Tag: NaBloPoMo

Chapter Nineteen: Unnoticed Signs

Three years of psychology, and Praveena had two of them left. Over the past year, she had grown increasingly close to Niveda and Anil. They became her best friends. For the first time, she had been friends with someone for such a long period. She felt much happier and comfortable with them than with anyone else.

One bright Saturday afternoon, as she sat alone in the open ground in front of the hostel, she reflected on how her life had changed since her mother’s death. She hadn’t cried at all. She had mourned her mother, but she hadn’t, or couldn’t give in to tears. She wondered why that had happened. It was the saddest she had ever felt in her life, but she had had overcome it unlike anybody else. She smiled to herself. These thoughts were bringing back old memories—memories she’d rather keep buried deep within her.

She thought of Niveda and Anil, and wondered what she would have done without the pair of them. They had helped her recover and overcome the problems within her, without even trying. Their presence by her side, was enough of a moral support to her. How much they had grown together. They knew each other so well and everyone in college had heard of their friendship. She let the happy feeling flow inside her, when suddenly a woman walked up to her looking lost.

She was a large woman, and she wore a sari. Praveena didn’t like the look of that woman, particularly her betel stained lips, and eyes that had lost it’s focus.

“Do you know a girl named Niveda?” she asked Praveena in the local language, Kanada. ‘What does this woman want with Niveda?’ Praveena wondered. She had never seen Niveda talking to this woman, or even talk of a woman. She wanted to ask, but decided against it. She nodded to the woman and reached her phone to call Niveda.

“Hey, Niveda. There’s a woman out here,” she paused, and glanced at the woman who was now looking around the grounds, “wanting to see you.” Praveena knew that Niveda would have caught the disapproval in her voice.

“Coming,” she replied in haste and disconnected the call. Praveena, surprised, wondered what had happened. Why did Niveda sound so tense? Even a bit scared? What about this woman was so important that she sounded so hurried? She had to ask Niveda.

A few minutes later, Praveena watched as Niveda run towards her and the woman. When she came to a halt, Praveena could see her shaking. Niveda had lost a lot of weight over the past year; she had had to visit her family doctor every weekend. She didn’t seem too weak, but she was not eating as much as she used to.

“Why did you come here?” she barked at the woman. Before Praveena could say anything, Niveda shouted at the woman again, who for some odd reason, obeyed her without protest.

“Come on,” Niveda pulled the woman away from Praveena’s earshot. From where she stood, Praveena could see them talking, but couldn’t hear what they said. Niveda seemed angry; she waved a threatening finger at the woman, who, Praveena was surprised to see, didn’t cower with fear. The woman stood tall, peering at Niveda, replying quietly.

And all of a sudden, Niveda didn’t look angry anymore; she appeared more frightened. Her face tensed and seemed like she was pleading with the woman.

Praveena watched, wondering what was going on. Then the woman pulled out a small brown paper bag from with her handbag. She extended it to Niveda, who longingly reached out to get it. Before she gave it though, the woman said something and Niveda nodded her head vigorously, her bloodshot eyes on the bag.

The woman gave the bag to Niveda and left without a backward glance. Niveda stood there, examining the bag’s contents. A look of relaxation spread across her face. She then noticed Praveena’s eyes fixed at her. Smiling, she turned and hurried back to the hostel.

Praveena turned back to stare at the dew on the grass. ‘That was odd,’ she thought. Why would Niveda hide something from her? It wasn’t like Niveda to do this. Praveena had expected her to walk up to her, and explain this strange woman and why she had come. She just sat there, disappointed and curious.

For the rest of the day, Niveda acted as if the woman hadn’t showed up at all. They had lunch with Anil, but neither of them brought the topic to the table. They had the usual conversation and the customary walk around the college campus speaking of useless things. When the sun grew too hot for them to walk anymore, they found some grass under the Neem tree.

They sat in silence for a while and all of a sudden Niveda slapped her forehead hard saying, “My assignment! I didn’t finish it yet! What about you?” she asked the other two.

“Done it,” Praveena shrugged. “Yeah, me too.” Anil said a little too quickly.

“Oh,” Niveda looked crestfallen. “Drat! Ok, I’ll go finish it. See you guys later,” Waving carelessly, she left the duo wondering.

