Genre: Historical Fiction
Babur sat behind the tent. Inside the chieftains haggled for horses and silver.
Only a few months ago, the 12 year old prince of an insignificant Ferghana had become the ruler of a prosperous Samarkand.
What followed was a blur. He was getting comfortable on his new throne when Ferghana was attacked and as Babur rushed to claim it, Samarkand was taken over by his own cousin.
You have the blood of Timur and Gengis Khan in your veins, greatness awaits you son, his father had said in the garden of Ferghana before passing away.
He fought back the tears.
……………………………………………………………………………….
My 100 words for this week’s Friday Fictioneers.
Babur was the first Mughal King of India. He faced many setbacks before he set foot in India. In fact he thought of coming to India only after facing countless failures in the lands of his descendents. And rest as they say, is history. I find Babur’s story deeply inspiring – not because he was a great warrior or he was a great strategist. He was an average ambitious prince of his time, whom even luck favored at places. What I find most inspiring is his determination to go on despite so many failures, however humiliating. His life story tells that we should keep going despite the setbacks as we can never tell what fits how in the grand scheme of things and which setback turns out to be a blessing in disguise!
For anyone interested in the Mughal history or Babur, I’d strongly recommend this book: Raiders from the North: Empire of the Moghul by Alex Rutherford.
I know I haven’t been regular on FF or my blog in general. In fact, even this story could have been written so much better had I had some cerebral bandwidth remaining. I have also not been responding to comments on my blog, not been reading as many stories as I would like. I am going to be at my worse behavior this week. I just can’t get a handle on things. But as they say – this too shall pass.
For the uninitiated, in case you are wondering what is going on here, read on. Friday Fictioneers is an excellent forum for people looking to have fun as they learn the nuances of writing. Every Friday a bunch of us write 100 words (no hard rules there) for prompts posted by Rochelle who runs the show.
The prompt this week (which I very loosely referred in my story) comes from Sarah Ann Hill. I find it beautiful and oddly nostalgic!
A quicker way to reach the other stories:
Austere Alacrity 
Hi Parul — really liked this — a boy king is the most vulnerable of men.
His was an interesting life.
He did well, considering the gullibility of his age.
I used to read a lot about the Mongols, partly because I liked horses and they were outstanding horsemen. Enjoyed the story, nice to have you back, and I hope you’re back on top of life very, very soon!!
janet
Thanks Janet. For the wishes too..
Mongols were a fierce set of people. Fascinating and frightening!
Nice theme to pick on. Your explanation is longer than your post 🙂
It was.. Wasn’t technically an explanation though.. I just got chatty 🙂
Thanks!
History and a story all in one. Love it!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks! 🙂
You’re welcome! 🙂
One of my Facebook friends is from Uzbekistan … Samarkand!
Good old-fashioned history here. Been awhile for me. Thanks!!!!
Wow!
So you can try to know things first hand!
Whatever history I have read of that area baffles me as to just how barbaric and brute the Mongols were!
Thanks for stopping by
The girl I know is a Jewish girl of Russian-type descent. her last name was Abramova. I also have another friend who lived there and went to college there. Her last name was Pichadze. Interesting.
I really liked this.. I read books about the Mongols as a kid, and my father was very interested. We had a magnificent marmelade cat that we actually named Babur (my father claimed it meant tiger, but I have not checked that)… great story telling here.
I think Babur means lion. In fact there is a term in Hindi – “Babbar Sher”, where Sher is the literal Hindi translation of lion and I think Babbar could have derived from Babur.
It is said that Babur was very strong, he could carry two full grown men uphill, and he swam across the Ganges twice. It’s a long river with very heavy currents he would have crossed to enter India.
I wonder how he’d have felt having a cat named after him! 🙂
enjoyed the story , ur chat following it and the Babbar Sher ! interesting to know he had to cross the ganges to come into India. that’s where Alexander turned back !
Babur came from Kabul to India. It was an arduous journey not just because of the Ganges, but it was a hostile terrain to travel with so many men and cavalry and horses.
Thanks for stopping by Shreyank 🙂
the story was great – you often transport us somewhere magical with your tales. Better still was the background on Babur – inspirational indeed 🙂
My story stands out amidst the fantastic work of some of the most amazing bloggers I have come across? You are very kind 🙂
Dear Parul,
This is one of the best I’ve read from you. Loved the history in it, yet you captured the emotions of a 12 year old child with a man’s job ahead of him. Nicely done.
shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks for such praise Rochelle. However, I think you like it so much because you really like this genre.
This is my first attempt at historical fiction and has been inspired by your stories.
I personally feel I picked a good theme but my writing didn’t do justice to it. This should have been more lyrical.. It came across as an excerpt from a history book. 😦
I have half a mind of redoing this one. Once I have my brain back.
Loved your story – I like your use of the photo as garden.
Thanks for the photo this week. It’s a very good click!
Enjoyed the trip into history – nicely composed.
Cheers 🙂
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