From & To Sathish #5 - Page 112

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCVfZA0zXDg

Avan, Aval Adhu 379

All bad behavior is really a request for love, attention, or validation. We feel safer when we can label someone and figure them out, but it’s hardly foolproof. ‘Good people’ are capable of bad behavior. ‘Bad people’ are capable of good behavior. Forgiveness requires a sense that bad behavior is a sign of suffering rather than malice.

She hugged him, held him and if it had been possible to take him into her own body, she would have done so but she could not. Then finally she released him from the clutches and taking a step back looked up into his eyes and said, ' Always the gentleman.'

' Yes and no ' Ravi replied and Meenakshi nodded approvingly ' And lest we forget, the man with the perfect answer and explanation to any question and to any situation.'

' Again, no, for if I had indeed been that man you describe me as, then I wouldn't be standing here outside your door.'

Then her face suddenly seemed to freeze in fear, horror, and pain, and for a second Ravi thought she might be suffering some kind of seizure or a cardiac arrest. But to his relief, she relaxed but now her eyes were flooded with tears and she placed her hand on his chest and quickly unbuttoned the top two buttons of his cotton shirt, moved it aside, and stared at the bandage that covered his chest. She saw the redness around the bandage and quickly looked at him and said, ' I am sorry. It was not my intention and I specifically told him not to hurt you.'

Ravi buttoned his shirt and searched her eyes and finding what he was looking for in them, smiled painfully, ' I know that. But, hurting my friends is as good as hurting me.'

' I am sorry, Ravi. But that woman and her attitude set me off and her proximity to you was enough to........................'

Ravi looked at her and smiled, ' I know you well and so know that both the reasons you stated now are only half the truth for there is more to this situation than that.'

Meenakshi's entire body jerked in shock and she slowly stepped back and looked at Ravi who smiled and said, ' You did not send the Paliyan tribal to Kodaikanal just because you were jealous of Gayatri but for another more important reason.'

' No, nothing. There was no other reason ' Meenakshi mumbled and stumbled as she tried to say more to convince Ravi who shook his head sadly and said, ' Meena, Meena, I know you as well as you think you know me. If you know me well then you should also know very well that I am good at connecting dots and solving puzzles.'

Meenakshi tried to come up with some counter reply, an answer that might change Ravi's train of thought which was obviously leading up to the station which would also be the final destination and his next words proved her own thoughts right.

' I think, that incident at Sadaya Perumal temple where she foiled the theft by stopping two north Indians was the real reason behind the attack on all of us in Whispering Rocks.'

' Meenakshi, Meenakshi, look at me. Look into my eyes ' Ravi told her softly and she did, and reading her eyes confirmed his doubts, he sighed and said, ' I know you, Meena and I know what a good woman you really are, and with that said, I know that even though you don't have anything to do with the temple theft, someone close to you is involved in it.'

Seeing his eyes wander into the house, Meenakshi told him ' He is not here. I am sorry, Ravi but I learned of his involvement only very recently.'

Ravi looked at her, ' I know for a fact that the Meenakshi that I knew will never ever stoop to such low levels and that you are a God-fearing person. But, nevertheless, several crimes of similar nature have taken place in and around Madurai over the past few years and now there is the bomb blast in Chennai where an entire gallery was destroyed along with the owner and his family.'

He stopped and looked at her, ' What is going on, Meenakshi? Have you stopped and given thought to the fact that there will be a team of cops who will be thinking along the same lines as I am doing right now? Have you thought about the effect it is going to have on your poor father and what it will do to his reputation?'

She smiled and nodded, ' I thought of everything but I was left with no choice but to do what I was forced to do.'

Their talk was interrupted by Kaveri the maidservant who stood behind the door and in a soft voice announced that Breakfast was ready.

Meenakshi looked at Ravi, ' This is the first time that you have come to my house and that too to see me. Let's eat first and we will talk later, Ravi. Please come in and make this woman the happiest person alive in this world.'

' I am sorry but I am in no mood to eat anything right now, Meenakshi. Least of all not in your house. I have come to see you for a specific reason and I will leave once I have spoken my mind and what is in my heart.'

' So much anger and so much bitterness ' Meenakshi observed and came closer to Ravi, ' but my heart and my soul and every inch of my body is full of love for you. All I think about is you and yet here you stand and talk to me like you are talking to some person who you hate and find distasteful.'

She sat down in the chair and looked at him sadly, ' All I ever wanted and still want is to be with you.'