Looking at Niveda’s retreating figure, Praveena wondered what could bother Niveda. She turned to Anil, hoping to talk to him about Niveda. That’s when she noticed, Anil stared at her with a funny expression on his face. “What’s with you?” Praveena laughed.

“Praveena,” he began, his forehead cringed seriously, “I want to talk to you” He seemed disturbed. it’s important,” he gulped several times as if to swallow an inconvenient lump in his throat.

“Yeah, me too” she replied worried there was something troubling him too. As he heard her reply, his face lit up instantly.

“Yeah?” he asked expectantly, “what is it?”

Praveena was now a bit confused. “Er — you tell me,” she looked serious, and Anil decided to just get it over with. He looked into her eyes, her small, bright, recently bespectacled eyes. And he suddenly looked away, shaking his head. Praveena watched him confused, ‘What’s wrong with him?’ her inner voice sounded amused.

He tried again. He looked at her in the eyes, “I’m in love with you, Praveena.”

National Blog Posting Month – Day 21

Chapter Eighteen: James

It was Monday and the three of them sat in class, anticipating their first lesson in psychology. Their teacher entered, a young man in his thirties. He wore a jean and a black tee shirt with matching shoes. He stood there, seemingly unsure how to proceed. All the students stared at back him, not only because he was handsome, but also because he appeared relaxed and informal. ‘The school teachers would never approve of this,’ Praveena thought.

Suddenly, she realized she had more freedom than she had ever had in her life. The only rules that bound her were of the college, which anyone would approve of breaking. She was no more under the protection of her school. She was now responsible for herself. One foot out of the line and people would blame her and her alone. She had no uniform to blend into or to categorize her into a group; she was an individual in every aspect. ‘I’m going to enjoy this,’ she thought gleefully.

“Hello, everyone. I’m James. I’ll be your practical psychology teacher.” He paused, “Lecturer sounds too formal doesn’t it?” There was some nervous laughter around the class. From the girls in particular, Praveena noticed. Niveda stared at the wall behind James with a glassy look. She eyes looked puffy and bloodshot. Anil raised his eyebrows at James in a disapproving look. Praveena smiled to herself.

“You jealous of him?” She whispered to Anil.

Anil turned to glare at her, annoyed.

“That girl in the last bench seems to want to introduce herself to us.” James suddenly called out and Praveena realized with dread that they were in the last bench. She turned to look at Niveda, and felt her face redden as James went on, “not the insomniac girl, she seems tired. You’re the one who seemed excited.” He spoke directly to Praveena, as she turned to face him. She stood. “I’m sorry,” she said in a quiet voice. And then she realized Anil was almost shaking with suppressed laughter.

“Don’t be,” James said briskly waving a hand. He started walking towards the end of the class; towards her. “won’t you tell us your name?” he asked tilting his head, eyebrows raised. ‘He’s got beautiful eyes’ her inner voice observed as Praveena looked into them. “Er – I’m Praveena.”

“Nice to meet you, Praveena” he pleasantly said and turned to the class. “Ok, now lets’ get to know every one else, shall we? What are you called?” he gestured towards the boy in the first row. “You can take your seat, Praveena” he added amused, without turning around.

She did and stared hard at Anil who tried to look like he hadn’t done anything. “Very observant, isn’t he?” Niveda suddenly spoke up quietly from Praveena’s right side. Praveena and Anil turned to her in surprise.

“Where were you?” Parvenu asked her incredulously.

“Yeah, I thought you were day dreaming?” Anil added.

“I was, until he called me insomniac,” she said turning back to stare at the wall. Praveena gave her an incredulous look and shook her head.

The introductions went on for another fifteen minutes. It was a huge class of seventy students and James did a great job of keeping them on track.

“Alright, now” he clapped his hands as the last person—Julia—had introduced herself, “let’s begin. I want you all to follow me into the gallery and once there, I want you all to write down something for me. You take your places, observe the room and write whatever comes to your mind — about the room though. It could be anything on the walls or the colors, the size of the objects in it, or about whatever is in the room — anything off the top of your head.” And with that, he left, the class following him chattering like a group of half-trained parrots. He led them to a larger room, painted white. It was empty except for about a hundred individual desks laden with a notebook and a sharpened pencil. As everyone filled in noisily, James spoke making his voice heard over the din. “Now, remember, you can write down anything from the depths of your mind. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a well constructed essay, it could even be abstract thoughts. It just has to come from the heart.” With that, he took the desk on the farthest corner of the class and began writing on the notepad on it. A wave of quiet whispers rang out until James called out from behind, “silence please, concentrate on your notebooks only.”

