*From To Sathish* - Thread 3 - Page 20

Nice poem!

Hi spain.
I will gladly and willingly accept your compliments for i know you write much better than me and are capable of much more.
Shallow hal sprang from my anxiety and fear of the consequences of not accepting dozens of requests on my facebook acct.And they derive from the good job i am doing or supposedly doing in the new serial.I have no clue as to these folks who send me requests and as to why they want to be friends with me and decided as usual not to accept them for i know that i am just a notch in their celebrity gathering frenzy.When i so vehemently deny and refuse to accept and am still learning to adapt to this so called limelight these requests make me further move away from the mainstream and into the shadows where i prefer to lurk or bask.most would wonder,judge and pass judgement on this state of mind of mine and as usual i least worry or should i say they do not figure in my thoughts and soul whispers.

The coming chapters will embark on the finality of azhagan and all secrets will be laid bare.Sometimes i check,recheck and wonder how i wrote 62 chapters and then realise that the story and the characters wrote themselves and that too with the wishes and encouragement of you forum members.

I think i will and am surely going to get better at writing and telling stories and will keep you regaled with many in the coming years.


Many decades from now after i am gone i hope some of you will remember azhagan,avini,aashritha,mani,dhana and balaji.i hope to add more characters to that list before i am done or unable to do anymore.
pathos,melancholy whatever ,satish is the boy who came out of the darkness and hopefully it will be said that he brought light and love to a few lives and touched them with his sadness,madness and still a child with a heart of gold and a tender soul,warm and not cold.Be well.


love
satish

Chapter 63

"This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor...Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond."? Rumi


The boy is dead and now the dark angel rises-part one


Azhagan stood on the small hill of perumalvaram staring at the east and as it was from the time he could remember waited for the sun to show its face and warm his body.It was just as usual,an ordinary day and like in all our lives started to flow without a hint of things that would come to pass.He stood alone with just the gentle and cool morning breeze caressing his worried mind which were full of thoughts of his mother who lay wounded.His heart and soul did not want to leave her alone but the call of the king to the palace could not be ignored for the the mighty emperor himself lay bedridden.Azhagan knew it would hurt the poor man and decided that he would go for he hoped that his meeting would at least bring some comfort to the bedridden and dying king.


A few hours later,the minsters and their security were ready to leave and waited patiently and respectfully for azhagan to come out of the the priest's house.

Azhagan sat next to avini and both looked at each other with love and with gratitude.Azhagan gently kissed his mother's forehead and whispered " mother,are you sure you want me to go for i will stay back and it not matters not that the king will be insulted.I can always explain to him that you were hurt and hence could not leave your side."

Avini with tears in her eyes " no,it is decided that you will go.So, go in peace my child and come back soon for i will remain half alive until i see you again."

Azhagan felt a disturbance in his senses and something told him not to go but he still did and because he had to for he was bound by the king's invitation.

With a heavy heart he rose to his feet and gently whispered to the priest and his wife to care for her well and that he would return soon.

He came out of the priest's house and looked at all the villagers and they all bowed to him and wished him well and asked him to convey their respects and thanks to the king.

Azhagan said he would and then he growled softly towards the east and from the green and brown of the forest the huge golden and black maned lion casually strolled towards him and jumped at him.Azhagan ruffled the lions mane and gently kissed his head and then whispered to him to watch over his mother.
The lion left him and went sat outside the priests house and azhagan and everyone knew that nothing could pass through the boundary that was the lion.

The minsters from the palace and the soldiers who were their escorts were marveling and at the same time quaking in their pants in fear and they all wished that azhagan would lead them away from the presence of the huge cat.

Azhagan and the group slowly made their way out of the village and soon were well on the path towards madurai.they stopped when it became too hot and rested under a huge banyan tree and ate their food.Azhagan was offered food but he refused it saying he was not hungry and instead drank lot of water to hydrate himself.As the mid-day sun started sinking towards the west they started their journey and knew that if they kept a steady pace they might just reach madurai around midnight.


It was twilight and the dark of the night was ready to throw a black blanket over them studded with stars for jewels when azhagan felt the whisper and immediately threw his senses open.He closed his eyes,shut his ears and focused on the voice that called out for him and his master screamed " run child,run back to the village for it might already be too late."