He looked at her sharply, ' We crossed that bridge a long time ago. Please, don't forget that you are a married woman and a mother of a grown-up boy.'

' True, Ravi. But it is you who crossed the bridge and went away, abandoning me. I am still there on that bridge, waiting, the same Meenakshi and I still love you as much as I did then, right from the moment we were children.'

' I am sorry but we are not children anymore and we have not been that for many decades now. Please let go of the past as if it was a different life and try to live your current life peacefully.'

' Look at me. Look into my eyes, Ravi ' she told him and when he did look into her eyes, she looked back and asked, ' Peace. What is this peace that you talk about? Where do I find this peace that you describe so philosophically? '

Her big beautiful eyes shone with the wetness of her tears and her voice trembled in sync with the tears that shimmered and glittered in the morning light as she said, ' I knew peace once and it had a name. Your name and that was in another era. That is gone and so too has peace. Tell me master sir for I don't understand it when they talk about all the sacrifices that you made for children and how hard you have worked for their education and their futures and how steadfast you have been in the goals that you set for yourself and this village called Kumarapalayam.'

Ravi looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression and Meenakshi's face was full of pain and suffering as she spoke in a broken and choked voice.

' You work so hard and tirelessly for all the children in and around Kumarapalayam. But you forgot me. You have sacrificed so much for your cause and for the cause of your students. But what about me and my heart and my thoughts? What did you sacrifice for me, the one constant in your life who was your cousin, friend, and partner? We ate as one, slept as one, bathed as one, and did everything and went everywhere as one and then all of that changed drastically and dramatically and you stepped away and moved away.'

Ravi made an exasperated noise and in a slightly raised voice and irritated tone, told her, ' Please, we've been over this before and that too many times. I did not abandon you and I did not move away from you. You came of age and I only did what any other self-respecting person would have done and should be doing in that kind of situation.'

Sitting down in the chair next to her, he looked at her angrily, ' In case you have forgotten, we live in a very conservative society and maybe things are a bit better today but if you look back you will remember how things were back then. It wouldn't have been proper for a boy to constantly be seen in the company of a girl who has come of age.'

Meenakshi yelled loudly, ' But we are cousins, family, and the whole world knew how close we were and the bond we shared with each other. The whole world knew that we were to be married and that our parents had agreed upon it a long time ago.'

' But I did not agree to it. Nobody asked for my permission before making such an agreement. Families do that on the spur of the moment, driven by their emotions and heart and rarely ever use their heads and the brains inside it.'

Avan, Aval Adhu 380

“I hate and love. And why, perhaps you’ll ask. I don’t know: but I feel, and I’m tormented.”-Catullus

All it takes is a heartfelt apology, a sorry from one's soul to ease the pain that they caused in another person. Easier said than done for if it had been so easily said and managed then this world would be a better place for all beings. There comes a moment when friends drift apart from each other like icebergs breaking away from their mother glacier and even though they are drifting away on the same sea, the same ocean, it matters not for both feel like they are on different oceans and maybe even on a different planet all together.

The walls, the fences, the distances that come up between minds which are friends no more cannot be measured for it is as deep as it is tall.

It was the same with Ravi and Meenakshi as they sat next to each other, barely a few feet away from one another. Yet, both knew that a chasm, a deep abyss, a mountain separated them and deep in their hearts, they knew that they were all insurmountable. At least not in this life.

She looked at him lovingly, eyes full of tenderness and care, and said, ' Ravi, you have lost a lot of weight. Please look after yourself. There is so much depending on you and if you should suffer, then I and the world around you will suffer too. More than you.'

He looked at her sadly and smiled, ' How can I look after myself, Meena, when I have to constantly worry about you and at the same time worry about the safety of the people who are close to me?'

' I am sorry, Ravi but I am unable to help myself when I get jealous and angry ' and hurriedly added, ' But, think back, take your time and think back and tell me when was the last time, I did something to upset you or hurt you.'

With a smile, Ravi replied, ' It is not about how many times you have interfered in my life or the people concerned about me but the damage you do with just one attempt. It started then and it has not stopped until now. But, I am here to request you to stop, please stop and step away from my life and if possible forget me and that I ever existed in your life.'

' The day that I forget you will be the day you will hear of my death. It could be today or it could be many years from now but until my last breath, my head and heart will think of you and beat for you.'

' Oh God,' Ravi groaned loudly, ' Meenakshi, we are stepping into our middle age phase and yet here you are talking like a teenager with a crush and as if you are enacting a role in a Shakespeare drama. '

She smiled, 'Baby, life has more drama than cinema itself. I read in this blog that belongs to a writer called Satish Kumar that Real life is more deadly and has more twists and turns than Reel life. Poor dog, he must have sailed in the same boat that we are in right now.'

