From & To Sathish #5 - Page 116

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zls4a7I_qaM

Avan, Aval Adhu 391

A long time ago and more than 25 years ago, Madhurima and Ravi were walking together to school when she suddenly yelped out loudly and began jumping up and down squealing excitedly, ' Jaanu, Oi gachera niche takiye dekhi puro mati parijata phule dhaka ( my soul, look under that tree for the whole ground is covered with parijata flowers) and ran towards the tree and began to gather them in her tiny, tender pink palms.

Ravi sat down to help her and then after gathering a few flowers looked at her and whispered in Tamil, ' Iyaa Kannadasan, Thank you. What and where would this Tamil film industry or for that matter this Tamil society be without your gifts and skills.'

Madhu looked at him, ' Uh, Jaanu, What did you say just now? I heard the name Kannadasan in there and though I heard the rest of what you said I could not understand what they meant for my Tamil is still on wobbly legs.'

' I was just thanking the genius Kannadasan for all his songs and also for giving me the perfect song for this moment.'

She looked at him and puffing her cheeks blew air out of them at both the strands of hair that had dared to fall on her soft, pink cheeks and asked, ' What is that perfect song? Sing it to me first and let me decide if it is perfect or not ' and pausing, looked at him and asked, ' But what about this moment, and why a song for this moment?'

Ravi Kumar smiled and gently poured all the night jasmine flowers that he had gathered into her palms and leaning forwards kissed her mouth and said, ' This is a rare and incredible moment in my life for here, right here and right now I am seeing a beautiful flower gather other flowers even though the flowers are telling her, ' Beautiful maiden, flower, don't sully yourselves by touching us. We have fallen but you are only now blooming into the most beautiful flower in God's very own garden.'

Madhu looked at him stunned by the power of his words and the beauty of his love for her, and getting up stood over him and slowly poured all the flowers that she had held captive in her soft palms on top of Ravi who blinked his eyes as a few tried to enter him through his eyelids.

' Wait, don't move ' she commanded him and cupping his face bent down and used her lips to pick out the flowers that were happily trapped in his thick eyelashes and buried her mouth in his and they kissed like it was their first kiss, and also like it was the last kiss.

Several minutes later, they both got to their feet looking at each other, lost in each other, and at the same time finding themselves in each other when Ravi raised his arm and catching hold of a branch, shook the small tree a couple of times and made it rain flowers on Madhu and sang in a soft, loving but majestic voice,

காலங்களில்

அவள் வசந்தம்

கலைகளிலே அவள்

ஓவியம் மாதங்களில்

அவள் மார்கழி மலர்களிலே

அவள் மல்லிகை

பறவைகளில்

அவள் மணி புறா

பாடல்களில் அவள்

தாலாட்டு

கனிகளிலே

அவள் மாங்கனி

காற்றினிலே அவள்

தென்றல்

Kaalangalil

Aval vasantham

Kalaigalilae aval oviyam

Maathangalil aval maargazhi

Malargalilae aval malligai

Paravaigalil

Aval mani pura

Paadalgalil aval thaalaatu

Kanikalilae

Aval maangani

Kaatrinilae aval thendral'

The instant Malar saw Ravi getting out of the autorickshaw and calmly looking past her at Madhu ignoring everything and everyone she knew what Azhagan had meant when he had said, ' Their love story is all of Shakespeare's tragedies rolled into one story. Please watch over them for they are good people. Really good people and that is becoming very hard to find on this planet.'

She was a warrior who stood by the side of light and also stood as part of the light which they all worshipped, believed, and loved with total faith and devotion and called that light " Kavin." So, with just one small look into Ravi's face and diving deep into his soul and thoughts, she knew what her lord and leader had meant when he had said, ' They are good people.'

Madhu saw Ravi standing there in the light and in her heart and soul she him as her sun, moon, and the stars and saw nothing else. They had met the previous night in the darkness after 25 years and after years of separation and after years of spending their lives in their own soul darkness.

She saw the boy who was all grown up now and stood as the man that she knew he would grow up to be and saw and recognised the eyes that were still the same kind and loving eyes that he had been gifted with by the Gods themselves.

She did not know that her lips moved and said, ' Jaanu, Jaanu ' and was not aware when her legs had moved and carried her to him and into his arms.

He opened his arms and took her into his heart and soul and the two broken pieces of light that had been separated by darkness were now joined together as a single ray of light and entwined as one soul whose language was love, love, and nothing but love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLhid94JbOw

https://youtu.be/MWk5QXgSlfE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szN3wHfIthk

Solitude sometimes is best society

I am bad when it comes to numbers. Yes, that subject of maths, numbers, and their kith and kin divisions and calculations. I have no idea as to how or what saved my rear lean ( Nay skinny bacon) and got me out of 10th and into 11th and then finally got me out of 12th.

I was good in languages and reasonably good in biology and I am guessing that kind of scraped me through to 11th and 12th where to my horror, the evil step-sister and step-brother of maths followed me wearing the guise of chemistry and Physics. Well, friends, back then CBSE had this choice of subjects that you could avoid and I avoided physics.

