*From & To Sathish* - Thread 4 - Page 134

Vaanathai Pola 249

Raman looked at her and Jeeva told him that Kavita was on her way to see them and that she was bringing along a friend.

' Mr Radha Krishnan. Am I correct, sweetie?' and Jeeva looked at him with surprise, ' how did you know that?'

' I spoke to Kavita for a few minutes after hearing about the attack on her in the forest outside Madurai. She told me about Mr Radha Krishnan saving her life and how he nearly ended up losing his in the incident.'

She looked at him as he sat there wondering and trying hard to make sense of something and asked, ' Ram, I know you very well and I also know for a fact how well your brain works and yet here you are struggling with something.'

' She, I mean Kavita mentioned that this gentleman nearly lost his life while trying to save hers and yet here they will be in a short while. What happened there in that forest and what, who and how they managed to survive the attacks launched by nearly a hundred men is beyond my own rather fertile imagination.'

Startled upon hearing this new information, Jeeva looked at Raman, ' Baby, how do you know that nearly a hundred people attacked Kavita and Radha Krishnan in that forest?'

Raman spread his hands, ' hey, I am in the intelligence business and work for the number one intelligence agency in this country. That privilege allows me to ask and exact answers from every department or else they will feel my wrath and a kick up their arse.'

' So, what happened and how did they manage to escape alive and unharmed?'

She looked at him after recollecting the incident that involved the first time that she had met Radha Krishnan and how he had stepped forward and had taken on several armed men and had taken them down in a blink of an eye.

' Ram, that man is very good with his hands and legs and he moves just like you do. Calmly and with precision and without wasting too much breath and energy.'

' That makes him a healthy opponent to spar with and a good friend to have on our side, if and when the need arises.'

Both of them looked at the table as his mobile phone vibrated and danced around on the smooth table.

Raman picked it up and answered immediately for it was his boss V.K.Singh calling and said ' hello sir' and V.K. Singh in a loud and happy voice yelled, ' Congratulations, my boy. My best wishes and blessing to all four of you.'

' Thank you, sir. I would have called earlier but didn't want to disturb you for it is only today morning that both of us flew back from Tel-Aviv and given your condition, you need all the rest that you can get.'

' Ram, soon, very soon, I will rest and in peace forever and sleep a deep sleep with the knowledge that nobody will be able to wake me up and no Alarm clock can ring loud enough to wake me from my eternal slumber.'

Raman's voice became gruff and husky as he replied, ' Sir, please, you need to go in for another checkup for there might be some new experimental drug or treatment out there and which might just save you.'

' Save me from what, from, certain death and delay the inevitable for a little time. No Ram, that avenue is shut tight and it was affirmed to me while we were in Tel-Aviv.'

' What did you say? while we were there in Israel? When, how?'

' Dr Otto Hauptmann himself delivered the news to me personally. But take it from me that my time will be soon over and I will go smiling and in peace, for I know you are there to take care of this still immature and feisty nation of ours.'

He suddenly began to cough loudly and painfully and Raman could see him holding the phone while he wiped the blood from his lips that had been brought out from his cancer-ridden lungs.

' Raman, there is a very important reason that I am calling you right now and this concerns the disappearance of a high ranking officer named Brigadier Prakash Malhotra who seems to have mysteriously vanished and has not been heard of from today morning.'

' Today morning. But sir, there could be a perfectly innocent explanation for him missing and also him being an army guy, it is up to the military intelligence to handle this kind of problems.'

' No Raman, this is no ordinary officer but a man who was involved in some of our most covert operations concerning our borders and its neighbours, Pakistan, Nepal and Big C.'

Raman realised that V.k. Singh was talking about China asked him how he could be of help in the matter.

V.k. Singh quickly gave him the details and told him what to do and how to go about it and said in the end, ' This comes from the top, from the Prime Minister himself who has requested you to look into this matter and handle it as a top priority. All the security clearances have been made and the Army Intelligence has been told to expect your arrival, and they, in turn, have promised to co-operate with you completely.'

