From & To Sathish #5 - Page 27

Maybe you know or maybe you don't but I am hoping you will know now and understand now that I am just playing a character. Honestly, I am not comfortable doing such characters but I have to earn to eat, live and make a life with what is given to me.

On one hand, I am thankful and grateful to God for giving me a role in which I can go wherever I want to go with my emotions and experience while on the other hand, I feel guilty, sad and depressed that I have to do such scenes.

My team tells me that it is just a role, a serial that I am acting in and tell me that I should not take it seriously.

I am not but what about the general public. OOOPPPSS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoBhP3XECjc

Originally posted by: radhu_raman

Maybe you know or maybe you don't but I am hoping you will know now and understand now that I am just playing a character. Honestly, I am not comfortable doing such characters but I have to earn to eat, live and make a life with what is given to me.

On one hand, I am thankful and grateful to God for giving me a role in which I can go wherever I want to go with my emotions and experience while on the other hand, I feel guilty, sad and depressed that I have to do such scenes.

My team tells me that it is just a role, a serial that I am acting in and tell me that I should not take it seriously.

I am not but what about the general public. OOOPPPSS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoBhP3XECjc

Hi Sir,

I have been a silent reader of your posts, and the poignancy of today's post prompted me to write to you. I would like to say that you are doing a marvellous job as Gopi. For some, it is impossible for them to differentiate between Gopi and yourself, hence the trolling and comments, but that itself, if I could say, is a compliment to your fine and natural acting. Please don't feel bad about it.

Our regards to the entire team. For many housewives out there, Bakkiyalakshmi is their story, and with the serial's increasing popularity comes public recognition and acceptance of the sacrifices they have had to make silently. They can finally shine as the superheroes they are.

Best wishes.

Ravi

Vaanathai Pola 386

All of us have an opinion about ourselves and an image that only we can see and sadly that which is not visible to others. Others outside yourself form their own opinions about you and that's how life and relationships carry on, carrying on.

Raman knew that he was a tough nut and a person capable of words, thoughts and actions that were the purview of a small per cent of the human population. But, he knew that he was not infallible and definitely not immortal. He was a person who hated mistakes but then again was a person who learnt from those mistakes and never ever repeated them. Period.

But, here he sat inside the belly of the mighty Qantas A380 Boeing plane and that too conversing with a man who he knew practically nothing and yet the man must have been his age give or take a few years.

Raman placed his glass brimming with the expensive wine that had been poured by the stranger and sighing tiredly said, ' Mister, do you have a name or is that a secret too like your rather vague words and incoherent declarations.'

The man smiled and Raman grudgingly smiled back and said, ' wow! I never thought I would say this. But, you are a very good-looking man and I might even venture to use the word beautiful.'

The man smiled a sad smile that somehow reached out to Raman's soul and he quickly apologized, ' I am sorry mister. I am sorry if I have insulted you or hurt you in any way.'

The man turned slowly to face Raman and replied, ' No need to apologize Raman. Just that old memories came flooding back when used the word beautiful to compliment me.'

He looked out at the darkness of the night and said, ' such a long time ago and yet it feels like only a few moments ago.'

Raman reached out and gently patted the man's forearm and said, ' I think you have lost someone very close to your heart.'

The man nodded and said, ' Yes. not just close but a person who was and still is all of me and she used to call me her beautiful one and named me after that.'

Raman looked at him for a few moments and then said with a smile, ' okay. so, your name is Azhagan. Am I right?'

The man smiled, ' I, we have been called, addressed by many names. But, Azhagan is my name and the only name that I can truly call my own for it is the name given to me by her. By my blind mother, Avini.'

Raman was at a loss for a reply and asked innocently, ' Is your mother still around?' and seeing the reaction on Azhagan's face quickly added, ' sorry. Oh, Oh! So, it was your mother you were reminiscing about. Right, mister?'

Azhagan smiled and said nothing and just sat with a beautiful smile playing on his lips.

Raman cast a sheepish look at Azhgan and asked, ' I am sorry for your loss, sir. What happened to her? How did she dieeeeeeeee' and stopped with a screech and his face filling quickly with the red of anger and embarrassment, raised his hands as if to protect himself, apologized, ' sorry. I am really sorry. It is none of my business and I shouldn't be asking such personal questions of you and that when I know so little of you.'

Azhagan smiled, ' True. But, a connection has been forged child and in more ways than you know' and tilted the glass and emptied it in one big gulp and burped softly.

He got to his feet and looked down at Raman and said, ' my mother was murdered, Raman.'

Raman felt his heart shudder in shock and fill with empathy and springing to his feet, said, ' I am so sorry, man. So sorry. Poor thing. God, I hope those evil bas...ds were punished and sentenced harshly.'

