Rohini Sunderam's Blog, page 5

Spring into summer

Written some years ago in Vancouver

Mists, grey as monsoon clouds,

Shroud the still snow covered caps

Of mountains in the distance

The park is as green as a henna bush

Displaying a myriad verdant shades

While tulips and rhododendrons run rampant

On its edges

Dancing in sunshine yellow, lipstick red

And muted hues of purple, pink, papaya orange.

I wonder why in all this splendid array

Of a western spring and early summer

My imagery still wanders back

All the way,

From Canada to India.

 

Mozzie

My kind of fun poem! Reminds me of my

Glow #midnighthaiku

Check out these daily haikus.

Sue Vincent's Daily Echo

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Squid

A poem presented at Colours of Life 2017 – the annual poetry festival of the Bahrain Writers’ Circle.

Now I’m not vegetarian

Nor yet pescetarian

Not even a pure carnivore

I’m an eat-everything-atarian

There’s not much that I don’t adore

When it comes to the fishes

I can devour most dishes

But there is one thing I abhor

 

It’s that strange little creature

With a tentacular feature

It’s name down my throat wouldn’t slid

Although my ol’ teacher

Demanded that I just say ‘squid’

I shuddered, I quaked, I all but flaked

I felt my life, on it was staked

“Oh, please don’t make me!” I pled

 

“Why not squid, you’re so silly,” she said              

“Er…Ummm,” I so wished I were dead

“It’s so slimy, so squiggly, so terribly wriggly.”

“Oh child, it’s just all in your head.”

“No, ‘taint.” I retorted, albeit feebly

And blanched at the thought of the squid

My face on my desk I then hid

While my breath went all wheezy’n’queasy

 

Many years soon sped by

So I thought I should try

To dine on this marine delectation

So….“I’ll have calamari,” said I

With a measure of great trepidation

Along came this dish

Of the offending fish

All battered and fried to damnation

 

But…In spite of the batter

In spite of the crunch

In spite of the fact that I’d have it for lunch

The rubbery squid, it all but did

Me in… as it stuck in my throat

I gasped, I choked, I nearly croaked

And swore once more as I had before

That I’d never again eat squid!

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To view the live presentation please click here.

Five Lives #BookReview

So pleased with this review. It’s honest and insightful.

Author D.M. Miller

Five Lives – One Day in Bahrain is a novella I read not long ago. Written by Rohini Sunderam, Five Lives is an enjoyable book with characters from various walks of life all living in Bahrain. The story was put together in a unique way, portraying five lives with events occurring in between the five prayer times. It really gives a sense of what life is like in Bahrain within the context of these characters, along with supporting characters for each.

My only complaint is that I wish it were a full-length novel because it felt like it stopped short and there was too much packed into too few pages. If the author turns it into a series, I would certainly be interested to read on as she is a talented writer. I say that because this is the second work of hers I’ve read. The first is a short…

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Stalker by P. J. Lazos

Fantastic! Heart thumping thriller.

Mystery Thriller Week

It is not as you believe, my Angel. I am not a bad man.  You may think it odd that we have never spoken.  I stand within ten feet of you, my Love, and the words falter, trapped in my throat.  I wait for you on the platform this morning and when I don’t see you I begin my search.  I spy you in the last car, walking to your seat.  You prefer the solitude of the quiet car.  I get that.

I juggle my briefcase and my coffee, taking up more than my allotted half of the aisle, but I see that you are nimble, my Love Light.  I stop, and wait, and hope, but you have contorted yourself into a time-space continuum where anything is possible.  You glide past me without so much as our arm hairs touching.

Now the interminable ticking of my watch is all…

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Hearts for Valentine

[image error]Valentine’s Day was approaching and our publisher was in the throes of revamping the website. How do we make it more interesting? Let’s add a blog, he said. Let’s add stories and so I was moved to write this story, which is now available on Smashwords as a free read.

Here are the opening lines

They never celebrated Valentine’s Day, “Such a load of nonsense!” she said as they held hands and laughed at others’ follies: boxes of chocolates, bouquets of red roses tied up in guilt, hasty dates at restaurants waiting to lighten the lovers’ wallets.