' Okay, sir. I will start first thing tomorrow morning and will report back at the latest by evening or late in the night.'

' Call me anytime that you need to, Raman for time is of no essence but life and the security of this nation most certainly is. Lucky, that this has happened in your city and so you don't have to fly back to Delhi, leaving your wife and family.

' Thank God for small mercies. Okay, boss. Done. Good night sir and please, take care of yourself.'

Vaanathai Pola 250

One day, there might come a moment when they would probably sit down and talk it out, the stuff that had happened. But, like them, the first words, " One day" is a moment that is still to be written and still in the future. If that day did come, they would all look at each other and then recollect this moment when they all came together and ask in quiet but open thought, ' Was it fate, destiny that brought us together?"

Jeeva knew very well who Raman had been talking to and so asked him with concern how V.k. Singh was doing. Raman stood still staring at her but not looking at her for his thoughts were full of his boss, mentor and friend who was going, going and would soon be gone.

' He is not okay, Jeeva. He has not been okay for a few months now and the million-dollar question is, how the hell is he holding on to his dying embers of life and what pain he must be suffering every moment that he is breathing and working for this nation.'

He looked at her with sad and wet eyes, ' I feel so impotent and helpless that I am unable to do anything in this situation to help him and it leaves me feeling weak and scared.'

' Ram, what can you or anyone else do in this situation? This is beyond our means and understanding and all we can do is pray and wish them well.'

Her eyes now shining with the memory and the sadness that followed it closely, she said, ' what could we do in the case of Suja and Vijay? Nothing. My parents were right outside the door and yet it happened and that too with her own hands. As I said, there are certain things that are beyond our control and all we can do is cry and carry on and hope that it too passes on.'

Both of them were brought out of their sadness with the cries that both their twins yelled out and both closed in on them and hushed them back to sleep.

' Looks like our babies don't want us to dwell in the past and want us to move on into the future with them.'

Jeeva smiled, ' Yes, those were my exact thoughts for I felt both of them telling that to me' and pointing to her head, ' Here. Deep inside here, I heard their thoughts or rather felt their thoughts.'

' My beautiful wife has suddenly turned clairvoyant and a mind reader, I see.'

Kissing her lips, he asked her with a seriously mocking face, ' Okay, what am I thinking right now? Go on baby, tell me?'

Jeeva looked at him and said without hesitation, ' you are thinking about making calls and setting up meetings for tomorrow regarding a very important army officer who has been reported missing.'

The words fell like a thunderclap on his ears and all Raman could do was stare at Jeeva and then he asked in a bewildered voice, ' what? How did you know that? '

He hurriedly looked back at the place where he had been while speaking to V.K.Singh and then turned and looked at Jeeva and spoke in a confused tone, ' No way you could have heard V.K's voice from where you are and even if you had heard him, you most definitely could not have heard it in such great detail.'

He looked at her more with concern than fear and asked, ' what is going on Jeeva?'

' I don't know Raman what is going on Raman but I am sure about one thing and that is something happened while I was passed out and it has to do with a small child.'

Raman was not one to get scared very easily but he felt the cold coils of fear uncoiling themselves in his heart for it concerned his wife and children and their welfare.

Then realizing that Jeeva was looking at him, he looked at her questioningly and she, in turn, nodded, ' Yes, I can hear and feel all that is going on inside you.'

Raman took a deep breath and exhaled loudly and with that sigh out of his body, he looked at her and smiled his beautiful strong smile and looked at Jeeva, ' At least it saves me having to talk to you about stuff, for now, you can read them all directly from my mind.'

Touching her head with care and love, ' I don't know what is going on, baby but it can wait for now. What cannot wait is this mystery about this little boy who gave you a message to give to me and that message was from him, Rudran. What has Rudran got to do with you and what has that little boy have to do with him and us?'

Jeeva smiled and gently taking Raman's hand that was caressing her, kissed it and said, ' He saved my life and our babies lives. I know that and that will do.'

