"Nine-nors": A ray of sunlight on a cloudy month!

Getting out of bed these days is a challenge. Maybe it's got to do with the endless hours I spend tossing around in my bed; maybe it's got to do with the fact that the recent change has drained me of my energy and vitality or maybe it's the 'fact' that drama follows me! Heee! But on most mornings, rolling out of bed to face a new day ain't one of my favorite things. But what can a girl do? 'One day at a time' I'd tell myself and try to get through the numbing humdrum I call life. 

So a few weeks back, I resumed my classes with Sam. Remember him? The 11 year old that I help with creative writing. Well, he just turned 12 and I was invited for his birthday party. Needless to say, I was the oldest invitee with the least energy to run around the house. So the other day, I was in one of my evening classes when all of a sudden he asks me what I do during the weekends! "The usual" I replied " I have worship practice on Saturdays, Church Service/ Sunday School on Sunday afternoons and Choir practices after". I later learnt that he joined his school choir a week after our conversation. 

So this is what he told me about his experience in the School Choir.

"Miss Zuali" he chirped, his eyes wide with excitement, "I can sing the highest in my choir. No one can sing as high as I can."

I realized, on further questions, that his choir didn't sing a four part harmony!!

I cringed when I imagine him singing in the choir, an octave higher than the rest yet not knowing that he's out of tune. Then I prompted to tell him about the different harmonies - the air, the soprano, the alto, the contralto, the tenor, the bass. 

"What do you think I can sing?" he asked me as he sang  two lines from a song. 

"I think you'd do well with an air and you can gradually work your way to singing a tenor" I told him. Satisfied, he nodded and we went on with our Shakespeare lessons and the webs and intricacies of "A Midsummer's Night Dream". 

After an hour and a half, I was wrapping up our class when all of a sudden he started.

"Miss Zuali, I think I'll make a good 'Nine-nor' rather than an air"

"A what???"

"A Nine-nor"

"What? Nine-nor?"

"Your told me that the highest male voice is the Tenor. My voice is high enough but since I haven't had any practice, I thought I could start with a part just below the 'Ten-or' - The 'Nine-nor'!!"

^__^

'Nine-nor'. I haven't has such a hearty laugh in such a long time. A ray of sunlight finally getting through a cloudy month! My numbing humdrum finally being given an unsuspected tickle!

^__^

^__^

'Nine-nors'! I haven't come across a word which makes more technical sense! 

Thanks Sam for the sunlight! 

Empty corkboards and New beginnings

The counter was a wee bit high for my 5'3 frame and I somehow climbed a ledge to peer over to take a look at the corkboard until I caught the eye of the very busy salesman. I was with the 'crew' on a mission to hunt down the best badges for the upcoming Spring Festival. So there I was trying to keep up with 4 men who knows exactly what they want, ransacking every stationary store in South Delhi. It was in a store in the little gully where I came across this corkboard, paid for it and took it home with me while the guys were also finally satisfied with their hunt.

The next day, I announced to my roommate that the board is going right up on the wall near my bed. "I'm going to pin it up with inspirational quotes and messages that I need to tell myself everyday" I told her. The royal blue velvet covering the corkboard stood out against my pale yellow walls, the bright color not the only thing that stood out but also because of the fact that it's an empty board. I stared at it time and time again, wishing there was something that I could put up. But my mind is blank, which made me realize that the empty board on my wall is only a projection of this empty mind.

If you've been one of those kind people to stop by and read this blog, you might have noticed that I haven't updated in quiet a while. Well, it's because I've been going through quite a transition in my life and changes aren't always comfortable. Or welcomed.

Life is a cycle after all. There's a time for everything under the sun. And sometimes, no matter how badly you wanted it, you have to let go of some things in life and make decisions that shook your inner being. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to stop it, history repeats itself. And sometimes in life, there are things that just cannot be.

It's time for a New Beginning.

New beginnings aren't always the best things in life. Sometimes it's scary and you're gripped with fear of the unknown. And sometimes you question yourself if you've made  a new beginning or if you've ended your life with the decision.

The corkboard on my wall is blank, life as I've known it has changed and I'm at the start of another unknown journey. But I also know that my corkboard isn't always going to be this way and I live with the hope that no matter how buckled my knees are right now, I'll find strength along the new journey.

And maybe, just maybe, one fine day, I'll look back, miss this empty board and find this present change beautiful. Until then, even with this numbness, I'll stare at my empty board and tell myself that there is so much space for new stories, new words and new pictures.