Amynah Bhanji

‘I don't know syndrome’
A new class comes in and I make a very big mistake! I ask them "can you add up to 100?" "No Miss" they chorus, very cheerful and absolutely convincingly.
What do I do now?

A Thought on Poem

Thought for the Day

“Always learn poems by heart.
They have to become the marrow in your bones.
Like fluoride in the water,
they’ll make your soul impervious
to the world’s soft decay.”

~ Janet Fitch

Janet Fitch (born November 9, 1955) An american writer, teacher and lecturer, most famously known as the author of White Oleander, which became a film in 2002.

Rush Hour in an Underground Train

Standing, standing in an underground train,

A daily trip that has become life's bane,

Trying hard to avoid the blank stares,

From people like me who have all paid full fares,

To stand all the way to the station nearest work,

For to get a seat is definitely a perk.

Reading a newspaper, Kindle or books,

Still desperately trying to avoid those horrible looks,

Searching furtively for a seat - station after station,

Alas no luck for the entire duration.

Hanging onto the rails like monkeys in a cage,

Being careful not to explode into a furious rage,

Grimacing at every cough and sneeze,

Praying they get off at the next stop please!

Bumping into the suitcases, shoulder bags and rucksacks,

As the train lurches on and on through its endless tracks.

Congestion ahead, waiting for a green signal or empty platform,

As the voice of the driver sometimes tries to inform,

And we hide our groans at these further delays,

Hot and bothered as we are stuck between various subways.

Packed tighter than sardines in a can,

For a journey that is not fit for a woman or man,

Looking lost, forlorn and totally withdrawn,

Bored and fed up – all we can do is yawn.

Carcasses, bodies, souls and all,

As the train continues its endless trawl,

Making sure we don’t step on any toes,

For fear of making any loud and embarrassing foes.

The journey slowly and painfully nears its end,

As we all anxiously prepare to descend,

But there is only one final thought consuming my brain,

Soon again I will be standing, standing in an underground train.

© Victor Mamtora 

An Obituary of a Character

This Creative Writing piece on a character's Obituary tells us a bit more about the character and possible idea for a story. Please see the hand out given at the end of the Character Building presentation by Sheila Gumpright on 20th September 2012. 

            

Robin Wright’s Last Rite at 58

Harrow, Greater London   21 Sept. 2012.

The ‘Cancer Guru’ Robin Wright, died in Anderson Cancer Center, Texas, aged 58, had his last rite in Ruislip Crematorium near his birth place with the fire lit by his son in Hindu ritual.

Affectionately called by the medical world as the ‘Cancer Guru’, Robin Wright went to Oxford to study medicine after his father died of cancer at the age of 50. Born in Pinner Village in Greater London to devoted Irish Catholic parents, Robin,as a school boy showed his talent by becoming the youngest Head Boy, football captain, the lead musician/singer and school representative for charitable activities. A mild-mannered, easy going and only child of the family, young Wright won everyone’s hearts at Nowerhill High School and in the local community except one 14-year old Muslim girl in his class who was not allowed to reciprocate the affection of a Kafir [non-Muslim] boy. He was completely devastated when that girl got engaged to her first cousin and went to Pakistan to complete the traditional Muslim marriage ceremony.

Heart-broken, lost and depressed young-boy Wright could not see the meaning of life any more. So one late Sunday afternoon in that summer he broke open his mum’s cash box and picked up his dad’s purse, grabbed all the money he could and left for India without telling anything to anyone. He knew and liked India as he visited the country with his school friend, Barnab, who has their ancestral home in a holy place called, Benaras. The story goes that while in India, young-boy Wright shaved his head, went to the Hare Krishna Consciousness Centre and following his hero Beatles, George Harrison, converted to Hinduism [hence Hindu cremation, as he wished, like his hero Beatles, George Harrison].

