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100 Word Story – ADIOS

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

It isn’t Friday today, but I am in a mood for writing some tiny fiction. I missed this prompt from Rochelle last Friday. But since the linkly is still open I think I can go ahead and write on the photo prompt. 


In case you are not aware Rochelle gives a photo prompt every Friday and we need to weave a story around it within 100 words – thus the Friday Fictioneer. 


So let’s not waste any more time and move on to the 100 word story.

ADIOS 

Dax spent some moments alone in the car.

Where are we heading? Can I make it better? Questions crowded his mind as memories of their whirlwind romance kept coming back.

Hope it’ll be ok today, he thought before alighting with the groceries and entering the kitchen.

The kitchen looked painstakingly tidy. The vase had fresh flowers, not a single thing out of place, save for a folded letter.

What’s wrong!

‘I know it’s complicated. Managing the house after work is difficult. I can’t fight over it again. There isn’t much left between us. All the best. Adios,’ read the letter.

Photo Prompt -© Raina Ng

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This post is written for Friday Fictioneer hosted by Rochelle Wiseoff-Fields. Also linking it to UBC day 16
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What is in a name? I say every bit is in it.#MondayMusings

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
Source

Check below for the #MondayMusings linkly.



The great Shakespeare had once wisely written in his all time classic Romeo & Juliet





“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

It sounds polite, wise and profound doesn’t it?

But when you put yourself in that very place – when you are the subject does it sound so prudent?

If you ask me, I would say a big NO.

It is true that a name doesn’t make you the person that you are going to be, nor will it decide your personality, but it definitely is going to be your identity. Now if you have a difficult name – as in an uncommon name which is difficult to pronounce you will understand every bit of what I am trying to say.

Parents, as sweet as they are, go overboard in excitement to find the most uncommon and the very special name for their little ones. But what they fail to realize their little ones might endure a dilemma of a lifetime explaining their names when they grow up.

I have gone through it most of my life – I still do – so no one knows it better than me.

My mom had originally named me Tina as the good name, because she liked the name. But then you have an entire family waiting to name the new born! This is some sort of a custom in Indian culture that choosing a name is a big affair. Some consult astrologers on what the starting letter should be, some numerologists on how many letters should be in the name and what not. Thankfully my extended family members didn’t resort to consulting them but they definitely opposed me having an English name and that too such a short name!

I mean really?? What was wrong with the name Tina? So after all the discussions, deliberations and considering I was given a good name which is SARANI. People in the family were happy. It sounded very Bengali, it wasn’t too short, and it wasn’t that common too. Only they didn’t realize what was coming up next when I’ll get into school and college! Tina, however, remained my pet name.

Bengalis and other Indian communities are quite famous for having distinct names specific to their communities. When I was in school at least 80% of the girls’ names had something to do with ‘dev’ or ‘deb’ as we call it in Bengali. [It means God in Sanskrit]. So most common names were Debjani, Debomita, Debosmita, Debdutta, Debina, Debopriya, Debanjali and loads of other ‘debs’.

Just when everyone was happy with the debs and debis in their names – I had an enormous task explaining people what my name actually was. Sarani, means a continually flowing river (I got to know that from some Bengali dictionary, much later) and it is pronounced as Sha–ro-ni (yes that famous Bengali way of rolling your tongue to pronounce O) but it is spelt the way it is written in my school ID or the passport – SARANI.

The next challenge was reminding everyone that it is not pronounced as Sho- ro- ni. Yes there is only a change of vowel from ‘a’ to ‘o’ but it has hell of a difference. In Bengali the word which is pronounced as Sho-ro-ni means a road, and guess what it is spelt as – SARANI!!!! So every street here is named as xxx Sarani. Like Shakespeare Sarani, Mother Teresa Sarani, Jamini Roy Sarani, Raja Rammohan Sarani etc etc etc.

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So by default any Bengali who read my name called me Sarani as is Sho-ro-ni, yes a road!!! It is a monumental task correcting everyone every time what I am supposed to be called. And I hated being called a road!


