I got an email the other week from
SAMPAD (a South Asian Arts foundation based in Birmingham) asking me to confirm my address so they could send me my copy of the the book...I happily replied, adding at the end of my mail 'What book is it exactly?' I had no idea what it was.
Anyway the reply that came back was a lovely surprise. I'd entered a
short story competition at the end of 2013 ( a joint collaboration with SAMPAD and the British Council in India) and my entry was one selected for publication in a special commemorative book! Wow, finally, really published and selected from 480 entries from 32 countries...and supported by the Arts Council England too!
 |
| The competition page - November 2013 |
 |
| Very happy! |
The call for entries went like this:
Piali Ray, Director of Sampad says
“An encounter with a museum can be a life-changing experience.
We hope that this competition will inspire budding writers to reflect on
their personal experiences and share them with the world! Sampad
continually strives to profile creative people and we’re proud to be
working with the British Council again to bring talented writers to
public attention, while reinforcing the work we deliver internationally
to develop intercultural dialogues across communities.”
Samarjit Guha, Head of Programmes at British Council, East India says
“For the past three years, the British Council has been
facilitating audience mapping, educational programming and communication
projects in the museums sectors of UK and India. We are delighted to
partner with Sampad on this project and hope this competition will help
to throw up insightful anecdotes and reflections on museums and their
role today. We look forward to participation from across the world.”
Fantastic! And better still, I'm the only selected entry from France so
my story's at the beginning of the book as they published in
alphabetical order of country...hehehe...well chuffed.
It was a really short story and it was a true inspiration...so here it is
'Inspired by my Museum: An Awakening - The Museum of Antiquities, Cairo, Egypt'
"This way. This way", shouted
Ali the guide, cutting through the swarms of tired yet wide eyed and
excited tourists. There was hardly time to glance at the ancient
relics. He waved his flag aloft, a tatty yellow scrap clinging to a
worn, smooth bamboo stick. The humid air was intoxicatedly
intertwined with the scent of sweat and 'old' - musty, dusty and yet
very much alive.
Senses on overload, I craned to keep
track of Ali, frantically waving his yellow standard to keep his
charges in tow. I flicked a glance left then right trying to absorb
each glass encased element. Occasionally I checked ahead for a flash
of familiarity, markers from the group who alighted the bus what
seemed like only moments ago - yet an hour had already passed.
Skimming the artifacts of an age gone
by, carriages, golden thrones, worn carved sphinx, we finally came
upon the the key which unlocked my box. My body buzzed from head to
toe, my solar plexus tight and tingling, my breath high in my chest.
Another age, a sense of 'knowing', invisible hands reached out to a
kindred spirit on another plane. Standing almost silently, both in
awe and with a strangely familiar sense of respect, around the glass
tomb of a well preserved mummy I suddenly disappeared into that world
- the shouts of men in harsh yet melodic Arabic; the dense smokey hue
of burning wood and incense. Heavy plinths being laboriously
hand-raised using thick rope, primitive hammers tapping away
feverishly; the grimey sweat smeared bodies of dark and dusky men
shining orange in the flickering light of the burning torches in this
dark stone cave...or was it? My inner eye followed the symmetrical
lines, row upon row of large grey-black blocks, steadily up towards
the heavens and I understood. A brief glint of sparkling stars peeped
through the uppermost unfinished soon-to-be point of this great
pyramid.
"Hey you!" A frantic tug on
my shirt sleeve brought me rushing back into my body, landing with an
unceremonious thud. "Come, come, we go now," hastened Ali
"Quick, quick madam." He rushed away like the pied piper
followed by a trail of bouncing heads, still spinning from side to
side trying to fit in a last memory. For me, another small piece of
the eternal puzzle fell into place as I took an unexpected step
closer to my soul.
 |
| The 'Book' :) |
A most fitting close to a fantastic year...I feel extremely blessed!
love & light
Louise (aka Mermie)
