Hey Reader!
You do that funny thing, right?
Once you get a new novel to read, you smell it.
Nope. Smelling books ain't funny.
The next thing is.
After the heavenly smell has been inhaled and you're preparing your senses to indulge in the literature while you flip the pages to skip the initial pointless inclusions of publisher names and acknowledgements - your subconscious mind prepares itself to do that funny thing - looking for THAT right character.
Mostly, you find him/her by the first chapter ends.
Now the character becomes you.
Till you reach the second chapter, you're reading your tale.
It's fun, right? To become someone who's not you but just a writer's imagination? You do stuff that you wouldn't do in your real life or get ideas to do things in your real life that the character does in fiction.
Further if you ever read that book again or its sequel reaches your rack, you'd always be him/ her.
You do that for every story, right?
You'll not get to do that in this one.
My dear Reader, you'll not get to choose this time.
The writer will.
You're Betty.
Betty is a frog.
Betty lives in a far far place that no one knows of. Not even Betty.
Betty was born in an unknown lake as a tadpole. She used to swim around the lake happily with her flattened tail. Her favorite activity was to eat small plants. As any other tadpole's wish, she couldn't wait for her puberty to begin so that she could become a frog and see what the outside of the lake held.
When it was time for her puberty, her tail started shortening. In a few weeks her gills had disappeared and tiny teeth started to grow in her mouth.
Soon she was a frog! This change was overwhelming for after all the life in water, she could now go to the field and hop! She could hop just as much as the male frogs could. At night when it was time to croak, she used to croak as loud as she could and rejoiced. Fellow frogs used to watch her with awe and some with envy when her voice grew louder than the other frogs.
Once a week, the whole clan organized 'Croak nights' wherein they went to a place near the pond and croaked at the top of their voices.
As a frog, today was her first Croak night. How excited was she! Finally, she was grown up enough to croak at the Croak night!
Betty went to the place near the pond and saw hundreds of frogs laughing and having a great time. She didn't know when the croaking would start so she decided to ask someone. She looked around and saw a frog almost of her age and hopped towards him.
"When will the croaking start?" asked Betty.
"You're new?" he asked.
"Yeah" said Betty.
"The rule is that the loudest starts the first" he said, "known as the Croakhead."
"So we first wait for her?" asked Betty.
"Apparently, the loudest is a him" he said, smiling at Betty.
Suddenly Betty heard a loud croak. In no time, the other frogs started croaking and the sound started to become louder and louder.
"Now?" asked Betty.
He croaked, smiled, nodded and continued croaking.
Betty inhaled and croaked, but couldn't hear herself. She tried again, coughed a little, but still couldn't hear her voice.
THIS was something!
Amongst all the noise, she calmed herself first, cleared her throat and this time croaked as loud as she could.
CHAPTER 2
Her eyes were shut. A smile was on her face as this time she had heard herself croak.
But there was something peculiar as well. Silence spanned the whole place. Everyone around her were quiet. She opened her eyes to see everyone staring her.
"What happened?" she asked, embarrassed.
Everyone turned around their heads and started their business of croaking again.
She was distressed. Something had gone wrong and she had to know what. She nudged her only companion and asked,"Can you please tell me what happened just now?"
"Did you hear yourself croak?" he asked.
"Of course I did" she said.
"That's like the loudest I've ever heard or even they've heard for that matter," he said.
"Wow" she said, smiling, "So that was why they looked so bewildered! I thought they were staring me because I might've done something wrong."
So things weren't that wrong as she believed them to be. But wait, her companion had a strange expression on his face and wasn't croaking. Something was still fishy. She needed to converse more.
"So is there any chance of me becoming the Croakhead?, "she asked.
"Betty, you are female," he said.
"But I was the loudest, right? " she said.
"You're not supposed to!" he said.
For the first time in her life, a soft punch of adulthood had hit her and flown off, smirking.
The hard punch came when she was informed that the clan had decided to not allow Betty for the weekly Croak nights.
She was a female.
She was loud.
A combination beyond tolerance.
CHAPTER 3.
Betty's croaking did took a back seat but her hopping didn't. Betty decided to hop around the wide land while everyone was away for Croak nights. It was better to be alone discovering new exciting places. The croaking and Croak nights were too loud anyway!
Once while hopping around the place where she had never been to, Betty saw a huge queue of frogs. Curious, she went towards the queue and asked one of the frogs standing in the long line, "What is this queue for?"
"Hop away, girl", the huge frog screamed, "Enjoy the time when you're not here."
"Where are you going?", asked Betty," Even I want to go!" She kept on hopping to catch up with the huge frog while the queue moved ahead.
"You don't know kid?",said the huge frog,"This queue is for the ordinary well."
"Ordinary well", exclaimed Betty, confused. "What kind of a well is an ordinary well?"
"Ask this to someone on the field", said the huge frog, "I don't have much time. I need to figure out a way to get out if this queue."
"Go away you idiot!",came another voice.
Betty turned around and started walking back from where she came. What's an ordinary well? Why were those frogs in a queue and moving towards that well? Moreover, why were they sad about being in the queue and wanted to come out of it?