Things became worse as I joined college and university with a more cosmopolitan population. There it was difficult for people to pronounce it altogether. So I resorted to my pet name and it was easier for people – and a relief for me. I, however, had a professor in Bangalore who is Bengali by birth and she was the only one who was kind enough to get the correct pronunciation.

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When I joined work I conveniently became Sarini, Shalini, Sayani, Sharni, and what not. People called me anything that they found easier to pronounce. So I resorted to introducing me self as “Hi I am Sarani, (with the correct pronunciation) I know it’s difficult for you, you can call me Tina.” And those who (the external vendors that I deal with) wanted to give extra respect and extra effort started calling ‘Sarni mam’. And I had to be content with it. It saved me a great deal of explanation.


If I start counting how many variations there are of my name I don’t think I’ll be able to count in fingers! But for some reason I have not officially changed my name! But yes I have gone ahead and published my anthologies as Tina Basu. I didn’t want the readers to keep guessing the name!

It’s my heartfelt request to parent’s please think what your little bundle of joy is going to endure when you give those nice and unique names.

I am pretty sure when I need to name my baby, I will put my foot down in choosing an easy going name. I don’t want my child to suffer this namely dilemma. I am not sure where he or she will settle down finally, but I need to give him or her little freedom of introducing themselves freely without having a baggage to explain their names!

What do you think? Have you had a dilemma with your name like me?

****

Okay now no more dilemmas for today. I am hosting the #MondayMusings with Corinne as promised earlier. This is the first time I am hosting such a thing for my blogger friends. And I invite you to write and link – up below in the linkly.

Here’s what you need to do.

1.Write a post sharing your thoughts on a subject of your choice. Make it as personal as possible.

2. Use the hashtag #MondayMusings and link to Write Tribe.

3. Add your link to the linky which you will find either on Write Tribe or in here, below my post.

4. Use our #MondayMusings badge to help other bloggers join in too.



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The Smile – #100WordsonSaturday on Write Tribe

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

This is a new section I’m starting on the blog, writing on Saturday Prompts at Write Tribe. What is it? Every Saturday Corinne gives out a prompt – a word or a photo around which we need to weave a story within 100 words– fiction, non-fiction et all.


I like doing these prompt responses. Sometimes I feel they challenge your creativity and it’s a nice way to break the thoughts of ‘what am I going to write today?’ And the best part is, it is 100 words. So it’s a relief for the readers too. Often I tend to write very elaborate stuffs even when I had thought of keeping it short!

So here goes my 100 word story.

THE SMILE

‘Abba we’re moving out’

The words pierced through his heart.

‘I gave my life’s savings for his business… this is how they abandoned me!’ thought a fragile Rahim watching his son leave with his family.

‘I’ll see if I can send some money’, his son had said.

Rahim refused to give up his dignity. His own blood had betrayed him, but he knew his old bike won’t.

No one had ever seen the fruit-seller without his trade mark smile, even when customers bargained furiously. Rahim was happy to meet new people. But none knew the loneliness behind the friendly smile.   

Source: WriteTribe.com



***
This post is written against the inhuman act of abandoning old parents. Parents give their sweat and blood in bringing up their children and abandoning them in their old age should be regarded as a crime. I have known some old age homes closely due to my mother’s social work network and it feels disgusting to know that many have not heard a word from their wards in years. Their children are settled abroad and some even send money but no one has time to pick up the phone or even come down for the last rites after their death. We wouldn’t need an old age home, only if people were more sensitive.


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The post is written for #100WordsonSaturday on Write Tribe. Also linking it to UBC day 13.
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The Ancient – Short Fiction for Three Word Wednesday

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
Writing a tiny fiction piece today for Three Word Wednesday. I am revisiting all the blogs and sites where I used to be active until recently. Three words offered for today are,

Blemish, noun: imperfection, flaw, defect, fault, deformity, discoloration, disfigurement; bruise, scar, pit, pock, pimple, blackhead, wart, scratch, cut, gash; mark, streak, spot, smear, speck, blotch, smudge, smut; birthmark, mole; defect, fault, failing, flaw, imperfection, foible, vice; shortcoming, weakness, deficiency, limitation; taint, blot, stain, dishonor, disgrace; verb: mar, spoil, impair, disfigure, blight, deface, mark, scar; ruin; sully, tarnish, besmirch, blacken, blot, taint; spoil, mar, ruin, disgrace, damage, degrade, dishonor.
Erect, adjective: upright, straight, vertical, perpendicular; standing; engorged, enlarged, swollen, tumescent; hard, stiff, rigid; bristling, standing on end, upright; verb: build, construct, put up; assemble, put together, fabricate.
Lopsided, adjective: crooked, askew, awry, off-center, uneven, out of line, asymmetrical, tilted, at an angle, aslant, slanting; off-balance, off-kilter.

