Origins of a Manticore

What is a manticore?

Here is a picture of the beast:


Dastardly-looking creature, isn't it? A creature with a head of a man, with three rows of teeth, a body of a shaggy dog, paw of lion and tail of scorpion or serpent. A demonic beast that could wipe out an entire army in the desert, and still have an elephant for lunch.

My blog title is actually the title of my first short story written in university during my first year. It happened when I was walking from my college (Ninth Residential College) to my faculty and I saw a small, black creature by the bush. It was making a trumpeting sound, so I approached it. But it scurried away. My friend suggested that it could possibly be a squirrel. Probably. But I'm just letting my mind wander for a while.

What if it was not a squirrel? What if it was a manticore? Especially when according to ancient Greek writers, they produce a trumpet-like sound and resides in the Indies (which includes India and the Malay Archipelago). That's how the story was born.

God willing, I'l post that story by the end of this week.

Hey.

After abandoning blogging for a year, I think it's about time I start a new blog.

What am I going to write about? Anything I want to, I guess. Poetry, random information, short stories, matters I feel strongly about...rantings of a bored undergraduate.

I do hope this cures me of my writer's block...

Oh, I wrote a book. The Legend of Hang Tuah. Buy it.