Thursday, June 28, 2012

F55 - (2 in 1)

My first attempt at F 55. Two in one.

F-55 - 1

Street lights heralded the sun’s disappearance. A reverberating noise filled the air, indicating the onslaught. The airborne troops charged ahead, their dangerous weapons ready; poised for attack. An all-female army yet ruthless! The retaliation was unexpected. Engulfed in a blast of poisonous vapor they fell, one by one to their deaths. The coil kept guarding.




F-55 -2

She was exhausted. All the screaming had dried her throat. The ill-fitting gown and hair that stuck to the perspiration resulted in a shabby and disheveled appearance.
Tears started trickling down her cheeks. She knew not why.
Yet she was in her most beautiful form. Few minutes had passed since she won the title – Mother.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

My first Exam in Engineering!


Image Source: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The transition from school to college is definitely a huge leap in one’s life. In my case, when I joined my engineering course at BITS there was something else that also took a gigantic leap. The probability of getting a ‘zook’ i.e just a 100 short of a centum catapulted to very close to 1 from 0.

The marked difference in the method of teaching amongst the various boards of education in India becomes very evident when they meet at a common educational institute.


Students from my board were used to the concept of the length of the answer being directly proportional to the marks scored and had become almost like carbon papers by the time they cleared their boards. Recording and replicating as per the book. To these folks the conceptual methodologies of teaching and evaluating at the institute was totally alien. It took them nearly two to three semesters to gel with the system and get accustomed.

Added to that, there were some common courses across all disciplines in the first two years that took the forms of Draculas and Frankensteins in the nightmares of many a student - Mech Sol(Mechanics Of Solids), Thermodynamics to name a few. Additionally the professors set the question papers, when the red colored halves of their minds with two horns and a tail were fully active and the soft white dress wearing halves were in a deep slumber! Villains!

My first test was Ad Cal – Advanced Calculus. Calculus in its primitive form itself used to give me the look of a bird stuck by electric shock in cartoons – (In reality they do not survive, in cartoons they do and just get the look  ). Advanced version could be so lethal.

The eve of the exam, like a very meticulous student, I packed all the stationery I might need – Pen, Pencil, Eraser, Ruler, Pink Pen, Green Pen, Violet Pen (Seriously). Sometimes taking a lot of things including 80% unwanted things would give you a teeny weeny bit boost of confidence ha ha

Then came the next problem. What if I don’t hear the alarm and end up missing the test? What if my clock stops working in the middle of the night leave alone the alarm? I took the clock in my hand and spoke to it with as much affection as I could. ‘Please wake me up!’

The worst thing about exam mornings is that they arrive too fast. And mine too did.

I had a quick bath, got into what I believed was the least ill-luck-infested-dress, applied some sacred vermillion I had collected at the temple and left the hostel.

Piety reaches its zenith every five minutes before a human being sits for an exam.

I prayed to all the Gods I knew and asked for forgiveness for any stupid things I had done in the past few days ignoring my conscience and begged them to not let that reflect it in my test.


The invigilator entered the hall. He appeared to me with a mace and a rope seated on a black buffalo. God of Death himself! He gave us a deadly look through his reading glasses and distributed the answer sheets.


I opened my stationery purse to take my pen out. My mouth hung open by six inches in ABSOLUTE SHOCK.

There were no pens there…Not even one.

No Green, No violet , no blue!

Earrings! There were earrings instead – Long, Short, Wide, Red, Pink, Green, and Blue …Around 25 pairs.

I am crazy about earrings and I had kept my collection on top of my cupboard in a blue purse. The stationery that I had fastidiously packed, I had placed into a very similar looking purse and placed it next to it. In my hurry from the hostel, like an idiot I had picked the wrong purse.

How was I supposed to write an exam with 25 pairs or earrings, no matter how attractive they were?

My adrenalin poured like Niagara on my inside. My sweat appeared as beads and evaporated into vapor in the heat that I felt. I quickly turned to the guy behind and asked if he had an extra pen. He had brought just one. Idiot! What if it stopped writing?

I quickly called the girl in front and said ‘I don’t have a pen. Would you have an extra one?’ She looked at me like I was a close replica of the alien in Steven Spielberg’s ET.

Behind the thick glasses that covered her face, I could clearly see the astonishment.

By now Yama had started distributing the question papers as well.

The girl luckily had something that could pass for a pen. Something that I could write with. That moment, she was my Guardian Angel! My Savior! I would have happily fallen at her feet!


I somehow regained composure and started facing the actual demon, my question paper.


In BITS, what matters is where you stand on a comparative scale. You get accustomed to scoring something like 12 on 100 and finding yourself on cloud nine as the class average is 11 on 100. That test, I scored above average!! Thanks to the bespectacled angel who blessed me with writing tool the day I went pen less to an exam – My first exam in Engineering!

