From & To Sathish #5 - Page 15

Vaanathai Pola 354

' Does Kavita know who you really are and what it is you do, Radhu?' Shinogai asked her son who shook his head, ' No, Ammi. Not that important detail. But, she knows everything else about me and you and dad' and pointed to the ceiling, ' That dad.'

' Why? what is stopping you from telling her about Sparta and that you are one of the deadliest Assassins in the world and who was masquerading undercover as Abbas Ali Khan, one of the most feared terrorists in ISIS group.'

' How can I? Please, explain to me as in which world, a woman will be okay with her husband being a trained killer?'

Shinogai smirked beautifully, ' But she knows all about the people that you have killed from the time you have stepped into her city and she is okay with that. Is she, Ayan?'

Waving her hand as if that was not what was most important right then, ' Our main priority is to protect your father at any cost and also quickly find out who is behind all these mysterious attacks on him.'

Leaning forward, she stared at him with furious eyes, ' Baby, we are running out of time and soon our people will come looking for us and it won't be too long before they track us down.'

' Mother, I was just coming to that. You still haven't told me as to what made you contact William Bradley, knowing well that he will report it to the Director of CIA and then it won't be too long before the word reaches the Oval office.'

Sighing exasperatedly, Shinogai looked at Radhu, ' The moment dictated my action and that was because of Raman.'

The mere mention of Raman brought a smile and glow in Radhu's face and then it slowly faded away like the wave that came bursting forth onto the shore and then retreats leaving nary a trace.

' Raman. Why, mother? What did Raman do or say that forced you to get in touch with Sparta?'

' He recognised me, Ayan. He was here in the hospital on some work and at the same time when that Pig of a cop had to go and create trouble and then Kavita landed up and all hell broke loose. The hospital Administration chief came to the room with Raman in tow and thank God for that for it was he who told Kavita to stand down before she killed that cop by crushing his chest.'

Radhu's eyes glittered as his mind put together what must have taken place and his lips moved and spoke.

' And then Kavita introduced you as my mother and said your name and Raman made the connection.'

He looked at his mother with surprise, ' But, where and how did he get to hear your name?'

' Tel Aviv, Mossad and Dr.Otto. Both Paul and William were there in the Middle-east, obviously to confirm your death in that explosion that you triggered yourself.'

Radhu nodded, ' Ammi, me supposedly being dead is understandable. But, your sudden and mysterious disappearance must have confounded them and also had them worried sick for you are the head of Sparta.'

' Baby, both of us knew the risks involved and what we would be forced to do in this secret assignment of ours. It is too late now to do anything about it and we will handle that situation and answer that question when it is right in our face.'

Shinogai's eyes softened, ' Radhu, Kavita cannot be blamed for introducing me by name to Raman and also mentioning you in the process. I saw his eyes shine in recognition and after he left, I knew that we were in danger of being found and called The Old Man and told him to follow Raman and keep an eye on him. Then, realizing that Raman was a Raw agent, I called up William Bradley to find out more about him and it was he who told me that he and Paul met up with Raman and his boss V.K.Singh in the airport. The meeting was arranged by that old Bas..rd, Otto himself.'

Radhu cursed under his breath, ' Anything concerning anything and that bald Vulture is there and right in the middle of it.'

Radhu saw his mother's eyes change to a darker green and that he knew very well happened only when she was scared or worried and so he asked her what was causing the fear.

' Radhu, baby. Forget that meeting that took place in the airport of Tel-Aviv for that is done and dusted. What makes me nervous and fear this Raman is what Bill told me about him.'

Radhu smiled, ' Mother, I met Raman very briefly but that was enough for me to come to a judgement about him. He is a good person and a much better person than me and maybe even you. His heart is in the right place, Ammi.'

Shaking his head, ' let me correct that. Where Raman is then that is the right place!'

Shinogai smiled, ' I know baby for I found out that for myself when I met him and spoke to him for a long time.'

' Ammi, you met Raman. Where?'

' Right where you are sitting in Ayan. Raman sat there in that very chair and we both laid our cards on the table.'

Radhu knew his mother well and he knew The Old Man even better and so worriedly he grabbed her hands and beseeched, ' Mother, please. Raman is our friend and I don't want any harm to come to him or his family.'

Shinogai nodded, smiled and said worriedly, ' My cub, it will be better if you worry less about him being harmed and start worrying about the many ways that he can hurt us.'

Radhu's face filled with Incomprehension and he asked his mother what she meant by that.

' Radhu, Raman is not just a good guy but a killer and a killer among all killers.'

She pointed to him, ' I am sure that even you cannot take him on from what William told me.'

' Why would I want to take on Raman, mother? He is our friend, an ally not a foe.'

He smiled, ' But, I am curious to know how William concluded that Raman is better than me and that he too is a deadly killer.'

' How many times have you sparred and tried to defeat Otto in a straight fight?'

' A dozen times and as of now, we are tied. Why do you bring that up?'

' Otto challenged Raman three times, and lost all three times, and badly, and then in the end....'