There were jewellery stores dripping diamonds with their adamantine facets, sharp enough to break hearts. Rubies as red as the blood of the nightingale’s heart in Oscar Wilde’s tale, that beckoned lovers into the stores. Emeralds as green as the eyes of a mistress when she sees her lover with his wife on his arm winked through the shop windows at passers-by. The temptations and offerings were everywhere, and so hard to resist.

“We show love every day, and that matters more than chocolates,” he said.

“It does,” she answered laughing that carefree laugh that comes from the heart of a woman who knows she is loved.

Their children teased them, “C’mon Dad, get with the times!”

He shrugged. She laughed

Yet, one year arrived when she wished – it was just a little wish, light as the last snowflake of winter that disappeared in the warmth of his smile – that they did something a little special on Valentine’s Day. They never had, so why start now? After thirty some years of a happy marriage, there was really no need for any special recognition of the day. The commercialisation of love on display seemed too garish for them. Yet the little wish persisted in her mind, no longer an ephemeral snowflake, more like a spangle from a Christmas decoration. So that year, on his breakfast plate she placed a small dollop of raspberry jam in the shape of a heart.

“Oh!” was all he said. His hazel-brown eyes crinkled at the edges and lit up with suppressed laughter. He finished his single fried egg, sunny-side up on toast and then followed it with his second toast and the little heart of raspberry jam melted on its surface, spreading its soft sweet jelly redness over his tongue.

You may read the rest of the story on our Ex-L-Ence Publishing website

http://www.ex-l-ence.com/blogs/high-days-and-holidays/hearts-for-valentine

Or download it here:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/704228

On life support

By Anjan Muhury

This post is written by an old schoolmate and friend, Anjan who belonged to a time when we dreamed impossible dreams. He is one of our crazier school friends who has plumbed life and experiences to their limit. Today he is a “Beacon of hope for better hearing” in Long Beach California where he provides professional audiological services to the community. You can read more about him on his website: Jay’s Hearing Aid Centre. And you can ask him any questions with regard to hearing and hearing loss right here on Fictionpals, and he says he’d be happy to answer them.

[image error]I was slowly floating down and down in the ocean. The light blue ocean slowly became darker and darker as the sunlight became less and less. Voices seem to fade in my mind, and thoughts became incoherent, disjointed as the futility of trying to fight back caused me to relax my body, and assist my downward journey into darkness. The pressure of the ocean water increased steadily, and gave me a feeling of complacency, and a couldn’t care less, slow mental process of silence began to build a cocoon around me as a last fight against death….

I wasn’t even looking for anything. It did not matter anymore. I heard a bottled cry. Maybe a whale around nearby. I turned and saw what looked like fishing line dangling and swaying with the currents. Another cry. Funny that sounded like a muted piano. For a quick moment I even paused to think and waited for another sound.I saw the fishing line drift closer and I woke up to a final reality. Maybe I could clutch it and pull myself to the top. I wrapped my toes around the hook and bait and propelled myself upward.

Then I was in the midst of bubbles, thousands of bubbles, accompanied by gurgling sounds. I saw a dark shadow below me and realized that it was a whale shadowing me. Again millions of bubbles. I took a chance and opened my mouth and felt the popping of some bubbles in my mouth. I swallowed them and felt fresh energy coursing through my body. Again, more bubbles, and again I got to swallow some more air. I felt raw energy in my hands and legs.

I heard the strains of a female voice crying. I heard it to be “Ave Maria” in operatic sound. I felt even more alive, there seemed to be purpose in that hypnotic voice. I was alive, and then I felt lifted by an unseen force that shot me up. The whale was helping me. It knew I was worth its effort  The whale surfaced beside me, and it seemed natural for me to climb its back and I did! I held on to its fin and felt the speed of its movement. It was saving my life. I saw a boat come up, and at that point the whale put out a huge spout, and then dove into the clear cold waters, leaving me floating. The boat came alongside, and a hand reached out “Are you OK?”

As I flopped into the boat, I heard that female voice singing Ave Maria, in the Schubert composition. Feel OK? You seem happy, and smiling….I asked the guy, “Can you hear that music? ” He replied, “what music?”

Since then, just last Monday, I switched on KUSC FM channel and have been mesmerized by classical music. It has given me a new life, and a totally new energy. I listen very carefully to violin concertos, Chopin (piano) and opera, which electrifies my soul. I am seeking music that I know exists to improve high order emotions that are lost due to hearing loss. By next Monday, I hope to counsel my patients about listening to music that I feel will energize their hearing, their spirits and help them to get back in touch with the tones in human communication.