Raman nodded his acceptance, ' very true Jeeva. But, by saving you and our babies, he saved me and our family for you know what would become of my life without you in it?

' I know, Ram. You are me and I am you. We are nothing without each other.'

Raman kissed her lips and then both looked at each other and he said, ' Well, we all owe a big thanks to that little kid called Nikhil for all this would not have been possible without him coming into our lives.'

Your love should never be offered

to the mouth of a stranger,

Only to someone

Who has the valour and daring

To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife

Then weave them into a blanket

To protect you.

The boy who went into the dark and came back with light

In the light of the Idiot box

The tv came home in a wooden box, a cabinet and I thought then back in the mid-1970s, " A coffin befitting a royal body." Television came and I became one of its instant fans. Black and white stranger spoke to me about strange things and all things that concerned politics and economy.

Me, " I prayed for Wonder Balloon and kanmani Poonga every day and prayed that they were not only for Saturday and Sunday."

To them prayers, I very soon added Oliyum Ozhiyum and Chitrahaar and all was well. I remembered a man who never stopped smiling wearing a white fur cap and dark glasses become the first man of my state and all was good.

Then I grew up and the Idiot box became full of colours and joined my teen years that had now blossomed and began to bloom but was not particularly fragrant.

The coffin of the tv vanished and now in the centre of our hall sat a grey box but still an idiot box.

The twisted coils of the Antenna soon gave way to cable and cable soon gave way to a strange dish on my roof and all was good. Many more new channels streamed in many more new soaps and stuff and sucked me right into its world. I was at peace and thought the world was heaven.

Today, I see that the Tv is not the idiot box but it is me that has turned into an Idiot.

Today, I saw " Justice for Arnab" and turned and saw that " Justice for Sushant " was not in the news anymore.

I thought RIP Justice and RIP Sushant.

For some time now it has been only the two comedy channels that have kept me glued to the light of the Tv screen.

The wooden coffin box of that Dyanora tv from the 1970s has now turned thin and trendy and calls itself LED and a losing LCD.

And I wait and wait in vain for Wonder Balloon and Kanmani poonga and I will keep waiting for a better and less divisive world and whisper to myself, " Justice to all us Idiots."

I wish all of you a Happy Diwali. A celebration of lights and a celebration of the triumph of good over bad. When dug deep and understood in detail it means the constant battles our soul wages against our own petty and cliched Egostical thoughts. I hope and pray that there is always light in all your lives. Have a great day

Vaanathai Pola 251-Confluence of Raman and Krishnan

Confluence-the junction of two rivers, especially rivers of approximately equal width.

Confluence- SPB and Tamil coming together.

Confluence- SPB, Ilayaraja and Tamil coming together.

"Devprayag" means "Godly Confluence" in Sanskrit. As per Hindu scriptures, Devprayag is the sacred event of the merging of two visible heavenly rivers, Alakananda and Bhagirathi, to form the holy Ganga. It's believed that a third river, the mythical Saraswati river which runs underground meets these two rivers at this confluence.

Why did I, Satish, your teller of this story title this chapter as Confluence?

The answer is just like those two mighty rivers,Alakananda and Bhagirathi coming together to form the holy Ganges at Devprayag, two mighty forces called Raman and Radha Krishnan meet one another for the first time and will soon join together and flow as one mighty force against whom even the Gods and Angels might think twice, thrice before taking them on. And, just like in Devprayag, a third force, a mythical force that operates unseen joins them in their minds and bodies and thus giving rise like the Mighty and holy Ganges, a mighty two man but in reality a three-pronged weapon.

This universe is made up of five elements that we know very well as the Pancha bhootas. These elements are: Prithvi/Bhudevi-Earth, Apas/Varuna/Jal- Water, Agni- Fire, Vayu-Air, Akasha/Dyaus/ether-Space . These elements have different characteristics and these also account for different faculties of human experience. In Ayurveda and Indian philosophy, the human body is considered to be made of these five elements.

But, there exist another force, an element, a power that rivals all the Pancha bhootas that make up this universe and that force is called your mind.

