Tag Archives: atoz2022

a to z challenge

W for Watch out!

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With A Minute and The Voice gone, the One Minuters felt helpless as The Command was about to trap Keith in that bubble shaped box. 

When A Minute took Quincy to the happiest day of her life – the day when she became a mom, The Voice delivered Tim’s message about taking her to a dark area so that her shadow disappears. 

“Wait, what?” A Minute was so busy keeping Quincy happy with her memories that she did not notice what was happening in the present. 

Without wasting a millisecond, she made Quincy travel to the night after Keith’s birth. 

When baby Keith was unable to sleep that night, Quincy had held him in her arms, switched off all the lights and had hummed some songs; she had continued humming for long even after the baby fell asleep as she felt truly happy and at peace. 

With Quincy in that absolutely happy moment in her past, and with no possibility of her shadow in the dark, The Command’s bubble over Keith started getting wobbly in the present. 

“Whoa, it worked!” Holly pointed to show that the shadow had disappeared. 

Wise enough to not waste any time, Dev focussed and transformed the bubble and its lid part into a tiny lock and a key. 

While Tim swallowed the lock bit, Beth, who could move anything with her gaze and even borrow the powers of other One Minuters, had another idea for the key part. 

Who can question the power of a mother when it comes to the safety of her kid! 

Whoosh… suddenly the key was pushed in the direction of the sky, out of the earth’s atmosphere and into the geostationary orbit 35,785 kms (22,236 miles) above Earth’s Equator.

With the key shaped tiny bubble in the orbit, Beth used the power of Dev to transform it into a thousand scattered particles that would just stay in the orbit like debris. 

“Watch out!” A Minute suddenly landed in the room with Quincy, “The Voice just told us that The Command is gone! We had to wait to return until we were certain that The Command was nowhere around else it would have taken Quincy and her shadow as hosts again.”

“Wonderful… you all have been very brave and clever in handling The Command! You have lost too much energy and will fall unconscious soon. We have had Rohit prepare COASTED booster pouches for each of you, go get some super nutrition right away.” The Voice was proud of them. 

“Woman, you can stop singing now, you must be exhausted ensuring that everyone in the vicinity is asleep,” A Minute finally told Evelyn what she had been waiting to hear! 

“Wait… So is it all over? Is The Command gone for good? Are the kids safe now?” Evelyn, like all others, had too many questions.

“Well, yes and no. Tim has consumed The Command’s lock bit at its peak phase, so we do need to examine him, but that can wait for a day. Please eat well and rest,” A Minute ended up stressing out the One Minuters instead of making them feel better. 

The story continues tomorrow in the next post. Did you notice that I managed to start each sentence (paragraph in case of long conversations) of this chapter of the story with the letter W (I have managed to do the same from the B letter post)! This is my 23rd post for this year’s A to Z Challenge (#atozchallenge). Head to my previous posts to read the entire story.
Read all my posts for the challenge in the A to Z links below:
A ➡ B ➡ C ➡ D ➡ E ➡ F ➡ G ➡ H ➡ I ➡ J ➡ K ➡ L ➡ M ➡ N ➡ O ➡ P ➡ Q ➡ R ➡ S ➡ T ➡ U ➡ V ➡ W ➡ X ➡Y ➡ Z

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a to z challenge

V for Valour is not always enough

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Vibrations resulting from The Command’s presence at the farmhouse were getting stronger but before the neighbours could notice anything, Evelyn used her superpower – She started singing to make everyone fall asleep. 

Vicious evil power, The Command, had taken the form of a large box-shaped bubble and was floating right above Keith who was deep asleep thanks to Evelyn; it clearly intended to trap Keith and carry him away.

Various attempts by Dev to make the bubble change its shape or size failed and after every attempt, Holly got into his head, travelled a few minutes into his past and made him try something else; this way, no time was practically wasted. 

Viewing everything closely and waiting for the bubble to get small so that he could swallow it, Tim noticed Quincy’s shadow, the current host for The Command, on the wall and got an idea. 

“Voice, The Voice, are you around?” he cried. 

Vigilant, as always, The Voice confirmed his presence and asked how he could help. 