கா்நாடககாரா் ஒருவரிடம்,

தமிழர் ஒருவர் கிணறு ஒன்றை விலைக்கு வாங்கினார்.

மறுநாள் கடைத்தெருவில் தமிழர் போய்க் கொண்டிருந்த போது கர்நாடககாரா் அவரை சந்தித்தார். அப்பவே சொல்ல மறந்து போய்ட்டேன். இப்ப உங்களை பார்த்த உடனே நினைவுக்கு வந்தது. நான் உங்களுக்கு வித்தது கிணத்தை மட்டும்தான். அதில் இருக்கும் தண்ணீரை அல்ல. ஆகையினால் அந்த தண்ணீரை நீங்கள் பயன்படுத்த வேண்டுமானால் மாதா மாதம் அதற்கு எனக்கு கட்டணம் செலுத்த வேண்டி வரும். அதை நினைவில் வைத்துக் கொள்ளுங்கள் என்றார்.

அப்ப தமிழர் தயங்காமல் நேத்து நானே உங்க கிட்ட சொல்லனும்னு இருந்தேன். நாம்ப இன்னிக்கு நேர்ல பார்த்தது நல்லதா போச்சு. எனக்கு கிணறு மட்டுமே போதும். அதில் இருக்கும் தண்ணீர் வேண்டாம். ஒன்று நீங்கள் அதிலிருக்கும் தண்ணீரை காலிபண்ணி வெத்து கிணறை எனக்கு கொடுங்கள். இல்லையென்றால் எனக்கு சொந்தமான இடத்தில் தண்ணீரை வைத்திருப்பதற்காக நீங்கள் மாத வாடகை செலுத்த வேண்டி இருக்கும் என்றாரே.🤣🤣🤣👏👏

Avan, Aval, Adhu 45

' Ravi, how far is this place that you are visiting? Will you be gone for a long time?' Gayatri enquired and Ravi told her that the place was just down the road and he would be back in ten minutes.'

He looked at her,' Don't worry, Ten minutes at the most and most probably I will be back even before that.'

' you know how to swim, right.'

' I think so but it has been a long time since I have tried out my skills. I learnt swimming way back in school, Ravi when I was a teenager.'

' You never forget what you learn when you are young. Maybe your skills are a bit rusty but I am sure you will be up to speed in little time.'

He looked at the pool in which the kids were playing, ' Why don't you join the kids, Gayatri and use this moment to brush up your swimming skills?'

She shook her head and protested loudly, ' no way boss and definitely not in this churidar dress. It will be very ungainly and what do I do when my clothes get fully drenched.'

Ravi realizing what her words really meant, blushed and quickly turned his face away and saying, ' Okay, Okay. I am leaving now' left her with the kids and with the water that was neither a large pond or a small lake.

Deciding that she would spend the time that Ravi was away by photographing the kids who were having a whale of a time and their excitement reached a new crescendo when they saw her clicking all of them with her camera.

' Kids, please, no splashing, for I don't water to get into the lens' and stepping back about ten feet, she gave them a cue, ' Okay, now you can do what you like and just do what you were doing, which was having a good time.'

The afternoon sun had crossed its peak moment that was directly overhead and had begun to slide down for the day towards its western bed.

The light of the sun danced merrily as it made its way through the many of the branches of the trees and Gayatri knew that she was clicking some good pictures and she wondered what the title would be for her next fortnightly article which was due in a couple of days.

' Maybe, I should title it Utopia and its Shepherd' she thought to herself and wondered if Ravi would have any objections to the title and also if her articles featured him and his people and the land he dwelled in.

She slowly lowered the camera and began to diagnose her situation and how strange and wonderful it was.

' If it had been any other man, the gentle kiss that I planted on Ravis's mouth would have been like waving a red flag in front of a mad bull and almost all men would have by now tried their best to f..k me but not this man' Gayatri thought and slowly walked around clicking more photographs.

' No, he is not just a man and he is more' Gayatri told herself and just then a sudden gust of wind blew across the water and all the branches in the path of the wind flailed their branches like little children waving their hands when being punished for being naughty.

She took a deep breath and said, ' He is not just a man for he is the tree and this land that it stands on. His roots are like that of the tree, mighty and plunging deep and his soul is like the core of this land, strong but still loving and nourishing.'

' Gayatri, you suck at poetry, you stupid woman. You and your raging middle-aged hormones' she gently scolded herself.

' He is not very tall and probably must be somewhere near 5ft 9 of 10 at the most and yet he appears like a giant, like a tall tree when he is among people. He is not very good looking and yet he shines with a lovely aura' she mumbled to herself and then her thoughts returned to Meenakshi, Ravis cousin sister and felt a rush of anger along with blood fill her head and thoughts.

' That bloody woman is married and with a grown-up son and yet she has the hots for Ravi. I wonder what that is all about?' and she turned back and walked to the water's edge and raised her camera to shoot some more pics of the children having fun in the sparkling water.