Then before he could pull his hand away, she reached out and held it and when he looked at her, said, ' Ravi, I am the same Meena that you knew once. Nothing has changed and I promise you that I will love you with all my heart and strength. You think, that you alone have existed and suffered in solitude but what you don't know is that I too have been suffering in silence and in solitude and in a way have endured more pain than you.'

Ravi's eyes grew large with concern as he tried to interpret and understand her words and then asked her, ' Tell me, Meenakshi. Talk to me. Maybe it will help in some way if you talk about it and share it with me.'

Meenakshi smiled and said, ' Help me or help you, Ravi? How will it help you when I tell you what happened on the day of my wedding? How can you even begin to imagine what I felt and experienced when a man, a total stranger who only earlier that day became my husband tore into my body and ripped my soul apart? How will you ever get to know what pain and torment I suffered when both my body and soul lay ripped and ruined and bled out on the bed?'

Slowly removing her hand, she stared at him and asked in a very calm voice, ' Are you still a virgin? Have you been with a woman, yet?'

He looked at her with a bewildered expression, ' Why would you even ask me that question? How does it even relate to what we are talking about?'

' Everything, Ravi. It has everything to do with what we are talking about and who I am and who you are right this moment.'

Leaning back she looked at him with inquisitive eyes and said, ' Okay, if you have slept with a woman, and that is a big if, for I know only too well about your gentleman morals and code of conduct, then the woman must be a lucky one and also one you desired and cared a lot about. If indeed, what I say did happen then you and the woman must have made love.'

Meenakshi burst into laughter and clapped her hands and pointed to his face and said, ' Ravi, you should look at yourself in the mirror for you are so sweet when you blush and look embarrassed.'

Ravi's mind finally grasped what Meenakshi was talking about but he remained mute and simply stared at her and saw darkness fall over her face and the lights dim and die out in her eyes as her lips moved and said, ' I have known only sex, animal kind of sex in my marriage and I can count the number of times that my husband f..ked me on the fingers of my one hand.'

Her voice choked and unable to control her feelings any longer, she began to sob her heart out and in a broken voice said, ' That is why, I begged you, threatened you, and pleaded with you to take me in your arms and make love to me on the day I was getting married.'

Wiping her tears angrily, she scolded him lovingly, ' You stupid man, foolish honorable man. If you had done that, I would have gone on living my life in some comfort. But you did not and here we are, back to square one.'

Ravi shook his head and said, ' Meena, I am sorry. I am really sorry for all that has happened to you and all the pain and suffering that you have had to endure all these years. I would not wish such sorrow on even my worst enemy least of all on a woman, a friend who I still care and worry a lot about.'

Meenakshi smiled and then her smile froze as Ravi continued, ' But, I want you to answer this question that concerns both of us.'

His eyes were grim and drowning in torment, as he asked, ' You say you love me more than you love yourself and that you were willing to sacrifice anything for me..............' and Meenakshi interrupted him and stated, ' It hasn't changed for I still love you and am still willing to sacrifice everything for you. Even my life.'

Ravi smiled and his eyes boring into hers asked in a grim voice, ' Then why all these threats and moves against me? Why not let me live the life that I want to live? If you really loved me and are ready to sacrifice everything for me, then why send people to attack my friends? You think that I, my mother, and others around our families are unaware of all the sabotaging you have done to all the marriage proposals that came to me and how you constantly kept threatening and chasing away female faculty members who appeared friendly towards me.'

Meenakshi unable to face his eyes, his soul turned away slowly and whispered, ' Because I knew that none of them were good enough for you. Because I was jealous and loved you too much.'

Slowly, very slowly she turned to face him and after gazing into his eyes for a few long moments, Meenakshi spoke in a faint but steely voice, ' It has not changed a bit and I doubt if it will change any time soon in this life of mine. I am sorry for contradicting myself, Ravi, but it is what it is, and what I feel for you has no rational explanation. I am sorry but we both are meant for each other.'

Avan, Aval Adhu 381

When Ravi had gotten out of bed that morning, it was still dark outside and darker still inside his mind. The fatigue that his body felt having gotten just a few hours of troubled sleep seemed to have no great effect on his body and did not slow him down in any way. But the very thought of meeting Meenakshi again was beginning to weigh heavily on his thoughts. It was not the thought of meeting her that scared him but what she was going to say and how she was going to react after hearing what he had to say.

