From & To Sathish #5 - Page 100

Avan, Aval, Adhu 341

“Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.” Kahlil Gibran

He looked at her and then raising his left hand tapped on the watch and then tapped his chest, ' There is a limit to my mother's patience even in my matters for as far as she is concerned, I am her child and will remain a child even when I am in the 50s or 60s and she is in her 80s or 90s even.'

Madhu sighed and smiled and the light and energy in her face and eyes seemed to rival the full moon that was staring down at them. ' A mother will remain a mother until her last breath and will try to get up and come to her child's aid even when she is mortally wounded. Nothing can compare itself with that kind of emotion.'

Ravi asked her where she was staying and then hurriedly added, ' Please forgive me Madhu for I cannot take you home with me right now for things are still a bit dicey and I don't want to add any more stress to my already stressed mother.'

' Jaanu, don't worry about it. I understand your situation. I can look after myself and moreover you were not expecting me to pop into your life after having been away for more than 25 years. It is not fair to you or to me and both of us need time........ to'

A shadow fell over Ravi's happy face and gently taking her hands in his, he kissed them and said in a somber and grief-stricken voice, ' No, Madhu. We have wasted enough time already being away from each other and I am not willing to waste another day without you by my side. I am going to talk to my mother and my uncle and I am going to sort it all out in a few days' time.'

He looked at her achingly, ' Will you stay or will you return to Mumbai for a few days?'

She looked at him searchingly and said, ' You are all I have, sweetie. That is all I want and have ever wanted.'

Then she placed her soft mouth on his fingers that held hers and kissed them, ' I am going to stay, Jaanu. I too have a few things that need to be sorted out and a few days are more than enough for me to do that.'

Then she quickly explained that she had entered the hospital disguised as a doctor and that she was staying incognito in a small hotel nearby.

Putting her hand out, ' Hi, my name is Dr. Sathya Deepak. How are you doing?'

Ravi's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he asked, ' Dr. Sathya, Seriously? You mean to say that you entered the ICU disguised as a doctor?'

Madhu shrugged her left shoulder and then blew a gust of air through her lips and dislodged the strands of hair that had tried to lodge on her chin and said, ' Yes and all the credit goes to my gentleman aide called Spartan.'

' Spartan? Is this gentleman from Greece?'

Madhu smiled and said, ' Not at all. I gave him that name for he is not supposed to give out any of his personal details.'

Ravi looking confused asked her, ' Your aide seems to be some kind of secret agent or a James Bond even.'

Madhu nodded, ' You are absolutely correct in thinking that. He is from the Government but I am not sure which branch he belongs to. Although, my heart tells me that he is some kind of special forces commando.'

Then she asked him to follow her to the car and as they stepped out of the mangrove, Ravi caught sight of a tall man standing there with his hands folded across his chest.

Even though he stood in the distance and in enveloped in darkness, Ravi sensed something familiar about him and then the distance was crossed and now sight and sight became one as the eyes of Azhagan and Ravi met each other.

A smile of joy erupted on Ravi's face and he gave his hand in introduction saying, ' Hello sir. I am Ravi Kumar.'

Azhagan took his hand and shook it with warmth and love, ' No formalities, Mr. Ravi. My name is Kavin. It is an honor and pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.'

Madhurima gasped her shock loudly and looked at Spartan with a surprised look, ' Kavin. That is your name. You did not tell me that and you just met Ravi and you are telling him your real name.'

Azhagan smiled, ' Sorry ma'am. But, I cannot lie to a teacher and that to one as great and illustrious one as Mr.Ravi Kumar here.'

Ravi smiled and asked, ' Finally?'

Azhagan countered it beautifully, ' Yes sir for you are my assignment.'

' Your assignment, Mr.Kavin?' Ravi smiled and throwing a funny look at Madhu, asked Azhagan, ' But we have just met and hardly know each other.'

Azhagan smiled, ' Mr.Ravi, Ma'am here is my assignment and you are her assignment. So, that makes both of you my assignments.'

Then he looked at Ravi who suddenly felt as if Kavin's eyes were not just looking at him but were diving deep into his soul and memories and maybe even more than that. But strangely, this did not make him feel uncomfortable or scared, but only reinforced the thought, the feeling that he had felt in his mind when his eyes had seen Azhagan standing calmly in the darkness with his hands folded across his chest.

' A kind and gentle soul, and one who anybody can declare with pride as their friend.'

Writing like life is not plain sailing or a one-dimension craft. I say that or rather confess that emphatically and request you to read the first and third words of the first in this paragraph. " Writing, Life " are both similar in that both are filled with moments of great joy and great sorrow and they both are trumped in the end by a sense of peace that fills a writer's head and heart when one fine day, he goes, ' Now that is the best I can do."

In life, we attain that peace after walking several paths and finally realizing that peace and happiness are inside each and every one of us and in the choices we make. Almost all problems in the world around you and in the world inside you are creations of choices and needs.

It is not only in the mirror that I have looked in searching for answers and if I was worth it but I searched all my life in other souls and tried desperately to see if they would accept me and with that need I unknowingly and willingly gave them the power to lord over me.

