Creative Writing

When I was in 7th grade ( in the great JPP), I had attended a workshop for creative writing in one summer vacation.
In one of the sessions, there were 3 bowls labelled 'location' , 'characters', 'situation'.
Each had chits in it - for example, the bowl labelled 'location' had chits with - 'old building', 'jungle','factory', 'palace', 'desert' etc
The 'Characters' bowl had 'thief and police', 'teacher', 'friends', 'magician', 'aliens', 'horse and hippo' etc
The 'situation ' bowl had 'adventure', 'envy', 'celebration', 'revenge', 'murder' etc
We were supposed to pick a chit from each bowl, and then write a short story taking place at that location with those characters in that situation.
Say I picked 'factory', 'magician', 'revenge' - then I should write a story about a magician as my central character, which takes place in a factory and has revenge as its theme and so on.
I actually drew out pretty lame chits - 'friends', 'adventure' and 'old building'. It was a straight-forward draw - friends out on an adventure which happens in an old building.
A few days in the workshop, I already had an upper hand in the creative area - amongst a bunch of 7th graders, I was doing quite well. We were evaluated regularly by the instructors, and I was being 'noticed' for my creative flare. (*wink*)
So - these chits of mine weren't 'challenging' enough for me. So I did a 'Roald Dahl' spin on my story. It got rated the best in that workshop. Below is that story I wrote a long long time ago.
(The main language being used in the workshop was marathi - and the story I wrote was in marathi)

Amit and Sujay were great friends. They were always together. They had grown up together - and though they went to different schools, they spent most of their free time together.
Their parents adored them both and treated them like brothers. They were in-seperable.
As boys of their age are, they were very active and adventurous kids. In summer vacations they went to different camps or new places with their parents. But their favourite place was the small town where Amit's grandpa stayed.
It had all the attractions these kids would enjoy. A small hill to go trekking, a river to go swimming and fishing, Amit's uncle's farm where they could ride the tractor and eat sugarcane. And, of all the things, the town had an old building - crumbling and deserted , even haunted some people said - where no one stayed. Both of them itched to go and explore it, but were always restrained from going there.
But not this summer - they had decided that they will sneak up to that building and get a good look.
They waited for a good opportunity everyday.
One fine day - when the weather was all cloudy and dull - even the elders dozed off after lunch - Sujay and Amit sneaked out. They carried their back-packs with a torch, a rope and water. They also packed some sandwiches for the road and set out.
The building was not very far from the hill by the farm. It was a good walk and the boys were glad that it was cloudy - sun would have made the climb harder.
The afternoon seemed darker that usual due to the gathering clouds when they reached the building. There was a slow rumble in the clouds.
There was a door frame, but no door to it. They went into a huge hall with solid wooden beams and mud plastered walls. Cobwebs hung everywhere and pegions cooed from their nests in the ceiling. The place smelled musty.
The boys were thrilled. Amit went on and on about the things there.. "Sujay - these wooden beams must be a 100 years old - even these side pillars - come here - feel them ! "
" Suji - the windows must have been huge - we both can pass through them without bending"
" Hey - feel the walls - its as if we can knock them out in a punch ! "
He held Sujay by the hand and led him from wall to wall and urged him to touch and feel and knock everything.
Sujay was silent. He was excited, but also anxious. His ears picked the slightest sounds outside and within. He had noticed that the rumbling clouds had started to pour now. He could feel the dampness in the walls - his nostrils flared at the wiff of rotting wood. The floor beneath their feet was old and worn out - it felt as if it would cave in.
The rains were now getting worse - thunderstorms, howling winds and even occasional lightening. Something was wrong thought Sujay.
Amit still was dragging him by the hand here and there. Sujay gripped Amit's hand and said -"Amit, something feels wrong. Lets get out. The rains are making the smell worse and the touch feels damper every time - I feel something is wrong - come lets go out - NOW! "
Amit could feel the urgency and anxiety in Sujay's voice. But he wanted to check the rooms, and go up the stairs. "Sujay - I know you don't find this as exciting as I do - but we'll explore together - please lets spend some more time here " he said.
But Sujay won't listen. He now was forcefully dragging Amit towards the open door - he could trace his way back.
Amit knew there was no staying back now - he took the lead and came out with Sujay - all the time thinking to give Sujay a good piece of his mind once they were out.
They came out into the pouring rain and headed towards a tree near by.
Within moments there was a loud crash as two wooden beams just above where they had stood came down crushing the walls on the side - had they still been there, they would have been buried alive!
Amit looked at the heap in shock and his mind filled with guilt -" I should never have brought Sujay here - I should have listened to him sooner when he said we should come out - I should have been the one protecting him and looking after his safety ". His eyes filled with tears as he squeezed Sujay's hand with gratitude.
Sujay lightly tapped Amit's arm. The rain had stopped and sun peeped from behind the clouds. The two friends set out for home, hand in hand - as Sujay tapped his white cane on their way back.

PARP!

When people pass wind, or fart (as the common word goes) - I doubt if anyone ever goes 'awwww.. you parped!' - the reaction more or less is '...how disgusting .."

( I guess a few enthu people like you who are reading this post might just think the same '..how disgusting .. she is writing after a long time ..and that too about parps! ' )

Well - a lot of water has ran under the bridge - and things have changed. I have a very adorable addition to my family now - and that makes me look at things in new perspective.

As I type this, my little one lies in the cot - sometimes chuckling, sometimes sighing in content and sometimes - well doing 'pur pur' in the sleep - and my heart goes - 'awwwww you parped - chooo chweeet ! '