Was it a trap?

I stood in front of it; mesmerized by how it functioned without flaw…it looked too right. I kept staring for a while before declaring that it was a trap.

My brother looked at me as if I had lost my mind. He, four years older than me, prided himself with knowledge of technology. Whereas, I at the age of five still wasn’t introduced to the term “Science”.

He looked at me with all the confidence and said “just do it”. Then he took my little hand and made me take a step forward.

Half jumping, really scared, even before I knew it, I was standing on a step and the escalator was safely moving.

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This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Linking it Wednesday Prompt -11 at Write Tribe.

I am taking part in Ultimate Blog Challenge and A to Z Challenge this month.

Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here. 

Please take out time to read more about the featured blogger for the month of April here.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

Today never comes!

“Today I’ll begin writing my posts for A to Z challenge.”My last few days have been beginning with the same hopeful feeling. I wake up and I tell myself that today is the day when I need to do it.

However, today never comes. I know you are thinking that the saying is Tomorrow never comes, but that’s what the case has been with me for last few days. I convinced a few blogger friends to write a guest post for some days but that’s about it.

I at times wonder if I could use Procrastination as my middle name. Imagine how self-explanatory it will be if I called my self Sugandha Procrastinating Agrawal or if I called my blog Shades of Procrastinating Life.

But it doesn’t sound great does it? Therefore, today I did begin writing my first post. Having scheduled one, I feel good about it and realize that it isn’t too tough. But imagine what I scheduled first? I scheduled my post with Z. ;)

Yes! I am going last post first approach on A to Z because the second half of April is quite busy for me. Good luck to me because I am still stuck with several letters for which I can’t find a book, movie, place, website or brand to review.

In case you can think of a suggestion for the remaining letters, here are the ones you could suggest. “K – L – M – N – P – R – U – V – X – Y”

Better still, you could offer a guest post and I will be happily hosting your post on my blog. (You know where to find me)

Good Luck to all my co-bloggers in A to Z.

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Linking it to Write Tribe's Wednesday Prompt # 10

Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here. 

Please take out time to read more about the featured blogger for the month of March "Aditi Kaushiva" here.

Also, check out the post by a non-blogger who penned down her feeling.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

Better late than never

She was late. No, she was too late.

The conference had begun. The door squeaked slightly as she opened the back door in the auditorium. All eyes turned. “Damn! Why does the door have to have a problem only today?”

She quickly scanned the room for an empty seat and took the nearest keeping her eyes down. Seconds later, she mustered up the courage to look up only to meet a pair of eyes still staring at her. Her temporary Boss’s. He raised his arm and pointed towards his wrist, and his brand new Rolex.

“How I wish I could destroy his watch, no, I wish I could un-invent these watches altogether. I mean look at this little shitty things, strapped on your wrist like a rope around neck. All of us are running around these like slaves.” She thought.

A fresh set of presentations had just begun. She looked at them and wondered what was going on. It made no sense.

Her thoughts wandered to the conversation that  was likely post conference. “This boss is probably going to complain to the hiring agency about me. Why? Of course because of that damn watch.”

“Seriously, could someone please un-invent these watches? They are the most useless things I tell you. Imagine a world without these non-sensible things. There would be no alarms. Mom won’t wake me up every morning eight o clock. No boss would ever show me these expensive things. Friends would not call me every now and then and tell me how many minutes late I am. Wow! The world will be so much more peaceful… And Rolex, these big devils. They are like sharks of the watch industry. These men need their excuses to flaunt them. But frankly, they are the most hideous things I have seen. They are as big as a clock and all that gold and stones make it look like a handcuff. Like as if the wearer says that hey you! I have got all that gold, but I can’t put it anywhere so I put it in my watch.

Can we still not live with Sun dials? I mean look at them. They are simple things. They tell us day and night, time to work and time to sleep. How amazing it would be to announce – meeting will begin sharp at the moment sun is at our head. I will meet you as soon as I cannot see the sun… yeah this would be pretty cool. And all these powerful men. The world would be a step closer to equality with no one flaunting their little time machines. It would be just genius. I should get the government to ban further production of these silly minions of slave master time. ”

“Err! Yeah I am here.” The lights were on, and boss was calling her name and she jumped from her seat responding.

“What are you thinking Sanya?” boss fumed in anger.

“I was thinking about the watch… no sorry I mean about the presentation sir” she flushed.

“Watch? Were you thinking about my watch? You like it?” His anger seemed to be melting.

“Not exactly…” Sanya began, looking at his face she continued, “but your watch is quite nice sir. It is a limited edition if I am not wrong.”

“Oh yes. My brother in-law, you know him right? Well, he managed to get it for me in the bid. There are just twenty-five of these kinds. This belonged to Sir Alec, it was in the auction. I was lucky I got this.” He looked at his wrist proudly, his anger evaporated, so did the reason for the discussion.

