The Cruise Dinner
The music blasted blatantly. Everyone drank, glasses cheered and bodies moved with the rhythm. I looked out at the melancholic river. The shimmering glitter of the soft movement of the waves, under the warm light of the ever so calm moon, made me nostalgic.
The cruise dinner lay on the table waiting for me to attend to it. A strange surge of emotion overpowered me. Something of the past made me incredibly unhappy. Perhaps, even a drop of tear escaped my eye in utter secrecy. Without even letting me know.
At times we spend so much money just to be happy, and end up being more agonized. I stared at the the river, and kept staring without blinking. The loud Bollywood songs, and my mood as a tragic poet was a supreme paradox.
The cruise attendant smiled at me. I too smiled back in obligation. The chilly breeze of the broken hearted night encouraged me to pen my emotions. I received some uncanny glances. Some dancers smirked, perhaps, thinking people like us have no sense of timing to carry out such monotonous activities.
I couldn't succeed in writing anything. Deep inside a caged emotion wanted to break free, but failed. A heavy burden of grief suffocated me, and a jovial feast as such provided no composure.
I played with the table tools violating my table etiquettes. No wonder the guests observed my sheer lack of courtesy. I had a bite of the mutton chop already cold and bland. The cold drink too lost the spirit to cheer me up. Perhaps, the night had been to celebrate grief. My world separated from all the rest.
I dozed off amidst the chaotic mass. When I woke up I saw a man smiling at me. It was a pathetic, vile smile. I sneered, and walked up to the second floor.
It was less congested there. A family or two talked over the dinner table. Some children played with the knives. I felt more relaxed. I looked around, and tried to make myself comfortable. I brought out the resignation letter from my purse. A sharp pain pierced through my heart by simply glancing at it. I put it back.
The world is so various. So enormous. People around so different. So many stories to tell and hear. I smiled at the children. I too had one of those knife battles as a child. I used to lose. Always.
The elderly couple passed some adorable romantic dialogues. My heart melted at that point. I wanted a family, I realized. A shoulder to cry on. Someone to scold me when wrong.
I wondered when was the last time I attended a family dinner. Long ago. Perhaps, long enough to not remember. I even did not believe anyone to remember me.
Night always makes us vulnerable. Pain is sharp, and the darkness makes us remember it more. The depth of agony seeks a hole at night, to come out. That was such a dreadful night. The sorrow wanted to come forth. Our emotions are so strange. We go to a happy place only to become sad. We run somewhere to escape only to find new ways to aggravate the wound.
Bitter memories live in all of us. We are so different surficially, but not so within. We all suffer. Without any duration of time or any fixed location. However, if revealed it would be yet so difficult for any of us to understand each other. Although we know this situation we might as well as say ' why aren't you happy in such a wonderful place?'.
- Rifah Nawar Mrittika
Here is the submission procedure. Note we will start taking submission from "September 15". Don't forget to add your writer friends to the group and mention them on the post !
We hope to assemble all the great writers such as yourself to our grand event. CUPPASTORY!
Our event will consist of three rounds.
Theme: Any
Literature Genre: Short stories (Word Limit 500)
First round
Submission
September 15 to November 15
1. Registration Fee: Send us 200 taka to our Bkash account: “01716226129” Use reference “Cuppastory” and you’ll enter the competition.
2. We will have 60 days for primary submission. You can send us your stories in any format, messaging to our Facebook page, or emailing at paperbackstoriesbd@gmail.com. Just don’t submit through SMS on our bkash contact.
You can write both in BANGLA and ENGLISH. No language barrier!
You can submit up to 2 write-ups. If you are interested to submit more, you’ll have to provide us with another submission fee.
3. Once you have completed the registration process you will have to post your writings to our Facebook group. Link “ ”. Your post will be approved promptly by our admins.
You will need to increase the engagement of your post through reacts and comments. Your own comments spam won’t be counted.
Evaluation Metric
Social Media Outreach: 25 percent of your marks will be determined by how many shares and reacts you get on your post on our group.
We understand that public opinion should not be the only factor in terms of determining how good your story is. Thus unlike others, we are setting a standard bar to make the event accessible to all, not only social media celebrities.
Quality of your content: 75 percent of your marks will be determined by how good your content is.
Second Round
We will assess your writeups and publish the qualifiers for the second round on November 16.
Final Round
We will assess your writeups and publish the qualifiers for the final round on November 26.
We will provide you further details about the second and final round and how to follow up on that later onwards on the event
.
Rewards
All the participants will get virtual certificates from Paperback Stories
PrizeMoney:
First place- 10,000 BDT.
Second place- Books and Goodies
Third place- Books and Goodies
We will publish all the final round contestant’s contents on the Paperback Stories Facebook Official Page. Further publication on mainstream media and book format is subjected to ongoing conditions and availability of the terms of the publisher. Yes you read it right, you might become a recognized published writer of Bangladesh.
So what are you waiting for! Buckle up and START WRITING!
Nice One Dear Kindly check mine also