Azhagan jumped down from the horse and looked towards the direction his village perumalvaram lay and roared and it was a surprise for him and everybody included for no man could roar like that.

In the dark azhagan's fair body glowed green and green light sprang like lightning from his eyes and head.That would be the only time others would see him thus and still remain alive for in the next second azhagan had vanished as a blur towards his village.


They waited,had waited,patiently waited for azhagan to leave and now in the coming darkness a group of assassins numbering sixty or more rushed into the village.It was buddha the lion who knew what was happening and he roared loudly and charged into the attackers.But one lion,however huge it may be cannot match so many and in the end could not match the poisoned spears and poisoned arrows.Yet,valiantly the lion fought and killed dozens of the attackers before succumbing to its massive injuries.As the last breath lefts its body the lion roared and the roars reached the ears of azhagan still many miles away.

Azhagan roared for he knew the lion was going to die and that he would be too late to save it and his angry roars reached the ears of Veerabhadran the leader of the assassins.

He screamed " remember the plan and follow it.kill everybody and leave no person alive and then retreat quickly into the forest and then we will hunt down this so called azhagan."

The remaining assassins went around slaughtering the villagers and the priest using his presence of mind screamed at the villagers to run and barricade themselves in the temple.A dozen or so ran up the hill and the priest gathered avini in his arms and ran as fast as he could to reach the safety of the temple which had huge and thick doors that could not be easily broken down.But as fate would have it the priest stumbled just ten feet away and avini fell from his arms.

Avini landed on her already fractured arm and screamed in unbearable pain and turned to help the priest and was shocked to see that the priest had stumbled because a huge spear had been thrown at him and was now lodged in his lower back.With his last breath the priest urged avini to run into the temple but before the blind avini could get her bearings and head towards the temple,arrows struck first on her left shoulder,the next one pierced her stomach and the last one went into her throat.She buckled with the force of the arrows and with the unbearable pain and then the light and her sight whispered "i am done,i am dying."

Avini felt the pain of leaving azhagan more than the pain of the arrows sticking out of her body and from her stomach,from her soul where she had borne her mighty son she screamed " azhaga,azhaga " and collapsed.

It was the feeble cry of a dying mother who would soon go and would never again lay her eyes on her son and yet it reached the ears or the senses of the entity that entered the forest of perumalvaram.

The conch blew and all the remaining assassins fled hearing the signal from their leader and vanished into the darkness of the forest.

From the time azhagan felt and then heard his master scream to him in his mind to run and save his mother and the villagers who were under attack,it took all of fifteen minutes for him to reach and run up the hill to his mother,what it had taken the whole day for them to travel away to madurai.

In the dark of the night,the green light shining around him,the faint and the last heartbeats of his mother led him to her and azhagan was once more with avini.



I am azhagan.I am the son of avini and i came out of the light that was her.I rise now full of darkness and there will be no more light.so it is said and so it will be written

An Indian Doctor can't find a job in a Hospital in US so he opens a clinic and puts a sign outside 'GET TREATMENT FOR $20 - IF NOT CURED GET BACK $100
A lawyer thinks this is a great opportunity to earn $100 and goes to the clinic...

Lawyer: "I have lost my sense of taste"
Indian: "Nurse, bring medicine from box no. 22 and put 3 drops in patient's mouth"
Lawyer: "Ugh..this is kerosene"

Indian : "Congrats, your sense of taste is restored. Give me $20"
The annoyed lawyer goes back after a few days to recover his money...
Lawyer: "I have lost my memory. I cannot remember anything"

Indian : "Nurse, bring medicine from box no. 22 and put 3 drops in his mouth"
Lawyer (annoyed): "This is kerosene. You gave this to me last time for restoring my taste"
Indian : "Congrats. You got your memory back. Give me $20"

The fuming lawyer pays him, and then comes back a week later determined to get back $100.

Lawyer: "My eyesight has become very weak""I can't see at all "
Indian : "Well, I don't have any medicine for that, so take this $100"
Lawyer (staring at the note): "But this is $20, not $100"
Indian : "Congrats, your eyesight is restored. Give me $20"

Chapter 64

The night was black and the orange of the fires that ravaged many house cast glows and threw shadows as Azhagan knelt slowly besides the fallen body of avini.He saw with shock and fear the arrows that stuck out of his mothers body and watched in terror as the blood gushed out of the mortal wounds.Tears flowed like rain and fell on her face and she mumbled in pain and azhagan realised that she was still alive but barely holding on to life and light as the darkness slowly but inexorably closed in and called itself death.

