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Reticence When the Job is Done

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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16 Comments

  • Reticence has many definitions: reserve, caginess, silence, discretion, restraint, and more. For me this picture speaks of the silence that follows the intensity of harvest. Having looked out upon a field of pumpkins freshly harvested (by my parents, the field hands, and maybe some of my siblings, but not by me – I was always relegated to kitchen and babysitting duty, and delivering lunch to the workers), I have known the difference between the flurry of activity that is a harvest of this magnitude and the deep sigh of relief that follows. Just before the new flurry of having to load all those pumpkins (or tomatoes, cabbages, corn, etc.) to take to market.
    It is like standing in the eye of a storm – one part of the rush and intensity has passed, but you know that another rush is just about to hit.
    So – knowing this job is done, you also know another one is waiting for you.

  • J Keith says:

    I love the picture, I love both pumpkins and the color orange but I don't see the connection to the word. I don't know, maybe it's just me. I will say the picture reminds me of quiet, peaceful times

  • Imogen Elvis says:

    That is a lot of pumpkins…You've had some amazing pictures and thought here this month. Beautiful.

  • Dreaming says:

    I am loving your posts. The pictures so perfectly match your phrase. What fun! It almost makes me wish I was teaching again, as this sort of exercise would be fabulous with the kids!!

  • J Hanna says:

    This post is a powerful way to explore the world reticent. I do like the pumpkin patch in the photo.

    sweetbeariesart.com
    #atozchallenge

  • Ah, yes. Harvest time. I can smell the hay and apple cider, hear the clack-clack-clacking of the pecan shelling machines and hear the bray of goats and camels at the pumpkin patch. What a delightful photo!
    tm

  • Roshni AaMom says:

    I too didn't get the connection this time! 🙂

  • Susan Scott says:

    plump pumpkins basking in the breeze – wish that was me. But methinks they are gooseberries? They look delicious, and surely are – but a gooseberry as in as a dance and no-one asks you to dance?
    Either gooseberry or pumpkin – they're a tad reticent about bursting forth into their full ripeness, and meanwhile just enjoying their embryonic state –
    O I know my comments are a bit ridiculous but it was fun – like a rorschach!
    Susan Scott's Soul Stuff

  • sulekkha says:

    Pumpkins everywhere, love the color orange 🙂

  • Lovely picture 🙂

  • Afshan says:

    Reminds me of pumpkin patch in Harry potter

  • Peace and satisfaction in a job well done.

  • JANU says:

    Nice picture…though not sure how it is connected to the title.

  • Tina says:

    Hmmm…makes me think of thinking there'd be satisfaction from a job completed…but instead disappointment that there are still so many jobs to be done…she says as she looks around the disaster zone also known as her office…
    Tina @ Life is Good
    Co-host, April 2013 A-Z Challenge Blog
    @TinaLifeisGood, #atozchallenge

  • Al Diaz says:

    I would love to be in a place like that. Pumpkins have a special charm for me.

  • Jo says:

    Not sure I see a connection here, do like the pumpkins though.

    JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE