddy, lewd, needless

Advice

                                                                                 Photo prompt -© Sandra Crook

“Don’t ever cross that bridge?”

“Why?” cub asked innocently.

“Men live over there; you can’t trust them; they don’t follow the law.”

“How do they survive?”

“Survive? They are thriving; they have left us no space.”

“Surprising?”

“Yes, it is a puzzle we can’t solve.”

“Why there are so few trees over there?”

“I think they hate trees; you see that stump over there?”

“Yes.”

“It was once a huge tree; my father used to play under it, when he was as young as you are today.”

“What happened to it?”

“They killed it one day; father wept that day.”

*********

A post for Friday Fictioneers on a picture prompt

Word count 100

Would you like to read my poems for kids? Here are a few:

                                                                            A Beautiful Sunny Day

                                                                            A Little Silly Frog-2

                                                                            A Little Silly Frog

 a poem for kids

"A Beautiful Sunny Day"

Spoiled

“Don’t you worry, I very well know what a young boy wants and I will do my best to fulfil my son’s wishes and most certainly those which I could not fulfil when I was his of age.”

He looked at his wife, eyes glowing with pride; not knowing that his father was not asleep and was overhearing their talk.

His father did feel the words floating around him. He knew that in his own time he too had done his best to fulfil every wish of his son; of course he didn’t want his only son to get spoiled.

“Where did I go wrong?” father tried to hide himself from the surrounding chill in the warmth of his old quilt.

*******

A post for Five Sentence Fiction

Word prompt- Spoiled

Death Sentence

The man had committed a horrendous crime and there was more than enough clinching evidence against him.

The judge had all along known that he would have to impose death penalty on the accused. But when the day came he was a bit unsure of himself for he had never sent any convict to the gallows. He had been wishing all these days that somehow things would turn out differently. But every bit of evidence that was brought before him was closing his options.  He knew that ends of justice would not be met if he did not impose death penalty on the accused.

When the judge pronounced his order,imposing death penalty, he was almost shivering with emotions.

It was not normal of him to leave the court abruptly. But he left the court for he was too shaken to hear any other case. He reached his home looking pale, nervous and miserable.

The murderer was lead out of the court be a posse of grim faced policemen. His steps were firm and his eyes were cold, totally bereft of any emotions.

****

Inspired by an incident narrated be Salim Ali in his autobiography ‘The Fall of a Sparrow’

A post for Two Shoes Tuesday

Word prompt-Normal 

Mahaparinirvana

                                                                                    Photo prompt-© Erin Leary

Gautam, the Buddha, had been invited by a poor man.

He had served him mushrooms that grew in the backyard of his hut.

Back in his monastery, Buddha fell sick. Ananda got agitated when he learnt that meal served to Buddha was poisonous.

“Don’t utter even a word about it for everyone will hold the poor man responsible for my death.”

“Then what should I do?”

“Just tell everyone that that poor man is as blessed as was Buddha’s mother. She gave Buddha his first feed and that man served Buddha his last meal.”

Few days later Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana.

**************

There are many stories relating to the death of Gautam, the Buddha, one being that his last meal contained  wild poisonous mushrooms.

A post for Friday Fictioneers on a picture prompt

Word count 100

Power and Politics

The king was nervous. He didn’t want to lose his throne.

He could see that while his enemies were jealous of him all his friends were envious of him. He was as scared of his enemies as of his friends. He knew he could not trust anyone, not anymore.

He chose to strike a deal with his enemies. He agreed to cede half of his kingdom and treasury if they would help him to crush his friends.

But, however calculating he might have been, his enemies did not trust him. They knew that if he could strike a deal with his enemies to crush his friends, he could as well enter into a deal with someone else to crush his enemies.

The enemies decided to talk to his friends before accepting his offer.

The king did not know but things were turning messy for him. Enemies took their time to respond to his offer. The delay made him uneasy. In desperation he thought it prudent to regain the confidence of his friends. But the friends were no longer sure of his true intentions.

They chose to talk to his enemies before talking to him.

*******

A post for Three Word Wednesday

Word prompts- calculating, messy and envious

His Majesty

The newly crowned king was pleased with everyone who had come to pay his respects.

His heart was bubbling with joy for everyone, including the animals and birds and trees and plants had accepted his majesty.

“They must have seen my greatness, how prudent of them,” king said to himself. He was magnanimous in receiving greetings from everyone.

But when he learnt that the waves of ocean were defiant and unwilling to bow to him he was extremely unhappy.

“Let the ocean suffer for his impudence,” he thundered.

“My Lord, we can’t punish the ocean. We can’t match his strength and power,” said the minister meekly.

“We can and we will. How dare the ocean insult us? If we do not punish him then others will be tempted to disobey us.”

When the minster urged the king not do anything rash, he felt revolted.

“Kill this man for he presumes to know more than us,” king ordered his soldiers.

The minister was beheaded.

The army set out to vanquish the ocean. The recalcitrant had to be punished. The order had to be restored.

Everyone heartily endorsed the king’s resolve.

****

A post for Two Shoes Tuesday

Word prompts-ocean and order