"Stranger than fiction" - A 77-Fiction.

This is my second attempt at a 77-Fiction. Hope you like it.

Author's Note: You can read my first 77-Fiction... titled, "Grief" - HERE. My first 'Flash Fiction'... "Communication"... can be read: HERE.

Before I get on with it... let me just say that I too hope, like millions of others... that Sachin Tendulkar will reach yet another milestone. Today. That of the 17,000-run mark in one day cricket... and not fall a victim to a certain "dreaded finger"... or try to 'conserve his energy' (wink!) He needs just 7 more runs.

But to quote his teammate and the incumbent 'Team India' vice-captain Yuvraj Singh: They are "tired of celebrating 'grand-dad' Sachin's records."

He maybe just 36 but he is already being addressed as grandfather - by his India teammates. "We have started calling him grandfather," Yuvraj quipped. Well the guy has been around for 2 decades now... since his 1989-90 debut... of which I have vivid memories! But... I have a sneaking suspicion... he may still be around... when his son debuts, donning the India colours.

When asked if the team has any special plan to celebrate the occasion, Yuvraj said, "Plan? We are in fact tired of planning celebrations for him. Every week, the guy goes on to make some record or other. How many times can you celebrate?"

Moving on to the racist cries... emanating from those Indian students based in Melbourne who have been, or feel they are being targetted for assault. Its been all over the media for quite a while now. With the Victorian Police Commissioner confirming that assaults against Indian students are up over 30%, one would say there was a problem. But perhaps the problem is that... assaults are up over 30% and nothing is being done about it.

So apart from some actual and efficient Policing, what can be done to show the world... that Australia is not a 'Racist Haven'? That we are all potential victims... this being not an 'Indian' issue... ?? Infact, trying to camouflage these attacks as an 'Indian' issue seems to reduce the seriousness of it. Right... ???

To me, the answer lies in a man with a very colourful wardrobe... and I must say he looks good in pink! Dirk Nannes (aka 'the man who was responsible for fellow Delhi Daredevil teammate Glenn 'Pigeon' McGrath to twiddle his thumbs during IPL 2') not only sounds like an international man of action, he is one. Being a member of an already rare species (of left arm fast bowlers, and he sure is fast), Dirk is from Melbourne but plays for Victoria, Delhi and the Netherlands in cricket competition. Can you be a better representation of multicultural harmony, with a striking and exotic-sounding name? Further, he studied the saxophone at University, has an awesome beard, speaks Japanese (thats some talent!) and competes at skiing at an international level. Everyone loves a polymath. What... ?!!

Nannes is known to be not too fond of team meetings. "I don't listen too much. By the time I enter the field, I have forgotten all about it. So when you see me wander towards mid-on or mid-off, I am actually asking them what was discussed! I don't like team meetings much. I am thinking where to eat." Wow! Thats some 'food for thought'... !

And here's his take on cricket: "Cricketers are completely a different breed," says Nannes. "I wouldn't say that cricketers are boring, but their sense of humour is a bit different." Spoken like a true diplomat! On his disappointment with Australia's selection, he says: "If I am not good enough to be in the top 30 Australian cricketers, I will eat my hat." He certainly dishes out quotable quotes... move over Rakhi Sawant and Mallika Sherawat!

Now... to get back to my 77-Fiction. Read on:

She walked slowly... unmindfully talking into her mobile. Failing to notice the fast approaching bus... until it was too late. Confused and in panic she looked around for an escape route. The 2 feet high platform next to her... was impossible to climb... without assistance. Suddenly, a pair of strong hands gripped her arms and pulled her onto the platform. Relieved and grateful she turned around to thank her saviour... only to find noone. Not a soul...

Note:

Some info gathered, Courtesy: Wikipedia.

Photograph:

A beautiful pic... showcasing the 'miracle' that is nature.

"Grief" - A 77-Fiction (a form of 'micro-fiction')

Offlate... I have been reading a slew of short stories, variously referred to as: 55-Fiction, 66-Fiction and 77-Fiction. Courtesy: Vipul, Shilpa, Sid - the 'Ravan' kid, Amit, Dmanji, Pawan, Shankar... and other fellow bloggers aka FBs. All veterans in this genre... to be precise.