Monday, June 11, 2012

My Guest Post on marriage book website


There are so many things that you get reminded of when I say the word 'Wedding' - Bright Colored Clothing, Exquisite Jewellery, Shy Expressions,Colorful Decorations, mantras, rituals, Flowers, Vows, Delicious Food, Music, Dance and what not

Every wedding would leave us with some beautiful memories and your own one ....Its something that would stay etched in your mind forever....

Lot of moments - touching, emotional, sentimental and some funny or Stupid?

I have written a guest post on Pramod Lohia's website. The link is given below. Thank you Pramod for the opportunity.

http://marriagebook.in/the-moment-i-entered-matrimony/

Saturday, June 9, 2012

My first story to get published on paper :D

I am feeling extremely happy today.

Some time back I had sent a short story that I wrote to Womens Era Magazine. They had notified me that it had got selected for publishing. It had been a few months ago and I was not sure which edition would carry it  and I was not aware that they would send me a copy.

Today I received a copy of the May(SECOND) Edition 2012 of Womens Era and on Page 78, I found my maiden  name Jayashree Soundararajan along with that story.

I am not very sure how to describe the feeling...Elation? Satisfaction? Pride? Contentment?

I really dont know. But its a very nice beautiful feeling.

Agreed there are millions of writers out there and I am like a tiny drop in a huge ocean.

But every word of appreciation and every recognition one  gets is very very important for the self esteem of anyone aspiring to become a writer some day.

I pray and hope I learn more in the years to come and that my journey in the literary world continues with more strength along with the other beautiful droplets in this mighty ocean.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

BLANK PAGES

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 28; the 28th Edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The topic for this month is 'BLANK PAGES'.
The sun, now an orange red mild circle was slowly getting swallowed by the horizon at a distance. The rocks silently withstood the onslaught of the waves and seemed to emit musical roars of defiance.



A young girl in her early twenties sat staring at the home bound birds, her arms encircling her bent knees. The evening breeze carried a chill and she drew the duppatta of her yellow salwar closer around herself. A small tear rose in her eye, plopped itself out and gently trickled down the bridge of her nose.


The wind threw open the diary that lay next to her, that had luckily escaped every wave that lashed the shore. ‘Shreya Gopal’ the first page held in impeccable handwriting.


She picked the diary and turned over a few pages.


12th May 2010:

”Met a new guy in the lift today. He seems to have moved in recently. Kinda Cute” her own writing brought in memories of the first day she had met him.


He was tall and good looking, not exactly muscular but had an obviously healthy physique.

“That’s a good book. A little spooky though”, he had said looking at the title of the book she was carrying. Few things can ease the flow of conversation between two people – Books, Music, Art to name a few.


16th Sep 2011:

“Today was one of my best birthdays.

As I write this I am holding a pearl bracelet D gave me today. Well, you are my journal and I can’t lie to you. I think my feelings for him are getting a little special. He is adorable and cute and oh! the way he moves with kids- He is an angel”

20th Jan 2012:

“ Hip Hip Hurrah. At last D told me …At last! He said it just like that you know. Matter-of-factly! Shreya, I love you. Ha ha “


Green memories slowly got overshadowed by those of a darker hue as the events of the previous day enfolded in her vision again.

D was not returning her calls and she had begun to get worried.

Brinda, her next door neighbor and a friend since her teens knocked on her door.


“Shreya, we need to talk”

Brinda was silent for some time. Then she said ‘Its about Dinesh. “

Brinda was silent for some more time as Shreya looked at her quizzingly. “You were not here since morning and I am sure you would not have heard what happened. Dinesh…Dinesh has been putting on an image not at all related to what he actually is. He is a monster”

“What?”


“Its little Varsha. Sunanda’s daughter? She is just ten. Do you have any idea what that bastard did to the child?”

As Shreya listened to Brinda in absolute horror, the facts about the pedophilic part of D emerged.


“ The poor child had kept quiet all along. Thank God, today Sunanda and her husband came to know of it. All the men here were extremely furious and had stormed infront of his apartment in a murderous rage. He somehow escaped before they could get at him. ”


Shreya was silent for a few minutes and then she burst into tears. ‘Damn It!! I…I” and no words came out. Brinda hugged her and tried calming her down. Shreya was shaking by now.


The diary did not carry any lines about the previous day. It was too painful for her to write it down. Though she had no part in his actions, the relationship she had shared with the pervert filled her with a strange sense of guilt. She had stood for an hour under the shower trying to wash away the dirt that seemed to be sticking to her.



She tore away all the pages containing her musings about him and tore them further into smaller pieces. The wind slowly swallowed the pieces from her hands and took them to sail away to destruction in the ocean; Every piece that left her hold seemed to remove a fraction of the heaviness she felt inside.


She slowly ran her fingers across the remnant immaculate blank pages of her journal.



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