So here’s my story.

The Ancient

The wind howled while the lopsided trees blacked out the otherwise clear sky. Fallen leaves, ferns and moss covered trunks created a thick wet coat along the unknown trail.
They followed the little streaks of light that escaped through the dense forest cover. The shafts of light grew thicker as the forest started thinning out after a few miles of trek. A little ray of hope swirled in their hearts.
What lay in front took their breath away. Ahead of them stood erect a towering structure. It was prehistoric yet organized.    
The place looked deserted of any human civilization.
Wandering around this archaic building Emanuel discovered a tiny stone dial on the side wall. He placed his hand on the dial… nothing… he tried rotating it…. It stood still as if it was frozen.
“Does it work” asked an intrigued Leila.
“No luck”
But just as she pushed the dial the stone wall caved in, miraculously giving way to a hidden tunnel.

Emanuel and Leila walked through the dark and swampy tunnel not realizing what lay ahead of them. At the end of the tunnel lay a large room. Surprisingly it was brighter, streaks of light was getting in from the ceiling. But they were astound to find the space inside spotless and without a blemish. As if someone had just cleaned the entire room!
It just had a large pillar at the center on top of which lay a golden casket. The only other thing in the otherwise flawless room was a dried long stemmed rose on top of the casket.
“What is this place? Whose sarcophagus is this? Is this a tomb stone?” asked Leila who was unable to keep her excitement in check.
“This looks ancient, it has something inscribed on it, I don’t understand what it means. We need to get an expert to read this” said Emanuel who was now trying to open the casket.
“Emm.. I’m not getting a very good feeling about this, this is a tomb stone, for god sake, what if there is a curse or something, I don’t think we should do this”, said a visibly tensed Leila.
“There is nothing like a curse or something, we are about to get famous honey, we might go down in history, let’s see who’s laying beneath”.
***
They had searched almost the entire island but never got to see them. No one had seen them ever since they broke off the group and got lost in the forest trail. It was the fourth day of the search and no success.
“Let’s leave now, I think we lost them to wild animals, or something. We have not left any place and have searched everywhere”, said the captain.
“I think you are right, we are low on provisions already”
The ship sailed off finally but without the two efficient archeologists.
***
Emanuel and Leila never saw another light of the day. As soon as he broke open the casket all hell broke loose in the otherwise empty tomb. They lay trapped within the tomb.
Perhaps Leila was right…
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Grammar Check – Most common Grammar mistakes and tips to correct them

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
The English grammar is gradually becoming a joke! You can blame some of the American sitcoms and TV programs for wrong grammar too. If you don’t believe me check the infographic below. The common grammar mistakes in print media is becoming embarrassing. See how acceptable wrong English and wrong usage of grammar has become from the 1960s.

English Grammar
source

The more you are active on social media and spend time online interacting with people you get to see how messed up is the usage of English grammar! I have been part of a blogging story writing competition where we wrote and edited our stories in a team. While editing some of the chapters things that made me feel like banging my head were the poor knowledge and usage of grammar. Four of us in the team had divided between us the trouble of editing each and every chapter and thank god we did that. We were in fact the winners among some 20 odd teams! In case you want to read our sci-fi story click here for the complete post, or you may wait till the book is published – yeah that’s the main prize of the competition.

 
I edited some stories for an upcoming anthology and the state of grammar was quite similar. Seriously if one gave me a dollar for every grammar mistake I could spot on the FB status updates of people in my list I would make a million very easily.
 
