The blind alley


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Jack was thrilled to bits; after all it was not every day that one gets his eyesight back. A couple of days ago, the doctor successfully performed the procedure where his cornea was replaced with that of a donor and he could finally see again.

And here he was, seeing a world that he thought he would never see. It was something that he hadn’t even dreamt of all.

While the rest of the world seemed unfamiliar to him, the one steep street with the uniquely designed steps was something he easily recognized even with his new found eyesight.

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This post has been written for the Friday Fictioneers prompt where the post had to be about the picture at the top of the post.

Matsya Purana – A short story


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Satyavrata seeing the fish for the first time

While there are multiple versions of this story, the underlying theme and the events associated with the Matsya avatar stays the same in all of them.

One day while bathing, Satyavrata (also called Manu by some) accidentally catches a small fish in his hands. To his surpise, the fish looks at him and starts talking to him. It asks Manu to save its life and protect it in return for which the Matsya will protect Manu from an impending flood about which it is aware of.

When Manu agrees to help, the fish first asks him to put it in a jar of water, and then when it outgrows the same, it asks him to dig a pit, fill it with water and put it in the pit. Later, when it outgrows the pit, it asks Manu to transfer it to the ocean, by which time it is big enough to survive and is also indestructible. At this point, the fish asks Manu to build himself a boat and be ready for the impending flood. It also instructs him that when the flood waters increase, he should think of the fish that will then come over to help him out.

When the flood begins, Manu boards the boat and then prays to the fish for assistance. The fish then appears and ties the boat to a horn that has grown on its head. It uses the serpent Vasuki as the rope to tie the boat to its horn. The fish then tows this boat to safety and takes Manu to the highest and driest point left on the earth.

It is told that as the matsya swam through the flood waters he discoursed Manu on the various topics and revealed to him the knowledge of the Vedas, Puranas, Samhitas and the Supreme Truth.

Matsya steering the boat through the flood waters
Matsya steering the boat through the flood waters

Some versions also has the matsya instructing Manu to collect seeds of all types of plants and assembling the saptarishis (seven great sages) on the boat who are then rescued by the great matsya.

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This post has been written for Friday Fictioneers Photo Prompt – Nov 1 where the post had to be inspired by the pic below.

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Flying on a broomstick


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The Chosen One, they called him, bah, he was nothing more than a scared 17 yr old boy. Yes, while his powers were prodigious, he was no match for the dark, threatening powers of The Dark Lord.

The twenty of us had been searching high and low and across various worlds and domains looking for the young boy for many days now.

Did The Boy Wizard really think that he could outwit me, the best of all the dementors by zig-zagging through the strings of this strange Muggle device!

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This post has been written for Alastair’s Photo Fiction : October 13th 2013 and is my small tribute to the wonderful world of Harry Potter created by JK Rowling.

The prompt was to write a small post based on the photo at the top.

Weekly Photo Challenge : Infinite


View through the Golden Gate Arches

 

This is a little unconventional view of The Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco, taken when I visited the place in early 2008. Most pictures of this well known landmark show the entire span of the bridge from the side only.

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This has been posted for the Weekly Photo Challenge where we had to share a photo which showed us a glimpse of the Infinite.

Revenge … delayed


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Peggy was all alone in the coliseum, just as she had planned. After all what she wanted to do was best done in solitude without any witnesses.

She could hear the crowd chanting – Maximus, Maximus. Maybe it was her imagination or maybe it was because she was a direct descendant of Commodus who had been killed by Maximus Meridius in a contest centuries ago.

One thing was for certain, it was time for her revenge on Jonah, her boyfriend. She had asked him to meet her here today. Little did Jonah know that he was a direct descendant of Maximus.

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This post was written for Friday Fictioneers – 11 October 2013 where a 100 word post had to be based on the picture provided at the top of the post.