The mighty warrior was reduced to a bumbling and frightened boy as he saw what had been done to the one he loved the most and would never love anyone again as he did her.He gently put his arms under her and placed her on his lap and whispered " mother,mother i have come back.I am here and i am scared and don't know what to do.Please dont leave me alone for i will be truly lost without you and will follow you for i have no purpose or will without you by my side."

The eyes flickered open in her blood streaked face and avini saw the light of azhagan and felt his strong arms around her and tried to speak,but the blood from her throat spilled out of her mouth and she coughed and nearly choked with it.

Avini whispered " azhaga,my son,dont be scared for you are not alone and will never be.Take care of yourself my child.I know i dont have much time so let me thank you for coming into my womb and bringing life and light into my life.Thank you my son.I am truly blessed and the only thing that saddens me is that i have never been able to see you with my eyes and now i go with that one wish left unfulfilled.But then i guess one cannot wish for everything good to happen to only them."


Azhagan screamed in pain and the green light that had died down when he had sat besides his mother now rose like bonfire and it entered avinis body.the green fire took hold of her body and entered her soul and it worked magic on her and now even her eyes shone with the strange green light.

Avini felt the pulse of power from her sons body and she recognised the familiar touch and time fell away and her mind raced back in time to the genesis of her and azhagan.

(Avini stumbled and reached out with both her hands and went forward and that is when she saw the light or did she feel it. A hand gently took her hands and avini felt the man's embrace.she knew the voice was a man and before she could react,the man kissed her and avini's world was never the same again.The magic took her and she felt the kiss in her lips.she felt the kiss in her body and she felt the kiss in her womb and the light moved into her.) chapter 21

The world was black but the world of avini and azhagan was green and jade in color and she feebly blinked and opened her eyes and she saw the beautiful face of her son and her heart broke as she his eyes full of tears and fear.

Avini smiled " i see you azhaga.i see you are the light,the same light that entered my body.You are more beautiful than i thought and imagined you would be.Listen to me my son for you are not alone and were never alone.There are forces and lights that will protect you and guide you when you call for them.I love you my son.I have loved you,thought about you and loved you more when you came into my body.Please dont worry and cry for me for i die happily now with your face as my last memory.azhaga.'

That was the last word that slipped out of avinis lips as the life slipped out from her broken body.

Azhagan stopped crying for he did not and could not understand or comprehend the fact that his mother was no more.His body frozen in fear and pain trembled uncontrollably and then the rage and anger took over him and now the dark of the night was lit with the strange green light that rivaled the white of the morning sun.

The temple doors slowly creaked open and the priests wife peeped out carefully and then she stood transfixed in shock and in wonder as the night was green in color.The remaining survivors gathered around her and from afar they watched this strange and fantastic spectacle of azhagan,avini and the strange lights.

Then from the forest came a crowd or a gathering of lights and they flew up the hill and gathered around azhagan.With the green light shining in his eyes,azhagan gently placed avini on the ground and stood up and stared at the lights.One light,brighter than the others came forward and said " child,i am sorry for your loss and i am really sorry that you have to suffer so much.But please understand that there was nothing we could do for we are bound by the laws of the source and are not supposed to interfere with what has been destined.Please be patient and calm down and let the fire of your power simmer down."

Azhagan screamed " I have yet to understand who you are or what you are.But i warn you that if you come between me and my actions then what will be,will be.Stay here,be here and guard my mothers body for i go now and will return soon.Be here until i come back."

Saying these words azhagan stood up and raced down the hill and vanished into the forest in pursuit of the assassins who had killed his mother and murdered many innocent villagers.


In the dark a conch blew loudly and veerabhadran smiled wickedly for he was ready and waiting for azhagan.But little did he or the rest of his men realise what was coming for them.Death was coming and it was coming filled with rage and violence.

