Wednesday, October 26, 2005

55 for quakeday

Sitting in the bus, Ali thought that evening's iftaar was especially outstanding. He loved festivities, and remembered sneaking out as a child to celebrate diwali with his Pandit neighbors, usually during the month of Ramzan.

He was leaving Srinagar to work in Delhi.

The next morning in Delhi, he saw a newspaper.

"Earthquake flattens Kashmir."

********
55 words for earthquake relief.

Desipundit has declared today to be blogday. So, do your bit, and contribute to organizations working for earthquake relief (there’s a list on the Desipundit post). Two random picks; Oxfam and CARE.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

superb! this is your best 55 so far.

yasmine said...

That was wonderfully creative. =) After reading all those hundreds of 55 shorts on Sepia Mutiny over the past few weeks, it's inspiring to see this idea used towards Blog Quake Day as well. Well done.

Sunil said...

Thank you Charu, Yasmine.

R.Nandakumar said...

if one were to nitpick (very inappropriately (and perhaps insensitively), assuming ali to be a man in his early to mid 20's, it is probably not possible for him to have celebrated ramzan and diwali together in his childhood , which was about 15 plus years ago.

the month of ramzan, being exclusively dependent on a lunar callender, shifts over the gregorian calender with time, so much so that even a moderately long-lived person can celebrate ramzan in all seasons. and since diwali falls within ramzan this year, it is very unlikely to have fallen in ramzan when ali was a little boy and when pandits were still around in the valley in some numbers (do correct me if i got this wrong).

of course, this does not in any way detract from the merits of your 55-er, which is appropriate, heartfelt and forceful.

Anonymous said...

but why would one want to nitpick with such a wonderful idea?? unless of course one gets one's highs from it?

Sunil said...

nitpicking, nitpicking...............

never mentioned his age. No reason for a man who's 50 not to go down to Delhi and work.......

R.Nandakumar said...

THAT was a neat way to refute the nitpick, sunil!

yes, if ali's childhood happened approximately some multiple of 35 years ago (for it takes ramzan that much time to complete a full circle of the 'other' calender. if he is fifty now (as you say) that would be almost spot on. i made the assumption on ali's age thinking he is just off to delhi to join a job, not a veteran and such an assumption has no real foundation in the post!

i repeat, nice post!

R.Nandakumar said...

still, sunil (very sorry again!), it is a bit shaky to say :"USUALLY during the month of ramzan" since diwali would have fallen in ramzan only during a 3-4 year window of ali's childhood.

Minal said...

Sunil,
You are turning into one hell of a short-story fiction writer!
This was so real.
Loved it...looking for more

Michael Higgins said...

Sunil
You are the master of the art. Continue composing them and then you can compile them into a book like a book of Haiku.

Sunil said...

Aw....come on Nandakumar. I'll admit it, my knowledge of lunar and solar calendars is very weak.....but still.

Minal, thanks.

Michael....hehe......that's funny.

Anonymous said...

Gurudev, teach this art to me!
Seriously, are there any tips/tricks that you can bestow upon us?

Anonymous said...

nice one..

Admin said...

very nice 55, for an unimaginative mind like mine, these are feats of wonder..:-)

Sunil said...

Nema.......there really isn't an art to it......just write :-)

Anthony.......that's a little too generous.

R.Nandakumar said...

sunil,

must say i am touched by that disarming request to lay off nitpicking. i swear to abstain from this vice, at least on 'balancing life'.

Sunil said...

go ahead and nitpick all you want Nandakumar, it's good fun, and i learn lots of stuff also. So, don't lay off that vice....it's a good one.

Anonymous said...

Wah, Gurudev,
what mantra you gave!
You opened my eyes
and I did write.
Please check them out.