Water, excitement, children, and she raised her camera and at the same time fate and life whispered, " Action." Life, the greatest director, story writer, screenplay writer and yes, one who deals in sudden punchlines to herald its entrance and sadly, exit too.

Avan, Aval, Adhu 46

Gayatri slowly walked back to water's edge and unable to resist the call of her wristwatch, looked at it and saw that hardly five minutes had passed since Ravi had left them and wondered how the next five minutes were going to move on.

' Time feels like the passage of a snail when he is not around. But, when he is near me and around, time seems to move at greater speed. Why is that?' Gayatri wondered and then asked herself, ' Am I, am I falling in love or is it just a need?'

She took a deep breath and thought, ' This cannot be lust for I am familiar with lust and I have indulged in its cravings a few times and know very well that it is temporary.'

She recollected the moment from early that morning in the auto and how tenderly Ravi had held her in his arms and had consoled while she had cried and stained his white shirt with her tears and fears.

' He did not judge me then and he did not judge me when I took the liberty of planting a kiss on his lips today morning. Even that moment when he complimented me on being beautiful, he had done it very courteously and unlike the usual ways of usual men.

Through the lens of her camera, she zoomed in on a pair of crows that were perched on a tree a little distance away and watched them and began to laugh for it reminded her of Ravi and herself.

She saw one crow, a little smaller than the other and obviously female sitting next to the male and doing its best to catch his attention. She saw the female crow lovingly peck the male crow and then dip i's head hoping for the same from her partner. The male crow's expression was like " oh god, when is she going to let me be in peace" and with that thought pecked the female crow once and went back to roosting or probably praying with frustration to some crow God.

' No, No, Ravi is not like that and neither are we a pair and I am sure the man thinks differently than what I am thinking about him.'

She turned and walked to the water's edge where some of the kids were playing volleyball in the water and she clicked a few priceless pictures and again turned away from them and took stock of the surrounding sights through her lens.

The ball was tossed over the smaller kids heads and sailed to and fro from the larger boys and girls hands and then one enthusiastic tap did the deed and fate caught up with time to play out life's drama.

The ball sailed over the wall, the boundary that lay between the lake and the makeshift swimming pool and two of the smaller boys throwing caution to the wind clambered up the wall and stood perched on top of it and spotting the ball, yelled to Thillai and Mekalai, ' Quick, before the wind picks it up and carries it away and out of reach and into deeper waters.'

It was as if the very elements had joined together to consort with time and life. The wind that had aided the ball to cross over the wall and into deep waters now began to move with water and slowly began to tug at the ball and acted as bait. Air and water had done their work and earth came to do its job.

The wall on which the two boys were standing had been built many years ago and was not well and had eroded in many places but out of sight and below the waterline.

Thillai and Mekalai who had been placed in charge of the kids by Ravi screamed their anger at the two boys who had gone up the wall and asked them to get down immediately and Thillai too went up to help the two boys and also to see that they both returned safely and to the shallow waters of the pool.

The wall that had been patient with the two boys turned impatient the moment, Thillai, the largest of them clambered up the wall and gave way and Thillai fell back into the makeshift pool with a loud splash and also managed to get whacked by a few falling bricks.

But, the two kids who had been perching on the wall, fell into the lake and into, cold depths.

I was once told that "all great love stories end in tragedy - one of the lovers will inevitably outlive the other".

Avan, Aval, Adhu 47

Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does. In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans; in one aspect of you are found all the aspects of existence.

Heroes, come with me and let us ask this question, " who is a hero?" and let us compare notes in our minds.

The word hero comes from the Greek word heros and "hero" literally means "protector" or "defender". But, a hero is more than that and is also one who leads by example and so is a leader. Castaway all those reel and celluloid heroes with their makeups, wigs, expensive branded costumes and the stunts they do in which they take on several foes in a fight and defeat them. Your thoughts might immediately go to our Indian film heroes and how their fans hero-worship them like a God. But look to the west and towards the lands of the superpowers and you will see even more outlandish superheroes Superman, Batman, spiderman etc and then think about all the money the films featuring these superheroes made at the Box-office. Billions and in Dollars, not in Rupees.

My personal hero is none other than the Mahatma, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Father of the nation that is India and also popularly called Bapu in Hindi. Why the Mahatma?

So many reasons but I will give you a few and that will do. We see popular heroes taking on thugs in choreographed fights and some of them are so ridiculous that we burst out laughing and go, ' No way that is even possible.'

But here is this man called Gandhi who took on a mighty Empire armed only with the weapons, " Peace and Ahimsa" and yes, determination to succeed and he did, we did and today we enjoy the fruits of his labour.

I confess I am a sentimental fool and an emotional to boot. So, it's okay if you think of me as weird when I tell you that one of the main reasons that I often go to Marina beach is to haunt the memory of Mahatma Gandhi who stands there, watching and seeing everything.

Most of my visits are between 4.30 and 6.30 in the morning. Parking my car near the lighthouse, I make my way towards " Bapu" and spend a few minutes whispering my greetings, thank-yous and then wishing him well, start my morning run.

