AnuKathaa

I had completely forgotten about the poetry challenge I'd agreed to under the 12 Poems in 12 months banner. I realized that just 12 hours before it was due for submission on 06-03-2019. I'm no poet and so, was really worried and for the first time, even considered giving up.  But then, inspiration struck, and here's what flowed out....this poem rhymes in some parts and doesn't in others. So, I think it's technically under the genre of Free Verse. According to the website Literary Devices, "Free verse is a literary device that can be defined as poetry that is free from limitations of regular meter or rhythm, and does not rhyme with fixed forms. Such poems are without rhythm and rhyme schemes, do not follow regular rhyme scheme rules, yet still provide artistic expression. In this way, the poet can give his own shape to a poem however he or she desires." Prompt: Red                               ...

This month was especially busy and so, despite having ideas for the prompt, there was absolutely no time to devote to developing them.  So, when deadline day came up, I did something I rarely do - I took a shortcut. I had a story previously written for my blog, but it was a shorter word count. So, I expanded it a bit. And because I wanted to put some effort into the story, I re-wrote the narrative from 3rd person to 1st person and changed the tense from past to present.  Technically, it's a different story but I can't help feeling I didn't do full justice to the purpose of the exercise. Anyway, for all it's worth, here is the story.... Prompt: New Me Word count: 1200 exactly I stretch my legs in the cramped space, mentally berating myself for not booking tickets in the AC Chair Car. This is what happens when you put off travel decisions to the last moment, I chide myself. I wriggle to make myself comfortable in these ordinary seats-meant-for-2-but-allotted-to...

POETRY - the word itself creates a sense of some haunting and beautiful emotion. Many, many years ago, I had, on occasions, written some poems - probably about 3 or 4 pieces. Ever since I started seriously writing - on my blog, and the short stories - I never ever imagined myself writing poetry. I always believed I'm not poetic enough or artistic enough or creative enough or bright enough or sad enough or mad enough to do so. But I hate giving up on a challenge. So, when this year, my South Africa-based writers group came up with a poetry challenge - 12 Poems in 12 Months - I signed up for it. Being preoccupied with things to be done in the real world, I didn't have the mental space to let my imagination soar. So, I did the best thing I could. I thought up a story with a little lesson (like I do with my stories 😊 ) and got it to flow with rhyme and rhythm. So maybe it's more cerebral than emotional. Do read and let me know what you thought of it ....         ...

So 2019 has started. And I decided to embark on a hattrick with yet another year of story-writing with my group of writers from across the world on the 12 Short Stories Writing Challenge. Here's the first story of this new calendar year.                                              *********** Prompt: No one can know      Word count: 1500 exactly *********** “You won’t get far with this group, Ms. Ruhi,” drawled a deep voice. Ruhi turned to look at the speaker, taking in the streaks of grey in his hair and the mocking smile that played about an otherwise grim face. “What makes you say so, Mr. Mukund?” “I’ve been seeing it all these years. People want to attend these training programs only to lend weight to their resume or because they’re forced to by their superiors. No one is really interested in making a serious change.” “Ok, people, time for t...