Arariro Padiyadharo thoongi ponadhaaro
yaaro yaaro enak yaaro yaaro
en dheivamey idhu poi thookama
naan thoongavey ini naal aguma

nee mundhi ponadhu nyayam illaye
naan mundhi pogave yogam illaye
kootai vittu thaai kizhi parandhadhengey
pasithavan ketkiren paal choru engey
en deviye naanum seidha kutram enna kooru
oru paarvai paaru

aarario padiyadharo thoongi ponadhaaro
yaaro yaaro enak yaaro yaaro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoM-p9I1ZN0

One of the scenes from the malayalam tv serial

Chapter 65


"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane." ? Philip K. Dick, VALIS

"Once there lived in the ancient city of Afkar two learned men who hated and belittled each other's learning. For one of them denied the existence of the gods and the other was a believer.One day the two met in the market-place, and amidst their followers they began to dispute and to argue about the existence or the non-existence of the gods. And after hours of contention they parted.That evening the unbeliever went to the temple and prostrated himself before the altar and prayed the gods to forgive his wayward past.And the same hour the other learned man, he who had upheld the gods, burned his sacred books. For he had become an unbeliever."? Kahlil Gibran, The Madman


I am not mad nor am i bad
I am mad because i am sad
I am sad because the bad forced me to go bad
Bad god,bad life,bad family
But now i am mad and i live in my own mad world
I worship a mad god,i live my mad life and i am my own mad family
So am i really mad or sad or bad or are you really mad and bad
and only want to see mad and bad in others

Confusing,irritating,frustrating,maddening.well children it should be for you,me and all of us are mad,bad and sad at one point of time another.that is what makes us human.A human being is much akin to a book and you will do well to remember that popular adage ("Don't judge a book by its cover"? George Eliot, )
for just like a good book with many pages,a human life has many good memories and days when he was equal to a saint.



Angel or demon

In the darkness of the forest,Veerabhadran the leader of the assassins waited patiently for his prey to come to him.He was angry with himself for not having taken the huge lion into his plans for it had killed and wounded nearly 30 of his men and they were men who were as good as himself in the art of killing and self defence.He stopped and wondered as to how majestically the lion had fought to defend the village and the villagers and thought as to the strangeness of this whole assignment that had been handed to him by another assassin.But veerabhadran had gotten information from his own network of fellow assassins,that it was the prince of the mighty chola empire who was behind the funding of this task.It did not matter who gave him the task or what the task was as long as the money was good but yet the words of warning that had been passed on to him was to watch out for the young man,Azhagan for he was supposed to be a great warrior.

If veerabhadran had known the actual facts about how easily Azhagan had killed Moorkan and the rest of the cholas army,he would have hesitated before venturing into the land where azhagan lived for even among his own clan and peers of master assassins,the name Moorkan sent shivers down their spines.But it was too late for all that for he was here with the rest of his men hidden deep in the darkness of the forest and with only the whites of their eyes gazing into the direction from which azhagan was supposed to come at them.

Azhagan came and he came rushing into the darkness of the forest where evil waited to kil him and with every step he took the darkness fled from his presence.Azhagan stopped and in a fleeting second threw his senses out and was suprised with what he saw.He had never seen so much and yet he knew that this was possible for he was in a dark and vengeful place and that added to his already incredible powers of mind and body.The normal azhagan would have been more than enough for these assassins who had murdered his mother and killed his friend,the lion and dozens of villagers who he considered as his own family.

But this was a new azhagan and there was nothing remaining of the old boy in this new avatar.The first blood curdling scream tore into the night and that set the tone for one by one were ripped and their limbs cast aside and flung without remorse or a split second of thought.The screams rose and died the next moment and it was now that veerabhadran and his team of assassins realised that something terrible was about to happen to them and that there was a real possibility that none would last the night,leave alone the next few minutes.

Azhagan had strangely gone dark and his mind now controlled and reacted to the situation,environment and his every move was swift and brutal.He had no sword or spear with which to attack the enemies who had killed his mother but used his bare hands to rip them apart.

Veerabhadran raised his conch and issued a signal that announced to his team to gather around him to face azhagan in one final assault.In the clearing of the forest and in total darkness,they gathered around their leader and it was only then veerabhadran realised that there were just a dozen left of the nearly sixty men of his team and now panic set in the minds and bodies all of them.

The dark figure headed unerringly in their direction as if he was he was following a path.It stood ten feet in front of them and growled " I will just ask this once.Who sent you ? "

Veerabhadran laughed loudly " even in death,even in the most terrible pain i or my men will not divulge the secret.So come forward and die."