Azhagan closed his eyes and nodded, ' They were and they never committed another evil act.'

' Oh! So, they were given multiple life sentences.'

Azhagan looked at Raman in a funny way, ' No. I took away all their lives by beheading them.'

Vaanathai Pola 387

The man called Azhagan asked Raman why he looked so surprised and shocked.

' Why that look on your face, Raman? Are you judging me? what have I done that is so terrible and which you have not done before?'

' I killed those who murdered my blind mother. But what about you and all those people you killed in the name of Suja who was just your sister-in-law and Vijay who was just your friend?'

Azhagan smiled and looked at his fingers and said, ' Okay, let me do the math. You killed four men at Gingee fort and at the very same place where Suja and Mohan were stripped naked and their humiliation was recorded by Peria Karuppan on the behest of the late Vaidyanathan and which led to Suja hanging herself. Then you threatened Vaidyanathan with video evidence and he panicked and asked Rangan and his men to murder Karuppan who had been serving him for more than 30 years. You killed six men that night in that mangrove off red hills highway route.'

To recollect, remember and refurbish what is being spoken about here, please visit these pages and read chapters 185 to 206

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/sensational-south/4919631/from-and-to-sathish-thread-4?pn=27

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/sensational-south/4919631/from-and-to-sathish-thread-4?pn=30

Raman's face shone with anger and his thoughts were full of questions. ' Who is this guy? How does he know so much about me and my family? Is he bluffing and am I a part of a much bigger conspiracy that he and others are hatching?'

Not knowing how to react to Azhagan's questions, Raman tried bluffing his way with a bit of bluster. ' I am sorry mister. But, you are wrong. Totally wrong about me. Suja was not just my sister-in-law but more like our child and Vijay was not just a friend but more like my brother. I had to do what I had to do and was forced to do.'

Azhagan smiled and clapping his hands said, ' You did as I did and as we will all continue to do so. I am not judging you for I know you are ruthless in your pursuit of vengeance and justice but you are also the kindest and most honourable man I have had the privilege to have met and that is why I have come now seeking your help. Raman, you and I take lives only when we are forced to do so. But, you do more than that and I have to confess that you have more empathy for those whose lives you have taken than I will ever have. I did that once long ago and that single act has haunted me and my kin to this point.

Smiling, ' You were the reason for Vaidyanathan's man Friday Periya Karuppan's death at the hands of his own men and which was perfectly justified. Yet, you helped his girlfriend Sandhya and her son and continue to do so. You used the money that Jamun aka Dhanraj left for you and purchased a two-bedroom flat for mother and son and have made fixed deposits in both their names and ensuring that they will never have to worry about money. You then honoured Dhanraj Malik's last wishes and even went as far as tracking Gulab's native place that was some village in Uttar Pradesh and built a school and an orphanage in her name and in honour of her unborn child and named it " Sharmilee elementary school." Dhanraj Malik must be proverbially a man really resting in peace.

Raman stood frozen to the floor of the plane and totally baffled and stammered, ' How do you know all this? Even Jeeva does not know this? Who are you, Azhagan? Who are you really?'

Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return, The Economist, Oct 9th 2021

The problem starts at the top

DISASTER STRUCK the world’s biggest social network on October 4th when Facebook and its sister apps were knocked offline for six hours. It was one of the less embarrassing moments of the company’s week. The next day a whistleblower, Frances Haugen, told Congress of all manner of wickedness at the firm, from promoting eating disorders to endangering democracy. Some wondered whether the world would be a better place if the outage were permanent.

A share of the opprobrium heaped on Facebook is incoherent. Politicians are angry but so far seem incapable of co-ordinating reform to rein it in. And investors have kept buying the stock, regardless of the bad headlines. Yet the company should take no comfort from this. The blind fury unleashed shows that its reputational problems have got out of hand.

Some of this week’s criticism was tendentious. Reports highlighted internal research showing that Instagram, Facebook’s photo-sharing app, makes one in five American teenagers feel worse about themselves. They paid less attention to the finding that Instagram makes twice as many feel better about themselves. Facebook’s critics are right that it should be more open. But the firm has half a point when it says that the hysterical reaction to unsurprising findings will lead companies to conclude that it is safer not to do such research at all.

Other complaints are really criticisms of the broader internet. The question of how to regulate viral content for children goes beyond Facebook, as any parent who has left their child with YouTube knows. Likewise, dilemmas over how the firm amplifies attention and how to draw the line between upholding free speech and minimising harm. Facebook repeated its plea that Congress should weigh in on matters such as minimum ages, rather than leaving it to firms. It has made a better stab than most at settling free-speech questions with its “oversight board”, a pompous-sounding but quietly useful body which dispenses rulings on matters from misogyny to misinformation.

