NOVEL~*Hiding behind a Stranger*~ THREAD 1 - CHAPTERS 1 & 2 - Page 119

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My dearest Lashykanna,

Eureka! At last I have managed to get on to one of your serials, or novels, right the beginning!

But as for my comments, coming in so late into any discussion is like being the last speaker at a public function. Most of what you would have wanted to say has already been said by someone else, leaving you with very little to add that would be new. It has its advantages and its disadvantages, especially if one does not want, unlike Sir Winston Churchill, to give a vote of thanks with just one word, Thanks!😉

Even if many others have said what you wanted/had to, anything you write, would still be an immense pleasure to read, periyamma...!

I was carried thru your first two chapters like a leaf floating downstream. Faster and faster I went, as your narration gathered pace, though the tale was still just beginning. The eddies were clearly down there, beneath the surface, but their treacherous pull was not yet visible.

Thanks 😳

Lashykanna, you would have made a superb itinerant storyteller of old times, drawing your audience, grouped round a fire in the village square, in with you into the web of words that you were weaving. The warp and the woof have been handled with a sure touch, and yet with a palpable sense of hesitation as to how the story, when it acquires a life of its own, would develop,

Thank you... thank you so so much... what a sweet compliment... I just imagined myself in the garb of a 'Banjara' too..

I am not going to comment on the Rajasthani milieu of the period that you have got down pat, as I knew you would, and yet without overburdening the reader with local colour.

Thank you, once again🤗! I am glad I managed to get it right so far... though, I do suspect there might be some discrepancies in chapters ahead (For the sake of drama... but also because I neither hail from that culture nor belong to that era...) Nevertheless, as long as I achieve a decent amount of accuracy, I think I'll consider my efforts on 'culture' research reasonably fruitful!🤔 😆

I will even go along with your Amazon-cum-dream girl of an elder sister, and her Adonis-on-steroids of a fiance. Probably there is some unwritten rule governing such fiction that makes such spectacular pairs mandatory!

I laughed out loud.. at this comment... Adonis on steroids? 🤣

In any case, they are clearly not the "lead pair", for Durga is obviously destined to join the dear departed, and I am sure Mahendra too is scheduled to end up on the skids sooner than later.

Omg periyamma...

Perhaps that is why you have reserved the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen for your real heroine, Heera, and not for her dazzling jiji.

Yesss.. our stranger deserves no less!😉

To go back to Durga, I love it when a beautiful, arrogant Amazon also has a sure grasp of masculine psychology and masculine folly alike, and knows how to manipulate these traits to gain her own ends. The auction scene was delightful!

Thank you...

So, for all that she is no Jane to Heera's Elizabeth, I have taken to your Heroine No.2, perhaps to some extent because of that exquisite picture of what is presumably Durga in billowing draperies. You get extra marks for that choice, Lashykanna!

You liked it so much? Though it neither is true to the era or the culture.. there was something about the 'tone' of that picture that reflected Durga's state of mind before her demise perfectly... and why, I used it in the first place😳

Your Aurangzeb has come out very well, very convincingly. There is a manic quality to his anger that rings true, and hints at a darkness within him that nothing will ever dispel. I am looking forward to see what you make of him as the tale proceeds.

You read the first para a few weeks ago... and instantly sent me this periyamma... I was awed... you instantly deciphered that the shehzaade was not a hero and in fact the backdrop ... once again, history not being my strongest-point, I am glad if I have done the man's wild nature some justice... though cruel, eccentric people do make for an interesting read!

I loved the crisp modern touch explaining why the savvy Emperor-to-be is so eager to get hold of a tiny riyasat like Parnagarh. It sounds exactly like a Steel King wanting to tie up the raw material supplies!

😃

It is clear that your latest is, as they say these days, trending in the IF. 154 pages for just 2 chapters, my pet, is something to be proud of!

Awww thank you... but that achievement is because of the adorably enthusiastic entourage of 'Banjaras and Baisas'

OK, this is it from me for Chapters 1& 2. I shall proceed to Chapters 3 and 4 tonight or tomorrow, and try and post my comments on those tomorrow. It is another matter that my tomorrows often do not arrive for a week, or even two,but I will try and be punctual this time! 😉

Please give your wrist its much-deserved rest .. whenever possible🤗

Affectionately,

Shyamala Periyamma

🤗