The darkness lit up with green and azhagan stood glaring at them and then raised the head he was carrying and threw it at their feet " I promise you this.you will die last and will give up the name of the person who sent you."

The green light vanished and into them charged azhagan and the massacre continued.In only a few minutes everyone lay dead and veerabhadran stood in shock as he saw the heads and limbs of his men hanging from the branches and the ground flooded with a small red stream of the dead men's blood.

Azhagan took one step at a time and came to stand before veerabhadran and then with a loud growl used his right hand and grabbed the mans throat and raised him into the air.The green fire blazed from his eyes and they sprang into veerabhadran and azhagan saw everything and screamed in pain.He flung the lifeless body aside and whispered in pain " ten bags of gold,for ten bags of gold the prince rajendran has had my mother murdered and torn my soul from me."

Azhagan slowly made his way back to the village and climbed the hill to reach his dead mother.In the east the dawn was breaking in colors of orange and pink and yet the world of azhagan was black and his mind and soul were blacker still.He slowly gathered his mother's broken and savaged body and held her close to his bosom.He tenderly kissed her lips and bathed her face with his tears and walked away into the forest with her dead body.

Loud wails of grief split the air of perumalvaram as the villagers broke down seeing their son like this and more pain broke their hearts as they started weeping for their own dead.Death had come visiting to perumalvaram and it left no one untouched.The village would never be the same again and the same sun would never shine again.

The priest's wife whispered something to them and a few still able old men followed her and they came to the dead lion,Buddha who had fought with his last breath to protect them.the villagers started digging a deep hole where the lion lay dead and buried him there and this was how the legend of the temple of Narasimham started.To this day people of the village see the spirit of Buddha the huge black maned lion walk around the forest still guarding the village and its people.


It would be fourteen day before another human saw azhagan again and bring him back from the edge of the abyss he was hanging from.But that is for the next chapter.


I am Azhagan.I am the son of Avini.I go now to darkness and into hell and i will remain there for the world of men and mice does not matter anymore.

This article is by my friend and classmate sudha from besant arundale.She is a journalist,wife,mother and a great friend.i thought i would share her thoughts with all of you

How Do You Solve A Problem Like TM Krishna?

Caste and the status of the Tamil Brahmin continue to throw up discomfiting questions for the state's intelligentsia.


The recent turn of events at IIT Madras last month followed now by Carnatic maestro TM Krishna's withdrawal from singing in Chennai's famous December Season have thrown up Tamil Nadu's ever-long battle with caste hegemonies.

On June 10 Carnatic vidwan TM Krishna announced on his Facebook page that he would not sing during the December Season beginning this year.

"I am unable to reconcile my musical journey with that of the December Season", he said in a brief note.

He found, "The world of Carnatic music is 'socially stifling and narrow'."

"We really don't care about the rest of society and don't see that this music must be democratised", he explained.

Krishna's uncomfortable question about how Carnatic music remains exclusively in the grip of Brahmin practitioners has once again brought the spotlight on the state's Brahmin community.

Following the early social reform movement and the birth of Dravidian political parties, the status of Tamil Brahmins underwent a sea change. They were the chosen ones of the colonial British bureaucracy and enjoyed social and economic status following access to government jobs and English education. Brahmin leaders like Subramania Bharati or Rajagopalachari among others were prominent during the war for Independence in the state and produced classics in literature, history and art.

The Dravidian Movement that began to gain force in the 1920s attacked the hegemony of the Brahmin stronghold, the caste system, ritualism and religious dogmas.

Some historians called it more of a 20th Century Tamil Renaissance. It demanded, according to Prof. K. Nambi Arooran in his Tamil Renaissance and Dravidian Nationalism, 'the non-Brahmin, who was supposed to be the descendant of the Dravidian race, to become the custodian of his own culture'.

Tamil Brahmins were accused of being elitist entities, loyal to the Sanskrit culture of North India and not to the Dravidanadu of the Tamils.

