Dear all,
Please go through www.clichesite.com . It's a fairly comprehensive collection of cliches and sayings.
For those who want to read Araby ( by James Joyce) it's available HERE
The exercise Madhavi promised to put up:
Using the Quest plot pattern, write a story outline about any of the foll:
- a 12 year old girl who wants to give her mother the perfect present
- a 30 year old male seeking the perfect wife
- a middle aged couple wanting to buy the perfect house.
Briefly outline acts 1,2 and 3 ie set up, rising action and climax.
Happy Writing people :)
A middle aged couple wanting to buy the perfect house...
ReplyDeleteKavya was starting to lose his patience.There was something about Surabhi that he didn't understand.Its not just that she was very particular about everything and chose her stuff after going through them a little more than a million times.That would still come under the fringes of normal(may be!!).There was something about her that was oddly weird-that unsettled him everytime he was with her.He just couldn't put his finger on what it exactly was yet!And he couldn't talk about it to his friends either.They had been into five and a half years of marriage-and she still intigued him,How credible does that sound!
This was their seventh house.But he had lost all interests in looking at walls or how lilac went so well with yellow in the master bedrooms.Truth is he hated the combination.But all that didn't matter.It looked liked Surabhi had set her mind to give everyone her trademark 2-lettered answer-'NO'.The last one they had seen has been a 7-bedroom mansion with its own central-heating system.It had belonged to the royal prince of Rajasthan once upon a time.But now,after his death,his son ha put it up for sale.So,was the state of the monarchial regime! It overlooked the lake and when you went to the roof,you could see the little Dalia and rose garden with the plants carefully pruned to the optimum heights.On the left lay,a see-saw and a slider-the king probably had set it up for their kids.The drawing room was huge-with lavender curtains and Rajasthan brown-black streaked-marble flooring.It smelled faintly of roses and lavender.It might have been the fragrance of the garden flowers wafting in through the French windows.The exterior walls were painted a dull yellow-pink.There was enough space for Rahul and Niyati to make wonderful memories of their childhood.It was perfect.Kavya was so sure-this was it !!
But Surabhi..she had just nodded at everything-that hypocritical satirical diabolical nod of hers which was a 'nod' but actually conveyed disapproval,and walked back.She said it had lacked that -'little something extra'..that she was looking for.After all,they were spending almost all of their savings in buying this house.It ought to be perfect.
The one prior to that had been a plush,21st-century,gadget-savvy one..with auto coolers,an in-built neural,speech recognition system,temperatue and presuure auto-sensors,
activity monitors-you name it.The house seemed to have it all.To Kavya,it was a time capsule.He was 16 all over again..and he was in disneyland.Except this Disneyland seemed well gadgeted too.He was entranced.But Surabhi had dismissed it as a 'freak show'.No further arguments.
The previous one was a wonderful 5-bedroom villa overlooking the Golden Sands beach.The perfect holiday retiral home-the kind which sets you thinking of how much fun can be had at by the sea.Again,Surabhi had twitched her nose,clenched her lips and it had been ruthlessly disregarded.
The ones before that were pretty wonderful too-an apartment near Park street with the perfect lawns and parking,the one near to his office with the Portueguese interiors,the one next to his sister's place with the grand patio,the 8-bedroom palacial mansion in Bond street.They were some of the best buys in town..and Kavya had loved them all.But Surabhi-..!! God knows something was wrong with the woman.She was the female version of Amrish Puri in Kavya's life !
Kavya at times thought,she was just making sure to check off her list anything that he had liked.It had always been so..in all of the past 5 and a half years.Be it the choice of car..or even the color of it,his chappals,the kids schools,their drawing room furniture,it was always Surabhi.He liked 'Peter England' but now all he ever wore was 'Pierre Cardin'and he absolutely hated it!
Kavya was rethinking things.He often mulled over how different his life could have been had he not ended up with Surabhi..or had he not ended up married at all!He would still be the fun-loving,living his life on the edge,doing eveything on his free will..would have had a free will to follow!Somewhere down the line,it seemed he had lost himself-to life,to Surabhi.He was saddened by the thought.
ReplyDeleteNow the agent was giving them a tour of the eight house.It wasn't half as good as the others.It was a decent 4 BHK apartment within a mile from Kavya's office.The walls were painted a dirty pink and the furniture was almost rotting.The flooring was layered with multiple layers of dust and grime.The iron on the grill was rusting.Kavya hated it.He knew that Surabhi wouldn't like it.No one in their sane mind would.But this was high time he acted.He just couldn't take it any more.He had to assert himslef."We will take it"-he had to almost shout it out.he was afraid if they didn't hear it,he probably couldn't bring himself to say it again.The broker's mouth fell open! Of all the houses..!Surabhi tried her usual cries of protest.But Kavya had heard it all-while buying their Tv set,for the blinds in the drawing room,the kid's sneakers,the stationary for the living room ! He wasn't going to hear more of it.He signed the agreement,wrote the check.The deal was sealed.
Surabhi angrily strode out,got into the car without waiting for Kavya and slammed the door.Kavya was feeling good-in years now! not because of the house but because of what he had done-he had made Surabhi storm out..probably for the very first time in their 5 yrs of marriage.Back in the car,Surabhi was smiling.This one was going to save her a lot of time.Mumbai traffic was absolutely detestable!This was a woman who always got what she wanted.