For some reason, everyone listened to him. He made even orders sound like requests, and it was not only because he used ‘please,’—he sounded sincere. Praveena was all set to write when she paused, the pencil tip hovering over the paper. What would she write about? On her right Niveda had already started and was fully concentrating on her essay. Anil too had started writing. Praveena looked around—something deep, something about the room, something about people and orders. She thought of the instructions James had just given out and how everyone followed without protest. Smiling slightly, she bend down on her paper and began writing.

An hour later, the bell rang out signaling the end of their lesson. James called out, “Pass me your notebooks everyone. Make sure you name yours first. Thanks for being great students. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

The class dispersed.

It was recess. They came out to the ground within the campus. A layer of dry grass covered the area and, here and there stood a variety of trees. ‘This is beautiful,’ Praveena thought. ‘except for the litter, and that odd stench,’ her inner voice contributed. Praveena led the other two over to a Neem tree that stood away from the crowd thronging the place. They had a thirty-minute break and decided to spend it chatting.

Niveda and Anil were engaged in a conversation, and Praveena, not wanting to get involved, looked around. Saw a group of girls ahead, poring over a mobile phone and laughing.

There was another group comprising mostly of seniors. She heard snatches of their conversation, and realized the target of their amusement was a younger boy who stood in the middle, cowering from their abuse. Another boy came to his rescue, but was also rudely laughed upon.

Praveena took this all in, wondering how different college life was from everything had seen and known all her life. Turning to the other side, she saw a couple sitting on the grass with the girl resting her head on the boy’s shoulder. They held hands.

Looking away she saw more couples and more huddled groups. She then turned to Anil and Niveda. Looking at them talking, she realized she had never before had such a deep conversation with a classmate. She now regretted it. Perhaps she should have been a bit friendlier at school.

People here were so sociable that it surprised her. Even as she watched, two boys shared a smoke. ‘Wait.’ Her inner voice shouted, ‘smoking? Within the campus?’ she watched in shock as a teacher approached the boys, apparently seniors, and reproached them. She watched, as they replied harshly, warding off the teacher.

Praveena widened her eyes; maybe people weren’t so good after all.

‘Hell yes.’

National Blog Posting Month – Day 20

Chapter Seventeen: Acquainting

After a tiring day on the streets of Bangalore, the three friends decided to take Sunday off. They had planned to use the holiday to explore the college campus. They had had already gone through the buildings on the day of their interview, but it would be a whole new experience to do it as students of the college; they had a sense of mischief that was forbidden then.

On Sunday morning as the girls got ready to meet Anil, Praveena remembered the previous morning’s fiasco. She was standing in front of the mirror, combing her hair, and Niveda stood behind her, folding her clothes.

“Hey,” Praveena exclaimed looking at Niveda through the mirror, “I forgot, what about your medicines?”

“What about them?” Niveda responded carelessly. She swayed to the song that was playing from her mobile on her bed.

Praveena liked that song too. It was a party song which would make anyone move.

“What were they for?” Praveena now turned to face Niveda. She was curious, she had seen a lot of medicines in her life. They made uneasy, unceremoniously reminding her of her mother and the disease of which she died.

Seeing the serious look on Praveena’s face, Niveda stopped her chore and turned to Praveena, avoiding her eyes.

“Look,” She said, trying to keep her voice even. “I don’t want to talk about it, don’t ask me anything”. That’s when Praveena noticed Niveda’s eyes were bloodshot and she appeared to lack energy.

“Ok…” Praveena dragged not sure how to prod further. She realized Niveda shifting into a bad mood. “Let’s go, shall we?” She changed the topic. “I’m starving.”

Niveda nodded and, leaving her clothes on the bed, she left the room while Praveena followed, locking the door behind her.

They met Anil in the canteen not far away from the girls’ hostel. There weren’t many students in the canteen, except for a few early risers grabbing a watery cup of chai or coffee. With half a cup of coffee in front of him, Anil was meddling with his phone, his eyebrows creased in annoyance over something. Or someone.