Then with time and age, I learned to accept myself and once I did that my eyes cleared up. Cataracts that had covered my soul's eyes cleared up and with that sight and new vision came new problems. For now, I see that I am a mirror for so many around me.

So, now, I have taken it up on myself to tell all those who stand before my mirror that they are beautiful and that they will remain beautiful even in old age and as they are drifting away in disease.

Before it was " I am here but why am I here?".

Now, it is " You are here. Enjoy it while it lasts and as long as it lasts.'

It is said that life and the journey through it make one a philosopher. Exactly. Absolutely correct. For, in the end, the philosophy of life is to make us all philosophers.

Yesterday, I sat before the idiot box and waited for the single DD channel to come on and today I am inside that idiot box and am an Idiot myself.

Yesterday I could not get enough of my 15-inch black and white Dyanora tv and today, I hate the 100s of channels of my 55-inch LED tv.

Yesterday, I wanted to live for 100 years but today, I wish for only 100 beautiful moments.

Yesterday, I cribbed after watching a movie and complained that it was just about okay and that the good scenes and moments were few and far between.

Today, I realize my life and all lives are but a lengthy 3 and a half hour movie that has a few fine moments worth remembering, and the rest are best slept through as I do in front of the tv or in a movie theater.

Happys Endings. Aur agar, aur agar theek na ho to woh the end nahin hai dosto, picture abhi baaki hai.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIZNpMLYtww

LOVERS OF ENGLISH

I met a Surgeon who named his son Naïf

(pronounced Knife).

I said what an apt name!

Then I came to know the following:

1. Lawyer’s daughter - Sue.

2. Radiologist’s son - Ray.

3. Ophthalmologist’s

daughter - Iris.

4. Florist’s daughter - Rose.

5. Mechanic’s son - Jack.

6. Archaeologist’s Son - Doug

7. Thief’s son - Rob.

8. Gymnast’s son - Jim.

9. Jeweler’s twin daughters - Ruby and Pearl.

10. Ornithologist’s Son - Robin.

11. Orthopedician’s Son - Boney.

12. Barber’s son - Harry.

13. Solicitor’s son - Will.

14. Accountant’s son - Bill.

15. Horticulturist’s - Daughter Ivy.

16. Gardener’s son - Pete.

17. Monarch’s son - Prince.

18. Dramatist’s Daughter - Oprah.

19. Sanitation Engineer’s Son - John.

20. Highway Engineer’s Son - Miles.

21. Dietician’s daughter Olive.

22. Actor’s son - Oscar.

23. Photographer's - Son: Click.

24. Gastro-physician's Daughter: - Enema

25. Homeopath's Daughter - Arnica.

26. Teacher's son - Mark

27. For a desi touch to above, diamond merchant’s son - Hiralal 😃

Avan, Aval, Adhu 342

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. William Arthur Ward

A normal person with average intelligence can make a quick assumption about a person they have just met by just reading the person and the cues that they are throwing out.

Kavin and Ravi stood looking at each other and in those few moments, Azhagan knew that the man whose hand he was shaking was not just an ordinary teacher but a master. A leader who was meant to lead young and fertile minds toward a great future. But what impressed him the most was Ravi's calm demeanor that was not just a facade that covered an unquiet mind but was totally him. He had seen countless souls who hid behind calm faces on which gentle smiles bloomed like lotuses and water lilies belying the troubled and muddy waters that lay beneath them and at their roots.

But, the teacher was different for his energy flowed from his soul and nothing else lay between that core and the outside aura that surrounded him with its mix of brilliant green and blue colors.

His memory took him back to the time when he had been a teenager himself seven hundred years ago and to his first teacher Appanar Iyya and his master in " Sairandhrivanam " and smiled tiredly to himself.

Feeling Ravi's eyes subtly reading him, Azhagan looked up and then looked at Madhu and said, ' Ma'am, I will wait for you in the car ' and turned to Ravi, ' Mr.Ravi, a pleasure meeting you sir. I hope someday in the future we can sit and talk in leisure.'

' I wish that myself, Mr.Kavin ' and then his eyes brightened suddenly and he looked at Azhagan and said, ' Your name means the sun. The light that dispels darkness.'

Azhagan shrugged his shoulders in a casual way, ' Yes sir. Just like your name which also means the sun and light.'

Nodding his head and saying goodbye, Azhagan left them and got into the car and the moment he shut the door, Madhu turned to Ravi who immediately took her in his arms and kissed her and they stood kissing and exchanging soul genes in each and every breath they took.

He stood long after she had left and then slowly walked back through the mangrove and returned home to Kumarapalayam and walked straight into a group that consisted of nearly everyone that were family members and friends who had become his family members.

Parthiban ran to him and after making sure that it was Ravi himself who stood before him, said in a choked voice, ' Dei, it is so good to see you again, da ' and then unable to speak, he began to sob and cry uncontrollably.

