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Monday 7 August 2017

A Land Far Away


It's Day #3 of The Write Tribe Festival of Words #6.
Today's prompt is: Feature a map and write about a place either real or virtual.

For today's prompt I am putting up an excerpt of a Work-In-Progress in the Fantasy-Fiction genre, taking you away to A Land Far Away.
Do share your thoughts in the comments below, would love to hear!


 The World of Mrucula
 
Mrucula: A tiny planet roughly 1/4th the size of Earth and about 25,000 light-years away from Earth. The solid rock-like terrain called stein comprising 30% of the planet is mostly flat, with occasional gentle slopes. More than 50% of the planet is covered with joal and the remaining 20% the deljels. The atmosphere comprises of gases whose composition is not anything we know of or can compare with. The temperatures here range from a pleasant (to the natives) -10°C to a not so pleasant -50°C. When temperatures cross the -50°C mark, a robust volcanic burst from the deljels brings the temperature in order. (Other topographical stuff will be added as and when relevant, too much geography never is fun!)



The six continents on Mrucula are Jabr, Milon,Vaaze, Boyso, Kevli and Zaro.

Life-forms on Mrucula include Bibos, Pastus, Brids, Jaqs, Dolospins, Spraskys, etc. (Again let’s deal with a few weirdoes at a time!)
The deljels also have inhabitants, mainly exiled ones, and details of the inhabitants or anything deljel comes under classified information.

Joal: This bubbly pink liquid covers most of the planet. It flows as gentle rivers culminating into mighty oceans. Visually appealing fountains in multicolored-hues dot the shores. A harmless liquid, rather pleasant to taste, it is occasionally used by Bibos in dire need of a recharge to their core and more frequently used as a medium to buoy parties. Joal constitutes the major ingredient for a popular adult beverage Cha.

Stein: The stein is the terra-firma where most of the evolved civilization of the planet lives. Deep underneath the hard surface lies the soft driti. Most of the vegetation consists of blue tufts of grasse. Occasional vrikas in multicolor are seen.
 
Driti: This yellow-gold colored sand like material found a few meters below the surface of the stein has tremendous power. It supplies the daily charge required for the functioning of all Bibos. Once found abundantly it suddenly vanished from the face of the planet; only sparse deposits are now found in the treacherous deljels.

Grasse: The most commonly occurring vegetation on Mrucula is grasse, which is light blue furry and veeerry soooffft! Always very considerate on the rears of clumsy Bibos having falls. The grasse is dotted with clumps of blue bushes bearing colorful mogr or flowers with a lovely scent. 

Vrika: Very pretty Bonsai-like vegetation found occasionally on the steins, about ½ a meter in height in varied hues. They are motile and temperamental in nature. Many of them are poisonous and hostile but some make good nannies and sometimes excellent pets! 

Deljels: Deljels and treacherous go hand in hand! Home to the condemned and exiled. These slimy, jelly-like crimson bogs have a lovely hwaishi berry-like fragrance that lures all creatures to it. Once one steps into them, they are sucked in to who-knows-where?! No one who’s slipped into the deljels has returned to tell the tale! Life-forms native to deljels are equally scary. Deljels have lately become important as they contain the last known reserves of driti.

Goala: This ball of orange scanty heat and light known after its operator Goalashir, serves as the main source of illumination on Mrucula. Though a free service provider, Goalashir is pretty eccentric about the quality of service he provides. The Goala’s rising, setting and brightness is rather annoying for the inhabitants to depend on. Researchers are looking at alternate paid light sources like Byors and Fuscha who have offered to provide the same services with lesser idiosyncratic behavior! 

Losse Faire Orgo: This single organization allows things to proceed of their own accord on the planet. No elections to win here, as there is only one contesting party here, headed by the ambitious Tinemein and his wife Deira. 99% of the population is politically disinterested; and so yes things are pretty peaceful here! You want new roads, just contact the particular service provider and he does the needful. The LFO guys as they are known, are mainly in charge of drafting territorial boundaries, population expansion & control, media information and broadcasting, dealing with matters such as driti shortage, deljel tantrums, Goala eccentricities, inter-galactic relations, planet security and other issues and rules which Mruculans couldn’t care less about! 