Right foot forward, staffed right hand forward, head bent, body slightly bent, the statue a memory of him screams in its leadership, the words, " determination, perseverance and triumph no matter what" and the best part is, he did all of that peacefully.

What did they do to him and how did they reward him? They shot him to death. A Hindu shot three bullets into a frail old man's chest and murdered him in the name of India, the very India for whose freedom he had spent most of his life fighting for and most of that in jail.

A legend and a true hero

Here and now, in our story, I give you our hero and her name is Gayatri.

It all happened in slow motion and Gayatri felt time itself slowing down to a crawl and then she moved. Flinging the camera away she ran into the water, yelling,' Mekalai, take care of Thillai and lead everyone out of the water' and crossed over the broken wall and into the deep waters of the lake and then time that had seemingly stood still moved and she too went with its flow.

The two boys who had toppled over and into the deep were novices but their bare minimum skills served them well as they struggled to stay afloat. But, then water is liquid and offers no solid ground for one to stand on and the bed of the lake was seven feet below and sliding down into deeper and darker depths like the abyss in the seas and oceans.

Panic is always the main cause and that leads to death by drowning and it is the same experience for all concerned when they are in the clasp of water. A human being was meant to walk on land and at best when confronted with water can float and move by flailing its limbs in a technique called swimming.

The average person can hold their breath for around 30 seconds. For children, the length is even shorter. A person who’s in excellent health and has training for underwater emergencies can still usually hold their breath for only 2 minutes.

But the health event we know as drowning only takes a couple of seconds to occur.

If a person is submerged after breathing in water for 4 to 6 minutes without resuscitation, it will result in brain damage and eventually death by drowning

Avan, Aval, Adhu 48

How does one narrate a story? Just deliver the grits and grim parts in a clinical autopsy style. How do you tell a story of a hero who tried to help and in the process lost his own life? You tell it with sadness. You tell it, feeling that moment within your soul.

Most still remember the Besant Nagar beach from the old days and before floodlights became a permanent fixture on the beach. Presently, these giants of stones stand aloft soaring to the skies holding blinding white lights in their arms. They come alive late in the evening, setting alight everything around them with their white light. Everything is seen by the cops who now have a permanent base on the shore and to boot ATV ( ALL TERRAIN VEHICLES) to go after which ever bee that got into their bonnets or couples singing horny sonnets.

The reach of these giant floodlights extends right up to the edge of land and culminates in the white frothing sea of the Bengal waves. All is seen and all are noted in this luminous land of artificial white light including the memorial.

Memorial, In Memoriam. A structure and an article and the object, subject of both, dead.

I have been in Delhi but felt its soul briefly and that too only In Transit and used the ancient city to exit and board planes and to exit trains and board cabs. Delhi and train, well that was a journey that I took way back in 2000 for Manthira vaasal when I got out from the train and into a cab to reach Jaipur, our shooting location. Thankfully, the return was from Jaipur to Chennai. My Tryst with Delhi airport was when I travelled to Kashi, Benares from Chennai( sounds better to me than Varanasi) and it was the same arrangement again. Kashi, delhi and Chennai. Final destination.

The reason that I mentioned Delhi here is because of the Taj Mahal. The beautiful white marble mausoleum built by a king for his queen many centuries ago. It looms out of the fog, a white structure, charismatic more in its origins and magnetic in it's love story and less and boring in its physical being.

I heard someone say, ' It's not the Taj itself but that someone, even a king would go that distance to build something in the memory of someone he loved a lot.

I have not seen the Taj Mahal but I have seen the Karl Schmidt Memorial and it too looms white and out of the darkness and it too is a memorial erected for a human being. But, it is a memorial built nearly 88 years ago for a dutch sailor who died saving three English women.

I am sorry but I have to stop here to vent my angst and rage about the way this memorial for the hero Karl Schmidt is being treated by those who visit the beach.

It is used as a urinal. It is used to write, paint horrible graffiti and is used as a safe haven to drink and do drugs.

Well, you might say, ' Satish, the same happens in temples too. You think people will treat the memory of a memorial any better.'

I doubt if Gayatri had ever heard about Karl Schmidt and the memorial on Bessie beach that stands in honour of his brave but final act in which he himself drowned while saving people who were drowning. Even if she had I doubt if the manner of his death would have stopped her from going into the water trying to save the two kids who had toppled into the deep.

Nearly 40 seconds had passed from the moment the wall that separated shallow from deep had crumbled and Gayatri knew that time was running out and casting away caution and fear that are heavy anchors, she crossed over and immediately her jaded swimming skills came into play and her legs automatically paddled keeping her aloft and her eyes caught sight of the two boys just feet ahead and she swam towards them.

From two feet of water walled up to serve as a swimming pool, Gayatri gasped a bit in fear as the ground fell away and the water reached up instantly up to her lips and nearly filled her nostrils.

