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Untitled

Posted in Writing on 07/02/2008 08:48 pm by anne mtsuki

…….the fisher girl……after the tsunami

rika woke up that morning, the 26th of december, to the sound of people screaming. her thin ragged ten year old arms rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she ran outside to see what had happened. she could not hear the sea waves comfortingly spashing next to her house. the silence of the water worried her.

rika was a fisherman’s daughter. she lived with her mother, her poor father, and her little baby brother in a hut by the seaside. every night her father would leave, in a small wooden boat, with two other fishermen and a large net, to catch fish. rika would always try to stay wake to watch her father leave. but a ten year old cannot stay awake till two o’clock at night, and then wake up on time the next day. so she was always fast asleep by the time he left, after planting a kiss on her little forehead. she would wake at dawn every day, and laughingly run to greet her father as he returned home at sunrise, tired and exhausted, with a meagre catch of fish in his boat. somehow she could always tell when her father would be coming,and would wake just before her father returned. everyday when her thin, dark mother would see her wake, she would say, ‘look who’s awake!’ ‘that must mean your father’s coming!’

but that day her father didn’t come. rika looked outside to see her mother frantically gathering their valuable belongings, the baby in her arms.

‘there’s a wave coming, we have to leave.’ rika’s mother told her. in the distance rika could see a huge wave rushing towards the shore. if it hit the hut, it would be destroyed. rika could see other fisherman families in the distance, rushing away from the shore. she asked if her father had returned. ‘not yet.’ her mother told her, with tearfilled eyes. she took rika’s hand,and rushed to higher ground. rika left unwillingly, not understanding the great danger she was in, desperately trying to wait for her father.

her baby brother wailed in her mother’s arms.

bu the wave was faster and more powerful than they had realised. it caught up with rika and pulled her away from her mother. her mother, frightened and drowning, let go of her brother. the baby was swept away.

but rika lived. she had caught hold of a portion of a broken bridge, and held on to it. the waves released her from it’s clutches and went to claim other victims.rika lay unconcious, clutching the brige for a long time. when she woke, she saw that the sea was calm. she walked along what was left of the shore, most of it had been swept away.

rika found her mother, alive and ill, being taken care of by some other fisherwives. her father’s body had been found on the beach. her baby brother’s body was never found.

rika’s mother had thought that she was dead,she had wished that rika, like her brother and father, had perished in the ocean’s embrace.

when rika came to her, it had not made her happy. everything they had, had been destroyed in the seawaves. rika and her mother lived together, first in a government shelter and then in a new shanty. her mother dressed like a widow, and started selling fish in the market. rika did odd jobs to add to their meagre income.

in the beginning it seemed like their wounds were healing. but soon rika realised that her mother did not want her. she resented the fact that rika, a girl child, had lived, while her husband and son had died. rika saw hate in her mother’s eyes, and realised that her mother would much rather have had her son alive than her daughter. rika felt guilt, guilt for not being a boy, guilt for being alive.

so rika left her mother. she became bonded labour in a factory, and worked day and night for two years, knowing that the money she earned was helping her mother.

one day her mother died. rika left the factory, to collect her mother’s belongings. her mother had noone else in the world.

rika walked the sea shore for the last time when she went back. the tsunami’s wounds had healed, she could she other fishermen’s huts, no doubt with other little girls like rika inside them, lining the shore where she had lived once. the tide was high, rika could not see land on the other side of the water. somehow she hadn’t felt sad at her mother’s death. she had already lost her father and brother, it was just one more victim.

it was then that she took her last decision.

the next morning her body was found on the sea shore. nobode recognised her. she was just,

one more victim…….

{dedicated to those who survived .}

 

Untitled

Posted in Writing on 06/02/2008 06:01 pm by anne mtsuki

BUT IN OTHER PARTS OF VENICE, IT WAS THE TIME OF LOVE…….

Portia was one of the richest ladies in venice. she was as wise as she was beautiful. however, bassanio fell in love with her more for her wealth and beauty than for her wisdom. but she, poor woman, never realised it. there is in every woman’s life a time when love overcomes widom. for Portia, that time was when she met Bassanio. she had heard many bad things about him, how he had seduced many beautiful women, how he had wasted his vast fortune in drink and pleasure, how he lived on debt, and the very clothes he wore were paid for by the purse of his friend Antonio. but when she met him, she forgot it all. he told her that he was rich, she believed him. he flaunted wealth and personal beauty infront of her, and she fell in his trap. against everyone’s advice, and amongst many other worthy suitors, she agreed to marry him. she did not realise that he loved not her, but her wealth, he only wanted to marry her to reverse his fortune.POOR GIRL…..