Politically also, since the1970s, following the defeat of the Congress party in Tamil Nadu, it has been an unbroken spell of Dravidian party leadership in the state. The community's hope that Jayalalithaa as a Brahmin Chief Minister would revive the earlier political and cultural space of the Tamil Brahmin is a slim one, offering little respite for the community. The 2% of Brahmins of the state do not form a considerable vote bank worth wooing by her or other Dravidian parties.
Middle-class Tamil Brahmins complain not just about denial of opportunities based on affirmative action and decline in meritocracy but also for being ridiculed for their customs and mannerisms in popular culture carrying a sense of being victimised for too long for mistakes of an early past.

With such a sense of alienation from public spheres, many Tamil Brahmins aligned with the Kanchi mutt that came to be considered as the symbol of spiritual and religious authority that the community sought to claim as its own. With the arrest of the Kanchi Shankaracharya in 2004 the anchor was also shaken.

The temples that were shut to other castes in earlier centuries are now where the faithful across the rational state congregate. Now Tamil prayer offerings have replaced Sanskrit slokhas, non-Brahmin priests officiate religious proceedings in many temples across the state. Cults and religious groups led by seers who are not Brahmins have gained mass following.

With a growing sense of their exclusivity threatened, Carnatic music and the nearly 100-year old December Season were the last cultural and artistic vestigial spaces that Tamil Brahmins sought to own in modern times. Chennai's Carnatic performers and rasikas have been almost totally Brahmin, apart from the rare exemption of MS Subbulakshmi in the 20th century.

And now a prominent member of the community and virtuoso, TM Krishna is calling out on his own Carnatic community of performers and audiences demanding reformation.

Krishna's thoughtful insights and appeal to make the world of Carnatic music inclusive is met with cold indifference with no other musician from the state coming forward in public offering support.

TM Krishna's demand to make the December Season inclusive has attacked the foundation of the last cultural bastion of the Tamil Brahmins. As long as the December Season continues to be exclusive preserve of Brahmins in the 21st Century, the classical club of purists will have to deal with a problem like TMK. In his last December Season in 2014 Krishna set an example and sang on the beachfront of a Dalit fishing village in Chennai.

Aside from the Season, one of the unique features of the state's musical legacy is how its popular cinema music has often sought to bridge the gap between Carnatic music's exclusivity and audiences across classes.

Unlike the world of rock and roll where White musicians from Europe embraced the blues of the Blacks to make it widely acceptable, Tamil Nadu's musical giants like Illaiyaraja or AR Rahman have reached out and collaborated with Carnatic musicians. They have used classical ragas for melodic compositions, percussion and vintage musical instruments in their film songs. From Carnatic giants like Balamurali Krishna to today's Sudha Raghunathan or a Bombay Jayashree, Grammy winner Vikku Vinayakaram or a Guitar Prasanna the collaborations between Carnatic musicians and composers for films has only produced wondrous music from the state.

Now TMK wants to take Carnatic music to the ghettos that swing to the beats of the gaana in Chennai. Who knows what musical surprises that would produce in the days to come?


Sudha G. Tilak



for more articles by her,please use this link
http://www.outlookindia.com/people/2/sudha-g-tilak/4760

Chapter 66


"You will lose someone you can't live without,and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn't seal back up. And you come through. It's like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly"that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp."? Anne Lamott

Death is the switch that turns life off
Death is the reminder that you,me and all life is mortal
Death is the sum total that happens and collects at the counter of destiny
Death comes in various forms and it always harms
Death is the final calm state of a life that lived,struggled,fought and lost
Death is rigor of a supple life that lived with vigor
Death oh death comes to all of us and however we try to understand and make sense of it
we lose to death for it is a mysterious end to a mysterious beginning
why are we here and where are we going



The show must go on


The ministers who had been left in the dark halfway to madurai returned to perumalvaram and were shocked and saddened to see the village in ruin and the dead lying everywhere.They rushed to help the wounded and also bury the dead and yet at all the time they wondered where azhagan was.The bodies of the assassins were carried and thrown into a large pit for the villagers felt that azhagan might want to examine them for clues and to find out who they were and where they had come from.

The oldest and the senior most of the ministers told a few of his colleagues to rush to madurai and warn the king about what had happened and to send reinforcements as soon as possible.After they had been sent to madurai the remaining minister and a few soldiers along with the villagers went into the forest in search of azhagan.