He had messaged Brahma Ganesan to wait for him near the Kumaran temple that was situated just outside Kumarapalayam and after a quick bath, he had slipped into a casual cotton shirt and cotton pants and had quietly stepped out of the house using the back door and had walked right into his posse of friends and family.

Rasaathi Ammal looked at her son and asked him if he was sure he was doing the right thing by going alone to meet Meenakshi.

' Amma, she is no lion and her house is no den and importantly, I am no rabbit or a cow to be preyed upon.'

Daksha was her usual effervescent self and observed loudly, ' Very true master for that mad woman usually preys on others and leaves you alone.

Ravi smiled and said, ' Very true advocate ma'am, but it hurts more and hurts bad when people I care about are preyed upon. More than when I hurt myself.'

' Wow! Touche, master sir. '

Ravi looked at Parthiban, ' Dei, nee enna solla pore?'

Partha's face was somber as he answered in a very subdued voice, ' Nothing. I have nothing to tell you or warn you about that you do not know already. Nobody in this world knows Meenakshi as well as you do and there is nobody else she loves more than you.'

Placing a hand on Ravi's shoulder, ' I know that you face no danger from Meenakshi. Not then, not now, and not ever for I know how much she loves you. But what worries me is what the future is going to bring and what Meenakshi is going to unleash in the name of love which is really hate in disguise.'

Daksha clapped her hands and said, ' Bravo da, hubby baby. Those are the most sensible words that I have heard you speak in a long time.'

Ravi looked at her and said, ' I wonder as to why that is Ducks?' and leaving her speechless and desperately searching for a counter retort, he had walked away into the darkness that was slowly beginning to turn grey and would soon turn brighter and whiter with the light of the sun.

Meenakshi's voice brought him out of his reverie and he looked at her and heard her. ' Ravi, daydreaming again ' and then saw her face harden slightly as she asked, ' So, why are you here? What brings you to my doorstep, Master sir? Do you need any help from me?'

' No, Meenakshi, I don't need any help from you, and the reason why I am here to see you is to help you help yourself before it is too late.'

' I see. So, am I to assume that by using the word help and too late you are in fact trying to threaten me in your own sweet and subtle way?'

Ravi's face was set in stone as he spoke, ' No. I think right now, you pose a much bigger threat to yourself than me or anybody else. I have come here on my own and the reason for that is I see it as one last-ditch attempt to save you and your future.'

Meenakshi raised an eyebrow and said in a cocky voice, ' Okay. I am listening and I can see it clearly in your eyes that you are here to give me an ultimatum which will automatically mean it is crunch time for both of us.'

Crunch time - an extremely important moment or period of time when you must make a decision or take action;

Some of the synonyms for Crunch time are critical mass, critical moment, do or die time, high noon, a moment of truth, and pivotal point.

The definition of “crunch” as the crushing or noisy crackling sound made when a person bites into something crisp dates back to the early 1800s. But in the 20th century, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill popularized the word in the context of foreign affairs.

In a 1939 Daily Telegraph interview, Churchill commented on the state of Spain following the country’s bloody civil war that came to an end that year." Whether Spain will be allowed to find its way back to sanity and health [...] depends upon the general adjustment or outcome of the European crunch,” he said, coining a relatively pleasant euphemism for the horrors of World War II.

A few decades later, Churchill’s take on the word expanded from geopolitical conflicts to economic ones. In the midst of the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Federal Reserve tightened restrictions around loans, which journalists referred to as the Credit Crunch of 1966.

By then, the word had become a popular synonym for crisis in the U.S. used in newspapers and magazines like LIFE and United Press International. Crunch quickly became a part of everyday language, primarily through sports, where writers and game announcers would use the expression “crunch time” to refer to the dying embers of an extremely close game of basketball.

Avan, Aval Adhu 382

They sat looking at each other and yet at that very moment both their thoughts were one in that both of them recollected time that had passed by. Both of them sat recollecting memories through the eyes of the other when they both had been one and inseparable but now they were not.

Ravi spoke in a very defeated and subdued voice, ' I am not here to give any ultimatums, Meenakshi but as you mentioned, it is crunch time for both of us.'

Turning his head, and averting his eyes, ' I have stood by all these years saying nothing or doing anything against you and the reason was that I did not want to have anything to do with you. You, the person who broke my heart and destroyed my life and also the life of an innocent girl.'