Some Mr. Marini joined in. “Hey! Berkley, meet Sanya, my temporary assistant.” Boss beamed. “She loves watches. Can you believe it? And she has genuinely good knowledge of watches; she even knew mine is limited edition.” Boss continued happily.

“Oh yes! I love these things. I think watches are the greatest adventure. They help us record the most precious thing in this world, time. They help us make time our slaves. And Rolex, I think if other brands are the world, Rolex is God. It makes it’s man I believe.” She chipped in happily.

Mr. Marini seemed impressed. “I have been looking for an assistant. John, do you mind if I ask your temp to come join us?” Marini asked.

John seemed too happy to bother anything at the moment.

Marini took out his card and handed it to her. It was Sanya’s turn to get surprised. The card said, “Gian Marini, CEO Rolex inc.” 

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This post is written for the Project 365 program at We Post Daily aimed at posting at least once a day, based on the prompts provided. I am the guest author for the month of February. The prompt for today is Undo - If you could un-invent something, what would it be? Discuss why, potential repercussions, or a possible alternative.

Also linking it to Wednesday Prompt - 7 at Write Tribe and the prompt is s/he was too late.

Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here. 

Please take out time to read more about the featured blogger for the month of February "Kathy Combs" here.

Also, check out the post by a non-blogger who penned down her feeling.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

All characters in this post are fictitious. Image source - Google.

The beauty of most beautiful lady

The Vogue had titled her as one of “the ten most beautiful women of the world”.

Maharani Gayatri Devi, Rajmata of Jaipur was known for her elegance and beauty. Her petite figure wrapped in chiffon sarees, a pearl necklace that adorned her slender neck created a fashion statement in its own.

A polo player, member of parliament, a woman known for her beauty and brains. Even in her wrinkled face and body that was fighting with diseases and old age, she looked beautiful.

I had seen her in pictures and interview. I also saw her in real. But to me she looked most beautiful when she pinned a good luck badge on my dress, wishing us young girls luck to go out to the world and live our dreams.

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The post is based on Write Tribe Wednesday Prompt 5 She looked most beautiful

Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

Digging away to hidden treasures

It was back when we read secret seven and famous fives, that my grandmother told us the stories of our family heritage and some old treasure hidden in the back yard. We knew that most of it was fictional but she told it so convincingly that we couldn’t help wonder.

As time passed by, we eventually forgot most of the stories, but we would often tease our younger cousins and nieces and nephews who were now the audience of her stories. We laughed and nudged them to go dig for the treasure.

Just about a few days ago, my cousin came home with a school assignment. She had to grow organic vegetables. In the coming days she irritated me to the core with her constant attempt to convince me to help her.

Last Saturday finally I decided to say good bye to my manicured hands and prepared myself for encounter with mud. With the help of guard kaka, we got some seeds and bulbs. While my cousin stood as my assistant on command, I cleared the ground of wild grown weed and started to shovel the ground. I had forgotten how deep is right deep for planting and as a precaution I kept digging lower.

Until my shovel made a *clink* sound like it had hit something hard. Ignoring the sound, I made another attempt to hear that same clink. I looked at my sister. She had heard it too. The assignment was forgotten. We kneeled and started removing all the mud with our hands.

After a while, my hands touched wood. We speeded the process with excitement. We cleared it with both our hands and revealed a small box made of wood and iron. With the help of shovel, we dug it out and cleaned it.

Hiding it from everyone, we took it straight to our grandmother. She had to be the one to see it. All her stories were maybe not fictional. There was indeed a treasure in our back yard. Maybe this was just a beginning.

We waited for her to finish her prayers and turn to us. We could hardly sit still in excitement. Seeing us twist and turn and eye each other sheepishly, she turned and gave us a questioning look.

Grinning, without a word, we placed the box in front of her.

I had imagined that she’d be amused, but her expressions seemed to be of shock. “Where did you get it?” she was excited suddenly.

“Garden, we were trying to plant some…” we hadn’t finished the sentence, when he interrupted and asked me to call my mother.

My mother walked in after a few minutes, shocked to see that box.

“Did they know about it?” I wondered. I was asked to repeat, how, when, where I found it, and I did.

Suddenly my mom was hugging me, kissing me and laughing. Thanking God and opening the box. Inside was no old jewelry but my mother’s wedding necklace.

One of our old house help was accused of running away with some of our family jewelry. My uncles had caught him but he ran away, leaving all his stuff behind. Back then, we could not find the box, and now, accidently I had found it.  

I am happy that we found my mother’s jewelry but upset that it was no old treasure.

Based on Write Tribe's Wednesday prompt - Treasure

Linking it to NaBloPoMo December -