' Now or never' she told herself and swam strongly towards the nearest boy who did what a drowning victim will do and when he or she is in full blown panic mode. The boy who must have been seven or eight years old grabbed hold of Gayatris hands and then locked his arms around her neck in a vise-like grip and then tried to climb on top of her shoulders.

Gayatri was bigger, stronger and yet panic had put steel into the arms of the kid and as he tried to climb on top of her, she drew all her strength into her legs and began to paddle and swim towards the broken wall and her fingers grasped the broken edges of it and held on to dear lives. Hers and the boy who was still screaming, flailing and totally out of control.

Mekalai came to the rescue and even in her near exhausted state Gayatri heard the hard and stinging slap delivered by her to the boy's left cheek and yelled at him loudly asked him to calm down.

Gayatri gasping for breath nodded and without a word turned and went back into deep waters.

From birth until the age of approximately six months, most human babies demonstrate an innate swimming or diving reflex which are part of a wider range of primitive reflexes found in infants and babies, but not children, adolescents and adults. Babies this young cannot actually swim, however, due to their overall lack of body features and strength. Other mammals also demonstrate this phenomenon. This reflex involves apnea (loss of drive to breathe), slowed heart rate (reflex bradycardia), and reduced blood circulation to the extremities such as fingers and toes (peripheral vasoconstriction). During the diving reflex, the infant's heart rate decreases by an average of 20 per cent.The glottis is spontaneously sealed off and the water entering the upper respiratory tract is diverted down the esophagus into the stomach.The diving response has been shown to have an oxygen-conserving effect, both during movement and at rest. Oxygen is saved for the heart and the brain, slowing the onset of serious hypoxic damage. The diving response can therefore be regarded as an important defence mechanism for the body.

Nearly two minutes had passed by and Gayatri knew that time was running out for the other boy in the water. She growled, and rousing herself, she swam with strong strokes towards the boy whose huge-panic filled eyes found her and he tried to move towards her.

' Now or never, Gayatri but you have to be careful for you are tired from the first rescue and this can turn ugly and deadly. So, calm down and do it properly and in a manner that is safe for both of you' she told herself and then slowly swam behind the boy who immediately tried to grab her and just about missed her outstretched hands.

' F..k Gayatri, this is not good babe' she mumbled to herself and then an image flashed through her mind and she suddenly slipped behind the boy and grabbed his hair and lying on her back paddled with the other hand and towards the broken wall that was just feet away from them.

Gayatri was nearly there and drawing on the last vestiges of her strength pulled the boy and pushed him towards the many waiting hands that grabbed the boy who was still in full-blown panic mode.

Just as her own hands reached to grasp the wall and into safety, fate delivered its blow as the panicking boy flailed his limbs, his right leg lashed out and delivered a powerful blow to Gayatri's left jaw. Lights out. In the boxing ring it is called a Knockout.

A companion to Avan, Aval, Adhu

Nearly, 15 years ago, late in the evening, a close friend of mine and I were seated in a bar, both nursing a mug of cold beer. More of the golden brew waited for our mugs, one's in our hands and one's on our necks, in a large pitcher. I took a large sip of the cold fermented liquid and caught sight of the condensation that soon began to run down the pitcher, branching as veins and arteries.

I raised the mug to the gob in my mug and froze for what was coming out of my friend's eyes were not condensation but tears. Okay, pain, sorrow, loss condensed on his soul and ran out as tears. See now, I am being faithful to that idiot poet in me.

' What is wrong, da?' I asked him and well he told me the story of his tears.

He was in love, had been in love for the object of his love had died the previous week.

My friend had apparently been seeing this lady for a year and a little bit more time. The lady who was married unlike my friend lived in the same apartment complex and was stuck with a physically abusive and alcoholic husband.

Constant crossings of their paths had resulted in an exchange of shy courtesies and that soon bloomed into a small exchange of sound waves and then further bloomed into major exchanges of light and thought waves.

Then she died and a part of him died too and a tiny part of me died too hearing him narrate the manner in which the lady had died.

The lady who had passed on had been working as a teacher in a popular pre-school very close to the apartment complex in which she lived. She was well-liked by all the students and their teachers and was very popular for her kind and gentle ways in which she handled everything and everyone who came into her life. But for her physically abusive husband.

A few of the students who lived very close to each other and their families were planning a trip to a nearby picnic spot that was about 120 kms away from the city and they all invited her to come along and she happily accepted it.

The day dawned and a convoy of four cars headed out of the city with a new day and an old sun shining down on them.

Well, you know tots and their peeing urges and soon most of the kids who were bundled with her squeaked their thoughts and the vehicle they were in slowly came to a halt while the other three cars disappeared into the horizon.

The person who was driving the car announced that it was okay and that they could catch up at the picnic location which was just thirty or forty kms away from where they were and told the lady teacher, my friend's lady friend that he would wait by the car while she shepherded the kids to do their thing.