You can kill it but can never defeat it.

The theory that the mind being the most powerful is confirmed in Bhagwad Gita as follows:

Arjuna says to Lord Krishna, 'Chanchalam hi manah Krishna Pramathi bala ba dridham, tasmat nigraham manye vayoriba suduskaram'

meaning: 'O Krishna, this mind is the most powerful and stubborn. I feel that it even impossible to control than air.' (Arjuna wants say that sometimes we can control air but not the mind!)

Then, you have the two states of the mind which is called Right and Wrong. Heaven and Hell.

Lord Ram and Lord Krishna are both avatars that the almighty God Vishnu took to conquer evil but the similarity ends there for both of them are totally opposite and diverse in their way of thought and action but they both share one common goal and which the triumph of Right and truth.

Lord Ram you can say went by the book and followed the letter of the law to perfection but Lord Krishna did not waste too much time over them and instead used loopholes and cracks in his enemies to defeat them and just about stayed in the right zone although he strayed into the grey zone, that blurry path that lies thin between good and evil and is the only path for most of us it seems.

In a nutshell, Lord Krishna bent the law whenever possible to suit his plans but just stopped short of breaking it. Whereas Lord Rama, in my opinion, bent or maybe even broke the law just once in his life and that was when he killed Vali, the monkey king by shooting an arrow into him from a hidden place.

Raman noticed the sudden stillness of both Jeeva and their babies and tracked her eyes as they stared at the door and he immediately got to his feet and at the very same moment, the door opened and Kavita entered. She was followed by a man as tall as him or maybe an inch taller than him and the first thing that Raman noticed about the stranger was his Jade green eyes.

Kavita entered with a smile and ran to Jeeva and gave her a tight hug and asked, ' How are you doing, Jeeva?'

Jeeva answered that she was even better now that she was back in town.

Kavita looked at Raman and getting up gave him a tight hug too and Raman kissed the top of her head and said, ' Welcome back and we are all so happy to see you back safe and unharmed.'

Kavita turned and glanced shyly at Radhu and said, ' Raman, this is Radha Krishnan.'

Radhu stepped forward with a soft and respectful smile and said, ' Hello, Raman, Please call me Radhu.'

' I will if you call me Ram and not Raman.'

Kavita slowly sat down and gazed on Suja and Vijay and her body began to shake uncontrollably with emotion and her eyes began to cry both out of joy and sorrow.

Joy and sorrow. Birth and death.

As tears of joy and sorrow, they trickle down our cheeks

converging as the two mighty rivers and then

as one they flow down our hearts and our chests

and fall to earth from whence they began

sweet tears, salty tears

tears filled with fears

tears when the heart is broken

tears when the heart is mended and healed

tears when another heart is in pain

tears when another heart is in joy

tears, when we see another's tears

tears, tears of sympathy and empathy

tears when you fall in love

tears when you fall out of love

and that tears when you know you are alive

and one with the universe and you cry

knowing how sacred and lucky you are to be alive

to know and feel that you are alive

and it fills you with gratitude

and love and respect

for all that is around you

Tear of gratitude

and tears of thanks along

with tears of realization and humility

Vaanathai Pola 252

Radha Krishnan had wondered how he might respond to Raman when the time came for them to meet from the moment Kavita had told him about him and how close their bonds were with each other's family.

When Kavita, without any inhibitions had told him openly about how she had nurtured feelings for Raman and how he had politely turned her down, Radhu had felt a spark, a thorn of jealousy prick his heart.

But, here he was, that thorn called Raman whom Kavita had once loved and yet all Radha Krishnan felt was respect and gratitude.

' Raman, I have heard so much about you from Kavita and I finally meet the man himself.'

Raman winked naughtily at Kavita and said, ' I hope the Honorable Minister has spoken honourably about me?'

' It seems impossible to say anything dishonourable when it comes to you, Raman' Radhu observed and continued, ' Your folk have named you aptly and deservedly although from what I know of Ramayana, Lord Rama himself behaved imperfectly a few times and displayed poor judgement in the end for I hate what he did to Sita after defeating Ravana.'

