Ending of The Village by the Sea (10 years later)

Outside the house, rain was falling, making a rymthic sound on the roof. Hari always enjoyed listening to the rain, which looked like a veil of white cloth outside, obscuring or blurring everything outside.

Hari was in his son's room, supervising his son doing his homework. Only the scraping sound of his son's pencil could be heard. His son was talented in his studies, often representing his school to take part in various external competitions. Often, his son came back triumphantly with a prize, a smile of victory on his face.

"Can't I just rest now? It's already 9p.m." Hari's son blurted, hopeful, wishing that Hari would permit him to stop revising his homework.

"But Ali, you know you have an exam coming," Hari said, concern in his eyes. But when he saw the pleading expression in his son's eyes, he sighed.

"All right, you may rest now," Hari said. Ali squealed in delight, leaving his study table unkept and went to the living room to watch television.

Addiction to watching television. This had become the main issues nowadays about children. But, Hari had managed to stop Ali from watching too much television effectively. But, from time to time, he would allow Ali to watch television, unlike other parents, who totally restricted their children from watching television. He believed that having some entertainment occasionally was healthy. He often told his son of his childhood life, told him how fortunate he was to be able to have a good education, how fortunate he was to be able to watch television, how fortunate he was to be able to watch travel in car, how fortunate he was to be able to live in a large house.He often encouraged his son to read more rather than watching television, as it was far more beneficial.

There was a knock on the door, and the head of Hari's wife appeared from behind the door.

"Honey, dear, you want some coffee?" Hari's wife asked tenderly.

"Alright," Hari said, grateful for the kindness given out to him.

This wife of Hari, self sufficient, intelligent, had graduated from the University of Mancester, with a degree on accounting. Currently, she worked in a bank as an accountant, with a very satisfying wage. She provided the family with an economic source.

"The wheel turns and turns and turns, it never stops and stand still," Hari remembered what Mr. Panwallah said, and it proved to be true. The factories, houses, shopping malls, shops and apartments had been built in Thul, changing it from a quiet village to a bustling town by the sea. Many people moved into the new town, and settled there. The town now was very noisy, unlike when it was still a fishing village. the noise of horns and engines blared during the day. Smoke emitted from the factories rose into the once bright blue sky. Now, the sky was often gray and dark, not even a single ray of light penetrating the thick dark clouds. The factories also released waste water into the sea. Those toxic and sickly waste water dyed the sea into an array of colours, making marine life there extinct.

"Have you prepared for tomorrow's trip?" Hari mumbled, sipping his cup of coffee.

"Yes, I have prepared," Hari's wife replied.

Hari thought of the trip he and his family would be taking tomorrow to visit his parents. He felt excited, and imagined that when he arrived there he saw both of his parents, their face lined and hair graying, sitting comfortably on the sofa watching television. How excited his parents would be when they saw Hari and his family! They would come out of the house and hug Hari, cuddle Hari's son, greet Hari's wife. He had gave the house to his parents and bought a new one to live in when his wife married him. He still remembered their wedding. His parents had been there, his mother in tears, celebrating the marriage of him and his wife.

Hari also imagined Lila there, wearing a colourful sari, chatting enthusiatically with her tall and handsome husband. Her husband was a rich merchant, and since Lila's marriage with her husband her life had been carefree.

Lightnng flashed outside the pitch-black sky, and the sound of thunder broke Hari's train of thought. He went to bed early, dreaming about his son's bright future.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter (by Kim Edwards)

I have read the Memory Keeper's Daughter. It was a very interesting and enjoyable book. The book has been a very famous book, being the multi-million copy number one United States bestseller.

One winter night, Norah Henry was going to born her children. Her husband, Dr. David Henry had to deliver the babies himself as it was very cold winter that time. His son was a healthy infant, but unfortunately, his daughter had Down's syndrome. Dr. David Henry also had a sister with Down's syndrome, who passed away when she was still young. Not wanting his wife to suffer the same grief as he hmself had suffered when losing his own sister, he entrusted the care of his daughter to a nurse, Caroline Gill. He was unaware of the dire consequences such an betraying act would cause on the whole family.

The author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards, is an assistant proffessor of English in the University of Kentucky. She has won many awards for the books she has written.

Some of the praise for The Memory Keeper's Daughter are:

'Simply beautiful' Jodi Picoult

'A tale of regret and redemption...so lovely you have to reread...just to be captivated all over again' Jodi Picoult

'An absolutely mesmerizing premise, drawing you deeply and irrevocably into the entangled lives of two families and the devastating secret that shapes them both. Riveting' Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees

I strongly encourage you to read it, if you have not.