The place where they had stopped, was bounded or hounded by a slow but steep elevation that was about six feet in height and so the shepherd herded the girl tots who were all hyper-charged and went up the mound and down the other side to do susu while the man shepherded the four boys to go about doing their thing.

Three of the five girls returned back and diving into the back seat, fell into a deep sleep.

The minutes ticked on and slightly worried the man went up the hill and saw the teacher and two kids in the water, dead by drowning.

One girl lay about eight to ten feet away from the edge of the tiny pond while just near the edge the teacher lay dead with the remaining girl's hands locked around her neck and legs wrapped around the body and both hands encapsulated. Locked, strangulated and drowned and yes, dead.

This is how it had happened and quickly.

The girls had finished with the call of nature but unable to resist the call of fate had both wandered to the edge of the small pond and had slipped in the slime and had gone into the water.

Their teacher, their shepherd had gone to their rescue and had died in the process and in standing water that was four feet deep while she had been five foot, four inches tall.

Years have passed by and my friend married and today is a proud parent of two teenage kids.

' What about you, satish? Have you passed on?'

Obviously not, for here I am weaving that old story and drowning it in that of my own called Avan, Aval, Adhu.

Avan, Aval, Adhu 49

“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,

Everything contains and is a vessel. Everything seems to be a repository of life and all that is needed for love. This planet, the sun, is our superstar parent. Her womb was a vessel in which she contained you. Her heart, your heart and all our hearts, vessels with inlets to take in love and outlets to give away love. The body itself is a vessel, a container for organs and bones and for hate and love and yes, sacrifice.

I have often been stunned, stumped and moved when I see a familiar person and then realize that he or she is a stranger. I quickly turn away not wanting to be thought of as strange or weird ( my other pet names). Then, you have those real Deja vu moments with certain souls and you know that you know them even though you have never met them before. Yet, their faces, voices, aura feels familiarly comforting and you get the sense of Home.

In those moments, my spirit, my soul unmoors itself from the anchor of a body and drifts away into dreams and imagination and wonders, ' Was it in some other life that our paths crossed and stopped at one point facing each other? Or did we share some purpose? Was I your brother or mother or father or a pet? Or was it love that brought our lips and hearts together to dwell as one soul? '

The struggling boy's flailing leg swung with force, more than what the boy could have generated in normal circumstances. But, dying is not a normal situation and the realization that you are dying and the panic that stems from that fear can make anyone as strong as Hercules himself.

The leg hit the left of Gayatri's face, who had just inhaled deeply, life-giving air and had filled her lungs with it and then she knew nothing and yet somewhere, some memory sparked and her soul said, ' Sorry. I am sorry for the way I treated you. Please forgive me' and then all went dark and her body drifted for a few seconds and at the same time moved further away from the shore and out of reach of Mekalai's hands.

She stood watching as Gayatri's unconscious body hovered on the surface for a few moments and then the water claimed her, dragging her into its womb. From darkness into darkness. Whence I came forth, to that source I return.

Mekalai screamed and Ravi heard the scream even from where he was and which was at the entrance and as he was getting out of the tractor and it gave him wings. His eyes took in the broken wall and the injured Thillai who lay bleeding but not in immediate danger. He looked at Mekalai who pointed to the water and whispered sadly, ' Gayatri ma'am.'

The meaning of Ravi is "Sun" and above their heads, the sun came out shining, blazing path through the wispy clouds and filled the lake and world with its light.

The sun came out and the man who was named after it dived into the water and into darkness and like an unerring arrow shot from the bow of Arjuna.

Light and darkness. Life and death.

From the darkness and into the darkness. Everything dies and everything is dying and in various stages of death. The countdown begins with the first beat of the tiny heart inside a foetus. It is as if the first beat is like a gong which starts a race, a race of life and when the participants run towards the finish they don't receive any medals or shields but only death.No matter what you do, what you have done or what you thought you wanted to do death waits and wins in the end.

Love. This four-letter word defines our happiness, our goals, our ambitions and in the end, it fills our memories as we close our eyes on the living world and enter the world of the dead. We largely exist for love, to be loved and to love back. The feeling of love is an abstract emotion,a compound,a mutual amalgamation and once broken downfalls into its various elements. A parent might say his love for his or her children is their responsibility and duty. A spouse or lover might say that his or her love is to protect the partner and would be willing to die for the sake of the other. All this reasoning and purposes can be explained away as selfish motives that are largely governed by procreation and the need to further our genes. If this feeling, emotion was not present in all species starting from the smallest virus to the largest whale, would life have flowered and bloomed to bear fruit? Would life have endured all these billion years meandering without a purpose? For love seems to be the element largely designed for the species with a thinking brain starting from the ant to us human beings. The smallest bacteria and viruses go about doing their thing without a thought of love or other such abstract stuff but life above, slightly above those microbes seem to thrive on teams, groups for the sake of survival and follow the motto that united we stand and divided we fall.