Hanimn: He is the legendary warrior who led the Mruculan army that overpowered the beasts of the deljels in the Red War when they threatened to overpower the entire nation and become rulers. After the war Hanimn ensured the nation was secure and appointing Tinemein as the head, he and a handful of his most trusted aides just disappeared into the deljels. 

Bibos: Biped intelligent life-forms of Mrucula.



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I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words #6 a week long blog marathon based on prompts, hosted by The Write Tribe. 






­­Copyright © 2017 KALA RAVI

Resourcefully Yours


It's Day #2 of The Write Tribe Festival of Words #6. Today's prompt is: Write about any resource you have or use. 
Well, if you've been following my blog, you'll have come to know that I pretty much do just that, Relax-N-Rave. Unless of course I am playing my double-role, writing on the Home-N-Interiors page on the site. That page has some well-researched decor stuff. (Pat to self; good going on the self-promo.)

Okay, getting to down to the topic of the day, errm...about any resource I use. Resources, huh? Hmm, looks like it's going to be a free write, totally relaxing and raving on this one!

Resources, resources...Oh yes, got it! The ubiquitous Google baba of course. The one stop free resource to all queries. Ask one question, however bizarre and get a thousand answers. Then if you don't understand that answer, google again, and again, and again till you forget what you were trying to find out. Most helpful I would say. Then you have Google baba's big brother YouTube dada, the big daddy of every video made under the sun. I could learn to make my own rocking chair, learn to smock, cook octopus, build a spaceship or simply bamboozle my senses with the umpteen standup comedies, funny animal and baby videos, listen to anyone from the Carpenters to Ed Sheeran. 
Between the two brothers - Google Baba and YouTube Dada they are a pretty exhaustive, not to mention, exhausting resource.

Resources, resources...My friends of course, both online and real life. Let me throw in my family and other animals in this resource too. I can't be thankful enough for this brilliant human resource. I can ping them for anything; from grammar glitches, tech hitches, ideas and inspiration. At times, I simply plague them to read my stuff or moan about how no one reads my stuff. And unlike search engines that send me on a wild goose chase, this resource replies to my queries concisely. 

Resources, resources...Well, I'll be darned! Books of course! Books of all kinds, barring those that hope to convey some kind of 'useful' knowledge have always been my go to resource. The ones that are treasure troves of information never had much of a chance with me. I have spent countless happy hours devouring piles of books that widened my horizons, imagination and curiosity. Books that made me smile, shed tears and sometimes made me feel angry and helpless. They have all been invaluable resources that have shaped my thinking and personality.

Resources, resources...On a thoughtful note, I think I should mention a resource that has kept me sane (a debatable issue, according to close family and friends). 
Sometimes, you yourself are the biggest and most under-rated resource. My sense of humor, is an important resource to me. I dip into this resource to pull me through moments and times I have felt like giving up. When situations are too dreadful to contemplate, too scary to deal with, too ugly to handle, too miserable to manage, this is one resource that has pulled me through. I have learned to laugh at myself, at situations and managed to make light of them. Did you know, what makes you laugh says a lot about you? Laughing about situations is better than laughing at and mocking people who caused the situation. There is this famous quote by Mark Twain that says,

 The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.


One needs a sense of humor to brave the ugly googlies life throws at you and also to navigate awkward situations you landed yourself into! So you see, that is how I've lived to tell the tale. 
Hey relax, I am kidding of course! No need to feel sorry for me and start singing, 'Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho....'!! I am too wicked to be bullied, scared, slighted or scarred! I even have a seat in hell, specially reserved for me!

Since, I've been wisely warned about keeping posts short on a blogging marathon, I'll curb my desire to rave on and end the post with this quote collage. 






I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words #6 a week long blog marathon based on prompts, hosted by The Write Tribe. 
 
 




­­Copyright © 2017 KALA RAVI