 

As if the teen-age love-lost heartache wasn’t enough, back in Harrow and at St Dominic’s Six Form College, Wright got his biggest blow of his life when his beloved father passed away with colon cancer at the age of 50. His father’s death completely destroyed teenage Wright, he was completely lost. He decided to pack up his studies and to go back to India for spiritual solitude. Fortunately, the College Principal, Father Gregory, persuaded Wright to continue with his studies and encouraged him to study medicine. As a determined and bloody-minded individual, Wright promised to himself to become a cancer specialist and fight the cancer that killed his dear father.

That seed of determination was sown at the University when bright young Wright secured a handsome scholarship to study medicine at Oxford Medical College. Wright always had extraordinary determination to achieve any set goals and with this bloody-mindedness that he completed his medical science degree with distinction/gold medal. And it was there at Oxford that Wright met his match, his classmate, his dream love and future wife, Rupali, coincidentally, from India. They got married in 1985 with a lavish and colourful Indian-style wedding ceremony in an old Maharaja’s palace that lasted three long days and nights.

Life wasn’t always colourful and happy for Wright as his once loving and now lonely widowed mother was wooed away  and coerced into marrying a Middle-eastern business man who already had a harem of wives. And once out of the country Wright never heard from her beloved mother again and that pain of loss remained with him forever as he mentioned this many a times to his large number of friends in many parts of the world. One thing, however, had always been in the forefront of his mind and heart was his dedication for the care of cancer sufferers and his determination to find a cure for cancer. This passionate positive mental attitude [or as he used to say PPMA]  led him onto the world of cancer research and travelling to and living in many different countries. Fortunately, this ‘wandering’ life-style didn't affect the family-man, Wright’s family-life as his wife, Rupali was also a world-famous gynaecologist who always joined him in his travel. And they didn't put their two children, one boy and one girl, to boarding schools in England, as they wanted to enjoy their growing-up in their presence. This arrangement worked very well for the family as they followed their own career/life aim while children were growing up in different cultures and educational/social systems [they were adamant that children became better citizens of the world rather than a shallow pond fish].

Wright’s contribution to finding a cure to cancer is ‘enormous and un-measurable’ say his colleagues and fellow professionals. He pioneered the early detection techniques and the analysis of cancerous tissues/cells before it becomes a cancerous lump/tumour. This revolutionary technique saved thousands of prospective cancer victims from dying a slow and painful death, the profession agree. But why is he not so well-known outside his profession and why hasn’t he got a Nobel Prize, one might wonder! Why indeed! Wright would not engage in such a conversation, but his colleagues had spoken for him. They said that Wright was a bloody-minded man and he consistently refused to leave his research duty [never called it a job] and work for any multinational money-making pharmaceutical companies. Thus Wright lost a lot of support from many rich and powerful prospective sponsors at very high places. No wonder Wright’s own achievement in finding a cure for cancer does not match with his low public profile outside his profession caused by the actions/inactions of a few greedy, rich and power-hungry individuals in this world. As Wright used to say, it didn’t change his ‘tiny world of cancer cure and research’.

He is survived by his only wife, Rupali 55, son 25, a doctor and daughter 23, a medical student.

‘Cancer Guru’ Robin James Wright, born April 01 1953, Harrow, Greater London died  20 September 2012, Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.

filename:arundebnath-creativewriting-obituary 20120921

Character Creating template

This is the hand out given out at the Character Building presentation by Sheila Gumpright on 20 Sept. 212 

Creative Writing Character Building template

Story idea/title --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Character 1 : Male

Naming the character : give a simple name, easy to pronounce and remember and the one you like  – Robin Ray [or Day or Wright or Bishop, Reilly, Johnson or]

Life history :

Where born – Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, NW London, England.

What sort of kid was he – the only child, a little chubby, always smiling always busy doing one thing after another, loved school ground football, his classmates loved to hang around him, he was very popular amongst his peers he always took the lead role in the school ground, they thought him to be their leader who can sort any problems out for them, Robin became the Head Boy in the Middle school, mad about Manchester United Football Club

Best school friends – Barnab, Ricky, Daniel

What were his parents like – parents were born in Northern Ireland [a territory of the UK], now live in a conservation area of leafy Pinner Village in Harrow, father  John and mother Marie, both were very friendly and smiley- specially John, mother landscape designer, father a high flier,  head of programming for IMB.