But then there are certain people who live their lives pining, building castles and blindly willing to do anything for the sake of the person who they love, even though the other does not love them back. What drives them to this sad state of mind? what makes them endure days, months and years of torture when the person or persons whom they love continue to ignore them? does this extend to those who have gone beyond life and have gone into the world of the undead? Is their love so powerful that it keeps them alive in some unknown form even after they have lost their physical bodies?

“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies-“God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.” – Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

Avan, Aval, Adhu 50

“Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay

To mould me man? Did I solicit thee

From darkness to promote me?”

“Ah, why should all mankind

For one man's fault, be condemned,

If guiltless?” Paradise lost John Milton

There come certain moments in life, when we pray, really pray, to something or someone that we only know as God.

Ravi was an intelligent man and it had aided him in gathering a perspective of everything that happened around him and also that happened inside him. Both in his head and heart. A heart-based thinking style is intuitive (“follow your heart”), whereas a head-based thinking style is rational (“use your head”). He was highly educated and also well learned and this was the cream on the cake with a cherry on the top for a finish.

He had never been a very religious man but knew in his heart that there was a higher power that existed in Animate, and In-animate. But, the other facet in him, his emotional intelligence gave him the heart to see and accept everyone without judging them and respect their wishes and ways of life.

His mother constantly stated, ' I did not give these traits to you, Ravi, and I know very well that you did not get them from your father . This is something that is uniquely you and that which you have brought for yourself from God or from another life' which Ravi refused to accept for he believed that all humans were born equal and that it was the parents and the environment that dictated their emotional and physical progress in life along with their financial status in society.

Ravi had often and openly stated that there were a few people whose lives were instrumental in him becoming who he was.

When asked to name them, he boldly declared, ' Mahatma Gandhi, and Abdul Kalam Iyaa' and left it at that, without revealing the name of the other person who was responsible for everything. Madhu.

It was for her that he had prayed to God for, with faith and devotion on that fateful night that had separated them forever.

He had fallen to his knees and raised his bloody hands that had murdered to protect Madhu and pleaded to the night sky, ' Please, let her be safe and well. I am ready to do anything that you ask of me and ready to sacrifice my own life for her safety and well-being. Hear my prayers, God, and grant her safe passage today and for every day of her life.'

From that moment, that day, Ravi had started this ritual and had religiously followed it. He would face the rising sun and pray for her and then again the evening, he would pray to the setting sun to watch over and keep her safe.

But today, his soul screamed a prayer to God as he pierced the waters of the lake and dived into its depths.

' We have a pact, you and me. My life for Madhu's and her safe-keeping. For 25 years, I have walked the line, your line and unerringly. I have never asked you for anything in all these years. But now, I am asking you, begging you for the sake of Gayatri who has obviously suffered terribly and still suffering from unhealed wounds. I can see it clearly. Why can't you, you blind, cruel ba..ard?'

It hears you and your every word and curses and yes, along with your prayers and calls for mercy too.

Why good and bad stuff happens and importantly why it only happens at certain times is a question that we ask ourselves.

Sometimes, an image of God flashes through my head. God is like namma K.Bhagyaraj who is not just an Actor, Director, Producer, story writer, Screenplay writer, Dialogue writer, music composer but also takes on the role of a comedian.

Yup, God is a comedian. A joker who can make you laugh and cry and sometimes he makes us do both at the same time. I wonder, just wonder what God must experience when we cry or when we laugh. Is it the same or the opposite? Opposite.

Laugh and cry at the same time. Totally broke and unemployed, A stood near the bus stand, not having eaten properly for two days and was contemplating suicide when someone touched his arm and A looked up at a familiar face.

Hungry and totally exhausted, A tried hard to recall the person's name and failing, shook his head weakly and whispered with dried and parched lips, ' sorry, I know you from somewhere but cannot recall from your name.'

The person was his childhood friend, B who gently took his arm and escorted him to the restaurant nearby and fed him and then asked, ' There is a job vacancy in my office. Do you want it?' A looked at B and A did not know whether to cry or to laugh or do both at the same time like Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan which is impossible.

Man was meant to walk on land. Man can survive in water, but above it and not below it. There have been many recorded cases when people have stayed afloat and stay alive for several days on open seas before being rescued

But underwater the human body cannot survive for more than a few minutes.

Ravi knew that he was racing with fate, time and death and with his heart beating fast and only with Gayatri in his thoughts, he went down to the bottom of the lake.

Then as if his prayers had been heard and something had responded, sunlight that had blazed forth through the thick dark clouds in the skies now forged though as pillars and set alight the waters and Ravi's eyes caught sight of Gayatri as she lay in the bottom.

A few beams of light danced around her and as if they were signalling to Ravi, telling him to hurry up before it was too late.

Ravi landed on the bottom and quickly placing both his hands under Gayatri, used his powerful legs to launch himself to the surface and with mighty strokes of his legs, broke out of the water and gasped and took in huge gulps of air.