The very day that she agreed to give her hand, portia’s dreams were shattered. bassanio recieved a letter saying that Antonio was in debtor’s prision, so he told her everything, how he was poor, how he had borrowed 30,000 ducats to please her, how Antonio, his friend, was going to lose his life because of that debt. She hated him then. but she was a kind hearted woman. she could not let someone else die. so that night she married banquo. she shared with him all her wealth, though she knew that he would waste it. she saw what he really was for the first time, but she was helpless, she could not break the engagement. bassanio left her alone, on their wedding night, taking all her money,and with his friend Gratiano, went to free his friend. Gratiano, who had seduced Portia’s maid nerissa, also left his bride alone on their wedding night.

 

Jessica was my daughter. she was brought up motherless, but i do not think she ever missed her mother. jessica was born long after i became rich, so she never had to struggle like i had. she did not understand me, or my hate for christianity. she loved me, i knew, but she was the kind of woman in which the love of a lover outweighs all other loves. her lover came, a christian merchant named Gonzalo. i do not know if Gonzalo really loved my daughter, or if he, like bassanio, was after her wealth. but i did not approve of her marriage to him. so she ran away with him, leaving me, her old father, all alone in the world.

this made the monster inside me even more angry. i hated Gonzalo, because he was a christian, and because he was Antonio’s friend, and disinherited jessica from my huge fortune. it was cruel, and maybe it was wrong, but i wanted to punish her.

 

Portia, as i have already said, had already married Bassanio, and given him all her wealth. but she still was worried about Antonio. so she dressed as a lawer,Balthazar, and followed her new husband. Nerissa, her maid, dressed like a lawer’s clerk and also followed. though Portia was a woman, she was well educated and understood the law very well. she was determined to save antonio WITHOUT spending her wealth.

she was a bravewoman, and she would be my downfall.

when portia came to the court, it was already packed. the duke was presiding, and he, along with everyone else in the hall was looking at me with such disgust and revulsion as i have never seen in my life. but i was used to cruel looks, and i knew that they could do nothing to stop me. it gave me a great sense of power, being able to feel the helplessness of all these christians, in front of me, a jew. but then portia, dressed as Balthazar, arrived. i can still remember how the atmosphere changed with her arrival. everyone looked at her, and desperately hoped for a miracle to save antonio. i wasn’t impressed, i underestimated her. i did not think such a young lawer could do what others had failed. i had my knife and scales ready, and was prepared for a quick trial.

THEN COURT PROCEEDINGS BEGAN.

Balthazar [portia] began by telling the court about the value of mercy, and requested me to have mercy on antonio and let him go. she was a wonderful orator, but her words didn’t move me. i refused. i said that it was not mentioned in the contract so it was against the law.

Bassanio got agitated and insulted me by calling me a jew and tried to force me to ‘break the law to save a human life’. but i would not give in. and unexpectedly, Balthazar supported me.

I was encouraged by this. I called her a ‘Daniel in judgement’.

but then she asked me to take money, which Bassanio was ready to repay, many times over, but i refused. i said that it was not justice.

in the end, after many pleas, Balthazar seemed to give up, and i called antonio and told him to be ready to die. he was calm. he was ready for death.

but then balthazar turned the tables on me. she showed me the contract, and said that though i had a right to antonio’s flesh, there was nothing mentioned about blood. so, in cutting off Antonio’s flesh, if i spilt even one drop of blood, i would commit a crime and have all my lands taken away from me. furthermore, if i took more than one pound of flesh, even by the weight of a single hair, i could be accused of murder, and hung on that charge.

i knew i was defeated then. i felt the castle of my dreams crash on me. i begged for mercy, said that i would not take antonio’s flesh, but Balthazar did not relent. i have never seen such a merciless woman. she insisted that i take my pound of flesh. i felt weak, i wanted to go home. all around me people began to jeer and taunt me. the duke accused me of trying to murder a citizen of venice, all the while acting as if i was not a citizen as well…..

……they spared my life, though they insulted me, and took away all my lands. i felt as if it would be better if i died. then they forced me to convert to christianity. half of my lands were given to jessica, but she hated me now so i had nowhere to go.

thus ended shakespeare’s ‘merchant of venice’. Antonio’s ships, which were supposed to have been lost, came to port and all the troubles of the merchant of venice came to an end.