These mistakes include messing with tense, not using punctuation correctly, creating your own verbs (using words which doesn’t even exist) and what not, literally what not. And I am not only talking about mistakes made by fellow Indian people but also by people from US, UK and largely other English speaking countries.

 
Now by no way I am telling I am a grammar Nazi or the I-know-every-bit-of-grammar but after having seen how the state of affair is for a large population of people I can say I am in a better place, or I at least try to correct myself when I am not. One major glitch that is rampant these days is the auto correct that we see in our iOS and Android devices. Most of the time it changes my words into something that it fancies and if I have not checked it before posting it remains that way. Like the other day I wrote ‘I don’t care if I’m spamming’ and auto correct on my iPhone conveniently made it ‘I don’t career’… career really!!!
 
Today I am going to list down some of the most common grammar mistakes that are made by even smart adults and tricks to correct them. My post may contain some infographics and photos which you may check. I am going to touch upon the most common mistakes only, to keep the length of the post in check!
 
While writing this I remembered wrong pronunciation of common words, maybe I’ll do a post on it later some time.
 
SPELLINGS
 
2day v r in da age f sms lingo or da twitter lingo. And it feels insane when people start writing like this in their blog posts or story submissions. I mean really is that how you write in school too?? When we were in school we were threatened of negative marking for every spelling mistake! Thank god for that our hold on spellings is still strong and by the way everyone has a MS Word for that tiny help.
 
I before E except after C
 
I have seen many spelling achieve as ‘acheive’, receive as ‘recieve’, receipt as ‘reciet’ and so on.    
 
This is the easiest rule to follow – I before E but except before C.
 
So common words where you have I and E will always have ie and not ei.
 
e.g. – achieve, believe, bier, brief, hygiene, grief, thief, friend, 
 
chief, fiend, patience, pierce, priest etc.
 
And when you have a preceding C it’s the other way round – i.e. – “cei”
 
e.g. – ceiling, conceive, deceive, perceive, receipt, receive, 
deceit, conceit
 
If you remember this you will never make this common mistake.
 
TENSE
 
Are you tired of reading people write – ‘I didn’t said that’, ‘I didn’t went there’, ‘he didn’t listened to me’ and such other phrases? This is one of the most common mistakes I faced while editing the stories.
 
Only Present after did not or didn’t or even ‘to’
 
That’s again the rule – no past tense after did not or to. The verb right after did or did not is always present.
 
e.g. – I didn’t say that, I didn’t gothere, he didn’t listen to 
 
me, did he manage to get there, are you going to ask him 
 
etc.
 
Get that THAT & AND off your sentence
 
This one technically is not an error but it makes a read very difficult. Try and reduce as much of ‘that’, ‘and’, ‘which’ in your sentences while writing a prose, story, or even a simple blog post. It’s even better to write shorter sentences than writing a sentence as long as a paragraph with scores of ‘that’, ‘and’, and which!
 
The Good, The Better, The Best
 
I read in some ones FB post – this ‘makeup brand’ was more better. Now what is that exactly? When you use comparative and superlative adjectives you need not use anything else to make it even more superduperlative!! (yeah that’s not a word). When you write bestest friend you are not making your friendship supersonic.
 
For example:
long – longer – longest , short – shorter – shortest, 
 
bright – brighter – brightest, close – closer – closest
 
 
Punctuation
 
I’m going to leave you with some photos which will make it clear why a space, a comma and a full stop is important – in short why we need punctuation.
 
Did we miss a space somewhere?
source
 
Are we Hunting pedestrians? Where did the comma disappear?
Source
Poor Grandma, just about to be eaten!
Source
Apostrophes on sale? Use to heart’s content!!! 
Source
Check the infographics below for correct usage of comma
 
source
 
So that’s it for today. Next grammar class sometime later. Hope this post helps to clear up grammar related confusions and help to correct the common mistakes.

Until then good night!


 
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#MondayMusings – The Vampire Files

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

WriteTribe.com

Even if the title of the post suggest I am not a huge vampire enthusiast. But when I think about vampires, all the stories and myths related to vampires sometimes I get very silly thoughts about them. You might find them relaly weird questions – but that’s how random my thoughts are sometimes. 