He immediately saw the injury to the left side of her face, angry in crimson and tried slapping her face to revive her and not getting any response, swam towards the shore and then his feet found ground and he walked out of the lake with Gayatri in his arms.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment and rested her on one knee, letting her head hang low and watched as the water she had swallowed slowly dripped from her mouth. Then Ravi gently laid Gayatri on the ground and carefully but with force, pressed her stomach a few times to pump out water and then quickly pressed his fingers against the side of her neck and finding no pulse began to administer CPR.

Ravi placed his left palm on her chest and then used his right palm to press down and began compressions. He had learnt CPR administration many years ago and remembered the doctor's words, " 30 compressions and then mouth to mouth resuscitation. CPR in full form means Cardiopulmonary resuscitation.Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure that can help save a person’s life if their breathing or heart stops.

When a person’s heart stops beating, they are in cardiac arrest. During cardiac arrest, the heart cannot pump blood to the rest of the body, including the brain and lungs. Death can happen in minutes without treatment. CPR uses chest compressions to mimic how the heart pumps. These compressions help keep blood flowing throughout the body.

Cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack. A heart attack happens when blood flow to the heart is blocked. A person having a heart attack is still talking and breathing. This person does not need CPR—but they do need to get to the hospital right away. Heart attack increases the risk for going into cardiac arrest.

Ravi repeated the chest compressions on Gayatri and checked for a pulse and finding none, placed his mouth on hers and blew into her.

Mouth to mouth resuscitation in CPR is colloquially called " Kiss of life." Ravis breath that he blew into Gayatri was not just air but his desperate prayers for her heart to beat again. The children who were already shocked by what had taken place now began to cry seeing their Master reduced to such a state. Ravi unable to hold back his grief and pain any longer looked up at the sky and the sun and yelled out loudly, ' you took her away from me and broke me and now you are doing the same thing again. What more do you want from me? Placing his mouth on hers, he blew air into her, willing her to return from the darkness and raised his head and stared at her face thinking it was too late now and then she moved. Gayatri coughed and water came pouring out from her mouth and Ravi quickly made her sit upright fearing she might choke and it was the right move for Gayatri vomited several times and most of it on Ravi. Using his handkerchief, he gently wiped her mouth and watched with bated breath as Gayatri slowly swam back from near death and into the world of the living. She opened her eyes and they filled her with Ravi.

Avan, Aval, Adhu 51

I saw nothing, but I heard a voice somewhere cry,

“Jane! Jane! Jane!” nothing more.

“Oh, God! what is it?” I gasped.

“I am coming!” I cried. “Wait for me! Oh, I will come!” I flew to the door, and looked into the passage; it was dark. I ran out into the garden; it was void.

“Where are you?” I exclaimed. A piece of Charlotte Bronte from her novel Jane Eyre.

Ravi gently patted her cheeks in an effort to bring her back from her unconsciousness and called out her name.

" Gayatri, Gayatri, please wake up and please come back to us."

Gayatri's eyelids fluttered several times and Ravi who was holding her in his arms thought " like the beating wings of a hummingbird" and then she opened them slowly letting in light into her eyes and into her brain which deep inside her head was rebooting itself and in the process of accessing her memory banks.

She lay limply in his arms and the only movement in her body were her eyes balls that rolled wildly as her brain struggled to take control of itself.

Then they slowly steadied their movements and coming to a standstill focused and looked at Ravi Kumar who swamped by his emotions hugged her tightly and whispered, " Thank you Gayatri. Thank you for coming back."

Looking into her eyes he saw that she was still drifting in and out of consciousness and resumed tapping her cheek and calling out her name.

Then he heard her as she parted her beautiful lips and whispered through the fog of her unconscious state, ' Don't let me go, Ravi. I have nothing, no one and I am all alone' and drifted away.

" Hypoxia" Ravi's mind screamed to him and instantly brought him out of his emotional and vulnerable state and he lifted her and yelled loudly,' everyone in the vehicle. Right now, Mekalai, see to it' and ran to the tractor with Gayatri in his arms.

The moment everyone was in, Ravi ignited the engine and roared towards the Toll Plaza that was just a few km away. The reason for his action was that all Toll Plaza's in Indian highways are required to have some sort of emergency medical support on standby and when it comes to major toll plazas in the vicinity of large cities, an ambulance is always at the beck and call of those who need its services.

Ravi gunned the tractor at full speed and climbed the incline and burst forth onto Highway 85 that originates from Thondi in Ramanathapuram and ends in Kochi, Gateway to Kerala.

Hypoxia is a condition in which the body or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply at the tissue level. Hypoxia may be classified as either generalized, affecting the whole body, or local, affecting a region of the body.

Brain hypoxia is a form of hypoxia or oxygen deficiency affecting the brain. It occurs when the brain does not receive enough oxygen even though blood is still flowing. When the oxygen supply is totally cut off, it is called brain anoxia.

Brain hypoxia is a medical emergency because the brain needs a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients to function properly.

There are several causes of brain hypoxia. They include drowning, suffocating, cardiac arrest, and stroke. Mild symptoms include memory loss and problems with motor function, such as movement. Severe cases can result in seizures and brain death.