 

but that was not the end of my story…..

 

I, shylock, Moneylender of Venice, spent the rest of my days in sorrow. jessica lived happily on my wealth, and never inquired as to how i was. i returned to the life of struggle, and died, without , and was dumped next to my poor mother’s body, the way all those who cannot afford a funeral are cremated.

Portia spent her whole life trying to stop her husband from destroying her money. no one ever found out, except ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, JESSICA, NERISSA, that she was the clever lawer who had fought in court so well. she faded away, ill used by her husband, and died. her husband had already finished her wealth, and after she died, married another rich woman.

‘everyone [else] lived happily ever after…….’

 

money lender of venice

Posted in Writing on 05/31/2008 04:07 pm by anne mtsuki

years and years later, you shall still remember my name………………………………..

everyone who has been cruel, everyone who has been miserly, shall be compared to me. you shall remember me, and you will despise me. for i am SHYLOCK, the infamous moneylender of venice, who you have all read about, and all despised, in Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice’.

So? what do you think of me? a cheat? a coward? a despicable, filthy, Jew? you are not alone. but this is my turn. i will tell my OWN story, in my OWN words. shakespeare has not given me any love, though he created me, so i, like a man forsaken by my god, shall tell my story myself. listen to it, if you will.

 

My name was shylock, and i was born in one of the poorest alleys of venice. my mother was a jew, i did not know who my father was…

my mother brought me up, turning her money, her possesions, her honour, to dust, just to pay for two square meals a day. you have heard of antonio, the merchant of venice, and you have heard of banquo, the rich man with the wonderful wife. i was not brought up the same way they were. they were born with silverspoons in their mouths, too rich to ever value a poor copper coin, too high in caste to ever feel any harm on their honour.but i had to struggle, from the moment i learned how to walk, to earn a little for our tiny family. i was a beggar on the streets, a servant in another’s house, just to earn my daily bread. my mother loved me, and helped me, but she died, soon after i first began to be rich. in venice at that time, all the people were christian, but i was a jew. so outside a very small community of other jews, i had no friends. jews in those days were not allowed to practise any profession except moneylending. so i became a moneylender. i became extremely rich, because i never wasted a single ducat. when people owed money to me, i made sure that they paid me back, i never showed mercy. you may call me cruel for that, i suppose, but tell me, when i was poor, no one had ever cared for me, no one had ever shown me mercy, then why should i help others? as it was, even after my money lending business prospered, many people like antonio still insulted me and despised me. they called me a dog, a miser, a jew. they insulted my caste, my creed, my religion, my gods. they spat on me and my kind in public.

Antonio was very well known in venice. poor people, if they were christian and did not have the money to pay me, went to him to borrow money. he took little interest, and was kind to them, so they worshipped him and hated me. Antonio was full of himself.

he never missed a chance to insult me and show me how wonderful he was. i could not reply. i could not tell him that his money came from trade, and if people did not pay him back it would not harm him.but all my wealth, everything i owned, had been earned from the moneylending business. if it failed, i would have nowhere and noone to turn to.

i hated him, and my hate turned me into a monster. i was quiet, but i would have my revenge……

Antonio had a lover, a best friend. His name was bassanio, and he had been born in one of the richest houses in venice. but he was a waster, he had unmindfully wasted all his money. and now he had come to Antonio to ask for money, to marry a beautiful and rich lady named portia, who was an heiress to a large fortune.[much like PARIS HILTON:)] He had told her that he was very rich, so he needed to impress her with expensive clothes. so he asked Antonio for 30,000 gold ducats. Antonio’s ships, in which he had invested all his money,were at sea, so antonio could not pay banquo the money. ANTONIO loved BASSANIO so he came to me to borrow the money.

ANTONIO was my worst enemy, so when i saw him, i started insulting him. i did not want to lend him the money. i thought it would go to waste. but then the monster inside me thought of a plan. i would lend him the money, but i would make him sign a contract that if he did not pay me the money back on time, he would have to give me a pound of his flesh. Antonio was desperate. he signed the bond, and from then on his life was in my hands. i had decided that if he did not pay me back, i would cut the flesh off his chest, near his heart, so that he could bleed to death.

i wanted his blood……this would be my revenge.

my wishes came true. Antonio’s ships were lost at sea, so he could not pay me back on time. i took him in custody, and got ready to kill him.

i knew the law had no power to stop me….

                                                                                                                                     TO BE CONTINUED……..