After just fifteen minutes walk into the forest the remains of the dead assassins made a path in the forest and it lead to the clearing where veerabhadran and the rest of the men lay torn to pieces.Everyone who saw the scene shivered in fear at the limbs hanging from branches around the clearing and they stood frozen in shock and wonder and tried to imagine what could have taken place the previous night.The screaming dead faces that lay ripped from theie bodies told them what they wanted to know.

A loud and scary scream ripped the forest and the people who had come in search of azhagan ran back to the village not knowing what to do and wondering what was going on deep in the forest.

Deep,very deep in the bowels of the forest,in the clearing and on top of the small mound sat azhagan blazing with the green fire and in his lap lay avini.

The lights and the spirits of the forests stood far away from him and they wondered how to approach him for azhagan had covered himself in a bubble of energy and blinding power that they now realised was even beyond their expectations.

Azhagan sat lost in his love for his mother,lost and torn in his grief that she was no more and he was lost to the world.


Thenmozhi stood on the balcony of the kings room and watched as the sun rose brightly over the land and reflected silver over the vaigai.Her heart had been beating fast from the previous night and she knew that something terrible had happened and i had happened to the person with whom she shared this strange and sacred connection.Thenmozhi gently raised her fingers and felt her lips and remembered his lips as they kissed hers and as their tongues probed into each others mouths.A strange sense of pleasure flowed through her body and it was so strong that she did not hear her king call for her.

Thenmozhi turned and was surprised to see that Maravarman,the queen,her father nikantan,Sahasranamam the king's personal astrologer and a few other important people standing there near the king.

Kulashekaran pandyan looked at all of them and smiled and beckoned for thenmozhi to come sit by his side and " All of you must be wondering about the reason why you have been called to my presence.The ministers will soon be back from perumalvaram with our mighty warrior and saviour Azhagan.You all know that i have asked that his coming should be celebrated and in the same event i will be announcing him as my personal guard and also the general of all our armies.I am doing this not only to honor him but in the knowledge that he is the right person to lead our armies into battle against the pandyas."

Kulashekaran looked at Maravarman who hung his head low and hid his shocked and angry face and continued " In the same event on which Azhagan will be honored,i plan to crown Maravarman as the new king and the coronation will take place in the next few days.But more importantly i have decided that There should be a new queen sitting besides the new king."

Everyone looked shocked,happy and wondered about this news about the queen and yet only dread and pain filled Thenmozhi's heart.

Kulashekaran pandyan gently took Thenmozhi's hand and " she,this child of mine will be the new queen and the wife of Maravarman pandyan."

Everyone were relieved and happiness spread over their faces and one by one they conveyed their respects and wishes to maravarman who would soon be the new king and also a new husband.

Nikantan's eyes bored into Thenmozhi as tears poured down from her eyes as the shock of the sudden announcement was too much to bear and the very thought of being torn away from a life with azhagan landed like a mountain on her mind and she slowly collapsed in a faint.


The ministers returned from perumalvaram and hurried into the palace and since it was nearly midnight,they decided to see the king and deliver the news to him personally in the morning.

Dead mother,broken man,broken love and broken lives are not the only ones here who are the main cast of this story for the king and his tribe who have hidden themselves in light are the seeds to this whole story.Soon a new king will rise and a nearly lost race will have a son,father and a protector to lead them into the light and away from the darkness that they and their people have fallen into.But who will bell the cat,who dares approach the broken son,who will give wise counsel to the light that has fallen into the darkness of anger and vengeance.

Mayakkamaa kalakkamaa
manadhilae kuzhappamaa
vaazhkkaiyil nadukkamaa

Vaazhkkai enraal aayiram irukkum
vaasal dhoarum vedhanai irukkum
vandha thunbam edhu vandhaalum
vaadi ninraal oaduvadhillai
vaadi ninraal oaduvadhillai
edhaiyum thaangum idhayam irundhaal
irudhi varaikkum amaidhi irukkum

"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could."
Louise Erdrich

Chapter 67


"How can a three-pound mass of jelly that you can hold in your palm imagine angels, contemplate the meaning of infinity, and even question its own place in the cosmos? Especially awe inspiring is the fact that any single brain, including yours, is made up of atoms that were forged in the hearts of countless, far-flung stars billions of years ago. These particles drifted for eons and light-years until gravity and change brought them together here, now. These atoms now form a conglomerate- your brain- that can not only ponder the very stars that gave it birth but can also think about its own ability to think and wonder about its own ability to wonder. With the arrival of humans, it has been said, the universe has suddenly become conscious of itself. This, truly, it the greatest mystery of all."
V.S. Ramachandran, The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human