But what about Chemistry, Satish? Well, I unleashed my amateur writing skills and wrote a story that must have appealed to the one who evaluated my paper and I am guessing again that she or he must have identified with my plight with numbers and yes, IUPAC names.

Well, those nightmares are truly behind me and feel like another era altogether. Goddamn you Sat, it is from another era and an earlier century. Just like you.

I tried glancing into time from that olden times and realized that I was taught to speak, read and write in English, Tamil, and Hindi and I was also taught about cells, molecules, and atoms.

Funny that, for education never taught me what to say on my first date or what to say when my heart is broken.

History taught me about our Muslim, French, Dutch, and British conquerors but it never taught me what to do or say on my first night. Moral science taught me about morals and manners but it never warned me about the ills and pitfalls of being brutally frank and honest.

That reminds me of a friend who was getting married and who took me aside and enquired about what society considers taboo but goes around doing it everywhere but inside four walls. Yup, that taboo topic of SEX.

' Satish, dei machaan. What do I do? Should I move and take control or should I wait for her to make all the moves?'

I looked at him with eyes as big as plates and asked, ' Idiot, what's with all these questions and words like control and moves? Are you going to invade some country or worse are you planning to spend the night with your new wife's sister who has been eyeing you for some time?'

Nothing more on that for it all went well and it is still going well to this day. But, that sister? Well, your guess is as good as mine...

I have learnt more from life and imbibed more from friends than I did back in school. Life is the ultimate school and the hardest teacher. It is a perennial 12th std that always seems to be that time of the year just before the advent of summer when the shadow of the board exams begins to creep on you. Every day of life is like attending school or college and sitting through various subjects.

My dementia has not yet taken full control over my already demented brain so I can honestly say that it was back in Krishnaswamy school that I last sat for a Moral science class and that was back in 6th std.

History taught me all about Foriegn invaders pillaging and destroying Ancient India. Today, I open the newspaper and read about corruption at the highest level and gang rape and wonder who it is that is pillaging and destroying India.

Zoology and botany taught me about animals and plants and how reproduction happens between flowers through bees..................?

Well, nobody told me it was bad, wrong, or evil and that is considered cheating to ogle as a hot two-legged female mammal walks past me. Yikes, Sat, you sad sack. This is why you should be watching the reruns of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

' Whaat? Do you want me to learn more from Raavan and Duryodhan? No way.

“Me miserable! Which way shall I fly

Infinite wrath and infinite despair?

Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;

And in the lowest deep a lower deep,

Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide,

To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.

Rest in peace Tina Turner. Thank you for all the beautiful music. Godspeed lady and I hope heaven is indeed a better place for you.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hGQ97tCTOs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcm-tOGiva0

https://youtu.be/3z6_IwE6DSQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVUjhEz67hE

Even in light of the morning, noon, and setting sun, I often find myself staring up at the skies. All I see is the moon in its various states of shapes as it waxes and wanes in an eternal game of light and shadows. Sometimes, just before sunrise, there is that magical time when the moon can be seen as a crescent along with Jupiter and Mars. Then my eyes surge forward and see the fainting and fast-fading light of the other stars as our own superstar begins screaming silently its arrival by streaming the first light in pastel shades.

There are times when I get to see the night sky and I confess that I get totally moved by the sights of all those stars in the sky. It's such a pity that we hardly see the night sky and its jewels of stars shining like precious stones for man-made and electricity-powered lights drown out that glorious sight.

In the old testament, you will find these words " And God said, Let there be light: and there was light ". I confess there have been many a time when I have entered a dark room and after finding the light switch, whispered those very powerful words and have switched it on and stood drowning in light whence a moment ago I stood drowning in darkness.

But more than that light powered by electricity and even more than my love for the mighty sun, there is a light that often sparks and fills my mind and my entire being and whispers over and over again, ' Come, into the light. Rise, awake, and feel the light rather than seeing the light.'

That light is the power that is bestowed on all of us, gifted to all of us through knowledge. That knowledge comes to us through various sources but like all bodies of water that eventually find their ultimate destination of the seas and oceans, it too travels eons through saying, teachings, poems, stories, and books and eventually reaches its final destination that is our soul and with that powers our inner light of understanding.

Agreed, that there is so much that is still needed to be learned and understood but turn that coin and you will see that face called misunderstanding whose other avatar is saying what you wanted to say but it was lost in translation and thus in the end, misunderstood. Sometimes, deliberately.

Do you remember that warmth that you experienced when you read a quote, story, or poem, and went in your head, " That is indeed beautiful and makes absolute sense."

But the light that erupts from the understanding of your own life after having traveled its various hairpin bends and dangerous curves is the best light. I say that because even if you are standing in broad daylight or in the bright lights of your own room, you could be in the grips of darkness, confusion, and depression if your mind and soul are clouded by misunderstandings, anger, ego, and plain bad behavior.

When you reach out to that red veil of a mist that is hanging over your thoughts and tear it away, you see a light of reason and understanding. That is it, my friends and fellow travelers, that is the light that I am talking about.

It is in you and yours only to own and disown or rather it is your switch that you can turn on or off at any time.

My plea and my humble request is to leave it on. ALL THE TIME.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiuWaOsn8FY