“Virtually everything has been tried here but nothing is working because the shadow is still here. What if, while A Minute is time travelling with Quincy to all her happy memories, she picks the ones in which there is barely any light to cast her shadow? You know like at nights when she sang lullabies to Keith with the lights off or some other happy time when a shadow was not possible. Can you convey this message to A Minute? Maybe we can defeat The Command when the shadow disappears from here!”

“Very brilliant idea, on my way,” The Voice was heard exclaiming after which they couldn’t hear him as he possibly left to find A Minute. 

Valiant One Minuters continued trying in vain and suddenly the box-shaped bubble opened its lid and started lifting Keith to lock him inside; it had grown stronger as it sensed them being worried and weak. 

The story continues tomorrow in the next post. Did you notice that I managed to start each sentence (paragraph in case of long conversations) of this chapter of the story with the letter V (I have managed to do the same from the B letter post)! This is my 22nd post for this year’s A to Z Challenge (#atozchallenge). Head to my previous posts to read the entire story.
Read all my posts for the challenge in the A to Z links below:
A ➡ B ➡ C ➡ D ➡ E ➡ F ➡ G ➡ H ➡ I ➡ J ➡ K ➡ L ➡ M ➡ N ➡ O ➡ P ➡ Q ➡ R ➡ S ➡ T ➡ U ➡ V ➡ W ➡ X ➡Y ➡ Z

a to z challenge

Q for Quincy’s disappearance and questions galore

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Quitting was not an option anymore for the One Minuters as after the damage caused to the stadium, The Command had destroyed an under-construction flyover, a supermarket and a local bus stop. 

Questions regarding The Command were finally answered and the One Minuters were told that the evil power was like a parasite that fed on anxiety, fear and sorrow; it had never killed anyone though.

Qualifying perfectly as a host to it was little Keith, not just because it was easy to make a child believe in certain things but also because of the history.

“Quelle histoire?” Evelyn popped the question in French as she had been preparing for her upcoming foreign language certification. 

Quicksand engulfing her would not have worried Beth as much as hearing The Voice say, “Well, you see, The Command had been using Keith’s mom Quincy as a host since she was seven years old!” 

Quietness can often be more disturbing than noise; everyone gave her space as a shocked Beth quietly tried to make sense of it all.

Questions, a lot of them, had to be answered by her ex-husband and Keith’s father Rohit – Did Quincy disappear because of The Command? Did Rohit know about the superpowers and the looming danger? Did he part ways with Beth to keep Grace away from all of this?

Quincy was always a mystery as Rohit never shared much about her except that she left them after Keith’s first birthday.

Quite maturely, while Beth was lost in her thoughts, the younger One Minuters were marking the places destroyed by The Command on a map and that’s when they noticed that the route created by those places led to the farmhouse mentioned by Beth – the one where Keith stayed. 

Thanking my AtoZ writing group of women who helped me sail through the Q post today – Afshan, Deepa, Ranjana, Jayashree, Renu, Hema and Aparna 😇

The story continues tomorrow in the next post. Did you notice that I managed to start each sentence of this chapter of the story with the letter Q (I have managed to do the same from the B letter post)! This is my 17th post for this year’s A to Z Challenge (#atozchallenge). Head to my previous posts to read the entire story.
Read all my posts for the challenge in the A to Z links below:
A ➡ B ➡ C ➡ D ➡ E ➡ F ➡ G ➡ H ➡ I ➡ J ➡ K ➡ L ➡ M ➡ N ➡ O ➡ P ➡ Q ➡ R ➡ S ➡ T ➡ U ➡ V ➡ W ➡ X ➡ Y ➡ Z

parenting

G for Ghosts of the past

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Before I proceed with the story, I would like to thank Aparna Nayak for helping me weave the gluten part in the story. This point onwards, the story has some parenting / motherhood angles so will also cater to the main theme of this blog – Mom and Ideas. I hope you enjoy reading.

“Go to sleep now Grace, we can finish the painting tomorrow,” Beth told her four-year-old daughter again.

Gone were the days of being insanely adventurous, going on a solo trips, trying some super powers… all Beth needed now was a peaceful nap.