Then Ravi turned his face and looked at her with intense eyes although his voice remained subdued and calm as he spoke his mind, ' I am not even bothered about this wound that nearly killed me. But, I am upset and angry that you sent people to attack my friends. I am sorry Meenakshi but it won't do anymore. Not after this and not after I leave your house. '

He slowly and tiredly got to his feet and looked down at her and said, ' We are done, Meenakshi. We were done a long time ago but I foolishly held on to what we had growing up and kept my silence and also my anger at bay. But no more. You will have to stop right now and stay away from me and my friends.'

Meenakshi remained seated with her eyes on the man she loved and asked, ' Ravi, I was told this woman friend, this Gayatri had run away and had boarded a flight back to where she flew in from. So, tell me for I find it difficult to understand why she changed her mind and came back. She was not there when I came to visit you in the hospital for I so badly wanted to meet her and if possible slash her face and slash out her eyes that even dared to look at you.'

Having said that, she too got up and stood facing Ravi who smiled sadly and asked, ' You came to see me in the hospital? Isn't that funny when it was you who was responsible for sending me to the ICU in the first place?'

' I did not. I swear on our Madurai Amman that I did not mean for you to get hurt. I specifically warned that Paliyan dog that you should not be harmed in any way and that if even a slight scratch should fall on your body then I would burn him alive.'

' I believe you but did you believe even for a second that I would stay silent and do nothing while my friends were being attacked.'

Stepping closer, he said, ' Look at me and answer that question and before you do that, remember back when we were teenagers and how I used to regularly beat up all the grown men and drunkards you sent to harass Madhu while she was going to school and on the way back home.'

His face slowly lost the smile and it went dark as he spoke angrily, ' If I could do that back then when I was a kid, then imagine what I can do now and will do in the future.'

His anger did not anger her and with a soft and caring face she asked him, ' You know what you are capable of, Ravi, and being a master, you should then have known what I am capable of too when I see you with another woman. If I could chase away that woman then I will eventually chase this one too.'

Ravi took a deep breath and exhaled it and looked at Meenakshi and said, ' What did you do when you came to see me while I was in the ICU?'

Her face brightened suddenly and in a voice full of happiness, ' I kissed you and kissed you before everyone.'

' Why did you do that and did anything happen while you kissed me?'

' Yes. It did. I felt so happy to see you still alive and breathing and felt so great that I could kiss your lips even though you did not kiss me back.'

Ravi laughed and said, ' See, again and as always it is only about you. You kissed me in front of my mother and your own father with total disregard to decorum and manners. That is all you could manage to do with your petty mind and silly heart that only thinks of itself and worries about its own needs.

Stepping even closer to her, he growled angrily, ' But she has come back now. She came back for me. To save me and she too kissed me. But her kiss raised me from death.'

Maybe it was not Ravi's real intention to hurt her, wound her mind with his words but it did for Meenakshi's face went pale in shock, and then slowly she gathered herself and raged, ' She escaped me once but I promise she will not escape again. She will not have you to protect her and watch over her all the time. I will wait and strike when the time comes and then I will cut out the lips that dared to kiss you.'

Her leg struck out and kicked the expensive-looking teak table that was near her and she screamed, ' She left to the airport and she should have stayed gone forever. Now she will wish that she had done so.'

Then she stopped herself as she heard Ravi flick his fingers and having got her attention, he smiled and said, ' I am sorry Meenakshi but you are mistaken. Gayatri, the lady that you are talking about left yesterday morning, and I doubt if she will ever come back. But somebody else has come back. Somebody else has returned and it was that lady, that woman who came to visit me in the ICU and it was she who kissed me and breathed life into me.'

' Who? Who is this woman who has returned? Meenakshi mumbled confusedly and then her eyes widened in shock and fear as she realized her worst fears had indeed come true and spluttered , ' Madhurima.'

' Yes. Correct ' Ravi said and then grabbed her face and buried his mouth in hers and kissed her and his kiss was so hot and so powerful that it took her breath away and when he let her go, she slowly sank to the ground looking at him deliriously and he looked down at her with a look of contempt in his face and said, ' Remember this kiss. This is my parting gift to you and to the friendship we once had. That is over now. It ends now, right here and right now. But, think about all the kisses I am going to place on my Madhu's mouth and very soon you will hear about us both getting married. Who knows, very soon you might have a niece or a nephew or both for company.'

He moved and then stopped and said, ' It ends now. Don't test my patience any further. If you do, then........' and walked away leaving her staring after him in desperation and drowning in desolation

Avan, Aval Adhu 383

“Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart.”

