“Keep away from the people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that. But the really great make you feel that you too can become great.”

Mark Twain

Here is the interview I was telling you about. Now you can watch the film – A Man In The Attic as well.

http://www.theseventhlevel.net/blog/interview-indie-cinema-showcase

http://www.theseventhlevel.net/films/a-man-in-the-attic

I will not add my two pence about the film or the interview because the Writer Producer and Director of the film – Ali Imran Zaidi – speaks so eloquently about this film and his interest in filmmaking that there is no room for any addition.

Enjoy and come back with your opinion.

If your heart is not deceived by the mirage, be not proud of the sharpness of your understanding; for your freedom from this optical illusion is due to your imperfect thirst.

Never break four things in life – Trust, Relation, Promise & Heart.  They do not make noise but pain a lot.

– Charles Dickens.

In war, truth is the first casualty

– Aeschylus

She did it again.

But before going any further, I must mention that in two days – to be exact, she will be celebrating her sixth birthday. That is how old she is. Old or young, this sharp-witted, quick and clear-thinking child sometimes leaves people speechless. Her older sister is an angel, sweet and happy, smiling, gifted… super intelligent.

But the little one ? Well how to start and where to start; first you have to decide that.

Every one says that she has her Dadi’s looks. Does the resemblance start and end there? I sometimes wonder. I was already reading children storybooks and able to write complete sentences when I started school. Was somebody tutoring me at home? Maybe. All I know is that it was a very ‘parrhaku’, book reading family. I also got bit by the reading bug. How and when? memory does not help!

Enough said, we return to our little unpredictable wonder.

Among other prim and proper habits, she never overeats. She will never eat just because there is more to eat. Once, she decides that she is full, you can’t force even a morsel on her. So one evening, when I came to the dinner table, she was still sitting there, staring at her plate where there were some peas and corn staring back. I asked why was she not finishing her food? she said she was full and could not eat more. Then, pushing her chair back she was about to leave when I said that leaving food in the plate was not good manners and we all should take only as much as we could eat.

She said what could she do, her mama gave her too much. I said OK, I will finish it. To this she gave me the sweetest smile and pushing the plate towards me said, “Ok Dadi you can finish my food. Its only a little bit.” and went towards her room.

But half-way there she turned around and looked at me with a lofty, know all style “But dadi, make sure you don’t over stuff yourself”.

All I could do was look at her royal, receding back and a spoon full of peas and corn.

Once again they were together.

After prayers, they sat down around the ‘dasterkhan’ to share the food everyone had brought for themself plus two. There were a variety of dishes and it was more than enough for everybody.

“People, who pray together and eat togather, stay together.” someone said.

“Wah, wah kia pate ki baat kahi mare yaar ne” (what my friend just said is so true) someone agreed.

Many nodded their heads.

A few minutes passed in silence; then someone asked the person sitting next to him. “How is your business doing?”

There was no response for a while. then he gave a little chuckle and said, “First you will listen to the story I am going to tell, after that we will talk about my business.”

“OK, lets hear it then.”

So the story began…

“Once upon a time there was a monkey who wanted to marry a cat. One day he decided to propose to her. She listened to him nicely but said that she would only agree if he promised to protect her children from the hungry lion who, every time she has babies, comes and eats them. The monkey promptly promised to protect her and her babies from the hungry lion.

They got married.

The cat once again had the babies but she was not worried because the monkey had promised to protect her and the babies. But when the lion came to eat them, the monkey climbed a tree and as the lion ate the kittens, the monkey kept coming down the tree then going up again. And as he was doing this up and down, up and down, the lion finished off all the babies and left.

The cat was heartbroken. She asked the monkey why didn’t he keep his promise, why did he not save her poor babies…

The monkey said didn’t she see him running up and down, hither and tither, up and down… so much running around he did to save them, but still nothing happened; the lion ate them all!

There was silence – thoughts were flying around – minds were at work.

The next day someone emailed the story to the higher up.

“Cat be neutered,” came the reply.

So, finally I got around and took care of my Urdu Stories. For a start there are three stories there now for my visitors to read.  I have not sent my creative work anywhere in a long time. Reason unknown or maybe its something I would like to address some other time.

Anyways, here we are with three new issues. I hope you enjoy reading these stories. I would wait for your comments.

Our five year-old strikes again.
The other day she was playing with her mama’s fake fur slippers. She started pulling small wisps of fur and soon the carpet was covered with these small pink balls of fur.

Realizing that she has made a mess in the family room and her mama would not be happy to see that, she went to the garage to get a cleaning brush and a dust pan. Her Dada who was also watching, told her to get the broom with hard bristles. That was the only way to pick the fur. She went and brought the broom. Then Dada told her again to put the dust pan and the brush back where she got them from as they were getting in her way.

She paused and slowly turned towards Dada, poised on one foot, holding the broom twice her height and said, “Dada, there is only one ‘me’. I cannot be here and there too. Let me finish this first.”

Here is another one about our five years old who is very smart for her age. I am not talking about some academic achievements because she has not shown any particular interest in this field but she can take her own sweet time for that. There is no hurry. And in any case, she thinks her older sister is smart enough for both of them. If her Aapa (older sister) is good in her reading and writing, math and other such stuff its only because she is doing that for both of them.

Right now she is in the ‘reigning princess of the house’ mode.

I am talking here about her intelligence and how fast her brain works to grasp the gist of a comment. You ask her something and you will get an immediate reply. A keen observer that she is, she always have sharp and witty comments. Like the other day dada – her grandfather – asked her if she would like to walk with him to the mailbox which was a few houses away. She said yes why not and holding his hand went out with him. While walking back home, a red car passed them by.

“Oh dada that was just like chacha’s car.” She observed.

“Yes, that was just like his car.” her grandfather agreed.

“I like my chacha’s car.” she added.

“Ok, and bibi, what kind of car would you like to buy when you grow up” her dada, asked.

“I don’t know dada, because I am not grown up yet” was her quick response.