Thus it’s going to be Vampire talk for #MondayMusings at Write Tribe. Are you wondering what is this #MondayMusings? Check below.

All you need to do is 

  1. Write a post sharing your thoughts on a subject of your choice. Make it as personal as possible.
  2. Use the hashtag #MondayMusings and link to Write Tribe.
  3. Add your link to the linky which you will find either here or on Everyday Gyaan or on the post of a co-host.
Ohh one more thing I am co-hosting the next #MondayMusings on Write Tribe with Corinne – that is on 15th June. So stay tuned and watch this space.


When I was a kid I had serious restriction on watching movies! [yeah that sucks right?] My dad wasn’t quite happy with the idea of me watching the Bollywood pot boilers. I was allowed only ***certain*** English movies. Those were the days of VCRs and we had a good collection of tapes at home. From the entire collection my choices (or rather what I was allowed as a choice) comprised of The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, The Wizard of Oz returns, Godzilla, several Disney movies and some other non descriptive ones.

I remember there were some Dracula movies which had become popular that time – I don’t remember the name though and I had asked my dad to take me for a horror movie which I wanted to watch in the theatre. I have always liked watching horror movies right from my childhood. So my dad had obliged and taken me for some vampire movie. The typical blood sucking cross fearing white handsome looking vampire movie.

Now as I grew up I have seen and read several vampire themed movies and books. Underworld series being one of the many. The more I read the more I wondered why all vampires are supposed to have the same construct, same behavioral pattern or even similar names?

No desi Vampire eh?

Source
I have read few Indian fiction books on Vampire as well, in fact have reviewed The Company Red and Tantra in my blog. Though the books were Indian, the setup was in India, the authors also are Indian the vampire always seems to be a foreigner. They are mostly always firangs hailing from Europe or US! Why is it that we read or see only imported vampires?

Victor… too common a name?

Now if you have seen loads of vampire movies or have read stories about vampires you will know the most popular name amongst vampires seem to be VICTOR. 
I really don’t know why! It’s an irony that at the end vampires are never victorious (until the recent Underworld and Twilight series). But why Victor. In fact the great master of the Underworld series is named Victor and If I am not wrong one the members of the Volturi in the Twilight series also is called Victor! Is a vampire royalty supposed to be named Victor? Victor only knows. Other common names that come to my mind are Vincent, Vlad, Vladimir, Kraven. May be they all have a fascination for old names or for that matter for the letter V.  

The Fair & Handsome Vampires

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We all know vampires are blood sucking cold creatures – point taken but why do all vampires need to be fair and white? Because they are cold? Have you ever come across any vampire literature where they have not described a vampire as white as snow and the most handsome men. Even the ladies are supposedly the most beautiful ones.

There are times when a vampire bites a human and they in turn become vampires. Now are vampires attracted only to fair and good looking humans? How come they select only the most handsome men/women to become vampires? Have you ever thought like that?

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Vampire Banks?

Have you noticed in almost all , all vampire stories they are all filthy rich. I wonder if becoming a vampire entitles them to special fortune or special grants from special vampire banks! I have not come across any vampire lead character to be poor or middle class! They are all rich handsome men with plush houses or penthouses (for the urban vampires) and yes not to forget their love for fast and super luxury cars. 

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Vampire Fashion – always in!

Now this one is really funny. Vampires are not supposed to see their reflections in mirrors (according to some literatures at least) but tell me how are they always impeccably dressed in designer wears? How do they know how they are looking if they don’t see their reflection? Or even their hairstyle for that matter! 

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It’s sometimes nice to get such silly weird thoughts right? I don’t know if it’s only me who gets such weird questions in mind. But it isn’t that bad being a vampire – not at least according to the authors who have made these characters shine. You get to live a loooooooooong life unless someone uproots your head or pushes a wooden nail deep in your heart, you get beautiful ladies or men, you get to ride super cars, you have more money than all the Arabs together!

Do you feel the same way. Share your vampire thoughts with me in a comment below. 

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This post is written for #MondayMusings for Write Tribe hosted by Corinne and co-hosted by Parul.
Also linking it to Day 8 of UBC
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