Category: Fiction

Shotgun Wedding

Shotgun Wedding is a wedding which is performed by a family to avoid the embarassment caused by pre-marital sexual relationship usually resulting in the pregnancy. To keep the pregnancy a secret and give it a legitimacy the girl’s parents has to resort to this kind of wedding.

Such a thing was considered a taboo almost all over the world for one reason or another. The marriage date if fixed is generally preponed by the unaware parents.

The wedding gets its name that boy in such a case doesn’t get away after becoming aware that the girl has become pregnant. So the father of the girl forced the boy under gunpoint.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_wedding

This step was also taken to give the would be child a legitimacy status. Different countries have different rules about this wedding.

Shotgun Wedding became the subject of the movie with same name in which Jennifer Lopez featured. Many books have also been written with this subject in mind.

Shotgun Weddings were prominent in older days when procedures like anti-pregnancy pills were not available. In those days, it was found for example in Japan as much as 25% weddings were shotgun marriages. Similar statistics were prevalent in Europe and America.

In present, these weddings have become almost obsolete. Nowadays in many countries girls having become pregnant before marriage are quite normal and tolerable and perfectly legal. There is a less social stigma attached to pre marriage pregnancies.

The Story of Two Dots!!

Once upon a time many years ago……..

There were two charged particles. They came to existence within a short span of time to one another. The were wandering here and there.

How do we trace their journeys in the time? Well scientists use cloud chamber to trace their paths in the space with time. This is a writer’s device so it can be extraordinary and perfect.

From their trajectories it was clear that they had opposite charges but very far apart in the beginning. But their traces were of opposite slope and thus they were heading to a collision in future. Force of attraction also began playing its part in bringing them closer and closer.

Eventually they met and neutralised their charge and United to become an atom. Although being one but had their independent existences also. The resultant product was stable for many years. Time went by.

Then under the influence of external forces and due to a sense of ennui, the atom began to become unstable. It began to expand. Both charges began distancing from each other. Like the universe which is expanding continuously, the charged dots started loosing communication with each other and becoming more and more independent identities again as they were in the beginning.

Soon they will be out of the view of cloud chamber screen. The scientist shall have to zoom out the screen to see them both moving away from one another and losing out the finer details in the process. Story will come to an end.

Is not their story akin to the story of man and woman who become husband and wife and then after being together for many years become bored with one another and somewhere in their minds thought of living their individual lives although physically they continue to live together?

George Eliot !!

George Eliot was a leading writer of Victorian Era in the same league as Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens.

On the first thought, from the name anyone will think that the author is a man. But in reality it is the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. From her pen name everyone is likely to think that George Eliot was a man.

George Eliot

She wrote seven novels:  Adam Bede, The Mill on the floss, Silas Marner, Romola, Felix Holt, The Radical, Middle March and Daniel Deronda.

Why did she adopted the masculine pen name? She had adopted this name to keep her identity a secret. She was born in the year 1819. In those the society was very conservative. But she lived with a married man without actually marrying him. She even added the name of her companion to her name.

Eliot assured Blackwood her publisher – who was at that time unaware of her true identity – that the pen name was necessary to employ “as a tub to throw to the whale in case of curious enquiries”

Good versus Bad

Some of Cartoons depicting clash of interests:

Grizzy and Lemmings
Tom and Jerry
Oggy and the cockroaches


It is all about Good versus bad. This is debated from the times immorial.


They are always out to wipe out each other
Like Rama and Ravana. All religions have this common thread of good versus bad. Goodness is always depicted as winner over the evil. But the win is not permanent. If it were so then evil would have long gone.

But can one exist without the other?

Or

Can any of the characters has any relevance without the other ?

In all these stories, characters of opposing nature are always trying to dominate the other. Tom is after Jerry and vice versa. They have developed their own abilities to harm the other or defend themselves.

But have you noticed that there are moments in these stories when one of the rivals is defeated and becomes hidden. The other begins to miss the vanquished. Goodness always seems seeks evilness. Honesty seeks dishonesty. Only when they juxtaposed they have the image they are entitled to portray. Otherwise they will be the normal beings living their own simple lives just like the general majority.


Everything exists in pairs complementing one another. Plus has its nemesis in minus, electron in proton, matter in antimatter, Ravan in Rama, Tom in Jerry, grizzy in lemmings and Oggy in cockroaches. It is not an accident that goodness chances upon evilness but it is indispensable for its own existence.

Tongue Twisters!!

This is from “Fox in Socks” a children’s book by Dr. Seuss. The book was published in 1965. It has two characters: Fox: A Anthropomorphic Fox and Knox: A Anthropomorphic Dog

Then there are usual Socks and Box. Dr Seuss creates tongue Twisters with these 4 words and connectors like in, on etc.

Here are some examples…

Knox in Box
Fox in socks
Knox on Fox
In socks in box

Socks on Knox
And Knox in box
Fox in socks
On box on knox

I think you can visualise the scenes described!!

You can download an illustrated flip book from this link.

https://fliphtml5.com/piaso/sgdi/basic

Shahrukh: KKKing KKKhan

Not for nothing Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan is he called Badshah or king Khan. By the dint of hard work, he has attained the pinnacle in Hindi cinema. He lolls in money; money seems to find excuses to go to him or Amitabh Bachpan. It never leaves them for a second.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0451321/

The sobriquet of King is an appropriate one. There has been an King Shahrukh in the past; he was the king of kings and his full name was Shahpal bin Shahrukh and he ruled Qaf which was a magical place inhabited by Parees, Devs, djinns, and other non-human species. He had subjugated them all like our incumbent King Khan who casts his spell on Bollywood Parees, Devs and Jinns.