Raman was lost for words for he also was of the opinion that Lord Rama should not have asked Sita to prove her chastity for he knew that he would rather die than put that kind of pressure and humiliation on Jeeva.

' Exactly, you would never do that to your lady and wife but Lord Rama did and that was why I feel you are better than your namesake.'

Raman looked at Radhu questioningly for he had no clue as to how his thoughts had been read by this gentleman and not knowing what to make of it and deciding that it could keep for another day, he shrugged and replied,

' Radhu, those were different times and also you are forgetting that Lord Rama was a king while I am but an ordinary citizen of this planet. I suppose, he asked Sita to prove her chastity more for others and to clear their doubts than for himself.'

Kavita added, ' I guess if you look at it in that angle, then what Lord Ram did was correct and since he was answerable to the people of his kingdom he was forced to do it.'

She looked at Raman, ' Ram, you used the words, different times. I am sorry but I have to disagree with you. For, times might change and generations have passed on but people and their behaviour never ever changes. In fact, I think people have become more judgemental and are ready to pass their opinions and execute you without any trial or any defence argument from you.'

Jeeva laughed sarcastically and all of them turned to her, ' Kavita hit the proverbial nail on the head. I browse the youtube for songs and scenes from old movies and also to listen to my favourite singer, the late SPB's songs and I often stumble upon channels where people from all walks are discussing other people, mostly actors and public personalities and venting their bile at them using vile words.'

Raman sighed sadly and Radhu looked at him and the others and observed, ' This singer SPB who passed away recently must have been really good. I wish I had heard of him before now.'

Kavita patted his arm and chided him, ' Hey, baby, that song, your favourite song " Kaadhalin deepam ondru" was sung by SPB.'

Radhu felt and looked foolish for not knowing this and then he looked at Raman who was smiling but also thinking, ' Mr Radha Krishnan, you are about my age and speak Tamil fluently and yet you just slipped up and said, that you had wished you had heard about SPB much before than now. What does that mean and how is it possible that a Tamilian has not heard or is familiar with Tamil songs?'

Radhu read Raman's thoughts clearly and with a perfectly innocent expression on his face, he turned away from Raman and told Kavita, that it was getting late for both of them.'

Raman asked Radhu if he needed a lift home which was politely turned down and Kavita stood up and looked at Raman and Jeeva and said, ' I am coming back tomorrow with appa and amma for they will want to see the babies too.'

She looked at both of them, ' Thank you both of you for everything that you have done for me and my family and thank you for giving us back, our Vijay.'

Stooping over the babies, she kissed their tender feet and wishing them well said bye and left with Radhu, leaving behind Raman drowned in thought.

She looked at him, ' Hello hero sir, penny for your thoughts.'

Raman lost in thought, ' nothing, just curious about Kavita's friend and wondering what his story is?'

' his story or are you high up in the clouds preening because he complimented you by saying that you are a better person than Lord Raman himself.'

Raman looked at her and bringing his hands together made his best Nambiar face and snarled, ' As far as you are concerned, I will always be Raavan to you.'

Saying this he kissed her and then remembered words that had been told a long time ago and in another country.

Vaanathai Pola 253

“Everything seems simple until you think about it. Why is love intensified by absence?” ― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

They walked side by side with protocol keeping them apart as a necessity and for public view. But, away from the prying eyes of the public, and unseen by other souls, Kavita and Radhu walked side by side joined by their souls in thought and action.

The Police teams had been requested to stay put and not enter the hospital and all of them on seeing Minister Kavita Duraipandi Arumugam returning back went on full alert.

Radha Krishnan whispered softly, ' Kavita ' and she looked at him, nodded and looked away for both of them were in full view of the police teams and she knew that she did not have the energy to mask her feelings when he said bye and went on his way.

Radhu saluted and said, ' Good night Ma'am.'

' Good night, Mr Pandyan and thank you for everything.'