All such questions were hovering her mind when she heard a voice," You seem to have a lot of questions in your head?"
Betty turned around to see an old frog. Old frogs were usually not seen around in the field.
"Who are you?" asked Betty.
"Answer to your questions, "said the old frog.
"I don't understand."
"Do you know why there aren't many old frogs at your place?"
"I know frogs die when they get old."
The old frog smiled.
"Maybe I never cared to discuss." Betty said, eyeing the old frog.
"Okay. I'll tell you, "said the old frog, "there's a well where this queue ends. It's called the ordinary well.
The well is where one is not supposed to go. If you reach that well, you'll forget the fields, the lake, your friends. Everything! And will start to believe that the well is your world. The frogs that once went to the well, never came out."
"That's why people want to get out of the queue, "said Betty, "So they don't end up in the ordinary well and forget the field and their friends. They don't want to forget the life that they are experiencing on the field"
"Exactly!, "the old frog said, "Normally, the old frogs join this queue which is why they are not much seen at your place. But some frogs join the queue at a very young age, some even as young as you. Some join the queue later, but mostly all end up here."
Things were getting interesting for Betty now. "How does one end up in this queue?" she asked.
The old man smiled and said, "Doesn't the name suggests it fine? The frogs that you see in the queue have become ordinary!"
Betty stared at the old frog and got lost in reverie. The vague dots were now beginning to connect.
"Everyone's born different, "said the old frog, "Every tadpole is distinct from the other tadpole. But as they grow up to become frogs, they tend to lose their distinctiveness. Eventually, they all become ordinary.
But ordinary is something you're not supposed to be. So the rule says once you become ordinary you join the queue and end up in the well from where there's no escape." The old frog looked at the hustle that the queue was and continued the conversation, "the most disheartening thing is that almost half of our clan, while they get old, is headed towards the well with no intentions to enter it!"
"Everyone dreaded that ordinary well. But with what they teach and preach, they ended up in that well itself, "thought Betty.
She never wanted to make it to the ordinary well.
The old frog continued, "the Croakhead attempted to make you ordinary by not letting you go to croak night. The one peculiarity in you has been omitted and thus you are able to see this queue."
Betty now reflected on how the whole clan had made her adjust to their norms and how she had happily compromised with it.
Betty asked, "What are we supposed to do to not become ordinary?"
The old man replied, "Be yourself."
Betty knew what to do.
They'll want you to become different among the ordinary but will teach you how to be ordinary. Beware! Never enter the ordinary well.
You do that funny thing, right?
Once you get a new novel to read, you smell it.
Nope. Smelling books ain't funny.
The next thing is.
After the heavenly smell has been inhaled and you're preparing your senses to indulge in the literature while you flip the pages to skip the initial pointless inclusions of publisher names and acknowledgements - your subconscious mind prepares itself to do that funny thing - looking for THAT right character.
Mostly, you find him/her by the first chapter ends.
Now the character becomes you.
Till you reach the second chapter, you're reading your tale.
It's fun, right? To become someone who's not you but just a writer's imagination? You do stuff that you wouldn't do in your real life or get ideas to do things in your real life that the character does in fiction.
Further if you ever read that book again or its sequel reaches your rack, you'd always be him/ her.
You do that for every story, right?
You'll not get to do that in this one.
My dear Reader, you'll not get to choose this time.
The writer will.
You're Betty.
Betty is a frog.
Betty lives in a far far place that no one knows of. Not even Betty.
Betty was born in an unknown lake as a tadpole. She used to swim around the lake happily with her flattened tail. Her favorite activity was to eat small plants. As any other tadpole's wish, she couldn't wait for her puberty to begin so that she could become a frog and see what the outside of the lake held.
When it was time for her puberty, her tail started shortening. In a few weeks her gills had disappeared and tiny teeth started to grow in her mouth.
Soon she was a frog! This change was overwhelming for after all the life in water, she could now go to the field and hop! She could hop just as much as the male frogs could. At night when it was time to croak, she used to croak as loud as she could and rejoiced. Fellow frogs used to watch her with awe and some with envy when her voice grew louder than the other frogs.
Once a week, the whole clan organized 'Croak nights' wherein they went to a place near the pond and croaked at the top of their voices.
As a frog, today was her first Croak night. How excited was she! Finally, she was grown up enough to croak at the Croak night!
Betty went to the place near the pond and saw hundreds of frogs laughing and having a great time. She didn't know when the croaking would start so she decided to ask someone. She looked around and saw a frog almost of her age and hopped towards him.
"When will the croaking start?" asked Betty.
"You're new?" he asked.
"Yeah" said Betty.
"The rule is that the loudest starts the first" he said, "known as the Croakhead."
"So we first wait for her?" asked Betty.
"Apparently, the loudest is a him" he said, smiling at Betty.
Suddenly Betty heard a loud croak. In no time, the other frogs started croaking and the sound started to become louder and louder.
"Now?" asked Betty.
He croaked, smiled, nodded and continued croaking.