What is Dev? It is a species of immensely huge, powerful, strong demons, mostly violent and brutal; they are invisible to ordinary human eyes, and can fly. They live in Qaf, and are kept in subjugation by Shahpal. Some are cannibalistic. Their females seem usually to be magicians.

What is an Ifrit? Ifrit is a “Demon.” The most powerful and terrifying of the Devs who rebel against Shahpal. “’Ifrit” is normally a species name, but here it is the name of a single individual.

What is Djinn? A djinn is a species of Qaf-dwellers, invisible to ordinary human eyes; they can fly. They seem to be intermarried with the Parees: Shahpal bin Shahrukh’s brother Sabz-qaba is described as a Jinn.

It was the Shahpal bin Shahrukh who invited Amir Humzah- uncle of Muhammad to Qaf. Shahrukh had a daughter called Asmaan Paree (Sky fairy) who ruled after his death and married Hamzah and held him captive by love and violence for eighteen years.

So it is not any overstatement to call our Shahrukh, the King.

Battles and Wars!!

You can win the battles against your opponents by forwarding arguments, emotional blackmail, breast beating and crying but these battles do no good in the long run.

This means that despite knowing that you are at fault you are not inclined to admit them. The greatest impediment in resolving the problem is lack of introspection.

If we examine for a few minutes before going to bed what we have done or talked or what was our behavior towards others, was it justified really or was it the sheer refusal not to admit our faults, we can attain peace and serenity not only for ourselves but for those who we are fighting with.

Second most important fact is to possess the feeling of remorse and admit to the opponent that you were at fault but at the time anger and other negative feelings overpowered us.

By admitting the fault we can fill the opponent with a feeling of confidence and love. Otherwise the beast of mistrust will rear its head again after few days. In the end either of us will be decimated surviver will be left as a repentant fool.

Man Friday

Man Friday is used as an idiom. It refers to a very loyal servant or his master’s right hand man. Nowadays it is more than that. He is the person who is most efficient and helps his seniors to complete the difficult tasks on time and rescue his Boss from embarrassing situations.

He is one of the main characters in the book Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe. In this novel, Robinson Crusoe spends many years on an island near Venezuela. He chances upon the custom of cannibalism in which this man was to be killed. Crusoe rescues him and the man becomes indebted to  him for whole of his life.

Man Friday

Since this happened on Friday and Crusoe did not understand the language of the man, he names him as Friday. He remained with him for rest of his life and took part in the rescue of many more victims.

Crusoe converted him to Christianity and taught him to speak English. He travels with Crusoe to England and ultimately gets killed in some ambush.

Journey of two lines

Once upon a time many years ago, a dot was born in the space at the origin and began moving forward in the time tracing a line. After sometime, another dot was born and began moving forward tracing a line like the another dot. Their traces were sloped, not parallel. So as the time passed, the lines traced by the dots began converging towards each other.

Then they met and coalesced at a point to become one. No one could discern that these were two lines overlapping each other except on a close examination.

For long years, they travelled forward more or less as a single line with some kinks here and there. Sometimes one colour and sometimes the other colour line was visible. A time came, not suddenly but gradually, they began drifting apart from one another and separated moderately from one another.

After sometime they became parallel to each other. As we know, two parallel lines however close are destined never to meet one another. How long this will continue because sometime or the other one of the dots will stop moving and vanish from the screen. Another lonely dot will continue for the time stipulated by the almighty for it and then there will be no lines. Story will come to an end.

Such a long journey

Journeys serve different purposes for different people and different times. Some people are very fond of visiting newer places and get the first hand experience of the place. Although these days you can read about place and see pictures on the internet but personally experiencing the place is simply different. Many journeys are performed with specific purposes like visiting the distance relatives, attending some meetings, marriages and to be with acquaintances in the hours of distress. In India, journeys are seldom undertaken for the pleasure because of the shoestring budgets in hand. Work was the main purpose of the journey.

Curiosity is behind this propensity of journeying. Whatever we read and see through books and multimedia increases our curiosity to visit and see with our own eyes. Now one can very well imagine the curiosity of the primitive man because before him lay the whole unknown and unexplored worlds. He was always on the move as a hunter in search of kill. He seldom returned to the earlier destination which was but a temporary residence. This went on till he got tired of moving and the womenfolk who in addition to teaming with their mates for hunting also bore and raised the offspring, discovered that some grasses yielded the seeds which were edible and easy to grow. So whenever they stayed behind, they began planting the grasses. This decreased the dependence on the hunting and arrested their wanderings to a greater extent. Then they began keeping the cattle which added to the profit of the household.

This way our ancestors laid the foundation of stable residences. It also provided them with free time. The lactation period of the women decreased. The result was population explosion. Although mortality must had been very high but still the increase in population was very high as there was still no competition for food which must have been in plenty. Again the resources in the vicinity begun to feel the pressure and competition for food sent from time to time some groups of people to other places in search of food. There they adapted themselves to different climates and food items. Thus the variations in the structure and features began separating. The changes have been so drastic that many people shall not be ready to agree that once upon a time in the remote past all their predecessors were similar.

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