Ganesan watched sadly as he saw his Master walk out of the house and towards him and knew that things had not gone well. His master's head was low and his broad strong shoulders had drooped even lower as if willing his chin to catch up with them. He saw his master walk quickly but at the same time he saw his feet waver and wander and then he saw his master stumble and fall to the ground and lay there in a daze.

' Master, sir ' he yelled loudly and ran to his aid but Ravi shook his head indicating that he did not want his help, and sat on the road with his hands holding him up and said sadly, ' Brahma, I tried my best but it was all in vain. In the end, I gave in to anger and lost myself and my composure. So, for all that I thought I was, I am in fact, a big fat nothing.'

Ganesan had never thought about death until that moment but now he called to it and would have gladly taken death in his arms for the pain of seeing his master, his guardian angel, his father figure sitting on the road helpless in defeat and in such pain was too much for him to bear.

He gently helped Ravi to his knees and holding him slowly walked towards where their autorickshaw was parked.

From their hiding behind the trees, Azhagan spoke to his son Kulashekaran, ' Child, I sense things are going to get a bit heated up and complicated from now on. Stick around and keep a close watch on this woman and keep updating me on everything that happens here and also about everyone who comes to visit her.'

' Okay Father' Kulashekaran said in a subdued voice and then slowly began to apologize for his behavior. ' I am sorry father for my actions at the Narcotics bureau last night.'

Azhagan looked at him wearily, ' Just saying sorry won't cut it, my son. I think it is too late for that now.'

' Father, I don't understand you or the reason why you are constantly stressing on me and Mother to be cautious and more prudent in our actions. Why? Who are you scared of and what are you worried about?'

No sooner had he said the words, Kulashekaran stopped seeing Azhagan staring at him and said, ' Sorry, father. Please forgive me, my Lord.'

Placing his hand on his son's head, Azhagan looked into his eyes and said, ' Child, I don't know who you think you are or what you think about me. But, know this, we are neither invincible nor immortal. There will come a time when the tables will turn and we will be the ones on the receiving end. Even the mightiest of stars all over this universe will disappear one day. You know this and you have seen this over the years and yet you question me about my fears and what scares me. All that matters, in the end, is what we do and did with the time given to us.'

https://youtu.be/LAOHxPjabaY

https://youtu.be/DdrmHRYwhrI

https://youtu.be/EIZGXE0TDrs

Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time. .Time is the greatest gift you can give someone because when you give your time you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back. It is not enough to just say relationships are important; we must prove it by investing time in them.

Time is life. Life is time. If you are wasting time, that means...yes. But how each one of us spends time is up to them and that is how they live their lives and who is anybody to judge a person for wasting time or life.

Have you noticed how we react and recoil when someone pens their thoughts and articulates them into words and an article itself? We raise a mental index finger and scream silently, " Preacher, cliched, mundane, fanatic" and step back beating a mental retreat with the middle finger raised in salute.

Hence the constant stress on those repeated words, " I am not preaching. I am only sharing and comparing notes with you. Friend and family but in the end a fellow passenger on this journey of life."

I started today's thought with the words " Time and life" which sound more or less similar but if one looks closely, is not.

Life is your time given, bestowed by It. God, Mother Nature, creator or creatoree. Sorry, creatrix. But time is your time and it is up to you to do what you wish you wish to do with it.

I have many a time flogged this thought that blood, money, and other acts are godly in nature but do not compare well with time. Precious time that other souls bestow on you by sharing with you.

Sorry but I am not crowing my kutty actor status but just using the same as a reference to time.

Being an actor and that too konjam popular, I get lots and lots of messages on Whatsapp from people with good intentions, sometimes bad intentions, and yes, many a time with horny intentions.

I look at the message and go, " Not in my contact list. F..king delete."

Okay, I do confess that some messages are very flattering and tend to massage my EGO but in the end " It is GO for the message( only after much preening and multiple readings of the praisings my acting skills) and subsequently Go for the EGO, too."

Time and life. Sorry, I ran out of not them both but mental steam.

Hey, hold on. Even a forwarded message if looked at as time that somebody took of their time to send it to you will look different and not irritating.

What? What was that? Who me?

`

I scan all my messages and reply ..........with emojis to some and to some with hearts and love and to some with love and flowers and they are precious to my life and time for they are my time and my life.

What was that? who are those that I send love, hearts, and flowers? Of course, they are secret and of course, they are pieces of my soul that I will carry to my grave and hopefully meet them again, somewhere, and again and again.