Then they both hugged each other and then hearing his wife's growls, Partha, stepped back saying, ' Ravi, it was so scary to see you in that condition for I had never seen you so vulnerable and weak before last night.'

' But he never lost hope. None of us did and we knew that you would be all right ' Dakshatold him and hugged Ravi fiercely and then stepped back and asked in her characteristic advocate voice, ' Wow! Nice perfume but it does not suit you for it is too soft, fragrant, and feminine in nature and also far more expensive than the Nivea deodorants both you and your friend regularly use.'

Bobbing his head like a buoy on rough waters, Partha echoed, ' I smelt it too but my mind was too occupied and overjoyed in seeing him again ' and turning to Ravi, ' Why are you wearing a woman's perfume? Did somebody spray that on you in the hospital?'

Rasaathi Ammal in a loud voice, said, ' The answer is no to both questions, Partha. The right answer is that my son slipped out of the house to meet someone and from the perfume, it is obvious that it was a woman that he met and also very obvious that their meeting was not done at arms distance.'

She looked at her son, ' Ravi. has she come back once again?'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK2FOLkJqIU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bvlHW5waN8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Oy3Z81eNI

Avan, Aval, Adhu 343

Ravi looked at his mother stoically although deep inside his mind, the wheels were turning rapidly as he weighed the pros and cons of answering her question. If it had been anybody else that had asked that question other than the ones present in the hall of his house and whose presence in his life was as important as the pillars that stood around him and held up the roof of his house, he would have evaded the question or would have simply answered it in the most honest way possible.

' Ravi ' Rasaathi Ammal said his name loudly and when she had his attention, ' Look around you and open your eyes and open your heart and answer my question.'

' I am trying mother.'

' Then why don't you stop trying and simply talk from your heart like you always do, son? You are among your friends who you consider as being part of your family and you are among your family members who also happen to be your best friends. So, why are you thinking and why are you taking so much time to answer a simple question that I have asked you?'

Dharmalinga Thevar stepped forward and placed a restraining hand on his sister's shoulder and spoke in a calm voice. ' Rasaathi, maybe Ravi has his own personal reasons for not answering your question and maybe it is better if we give him space and time and leave him to his thoughts.'

' Personal reasons ' Rasaaathi Ammal yelled loudly and stared at her cousin, ' Dharma, are you being serious? Personal. What can be more personal to my son than all of us? me his mother, you, and all his best friends and pointing to Inspector Sargunam, ' and his best student who happens to be a police officer.'

Dharmalinga Thevar who knew his sister very well realized that he had to calm her down before she blew her top but was stuck for a lack of thought and a choice of words.

Too late, for Rasaathi Ammal launched her verbal assault of a question and answer session.

She looked at Ravi and at everyone else and roared angrily, ' For all practical purposes, you were practically dead and even the doctors who treated you said that saving you was beyond their medical expertise and that only a miracle could save you. Then that miracle did happen and you were sent back to us by God and we are all thankful to him for that.'

Pointing to each and everyone in the hall, ' Let me remind you of something that might have skipped your mind ' and pointing to Dharmalinga Thevar, Parthiban, Daksha, and Inspector Sargunam, ' Every soul here would have willingly sacrificed their lives in exchange for your life and that includes me, your mother. The one who gave birth to you. Yet, you risk so much and sneak out to meet her.'

Parthiban and Daksha looked at each other and then looked at Inspector Sargunam who with an imperceptible nod stepped closer to Ravi and spoke to him in a calm and obedient voice.

' Iyaa, master sir, Amma is worried for she fears that you might be hurt again. She is right, sir, and then you have that possibility that even those you care for might be facing a possible risk.'

Rasaathi Ammal yelled, ' Sargunam, why are you mincing your thoughts when you should be telling your master the truth and what is on all our minds?'

Grabbing his arms, she shook him angrily and said, ' It is not only you that is in danger but Gayatri too. You think you can meet her secretly and get away with it. Impossible. Somehow someone somewhere will see you and pass on that information to Meenakshi.'

Unable to control her anger and frustration she began to cry and with eyes full of tears, ' Maybe it is best if you and Gayatri leave Kumarapalayam and fly off to Mumbai or somewhere far away from here and live your lives safely and in peace.'

' Gayatri? ' Ravi asked questioningly and after looking at his mother for a few moments slowly raised his eyes and looked at everybody else and repeated the question, ' Gayatri. You think I have returned home after having met Gayatri?'

All of them looked at each other and then at Ravi in confusion.

In the pin-drop silence, Rasaathi Ammal's question which was a mere whisper sounded like thunder in all their ears.

' Then who is this woman?'

If her question had sounded like thunder in their ears, Ravi's reply was like a nuclear bomb exploding all around them and in them.

' Amma, you just mentioned that when all the doctors had given up on saving my life, I was sent back to you miraculously by an act of God.'

With his characteristic serene Buddha smile, Ravi said, ' The woman who I just met is a miracle too and she was the one who brought me back from a certain death. Her name is not Gayatri. Her name is Madhu. Madhurima.'

Shouldnt it be Daksha instead of Gayathri here?