“Hey,” Niveda and Praveena chorused as they took the remaining seats on the table.

Anil looked up at them, irritated. “I’ve been waiting for nearly half an hour. Why do you girls always have to be late?” He shook his head in exasperation.

“Sorry, buddy.” Niveda laughed. “We got caught up.” she said as Praveena smiled at his reaction.

“I’ll get something to eat” Praveena offered, standing up.

Twenty minutes later, the trio left the canteen, Niveda cursing the chef for his dismal cooking abilities.

They sauntered around the campus, not talking much. Niveda’s medicine issue kept nagging Praveena at the back of her mind. She was tempted to open the matter again, but resisted the urge for fear of angering Niveda. She had looked a bit scary the previous morning and Praveena decided to keep her silence. She turned to join the conversation when she saw the other two glaring at her.

“What’s up?” she inquired innocently.

“We were talking to you, idiot!” Niveda sounded amused and angry at the same time.

“Oh,” Praveena smiled sheepishly, “sorry,” she shrugged. “What were you saying?”

“Never mind!” Anil sounded tired. “Let’s go sit somewhere.

They went over to the open ground overlooking the campus. They sat down looking out into the open without talking. Praveena enjoyed the moment; the gentle breeze, the subtle sunlight, the vast expanse of greenery, and her friends by her side; she felt content and complete. Anil broke the silence, “Tell us a bit about yourself and your family,” he asked turning to Niveda.

Niveda rubbed her hands, “Okay, my father is CEO of some stupid export company,” she recited, waving her hand “My mother’s the leader member of the Bangalore Women’s Club and I’m the rich and ignored heir, raised by servants.” she finished with a flourish that plainly said she didn’t care. For a minute though, Praveena and Anil became silent, taken aback by Niveda’s curt attitude. “Your turn!” she turned brightly to Anil.

“Oh,” Anil smiled slightly “er—my parents are separated. Mom raised me. Both Mom and Dad are lecturers. Mom’s in Delhi with Anit, my brother, and Dad’s here in Bangalore. That’s it.” he shrugged.

“Wow!” Niveda exclaimed, interested. “you’re an ignored kid too?” ‘Was that a hint of joy in Niveda’s voice?’ Praveen’s inner voice piqued from nowhere.

“Er – nope. Mom left for Delhi only after I got in here. So…” he trailed away.

“Oh,” Niveda was mildly crestfallen. There was an awkward silence.

“Hey! What about you, Praveena?” Niveda piped in, still in high spirits.

“Me,” she hesitated. ‘That’s exactly the problem,’ she thought. She couldn’t talk to them about her mother and father. She felt scared. Did she expect them to tease her? Maybe, but she wasn’t sure. She glanced at the two questioning faces. “Dad’s in the hardware business in Chennai. And my mom died.” Seeing their shocked looks at the last few words, she added “I was thirteen,” nodding a little too hard. She had tried to sound as impassive as possible; she didn’t want to appear vulnerable. She realized, with annoyance, that she was still insecure with relationships as she had been in school. She suddenly wanted to talk to Ms Marrie. ‘She’d give you the best advice,’ her inner voice approved.

The three of them sat in silence, reflecting on their lives. Praveena remembered the conversation she had had with Ms Marrie a long time ago: You are never alone with your troubles.

She smiled to herself, silently thanking Ms Marrie.

National Blog Posting Month – Day 19

Chapter Sixteen: A Curious Case

On Saturday, Praveena was sound asleep when something brutally shook her awake.

“Wha—?” she sat bolt upright, blinking away the sleep from her eyes. Her eyelids felt heavy, and she couldn’t open them. When she tried to, the underside of her eyes pained her.

Rubbing her eyes hastily, she stared at the scene in front of her.

Niveda was ransacking the place. Praveena watched in horror as Niveda upturned her books and trunks, looking for something.

Niveda turned to face her. She was ashen faced, her messy hair flying all about her. She stood there, lost and scary. She was sweating and a little shivering. Her eyes looking puffy and red as if she hadn’t slept all night.

“What are you looking for?” Praveena mumbled her voice coarse. She was sleepy; she hadn’t fallen asleep until after midnight. Even as she asked the question, she knew something was wrong. Niveda looked beyond recognizable. She seemed in to be in great distress.

