Showcase - Picture Prompt - Vegetable seller - Anumita

A very strong conclusion - it ties up the entire story. 

This story makes connections between the state of the vegetables and the girl in the picture.

Well written!

The old rusted yellow colored wall with the open old rustic wooden door looked very dull. There was a three stepped staircase in front of the door and one could often see a little, thin, frail girl sitting on the steps all by herself. The house belonged to a vegetable vendor. He would put a cloth on the floor on the left side of the staircase and the vegetables on it to sell. He had two kids, a son named Rahu and a daughter named Gazara.  Gazara was always dejected. Her parents were always partial towards her brother. They had once thought to send her to a school but their neighborhood told them that she would not help her parents if she went to school. So she was not sent to school. Only her brother went to school. Her parents had the same bias in other matters also. She was not allowed to go out to play, or celebrate festivals. While her brother got sweet treats and good food, she did not. 

The same thing happened today. Her parents and her brother went to the fair whereas she was asked to stay back to sell vegetables. As was her usual self, she sat on the staircase, hand on hand, staring at nothing in particular.   A weighing scale was lying on her left. Next to it were some withered vegetables which she was supposed to sell. A few frail cabbages, yellowed cucumber, a few bunches of insipid spinach and some more vegetables in old cartons. It appeared as if even the vegetables reflected her dilapidated stated, deprived of everything good in life.

WOW - Innocuous

Meaning: 
Not offensive, dangerous or harmful
Lacking intent or capacity to injure

Usage:
The innocuous looking lump on his forehead turned out to be malignant - it is a good thing they got it checked by the doctor instead of getting fooled by the looks of it.

The student was merely curious when he asked the teacher an innocuous question. He did not mean to hurt the teacher's feelings.

WOW - Pithy

If something that is said or written is pithy:

• It is intelligent

• Strongly stated

• Without wasting any words

Usage:

In order to be effective, press releases must be short and pithy.

A pithy quote: An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. – Mahatma Gandhi

 

Showcase - Writing prompt - Island - Vaidehi

Great writing, Vaidehi!
Very good visualization and description. You have painted a nice picture with words.
Keep it up!

I peered through my binoculars as I tried to navigate the island. There it was my own island, approximately three kilometres away, looking dazzling above the crystal clear, blue ocean. As we approached the island, I gave a cue to my assistant to disembark.

Water rushed onto the island, an almost perfect circle. I could see palm trees shaking as if busily painting the sky with balls of water hanging down from them. Due to weariness which had formed in my body, I settled under a palm tree and soon fell asleep.

I woke up with the smile of the sun and the abundance of sand surrounding me. The sand was utterly rough and lying down on it stung my back. Small fish leaped from the sandy shores of the island to the depths of the ocean. The island was pretty decent so why had the people sold it to me for only five dollars? This question irked me greatly, formed waves in my mind giving me a hard time. I decided to go on a small expedition across the island.

I ambled on the sweltering sand of the island looking all around. Then something caught my eye. At a far distance I could view serpents of smoke. This indicated that a human was present on the island. When I reached the place from where the smoke had originated, I was startled to find a witch preparing a broth in a cauldron. Her hair fell on her eyes like curtains. She had a long, pointed nose and blood-red lips. She wore a purple hat which matched her scary costume.

She glanced at me from head to toe. I tried to communicate with her asking her about the island. She replied to me that she had been living on this island for thirty five years. This island was cursed to have bad luck. Very bad spirits, blood-thirsty vampires, snake-women, giants, ghosts and many other creatures lived on this island. She also told me that if I do not leave the island by sunset I would be trapped in here forever. 

Now I understood why the owners had sold this island to me for five dollars!! I got really scared, ran, got all my belongings and boarded my ship. I swore that I would never come back to this island again.

Showcase - Picture prompt - Nithin

Description in the writing explores the background, pans around the room and then zooms into the subject of this portrait.
Very good spatial organization in writing.

Good work, Nithin! Keep it up!

 

Clocks of all shapes and sizes covered the wall. The wall was a light beige color with the texture of wood. Old posters and mirrors, in mint condition, were also placed on the wall. The room had a musky smell to it. There were several pictures of the family of a woman, placed on a glass coffee table. Next to the coffee table there was a desk painted a charcoal black. On the right most end of the desk there was a hand embroidered handkerchief. Behind the desk sat an elderly lady. She wore a white jacket and a pearl necklace. She had small, round glasses over her eyes and her hair was a light shade of orange. She had a reminiscent look on her face and was deeply lost in thought.