Physical aspects of the character :

Height and appearance : six feet and six inches tall, stout built with strong mussels – with the feature of a Greek God?

Weight : sixty nine kilograms

Hair : thick dark blackish brown

Eye :  colour shape/size  - big bright/intelligent/cheeky looking light blue-greyish

Age: at the time of  the story - twenty eight years old

Temperament : tolerant, doesn’t get angry unless physically threatened

Moral/ethical/religious beliefs: born in a Catholic family but doesn’t practice any religious rites or go to church, believe in universal humanity and human rights but rejects in Brussels bureaucracy, support controlled migration and asylum seeking, strongly supports green ideas/policies, rejects cruelty to animals and mammals including seals and whales culling, supports charities eg. Cancer Research, Save the
Children, Oxfam etc

Political stance: Left-oriented but doesn’t like Communism and strongly against the current Communist leaders in the world, believe in democracy and supports democratic activities, women’s rights/equality, feels helpless with UN stance on mass killings by dictators or occupied territories like Gaza, Tibet, Syria, etc

Hobbies : Loves swimming, scuba diving, gardening and playing golf, enjoy watching cricket, football, rugby, motor sports and horse racing,

Likes pets? Had a puppy-friend and when it was killed on the road outside their quite home area  never wants to see another pet in the house, except tropical fish and hope to have a large marine aquarium with all those colourful fishes and coral etc

Habits – Early riser, morning shower and twelve minutes’ meditation session in the morning, must have toasts with Marmite for breakfast, can’t go to sleep without reading and listening to classical music

Strengths – strong traits: have strong positive mental attitude, doesn’t give up until humanly impossible to achieve/do, a bit bloody minded, occasionally arrogant

Quirks – strongly opinionated in all matters outside his expertise/knowledge

Eccentricities- despite having a large garden keeps hundreds of big/small pots for planting shrubs/flowers and move them around the patio and front/back gardens; loves/mad about colours and lights and have them in abundance in house/gardens.

Glaring weaknesses: the greatest procrastinator for mundane jobs, goes over the top for the loved ones or the child on the street, too idealist [hope to change the world and kill off corruption/dictatorships in many countries of the world]

Likes : a good chat/hot discussion on pet topics like home/international politics, football/cricket/gardening, religious exploitation/bogus asylums/benefit cheating

Dislikes : Prejudice, discrimination, exploitation, war, class system, spicy food

Fears or phobias: snakes, living alone, height – fear of falling

Short and long term goals: ST goals – getting the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons, cancer  research at Harvard, travelling around the world. LT goals – get a research scholarship on lung cancer prevention/cure, fall in love with a wonder woman, get a small house with big gardens by a canal, have two children

Hopes and dreams : to see a politically/religiously/economically settled and  harmonised humanity in the world

Mannerism: mild mannered, polite, smile a lot – even when in disagreement/dislikes something

Relationships, invent first loves : fell ‘madly in love’ at secondary school with a ‘dream girl’ that lasted for long seven months when she emigrated to Australia/India/America without even saying a goodbye –and that was that!

Professions, what was their education, their career - Robin did medicine at Oxford with distinction, studying for Fellowship of the RCS, hope to do research in lung cancer prevention/cure 

Conflicts/moments of change – be imaginative, credible key events, make them complicated, make them outstanding, what are the consequences?  - while at Oxford he lost his father at the age of 49 with painful lung cancer, mother [a Catholic] converted to Islam when she married a man from Morocco with three other wives,

Life experience, first jobs, epiphanies and major life events, experiences when the character’s world changed irreversibly, moments of insight or despair - Robin grew into an ‘experienced/wise/aged’ man within a space of seven months since his father’s death and mother’s desertion.

Ethnicity – London born English of Northern Irish parental roots and has strong allegiance to NI and its culture/heritage.

Social class –  middle class [but he dislikes labelling by any class] living in a well-to-do conservation area with good disposable family income – father’s Directorial job with IBM and mother’s landscaping business

Character’s fears, motivations  - fear of failure or underachievement that also spur him on to greater achievement/success

Some secrets about the character that make him/her little mysterious and let the readers read and discover something between the lines – readers love this.