“I lost my meds,” she breathed, her breath coming in gasps. She looked like she would suffocate. Praveena tried hard not to panic as she rushed out of bed looking all over for what, she didn’t know. She just looked for anything that might look like a brown paper medicine bag.

She looked around the unturned room: their trunks, the desk, their stack of text books, she even looked under the beds and the table.

Finding nothing, she stood in the centre of the room, hands on her hips. She heaved a sigh, and turned to look at Niveda. She was not in the room.

“Niveda?” she called out, wondering where she could have gone. Just then, Niveda stumbled out of the bathroom, shaking and her face dripping water.

“What happened?” Praveena was puzzled. Did Niveda have any illness she hadn’t told her of? She thought she’d put that question off until after Niveda was back to normal.

“Nothing.” Niveda swallowed hard many times before saying, “I’m dizzy, I’m going to sleep.” She stumbled again. Praveena held her steady and helped her get into bed. “Sorry I woke you,” Niveda apologised her voice faint. Before Praveena could respond, Niveda turned and fell into a deep sleep.

Praveena looked at the room and hit herself on the forehead. This was not the way she had imagined her first Saturday in Bangalore; cleaning a room she had managed to mess up so much.

She brushed her teeth, and set to work. That’s when she realized what a huge room they had been given. At first look, it had seemed modest.

It took her about an hour to set the place in order. She sighed heavily, and ignoring the rumbling in her stomach, went far a bath.

Niveda was still asleep when Praveena came back. She got ready and went outside leaving a note, in case Niveda woke up.

She went out of the hostel building to take a look at the sight of Bangalore from where they were. She saw the college building next to the two girls hostel buildings. On the other side of the college, was the boys hostel area of four buildings. The whole campus was spread out wide over acres of land, and as far as the eye could see, there was a thin sheen of grass, dotted here and there with a few trees. She had come out to call her father, but stood transfixed at the view. She stood there, experiencing the mild, cold breeze that played across her face. Her phone lay forgotten in her hand, while she drank the sight of dewy grasses and the songs of countless birds singing their own tunes. Somehow, even though the cries of the birds lacked rhythm and sync, they were full of passion and inexplicable peace that pierced Praveena’s veins. In a sudden urge, she pulled off the band that held her hair together. She laughed to herself as her hair danced with the wind.

“Nice, isn’t it?” a familiar voice called out from behind. She turned and saw Anil walking towards her, beaming bright in the mild, morning sun. Her smile widened when she noticed that his hair too waved in sync to the wind’s rhythm.

“So,” he said with his hands on his hips “any plans for the weekend? Where’s Niveda?” he added, looking around.

“She’s asleep,” and seeing the look on his face he quickly said, “she isn’t well.”

“Oh, what happened?” Praveena shrugged and told him of the eventful morning.

“OK. Shall we go out somewhere? How about sightseeing?” He suddenly became excited.

“I’m in,” Praveena replied brightly. “Let’s see if Niveda would join us.” she added as an afterthought.

“Sure, let’s go check in on her,” he said spiritedly, turning towards the hostels. Praveena held him back by tugging at his collar. “I’ll do that,” she reminded him with an understanding smile.

“You. Wait here.” saying so, she started walking back towards the hostel leaving Anil crestfallen.

When Praveena opened the door to their room, Niveda was sitting on her bed cross legged and looking quite relaxed. As Praveena entered, she smiled, holding the note she had left.

“How are you now?” Praveena asked sitting on her bed which was next to Niveda’s.

“Loads better!” Niveda smiled. Looking around the room, she said “You should’ve waited, we could’ve done this together.” she waved a hand around the room.

“That’s OK” Praveena said lightly. “You think you’re up for a day of sight seeing Bangalore?”

“You bet!” Niveda cried as she jumped out of bed, pumped up. While Niveda got ready, Praveena called Anil and told him to wait by the college entrance. She then called Kamal.

“Hi, Pa. How are you?”

“I’m good, Praveena. How’re you? How’s college?” He sounded happy to hear her voice. Praveena was the only remaining joy of his life.

“How’s the food, and the room? Did you settle in comfortably, or do you need anything from here? Your pillow?”

“All good, Pa.” she smiled into the mouthpiece. “It’s great here, we’ve planned to go out — just hang around.” She spoke to him for a while, exchanging stories. From what Praveena learned, Chennai was boring her father. As they exchanged goodbyes, her father gave her a bit of advice.