Betty inhaled and croaked, but couldn't hear herself. She tried again, coughed a little, but still couldn't hear her voice.
THIS was something!
Amongst all the noise, she calmed herself first, cleared her throat and this time croaked as loud as she could.
CHAPTER 2
Her eyes were shut. A smile was on her face as this time she had heard herself croak.
But there was something peculiar as well. Silence spanned the whole place. Everyone around her were quiet. She opened her eyes to see everyone staring her.
"What happened?" she asked, embarrassed.
Everyone turned around their heads and started their business of croaking again.
She was distressed. Something had gone wrong and she had to know what. She nudged her only companion and asked,"Can you please tell me what happened just now?"
"Did you hear yourself croak?" he asked.
"Of course I did" she said.
"That's like the loudest I've ever heard or even they've heard for that matter," he said.
"Wow" she said, smiling, "So that was why they looked so bewildered! I thought they were staring me because I might've done something wrong."
So things weren't that wrong as she believed them to be. But wait, her companion had a strange expression on his face and wasn't croaking. Something was still fishy. She needed to converse more.
"So is there any chance of me becoming the Croakhead?, "she asked.
"Betty, you are female," he said.
"But I was the loudest, right? " she said.
"You're not supposed to!" he said.
For the first time in her life, a soft punch of adulthood had hit her and flown off, smirking.
The hard punch came when she was informed that the clan had decided to not allow Betty for the weekly Croak nights.
She was a female.
She was loud.
A combination beyond tolerance.
CHAPTER 3.
Betty's croaking did took a back seat but her hopping didn't. Betty decided to hop around the wide land while everyone was away for Croak nights. It was better to be alone discovering new exciting places. The croaking and Croak nights were too loud anyway!
Once while hopping around the place where she had never been to, Betty saw a huge queue of frogs. Curious, she went towards the queue and asked one of the frogs standing in the long line, "What is this queue for?"
"Hop away, girl", the huge frog screamed, "Enjoy the time when you're not here."
"Where are you going?", asked Betty," Even I want to go!" She kept on hopping to catch up with the huge frog while the queue moved ahead.
"You don't know kid?",said the huge frog,"This queue is for the ordinary well."
"Ordinary well", exclaimed Betty, confused. "What kind of a well is an ordinary well?"
"Ask this to someone on the field", said the huge frog, "I don't have much time. I need to figure out a way to get out if this queue."
"Go away you idiot!",came another voice.
Betty turned around and started walking back from where she came. What's an ordinary well? Why were those frogs in a queue and moving towards that well? Moreover, why were they sad about being in the queue and wanted to come out of it?
All such questions were hovering her mind when she heard a voice," You seem to have a lot of questions in your head?"
Betty turned around to see an old frog. Old frogs were usually not seen around in the field.
"Who are you?" asked Betty.
"Answer to your questions, "said the old frog.
"I don't understand."
"Do you know why there aren't many old frogs at your place?"
"I know frogs die when they get old."
The old frog smiled.
"Maybe I never cared to discuss." Betty said, eyeing the old frog.
"Okay. I'll tell you, "said the old frog, "there's a well where this queue ends. It's called the ordinary well.
The well is where one is not supposed to go. If you reach that well, you'll forget the fields, the lake, your friends. Everything! And will start to believe that the well is your world. The frogs that once went to the well, never came out."
"That's why people want to get out of the queue, "said Betty, "So they don't end up in the ordinary well and forget the field and their friends. They don't want to forget the life that they are experiencing on the field"
"Exactly!, "the old frog said, "Normally, the old frogs join this queue which is why they are not much seen at your place. But some frogs join the queue at a very young age, some even as young as you. Some join the queue later, but mostly all end up here."
Things were getting interesting for Betty now. "How does one end up in this queue?" she asked.
The old man smiled and said, "Doesn't the name suggests it fine? The frogs that you see in the queue have become ordinary!"
Betty stared at the old frog and got lost in reverie. The vague dots were now beginning to connect.
"Everyone's born different, "said the old frog, "Every tadpole is distinct from the other tadpole. But as they grow up to become frogs, they tend to lose their distinctiveness. Eventually, they all become ordinary.
But ordinary is something you're not supposed to be. So the rule says once you become ordinary you join the queue and end up in the well from where there's no escape." The old frog looked at the hustle that the queue was and continued the conversation, "the most disheartening thing is that almost half of our clan, while they get old, is headed towards the well with no intentions to enter it!"
"Everyone dreaded that ordinary well. But with what they teach and preach, they ended up in that well itself, "thought Betty.
She never wanted to make it to the ordinary well.
The old frog continued, "the Croakhead attempted to make you ordinary by not letting you go to croak night. The one peculiarity in you has been omitted and thus you are able to see this queue."
Betty now reflected on how the whole clan had made her adjust to their norms and how she had happily compromised with it.
Betty asked, "What are we supposed to do to not become ordinary?"
The old man replied, "Be yourself."
Betty knew what to do.
They'll want you to become different among the ordinary but will teach you how to be ordinary. Beware! Never enter the ordinary well.
