Bewitched!

The following is a stand-alone story. 

But, if you do wish to know the background, do read the previous 100 words story, the Part-1- Are You There?

Peter looked at the mannequin that resembled his daughter Anna.

It stood motionless while Anna's phone was ringing on the table right in front of it.

He was convinced that Anna had turned into a mannequin.

He remembered the fairy-tales he had read when he was small.

Princesses came under magical spells, the effect of which wore off later.

Photo Prompt - Jan Wayne Fields

Who or what had triggered this in the first place?

Are You There?

It was late.

His daughter had still not returned from work.

He called her many times.

Her phone went unanswered. 

It was quite unusual of Anna.

 

Peter was worried.

He went looking for Anna.

Photo Prompt- John Nixon

 

Anna ran a second-hand store in the mall.

The door was open.

Snana Yatra And Gajanan Besha

Today, Deba Snana Purnima was observed at the Shree Jagannatha Temple, Puri, Odisha, and also in many Shree Jagannatha Temples in India and the world.

On Snana Purnima, Snana Yatra or Snana Jatra or Deba Snana Purnima rituals are held.

Gajanan Besha or Hati Besha is done.

It is celebrated on the Purnima tithi in the month of Jyestha.

The bathing ceremony of the deities of the world-famous Puri temple is held and then they are dressed in elephant attire.

Snana Purnima is the day believed to be the tithi birthday of Shree Jagannatha.

Solapith - Craft of Odisha

Solapith is an intricate and beautiful heritage craft of Odisha. 

It is one of the 50 approved crafts of the Government of Odisha. 

Solapith is linked with Odisha's Shree Jagannatha culture and traditions for centuries.

How wonderful deities look when they use their special Solapith head-dress that gracefully sways as they reach their Rathas!

Source

The beautiful Tahia is made and used every year at Puri as the Gods dress up for their annual procession. 

What They Wore At Cannes 2022

A prestigious international film festival like the Cannes means a lot to many- for the celebrities, the media and the paparazzi, the brands and sponsors, the participants and guests, and the general public.

Anne Hathaway

The public likes to check out what their favourite personalities had worn. Of course, this is possible due to the over-enthusiastic media and influencers. 

While looking at the photographs and videos of this year's festival posted on Twitter, I wondered about a lot of things. Where to from here? 

Some top actresses of India were dressed in elaborate gowns and looked like western fairy-tale princesses.

Cinderella must have looked like this at the ball? Which of the following is your favourite?

Languages of Bharat - Bandhgala of I&B Minister at Cannes

Last week, I had shared how an upcoming Hindi movie's team did not feel it essential to showcase the sixth classical language of India - Odia, though they had well planned, projected and shown almost all the other official languages of India.

India has 22 official languages.

This week, it is great to see the Indian Bandhgala of the Information & Broadcasting Minister, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur.

It is a wonderful concept and showcases "Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat"- One India, Best India.

India boasts of 'unity in diversity".

There are six buttons where engraving has been done in six regional languages namely-

• Hindi
• Gujarati
• Urdu
• Bengali
• Punjabi
• Malayalam
• Tamil

Source

Whenever I see such lists, I look for Odisha. "Where is Odia?".

As India has 22 official languages, it is not possible to include all in such cases.

True that there is no Odia. We understand

Odia is the sixth classical language of India.

Only two classical languages have been included in this case namely- Malayalam  and Tamil.

Had the theme for this been "classical languages of India", then south would have got extra focus as most of the classical languages have southern links.

In that case, they would not have been truly representative of the the nation.

In order to do so and to portray Bharat, there has to be at least 1 language from 4 corners- East, West, North and South.

When there are only six buttons and choice has to be of six languages, usually only one is selected from eastern India. In 99% such cases, Bengali makes it to the list. 

Yes, Bengal and Bengali is considered representative of eastern India.

I want to know- 

Who decided which languages to include in this particular Bandhgala buttons case?

Someone must have made the tough decision.

What made her/him to select the above six only and why not the others? 

Under whose guidance/orders, did they do this?

These are just for my curiosity. Trying to understand why a language is excluded.

Would definitely love to see more inclusion of Odia and Odisha.

What about you? Would you like your mother-tongue to be included too?

Do share in the comments below.

The Missing Girl

Taani was missing.

Her family had last seen her in her own room.

They were sure that Taani had not gone out of their home.

-x-

Taani was working very hard on her college-assignment.

She had not slept the night before.

All she wanted was to complete her work and then take a break.

Death News Reports of Celebs- Pallabi Dey And SSR

 It is always terrible to learn about the death of celebrities. Though we have never met them, we feel a sense of loss. Sometimes, those who are too involved with the celebrities, are inconsolable. This is about the real-life. 

Even the reel-life death totally shakes people.

I remember the death of the character "Mihir" in the episode of TV-soap opera- "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi." The regular viewers were so shocked and many cried such a lot that everyone had puffy-eyes the next day. The loss was personal as though as family-member was no more. After all, the daily soap and its loved characters had become a part of every family and everyone watched daily. 

Today, it was sad to read about the death of a Bengali TV-actress- Pallabi Dey. Though I never knew of her before nor have never watched any of her shows, still I feels bad that we lost a young, beautiful, and talented actress. This is how the news has been covered by the Economic Times, Pananche-

Official Languages Of India

Some Quiz Questions about the Official Languages of India

1. How many official languages does India now have? 

2. Which Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists the official languages? 

3. At the time of writing the Constitution of India, how many languages were mentioned?

4. Is Hindi the "National Language of India"? 

5. Is Hindi an official language of India?

6. Is English an official language of India?

7. How many classical languages are there in India?

8. Which was the last language to earn the classical language status?

9. Which was the first state of India to be formed on linguistic basis? 

10. In which year was the first state formed on the basis on language?

Do you know the answers to the above ten questions?

Time To Blow The Odisha Conch Shell

Consider this case-

There is a school excursion. The headmaster had invited most of the students for the outing. 

All the invited students had a great time together and were a part of the group video. That was shared via social media by the star student and generated great excitement. 

However, the few students, who had not been invited for the excursion, saw the video and felt hurt as they had been left out. Why did the headmaster or the teachers not include them? 

They were not sure whether this had been done intentionally or unintentionally by the headmaster. Why did the headmaster or staff treat them differently than the rest of the class? 

The ignored students and their supporters publicly confronted and complained to the headmaster, the staff and the star student involved. The aggrieved students threatened that they would adopt non-cooperation and boycott classes.

Seeing the quick condemnation, social media outrage, and the deluge of posts regarding this issue, the school-staff including the headmaster feared the loss of face and revenue i.e. school-fees. What if the ignored students really decided to quit school?