“Take care, Praveena. Stay safe.”

“I will Pa” she promised before disconnecting the line.

Niveda was still not ready. Praveena urged her to hurry up, and cursing the unreasonable roaming rates, dialed Ms Marrie’s number. She heard the same girlish recording she always heard, “The number you are trying to reach is currently not reachable. Please try again later.”

She swore silently as she caught up with Niveda, and together, they walked out of the hostel, towards the college entrance.

 

National Blog Posting Month – Day 18

Chapter Fifteen: Friends

Praveena was to become a Psychologist. A few years ago, she wouldn’t have imagined herself in this situation. The college was in Bangalore and Praveena had to adopt hostel life. He father didn’t protest, again to her surprise.

College changed Praveena’s life without her permission. She had to socialize with other students —  something she had evaded for a long time in school. She was glad of it too. After years of being friendless in school, it had been tough to make friends all of a sudden; everyone had already formed their own groups, jelling well together. They were unwelcoming to a new person. Having realised it the hard way, Praveena was determined not to repeat her mistake.

On her first day in college, a warm Friday morning, she sat alone in the last row, when another girl took the seat next to her. All other places were taken, even when Praveena came in. The ‘all students in the last row are morons’ attitude stood in Bangalore too, Praveena realized, as she looked around from her place.

The girl next to her remained silent, looking troubled. She had tied her long brownish hair back in a pony, but a few strands hung either side of her temples. Praveena liked the way the girl wore her hair; she had never tried it on herself. ‘Maybe you should.’ ‘Ya, and maybe you should shut up.’

The girl sat with her face down, resting on folded arms. She seemed to be in pain. Praveena wondered if she should talk to her.

She turned around to look at the other students. Everyone was quiet, tentative to start a conversation. A boy sat right in front of her. It was his hair that attracted Praveena’s attention. It was short, jet black and well kept. She felt a pang of envy.

A few minutes of silence later, the tension diffused and everyone began talking with each other. It seemed like the teacher would be late. It was only later that Praveena learnt that things were done quite differently in the St. Benedict School of Sciences; teachers never showed up for class on the first day of the year. This was to encourage students to get to know each other before they began academics.

As the others started talking, the boy who sat in front of Praveena turned to her, “Hi, I’m Anil.”

“Praveena,” she responded, extending a hand. He took it smiling. She noticed dimples in his cheeks. ‘Cute,’

The girl next to looked up, turning her head this way and that. She seemed to be annoyed with the silence. Anil spoke to her. “Hi, I’m Anil.”

The girl looked at him with a strange expression on her face, as if she could hear him but couldn’t see.

“And I’m Praveena.” She held out a hand.

The girl looked from Anil to Praveena and then back. She took a few seconds to respond, “Niveda.” she said at last.

An awkward silence fell between them as they looked at each other. Then suddenly out of nowhere, Niveda burst out laughing, taking the other two by surprise.

“Well,” she managed between laughter, “what do we say next?” her eyes were twinkling with excitement.

“Wow?” Anil said a little nervously, making her laugh even more. Anil looked at Praveena bewildered, and saw her reflecting his look.

“Friends?” Niveda asked, looking at the other two, her palm raised upwards.

“Sure.” Anil was enthusiastic.

“Friends.” Praveena affirmed.

It was the strangest thing that had happened to her. She had never made friends this way before. She was excited and a little reserved at the same time. She wondered if this friendship would be as strong as the ones she had seen and read.

From that day onwards, the trio became good friends. They had committed to the relationship knowing nothing about one another, but they would figure out on the way.
That evening, Praveena moved into the hostel. She was quite thrilled when she found out who her room mate would be.

As she entered their room laden with heavy bags, Niveda threw herself at her. “Hey! Welcome, my new roomie!” She sounded so excited that it infected Praveena as well.

“Hey!” She hadn’t expected Niveda, “This is wonderful,” she said earnestly. “Wow, the two of us!” The thought thrilled her. She had heard Anil was in the hostel too. It was the first time Praveena looked forward to meeting a friend, and she liked the feeling.

Niveda took Praveena’s hands and ran around the room in joy. “We could do so much together!”

“Sure, why not!” Praveena laughed. She felt dizzy already.

National Blog Posting Month – Day 17