Grace’s gluten intolerance was not making things any easier and Beth spent any free time researching about it so that Grace could enjoy food like all other kids.

Gluten, a protein found in grains like wheat, barley and rye, finds its way in the junk food that kids love – pizzas, breads, cakes, etc.  wherein extra gluten is added in form of powder to increase the strength, rise, shelf life, and texture of the baked goods, which are not good for their health.

Google would tell her everything except where she could find a treasure of gluten-free foods for kids.

Getting your little ones to eat is like climbing the Everest, but when Gluten sensitivity comes into picture, it’s a whole new challenge!

Grace finally fell asleep as Beth added some gluten-free items to her online shopping cart and decided to check her mail before calling it a day.

Gmail showed her 20 notifications of which three emails were from Daphne – someone who had disappeared when Beth needed her the most.

Getting no replies from her and The Voice despite several desperate attempts had left Beth disturbed for many months after the flight incident six years ago.

Gradually, she had stopped thinking about it and a year later she fell in love with Rohit, an Indian entrepreneur, married him and moved to India.

Grace was born a year later and the couple separated after her second birthday; there was no drama, they realised that they were just not compatible and decided to raise their daughter together in Mumbai.

Going forward, her focus would just be her daughter, Beth had decided unaware that six years after the incident the ghosts of her past would come knocking at her door.

God knows why she is contacting me after so many years, should I read the mails or just delete them, Beth was confused.

———-
Thanking Aparna for the inputs on gluten! She is also participating in the A to Z challenge with wonderful posts that you can read here.

This story continues tomorrow in the next post. Did you notice that I managed to start each sentence of this part of the story with G, the letter of the day (I have managed to do the same from B to F posts)! This is my sixth post for this year’s A to Z Challenge (#atozchallenge). Head to my previous posts to read the entire story.

I’ll be posting daily except Sundays all through the month. Stay tuned. Read all my posts for the challenge in the A to Z links below:
A ➡ B ➡ C ➡ D ➡ E ➡ F ➡ G ➡ H ➡ I ➡ J ➡ K ➡ L ➡ M ➡ N ➡ O ➡ P ➡ Q ➡ R ➡ S ➡ T ➡ U ➡ V ➡ W ➡ X ➡ Y ➡ Z

A to Z Chalenge, a to z challenge

My April Theme Reveal – A To Z Challenge

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I used to take up this blogging challenge when I was much younger and when I wasn’t a mom 🙂 This year, two friends, Deepa and Aparna, asked me if I would be participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge in 2022. Without much thought, I answered in affirmative. I know that unless I commit to something and tell about it to someone, I might just not do it.  Especially, with the new challenges on motherhood (not complaining, I love it but you know it makes one really busy) and the existing ones of Fibromyalgia.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2022

So here I am – committed to complete the challenge in 2022. I am saying this because, just like a dialogue in a Salman Khan (Bollywood actor) movie, ek baar jo maine commitment kar di, toh phir main khudki bhi nahi sunti… meaning – once I commit something, I don’t back out whatever happens. I might get delayed, I might feel like giving up, but I will definitely finish the task just perfectly 🙂

Well, like some of my friends taking up the #AToZChallenge, I haven’t been able to chart out the entire  month’s plan. But the theme will definitely be around Motherhood/Parenting. It won’t be all gyaan (like this post LOL) but will cover various things revolving around my life as a mother who loves to have fun with her child but also faces several emotional and physical challenges. The posts will be more or less like this:

Fun posts, incidents, jokes made by us, etc.
DIY – Art, crafts, etc.
Cool activities
Easy and healthy recipes
Parenting, challenges, learnings, etc.
Motivation
Fiction / Short Stories
Being a parent
Comic stuff
Instagramming as a mom
And some more (I need to still think)

I would love if you comment with some post prompts related to this theme. If I use your prompt (something not already listed above), I will definitely give you a mention with a link to your blog and also a shoutout on my social media pages (Instagram and Facebook) where I will be promoting all my posts.

Looking forward to your comments and post recommendations!

Happy Blogging!
PS – If you are participating too, drop me a comment about your theme and let’s check out / follow each other’s blogs.