Radhu nodded and watched as Kavita walked away and thought to himself,

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies. '

Kavita smiled to herself for she heard his thought in hers and thought out aloud her reply, ' Baby, no Lord Byron won't do for today and what we feel each other. I walk in beauty for you walk beside me and for I bear you in my soul and now in my womb, too. I am beautiful because you are beautiful and because your love shines brightly like a beacon.

The convoy of three police vehicles sped past him and towards Kavita's house on Greamways road and Radhu stood alone in the night.

Realizing that it had been nearly a day since he had spoken to his mother, he hurriedly called her.

Shinogai looked at the phone and heaved a sigh of relief and told Girija that it was Radhu who was calling and answered it.

' Ayan is everything okay. Are both of you safe?'

' Ummi, everything is okay and we just got back to Chennai. How is dad doing?'

Shinogai's voice fluttered, flustered by its emotions, ' He is okay but it will take some time, Ayan. He keeps drifting in and out of the coma and the doctors say that it looks very promising. Ayan, we caught a bit of the news on tv and a lot more on youtube and on google. You had all of us really worried about both of you. What happened in Madurai and how did you manage to escape against such overwhelming odds?'

Radhu laughed and said,'Ummi, that is a very long story that will keep until tomorrow morning. I am really tired right now and just want to hit the sack and sleep for a week and more.'

' Okay, Ayan. I am glad that you and Kavita are safe and back with us now. Goodnight baby. I will see you here tomorrow morning.'

' Ummi, what about the matter with the man who you threw out of the window? what is going on with that?'

' The cops have taken it up and are pursuing it but I guess they will hit a dead end at one point for there is no dead body to make a case of this matter.'

' The old man?'

' Him, he must be skulking around somewhere nearby.'

' Okay, Ummi.Please say a big hi to Girija amma and to dad.'

Radhu slowly walked out of the hospital and hailed an auto and gave him the directions to The Flock and then called Thangamani master and informed him that he would be there in about 30 minutes or so.

The gates of The Flock opened the moment his autorickshaw pulled up outside it and the moment he stepped out of it, three tiny figures ran to him and flung their tender arms around his legs.

Radhu smiled and knelt down and gently hugged Appu, Pappu and Meena who hugged him back fiercely and crying loudly, said, ' You came back. You came back to us.'

The Auto driver asked Radhu, ' what boss, three kids ha? I am finding it difficult to manage just one and here you are with three of them.'

Radhu smiled and looked at the three little monkeys and told the driver, ' I wouldn't have minded if they had numbered even a hundred as long as all of them are as sweet and cute as these three.'

The auto driver smiled and nodded approvingly, ' Boss, it cost 150 rupees to bring you here and I asked you for 300. But, I don't want that extra cash for you need all the money you can manage to look after your three kids.'

Radhu thanked him and gave him a 500 rupees note and said, ' Be a good father and thank you for dropping me off.'

The auto driver watched as the gates closed on his passenger and his three kids and started his engine cursing, ' s..t, and I have a demon for a son in my house. Maybe, I should abandon that evil spirit here, so he can learn a few things from those sweet kids.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxTExZLis-w

Good morning. I wish you a beautiful day.

They had been married for decades. They were old now and a little bit cold now. The setting november sun caught her in its last rays and lit her up and set her hair on white fire.

' Beautiful' he whispered and she looked at him, ' me, beautiful.'

He nodded and she asked, ' how? why now?'

' My eyes were blind and it took a setting sun on a body that is in its own twilight to reveal that.'

Theirs had been an arranged marriage and their sex life had been on similar arrangements. Missionary postions with a mission, ' lets get it over with' and sooner than later it was done and one and one became two and two became four in a few years time.

They had run a race with time and life and youth and health and the finishing line had been their children and the children's future.

Baby, toddler, child, teenager and then adult. Creche, school, college, work and then marriage.

Like a school timetable, their life timetable had been set on a steady, known and cliched course.

Both the sons were now abroad, married and well settled and hardly called and when they called, it was a student calling his master and teacher.

He looked at her and she looked at him and time and life looked at them both.