Finally, yours truly too decided to try her hand at it. Therefore, with butterflies fluttering about incessantly in my tummy... I write my very first 77-Fiction. Afterall, this is my first attempt at a 'micro-fiction'... so butterflies got to flutter... don't they... ?!! *Wink! Wink!*

Now, 55 Fiction is a form of micro-fiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words. So, you can decipher the meaning of the other types, 'I presume'... (to borrow the latter part of the famous line uttered by the Welsh journalist Sir Henry Morton Stanley... on finally tracing and meeting the long lost Scottish Missionary and explorer, Dr. David Livingstone)

So, here you go:

They sat silently... staring at the lifeless bodies of their precious babies. Not even the hint of an unshed tear in their eyes. I guess... grief is too numbing.

Finally he got up and walked out of the garden.

She remained there, as if still guarding her dead babies. A mother's love...

An hour later, he came back with traces of blood around his mouth. Yes... he has had his 'revenge'. Their revenge. They could cry now...

Footnote:

Henry Morton Stanley was a young and very ambitious American journalist who had already made himself a name in the newspaper business. He took the task of searching after Livingstone for the New York Herald. Other expeditions were sent out with the same mission - to rescue Livingstone if possible or find evidence of his possible death. He picked up the track of Livingstone at Lake Tanganyika. The two explorers finally met on November 10, 1871 in Ujiji in the present-day Tanzania. As the story goes, Stanley's first words, when approaching the only other white man in this part of Africa, was: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

Note: Some info, courtesy: Wikipedia.

Post Script: Intrigued by the micro-fiction genre... I turned to 'Professor' Google. My research 'enlightened' me regarding the existence of the 50-word fiction (aka the 'dribble'... and I thought this term existed only in the arena of football and hockey!), the '69er' (a 69-Fiction), '88er' (an 88-Fiction - possibly), '99er' (a 99-Fiction)... even the 100 word flash fiction aka the 'Drabble'.

A drabble is an extremely short work of fiction exactly one hundred words in length, although the term is often incorrectly used to indicate a short story of fewer than 1000 words. The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space.

Flash fiction is fiction of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category. Some self-described markets for flash fiction impose caps as low as 300, while others consider stories as long as 1000 words to be flash fiction. Other names for flash fiction include: "sudden fiction", "microfiction", "micro-story", "postcard fiction", "prosetry" and "short short story", though distinctions are sometimes drawn between some of these terms; for example, sometimes 1,000 words is considered the cut-off between "flash fiction" and the slightly longer "sudden fiction".

Richard N. Hill recently coined the phrase "dribble" to describe a story that is only 50 words. Michael Kent of "The Next Big Writer" used "droubble" for a double drabble, a story in exactly 200 words. More information and correct definitions are found at 'Save the Drabble'.

"Drabble" is also sometimes used colloquially to refer to any short piece of literature, usually fan fiction, where brevity is its outstanding feature. Some stories, called "drabbles" by their authors or readers, total as many as 1,000 words in length. However, such a story should be termed by the more accurate description of "flashfic", "shortfic," or "ficlet," in addition to the older "short-short story". The particular language used may greatly affect the ease or difficulty of writing a drabble. For example, the Finnish two-word sentence "Heittäytyisinköhän seikkailuun?" translates English as "What if I should throw myself into an adventure?", a sentence of nine words. This density of meaning makes Finnish a much easier language in which to write a drabble than English.

Similar concepts are flash fiction, microfiction and nanofiction.

Flash fiction has roots going back to Aesop's Fables and practitioners have included such leading lights as, Anton Chekhov, O. Henry, Franz Kafka, H.P.Lovecraft, Arthur C. Clarke and Lydia Davis. A ready market for flash-fiction works is ezines; however, flash fiction is also published by many print magazines. Markets specializing in flash fiction include SmokeLong Quarterly, Flash Fiction Online, and Vestal Review.

One type of flash fiction is the short story with an exact word count. Examples include 55 Fiction, the Drabble and the 69er. Nanofictions are complete stories, with at least one character and a discernible plot, exactly 55 words long. A Drabble is a story of exactly 100 words, excluding titles, and a 69er is a story of exactly 69 words, again excluding the title. The 69er was a regular feature of the Canadian literary magazine NFG, which featured a section of such stories in each issue.

Vignette: Flash fiction differs from a vignette in that the flash-fiction work contains the classic story elements: protagonist, conflict, obstacles or complications, and resolution. However, unlike the case with a traditional short story, the limited word length often forces some of these elements to remain unwritten, that is, hinted at or implied in the written storyline. This principle, taken to the extreme, is illustrated in a possibly apocryphal story about a six-word flash allegedly penned by Ernest Hemingway: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

And much more... and isn't "more the merrier"... ?!! All of which I intend to explore... by and by. For sure!

Photograph:

A lovely pic... 'Life is precious'.