For more information on The Memory Keeper's Daughter, please click the following link:
http://www.thememorykeepersdaughter.com/

Ending of "The Village by The Sea"

I have read a book called "The Village by the Sea" (by Anita Desai), which my school requires the students to read. It was interesting.

In case some of you do not know the story, "The Village by the Sea" is about a boy and a girl, Hari and Lila, whose father was a drunkard and mother was seriously ill. Hari and Lila were forced to earn a living by themselves to take care of their parents and two younger sisters. Thus, Lila had to give up her education to stay in the house to take care of her mother. Hari was forced to work in the fields and try to provide for the family. In desperation of their drastic situation, Hari ran away to Bombay and Lila is left to cope alone.

"The Village by the Sea" does not really provide an full ending. it just says that Hari went back to the village from Thul and the family has a hopeful future as Hari had acquired watchmending skills which might help them to cope with the building of the factory. Therefore, I have written an ending that I think would be appropriate for "The Village by the Sea":

Their mother had turned well, their father mended their ways, everything looked so perfect, as though it had went back to the time when everything was in order, when their father never had the bad and undesirable habit of drinking toddy, when their mother was never ill.

It was already a year since Hari came back from Bombay, came back with unexpected wealth that managed to help Lila to provide for the family. Hari and Lila were always grateful for Mr. Panwallah, Hira-Lal and Jagu's help. For if Hari did not receive any help from them, he could have very easily starve in the city of Bombay, or have to force himself to become a beggar in the streets of Bombay, never to return to Thul as he would never be able to afford it.

It was Diwali, now, and their way of celebration of it had never changed .They never bought expensive stuffs to celebrate Diwali, even as they are able to afford it now. A rangoli was drawn on the floor of their new and large house with coloured powder. Lila had prepared many foods to celebrate Diwali. They would eat all the food they want today to their fulless, not caring whether they had eaten too much, as it was a day for celebration today.

Hari did not open his shop today. Both he and his father had decided that a day off on Diwali would be nice. Hari remembered the times when he struggled to rent a shop for his watchmending business. That time, the factory had already been built, and people were fighting to rent shops. since the set up of the factory, many shops, houses and apartments had been built to meet the needs of the increasing population of Thul. Through many struggles, he managed to rent a shop with a reasonable price. Since that day onwards, life for his family had been relatively carefree. Hari was so busy that he barely had time to talk with his family before it was already late in the night and everybody had went to sleep. And in the mornings, he was often the first to wake from his sleep. Then he would travel to his watchmending shop, the streets deserted, his eyelids heavy from lack of sleep. His watchmending shop had enjoyed an increasing number of businesses since he set up the shop. His shop was the only watchmending shop in town, and without him, how would the people there mend their watches?

His father could not get a job, so his father came to help Hari with his shop. His father had also acquired watchmending skills, from Hari. He was less burdened with his father's help.

Hari had already given up the idea of setting up a poultry farm. He was already so busy with his watchmending shop that he could not spare the time to care for another farm.

Lila's mother had also reduced Lila's burden to care for the family as now she was well and could help Lila with the house chores. Since they had bought the large house, house chores had been more tiring for the both of them. The house was bigger than the hut they stayed in previously, so they had to spend more time when cleaning the house. Although so, they had done their house chores without grumbling or groaning, as they know it was their fortune to be able stay in such a large house and enjoy luxuries they had never had before, like watching a movie in the newly-built theatre, shop for clothes in the overcrowded shopping mall and in the same time enjoying the cool air of the air-conditioner in the shopping mall.

Today, the streets in Thul are beautifully decorated for the celebration of Diwali. Some people, who were diligent, still decided to work today, and were in their working suits or uniform. Others were wearing casual outfits, talking to each other enthusiastically and excitedly, probably shopping in the busy streets of Thul. The factories are very huge, occupying a huge portion of the villages. The building of the factories had caused the building of more buildings, such as shopping malls, shops, houses and apartments. Life in Thul had been quiet, but now it is noisy, with noises blaring from the horns and engines of cars, busses and motorcycles, the talking of the crowd of people at the streets. Nor did life have been so busy, with people rushing to their destinations. Never before in their lives had they predicted that their life would be like that. Nowadays, they even travelled to other countries to have a holiday there, from watching the beautiful and amazing geysers in Yellowstone National Park of United States of America, to scuba-diving in the sea near Bali of Indonesia.

Although the life of Hari and his family were changed so dramatically, they were contented with this new way of life.