Listen to me,listen carefully and patiently and later ponder over my thoughts.Have you stood alone in the dark,total dark and gazed into the night sky.Have you gazed,stared at it long enough to see shooting stars race for a split second and gone wow and made a wish.Everything is on the move starting from our earth,to our star,to our galaxy and all galaxies and who knows,someday in the distant future we might come to understand that the universe itself is on the move.
There have been many a day when i have seen stars,the sun and the moon at the same time and realised the bond we all share.We have all been created from something special,something miraculous and yet we humans fight over color,caste,creed,money and all that is petty and shallow in life.When will a utopia be created on this planet and when will we all live in peace,harmony and in love.



Thenmozhi,sing your song


Her eyes flickered open and they opened to see her father nikantan and pavalam,her mother sitting next to her with worried expressions on their face.Thenmozhi tried to get up but her father gently pushed her back and told her to rest for a while.But nikantan was not the minster and the personal adviser for namesake and his mind raced through the recent events and the event that only he and his wife knew and guarded its secret like they guarded Thenmozhi.

Nikantan looked at Pavalam and his wife took the hint and told them that she was going to the kitchen to fetch some buttermilk for them both and went leaving father and child alone.

Nikantan loved his daughter very much and was capable of doing anything for her and both of them shared a very strong bond and trusted each other with everything.But thenmozhi had not confided in him about her love for azhagan and yet he had known it the instant azhagan had come to rescue them from Moorkan and his men.He was well tuned to his daughter's mind and yet had kept quiet when they both had slipped away to be on their own.Nikantan had not questioned her or asked her about azhagan for he knew that both of them share some strange bond and he had no further knowledge about it.

Nikantan gently wiped the sweat from the forehead of thenmozhi and smiled " I know and understand that you fainted not from shock on hearing the king announce your wedding with Maravarman but from the pain of being separated from the one who you truly love and want to be with until your last breath."

Thenmozhi " father,i have no idea what you are talking about.Azhagan,why i met him just once and how can i develop feelings for him and moreover disobey my kings wishes and orders.So you see,you are mistaken."


Nikantan raised a hand " child,look at me,look into my eyes and tell me that i am mistaken.Have you seen azhagan only once and not everyday in the morning as the sun comes up.Isn't his face and soul that you see in the light that shines from the east and isn't his heartbeat you feel as your heartbeats."

Seeing the shocked and scared expression on thenmozhi's face,nikantan hurriedly apologised " i am sorry for i did not mean to ambush you and scare you with my thoughts and understanding of the situation you are in but just wanted you to know that your father loves you and understands perfectly well every thought and movement you make.But all that aside,we have to now decide what has to be done and i want to tell you right now that i will support you,no matter what decision you make.Even if it means offending the king and losing my head,i am gladly and willingly ready to so,if it pleases you."

Thenmozhi hugged her father tightly and cried on his chest and this is how pavalam found them both.

Nikantan looked at thenmozhi and told her that it was all right for her mother knew everything.Then all three of them sat and arrived at a plan and the plan was that news would be spread that Thenmozhi had fallen ill and needed time to recover in peace and solitude.While everyone was thinking that thenmozhi was recovering from her illness,she herself would travel to perumalvaram with a few close and trusted maids and meet azhagan and then both of them could decide what had to be done.

So it was agreed that thenmozhi would leave early in the morning in the clothes of a soldier and quietly slip out of madurai and reach perumalvaram.

Everything went according to plan and thenmozhi urged her horse to fly like the wind for she desperately wanted to be with azhagan for something told her that he had fallen into some kind of darkness and only she could reach out and save him from it.Her long hair streaking as dark clouds behind her she rode the white horse and her tender breasts ached to feel him against it and her body burnt with fire of passion and the need to protect her mate.But even she did not know or realise the green light that lit up her eyes or the green aura that blazed all around her.Thenmozhi raced like the wind towards the east and into darkness.

"My heart only ever had one thought, one want. One need. Despite all, in spite of all...All my heart has ever wanted is you." Stephanie Laurens, The Edge of Desire