What Pegman Saw – Where the power is

“What Pegman saw” is a weekly challenge based on Google Streetview. Using the location provided, you must write a piece of flash fiction of no more than 150 words. You can read the rules here. You can find today’s location on this page,  from where you can also get the Inlinkz code. This week’s prompt is Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, India.

Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, India | © Google Maps

Where the power is

It had always been there, like a mountain on the skyline. Blank windows in massive granite walls stared like dead eyes over Hyderabad. The fort was immensely strong and yet was now powerless.

Dushyant’s shirt stuck to his back in the heat. The battered leather briefcase holding his accounts weighed him down. Everything depended on the forthcoming interview. His business, his longed-for marriage to Aarushi – everything.

He glanced at the fort. If the bank didn’t back his business he’d have to go back to being a guide there, telling foreigners of the Qutb Shahis who’d ruled with the power of life and death.

The bank’s silvered windows reflected the bustle of the street.

Dushyant, heart in mouth, presented his accounts.

“They’re on paper?” sneered the Manager. “I can’t waste time on that. I need a spreadsheet. Good day.”

‘This is where the power is now,’ thought Dushyant, and slunk away.

Taken for a Ride

This is a piece of flash fiction, a little over 100 words long. The idea for story came to me over breakfast, and amused me enough to make me sit down straightaway and write it. I fear the photograph has been pinched from a used car advertisement with scant regard for copyright. In the extremely unlikely event that the copyright holder reads this story, please forgive me for borrowing your excellent photograph!

Taken for a ride

“Nice car, Hector.”

Denis walked around his boss’s car, appraising its aggressive stance, its racing alloy wheels, its flawless paintwork with a shine so deep and a gloss so high that the vehicle seemed to have been chiselled out of ruby.

Hector crooked his finger as he opened the rear door (silently; oh, so silently) and pointed at the VDU in the rear of the chauffeur’s seat.

“Ultimate productivity. I can work as I’m driven to meetings.”

Denis whistled his admiration.

Hector slipped into the car, slipped a DVD into his computer.

As the chauffeur pulled out of the car park, Hector smiled broadly as, for the fifth time that week, “Frozen” started to play.

In the moment – power to choose

Let me start this week’s post with a “Health warning”; it’s not written for those suffering from clinical depression.

There are some effective therapies for clinical depression. If you suffer from persistent, long-term unhappiness, please seek medical advice.

What are you feeling at this precise moment?

Stop reading, and feel.

Okay.

Are you feeling happy? Sad? Bored (oh, I do hope not!)? Frustrated?

If you have a negative feeling, ask yourself the question, “Do I want to feel like this?”

Don’t misunderstand me. Feeling negative is okay – when there’s something to feel negative about. But we often persist in negative feelings for much longer than we need to, and this can become a bad habit.

What we feel is, to a certain extent, our own choice. We can choose to feel happy rather than dismal. We can choose to feel tranquil rather than worried.

When you recognise that you have a negative feeling, the first thing to do is to relax physically. Take a few deep breaths and let your tense muscles relax on each exhalation. Let your shoulders drop. See how the simple act of relaxing has made you feel better?

Now that you’ve relaxed, ask yourself why you have a negative feeling.

Often there is a specific reason. For example, perhaps somebody has been thoughtless and rude, leaving you feeling angry. Or you had a row at breakfast with a family member, and you’re feeling fed up.

If you can identify the reason for the feeling, ask yourself whether there’s anything you can do about it. Doing something positive helps deal with the negative feeling. Can you forgive the person who was rude, for example? You’ll feel much better if you do. Can you, perhaps, plan a shared treat with the family member with whom you had a row?

Sometimes there’s no obvious reason for a negative feeling. That’s okay. It’s not a problem.

Whether or not you know the cause of the negative feeling, the next thing to do is to accept it. Don’t try to push it away, imagining you’re strong and can overcome it. There is no shame in having negative feelings. It is emphatically not a sign of weakness. Accept it; recognise it; it’s your feeling, and you own it.

But do you want to go on experiencing it? No. And you don’t need to. You’ve recognised and accepted it, and that gives you the power to make a choice. You can choose to feel positive. So you might choose to replace frustration during a difficult day with acceptance that some days are like that – and in any case the evening will be pleasant. Or you might choose to replace anger with forgiveness – and, hey, let’s get on with the day!

Then relax again. A few deep breaths. Drop the shoulders. Let the muscles of your back relax. Let the new, positive feeling have space. And then move on, in a happier state of mind.

Have a good week!

Mount Fuji – a Japanese icon

The coach zigzagged its way up the hill, around a seemingly endless sequence of horseshoe bends. The scenery was pleasant but not startling, mountain scenery that you can enjoy in many places, steep slopes, evergreen trees and a few inches depth of unmelted snow, the last remaining from the winter. We were focussed on the next stage of our trip, which was a ride by cable-car down to a lake.

And then, abruptly, there it was. We gave a collective gasp. It was miles distant, and yet it loomed over us, the perfect volcano, an icon of Japan, Mount Fuji. The upper slopes were thickly snow-covered, gleaming in the sun, dazzling under the almost cloudless cerulean sky. I couldn’t help but feel the power of the symbol.

My photographs cannot begin to do justice to the sight; indeed, I hesitate to offer them at all as they fall so far short. My words are no better.

The Japanese feel a great sense of pride in the beauty and majesty of Mount Fuji, and that is as it should be. However, national symbols come with dangers. Think of the American flag, the singing of Jerusalem at the Last Night of the Proms. Because they cause men to come together with a sense of national pride, they can be used by unscrupulous politicians to set us against each other.

Today I sat in a coach with Japanese people, and shared their awe and delight in the might of Mount Fuji. As a human being, I am one with them, they are my brothers and sisters, just as Americans are, or Australian aboriginals, or continental Europeans. I must not, I will not, allow myself ever to be distracted or led away from that profound truth.