Classical music will be my LIFE SUPPORT from this point onwards. I am glad that I had a mother who fine tuned my mind to music.

No mo rockin’, and no mo pelvic thrusts. I am now elevated from the crotch (Southern Hemisphere), to my heart (Northern Hemisphere).

Benefits of classical music:

Regularizes heart function, and possibly reduces atrial fibrillation.

Reduces and stabilizes blood pressure.

Regulates blood flow more efficiently through better and even oxygenation.

Reduces possibility of strokes due to arterial shrinkage in the carotid, and capillary structures of the brain.

Reduces circuit noise created due to excitation caused by increased stress due to hearing loss, and allows better speech following and understanding.

May reduce possibilities of cognitive impairment and delay dementia symptoms to a later point in life.

Are you ready for a new life? I already am.

Ave Maria

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Extract from a work in progress

I am at last working on a story I had started way back in 1994! It’s also my first novella set in Halifax. I have written one short story set in Lunenburg County in Nova Scotia, and you can read that here, it’s titled A Rhyme and a Reason, the first thriller I have ever attempted.

And now, here’s a peek into a tale to be…

As she approached Scotia Square, Meera looked around seeing everything afresh. She marvelled at the old buildings standing amiably next to newer glass and concrete structures. The red brick and the sombre grey, articulated doorways with raised eyebrows looking forever down their noses at the large plate glass of some upstart new high-rise. Thankfully, there weren’t too many high-rise buildings here. There was an olde-worlde charm she hadn’t noticed before. It’s quite a beautiful old street, she thought. I’ve never really looked at it properly. A bit like Calcutta. Almost straight out of Dickens! Then she smiled, trust me to think of Dickens. I used to think it was a dreary grey English sort of street, which it is, but now I have a job and it takes on a romantic air. I am so, so, lucky. It’s been less than three months since we arrived and I have a job. Part time too, the most wonderful part of all. I can fix dinner, do the housework, make lunch… the plans started to fall into place. I’ll tell Ajoy that now we must do the laundry just once a week. Oh, God! A number two. My bus!

She almost shouted out aloud. Then lifting her sari slightly, displaying silver anklets worn over skin-tone knee-high nylon stockings, she ran to catch her bus. ‘I have a job’ the chorus in her head came to a crashing crescendo as she clambered up the steps and tossed the coins into the receptacle with a flourish. I’m an expert at doing that already. How Canadian will I get? She wondered. Will I ever wear pants? I may have to when it gets really cold. A dress? Never! It must be so strange to have all that cold air going up your legs, oof! She shuddered at the thought of it.

When she reached her stop, Meera almost ran up to the strip mall on at Lacewood and Vimy, where Ajoy had recently established their video rental store. She pushed through the door, he had a couple of older customers and was deep in conversation. so she wandered to the side and looked at the list of videos on offer. Through the corner of her eyes, she watched him speaking with animated gestures to his enchanted audience. Her heart skipped a beat, he had grown old so suddenly. The hair at his temples had begun to grey and there was a thinning patch at the crown of his head. His large soulful eyes, usually edged by laugh lines, had begun to droop in the three months since they had come to Halifax.

…of life’s unsung heroes and such…

Mr. Gallacher is deft at expressing achievement and gratitude in one quick twist of the scribbler’s wrist.

Heartwarming and a fun read.

Seumas Gallacher

…with no false modesty, as a youngster, Master Gallacher was blessed with an affinity for taking and passing exams well… so much so, at the age of 11, I was reckoned to have among the highest ever recorded IQs in the Scottish educational system (all that later proved was that I was apparently lightning quick on logic… but I can assure you in other ‘smarts’I didn’t even register as ‘average’)… came the opportunity for my primary school headmaster to put my name forward for the Glasgow-wide entrance exams to the fee-paying school of the day, Allan Glen’s School (the actor, Dirk Bogarde is an alumnus)… out of 52 bursaries available, I scored around number 10 and was offered a place… sadly, my mother approached the headmaster, a wonderful man, Carl Caplan, to tell him that, although the fees and the cost of books were covered in…

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