Biggest secret - fear of rejection in approaching his dream ‘wonder woman’

Where they live now, where they travel – live in an old detached big house in leafy conservation area in Pinner Village in Harrow, greater London, England. They travel a lot to see family and friends in Northern Ireland, USA and Canada. Visited India a few times with his best school friend Barnab  who has ancestral houses there . Robin and family love golf and take golfing holidays to Spain, Portugal and Scotland.

Wants and goals of the character and conflicts/difficulties in achieving them – it’s how the character deals with his/her obstacles that defines them  - Robin wants to [1] devote his career to find cure for cancer that killed his dear father and [2] fall in love/marry the Indian Princes he met at Oxford while studying medicine –but consider possible  obstacles/complications in achieving his life goals and ultimately how he tackles all these issues, ultimate results – success/failure/mixture of both? – the more emotionally enriched/charged  the better the reader experience

Likes and dislikes of character – likes and dislikes are often shadow of each other e.g. if I like freedom I’m likely to dislike authority or if I like rose garden I’m unlikely to be fan of aphids.

A list of quirks :  good habits/bad habits or just things the character can’t stop doing without some serious discipline or counselling e.g. drugs addiction or nail biting or any other specific mannerism?

 

Archetypal symbols associated with the character – something that considered to be a perfect example of a particular kind of person having all their important characteristics e.g. he is an archetypal of a modern journalist, Beatles are the archetypal of a top pop group – Robin is the archetypal of modern day Albert Einstein in cancer research?

Use body language :

Facial expression including eye contact – a smile, a frown, a scowl; eye contact is direct and powerful, the eyes are always talking, eyes are so transparent that one can see the soul, nothing builds trust and rapport as effectively as eye contact, in USA direct eye contact is considered a sign of honesty and trustworthiness; a hard, unblinking stare send a different message.

Gestures – fidgeting shows boredom and restlessness; pressing fingers together to form a steeple shows interests, assertiveness and determination; touching the nose or rubbing eyes indicates discomfort, or it may even be a signal that the character is not being completely honest; a hand to the back of the neck may indicate withdrawal from a conversation.

Posture – interested people always pay attention and lean forward, leaning backward demonstrate aloofness or rejection; a firm handshake will give the impression of assertiveness or honesty; folding arms across the chest of body is protective and will give the impression of a character who’s closed, guarded and defensive; people with arms folded, legs crossed and bodies turned away are signalling that they are rejecting messages; a head held straight up signals a neutral attitude; a head tilted to the side indicates interest; a head down is negative and judgemental.

Space – [consider cultural differences] :  intimate distance, personal distance, social distance and public distance. In a group when one turns toward the speaker this conveys attention; competitors are more likely to sit face to face, collaborators are more likely to sit side by side and if one stands up and speaks he sends a message of dominance which can stifle free exchange of ideas. 

Note : Chicken or the egg? As you CREATE your life-like character you will most likely build up story ideas in your head – without even realising it.

As a writer you know everything there is be known about YOUR character that you CREATED . But you don’t need to give everything away – keep something with you and let the readers ‘discover’ them between the lines. It enhances their reading pleasure. 

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Arrival

Chapter Two

ARRIVAL

I still remember as if it was yesterday that very first trip to Iran.

On a not particularly warm July day in 1979 I boarded a plane at Heathrow airport bound for the city where my fiancé Siamak was waiting for me. Siamak was already in Tehran. We had both left on the same day but Siamak had got a direct flight with Iran with a forty percent discount because he was an Iranian student whereas I was taking an Aeroflot flight much cheaper than any of the other flights but with a stopover on the way in Moscow. I had been told that the stopover would be 3 hours but on arrival in Moscow our passports were taken away from us and we, the passengers, were transported to an Aeroflot hotel in the centre of Moscow for the night. The flight to Tehran does not leave until tomorrow morning we were told so you will stay the night in an Aeroflot Hotel. The Hotel was in the centre of Moscow so we were transported by coach to the hotel.