' has it really been 30 years?' he asked with a softness that she had never heard or felt in him or from him.

Tears coated her aging dry eyes and they danced and hung, trapped like diamonds and in the setting suns last gasp of the evening, the tears lit up like rubies to his soul and he said, again, ' Beautiful.'

She smiled, ' beautiful, who, me?' and wiping her tears, patted him and said, ' It is time for that cataract operation.'

' When I meant beautiful, I meant you, the real you, the one whom I am only now seeing.'

She looked at him with a slight anger tinged with frustration, ' Now, after all these years and now when I am wrinkled and gray.'

He smiled and touched her cheek tenderly,' Time has gone, maybe. youth has vanished, maybe. But, they have gone leaving beyond the real you, the beautiful you.'

They sat man and woman,husband and wife,two friends talking well into the night and it made them both realise how important it was to talk.talk from the soul and discuss thoughts and emotions.All it took was the effort to talk and it brought them closer,much closer than before.Duty is good.Responsibility is good.But when both are combined with the need and a passion to fulfill both of them then that must be love.Oh,then what do i know about love.

If not now, then when.

Lots of love and best wishes.

"Once upon a time, there was a boy. He lived in a village that no longer exists, in a house that no longer exists, on the edge of a field that no longer exists, where everything was discovered, and everything was possible. A stick could be a sword, a pebble could be a diamond, a tree, a castle. Once upon a time, there was a boy who lived in a house across the field, from a girl who no longer exists. They made up a thousand games. She was queen and he was king. In the autumn light her hair shone like a crown. They collected the world in small handfuls, and when the sky grew dark, and they parted with leaves in their hair.Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering." Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

The Vaigai river, daughter of the sky, wanders ever on the tongues of poets, who sing the generous gifts she bestows on the land she has blessed. Most cherished possession of the Pandya Kingdom, she resembles a noble and respected maiden. Her dress is woven of all the flowers that fall from the date tree,the vakulam,the kino,the white kadamba,the gamboge,the tilak,the jasmine,the myrobalan, the pear tree,the great champak, and the saffron plant. The broad belt she wears low around her hips is adorned with lovely flowers of kuru and golden jasmine, mixed with the mushundai’s thick Lianas,the wild jasmine,the convolvulus,the bamboo,the volubilis,the pidavam, and Arabian jasmine. The sandbanks,edged by tress in blossom, are her youthful breasts. Her red lips are the trees that spread their red petals along the shore. Her lovely teeth are wild jasmine buds floating in the stream. Her long eyes are the carp, which playing in water,appear and vanish like a wink. Her tresses are the flowing waters filled with petals.

As if she knew the sad fate that lay in store for young Kannagi, the river Vaigai had put on her best veil made of precious flowers, and could not hold back the tears that filled her eyes. After passing along narrow paths through the woods, Kannagi and Kovalan reached the bank of the river. Both cried out in wonder:

“This is not a river but a stream in blossom.” Silapadigaram by Ilango Adikal-Translated by Alian Danielou

It's so dark right now, I can't see any light around me. That's because the light is coming from you. You can't see it but everyone else can." Lang Leav

Was a time when shiny surfaces and mirrors scared me for they reflected another. Came a time when I realized that the reflection had something to do with me. Then I learnt that the opposite in the shining was me, all me.

plates and dirty panes did not do and so chairs and stools lifted me to the mirror and I stood staring at my face, my reflection wondering " Is that me? Is that who I am?"

My limbs grew and then I stood face to face with a razor on my cheek and soon tired of the mirror and forgot about it for I had hit upon new mirrors and new reflections to rejoice about.

Others and in their eyes and in their words and in their actions, I found myself being reflected. Sadly, some of them did not reflect me back or mirror my thoughts and actions and it left me feeling sad and depressed.

Then, curtains down and I reflected my own thoughts and questions to my own mind and soul and now I am happy with myself.

I smiled in peace and much to my surprise and delight, it soon began to reflect from others and now we are all happy.

Good morning. I wish you a beautiful day.