The most damaging claim this week gained the least attention. Ms Haugen alleges that Facebook has concealed a decline in its young American users. She revealed internal projections that a drop in teenagers’ engagement could lead to an overall decline in American users of 45% within the next two years. Investors have long faced a lack of open disclosure. Misleading advertisers would undermine the source of nearly all the firm’s sales, and potentially break the law. (The firm denies it.)

Does any of this matter? Although Facebook’s share price has lagged behind some tech giants, it has risen by almost 30% in the past 12 months. Politicians threaten to break the company up, but the antitrust case is flawed. The Justice Department’s claim that Facebook is a monopoly rests on defining its market so as to exclude most social networks. The nonsense of this was demonstrated by the outage, when users flocked to apps like Telegram, TikTok and Twitter. The action is more an expression of frustration than a powerful argument about competition law.

But fury may matter. Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return. Even when it set out plausible responses to Ms Haugen, people no longer wanted to hear. The firm risks joining the ranks of corporate untouchables like big tobacco. If that idea takes hold, Facebook risks losing its young, liberal staff. Even if its ageing customers stick with the social network, Facebook has bigger ambitions that could be foiled if public opinion continues to curdle. Who wants a metaverse created by Facebook? Perhaps as many people as would like their health care provided by Philip Morris.

If rational argument alone is no longer enough to get Facebook out of its hole, the company should look hard at its public face. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s all-powerful founder, made a reasoned statement after this week’s wave of anger. He was ignored or ridiculed and increasingly looks like a liability.

https://youtu.be/ovOsaFcYXE4

https://youtu.be/SvzQFgUarz0

Avan, Aval, Adhu 83

For the people who lived in the village-town called Kumarapalayam, Ravi Kumar " Master sir" and was their uncrowned king and their angel without wings. Many of the kids below 20 years of age, looked up to him as their father, mother and elder brother. To them, he was their guardian, protector and shepherd. For Rasaathi Ammal, Ravi was not just her son but a boon, a gift that had been bestowed by gods for many lives spent in worship and prayer.

She stood absolutely blown away and feeling shell shocked after being bombarded and berated by words from her son, her hero and her everything and she stood unable to say anything that would make sense to her son.

Ravi closed the zip of his duffel bag and carrying it, stopped near his mother and looked at her and said, ' In case of an emergency or anything very important, call me on my mobile phone.'

Rasaathi Ammal nodded and continued to stare at the ground and then just as he moved away, she said, ' one moment please' and slowly looked up at her son whose face she observed was now devoid of anger and of the other entity that seemed to have slipped into his body and had somehow managed to change him from his normal self.

' I am sorry, Ravi' she said and he immediately interrupted her and said, ' Mother, there is nothing to be sorry about. You said and did what you felt had to be done and I did what I felt had to be said and done. It is over and the moment has passed us now.'

She looked at him, the stranger now replaced by her son and said, ' I said what had to be said out of love and care and nothing else.'

Ravi tried to interrupt her again but Rasaathi Ammal raised her hand and then in a raised voice asked him, ' Do you deny all that I said about you?'

' No, I don't and please mother I rather not talk about it.'

' No Ravi. You have to let it out and talk it out for you have been carrying all this in you for too long a time now.'

The duffel bag that Ravi was carrying fell to the floor with a muffled thud and mother and son stared each other down.

Saying, ' Okay, amma' he folded his arms across his chest and looked at her calmly.

Rasaathi Ammal looked at her son that she had held tight in her arms just minutes ago and yet here they stood a chasm apart and letting out the breath that she had been holding in her lungs, she blurted her thoughts.

' Madhu is gone. She has been gone for more than 28 years now and it stands to reason that she must be married and is someone's wife and someone's mother and yet you live with her in your thoughts. Why do you have to live like this? Why can't you give love and happiness another chance? Why can't you give Gayatri a chance?'

Ravi's face showed no reaction and to his mother's eyes, it looked like it had been freshly carved from dark granite. Her eyes registered the barest hint of his head that nodded in a way that reveal to her that she was right and also very wrong.'

' Mother, I am a firm believer in the concept of personal space and firmly believe that each and every one of us deserves and is rightfully entitled to our own space, thoughts and actions. But, I am going to break my own set rules just this once to answer your questions and also to shed light on this topic that you feel so strongly about.'

Sighing deeply, ' Mother, a few years before dad passed away, he mentioned vaguely that you deserved someone better and that it was your parents that forced you into marrying him when they knew very well that your heart was not in it and was somewhere else.'

Rasaathi Ammal had expected harsh words from her son but she had not expected time travel and that too with the aid of her now-dead husband.

She gasped in shock and pain, ' That, that happened a long time ago and I have forgotten all about it. I spoke about it with your father and he knew all about it and it was never a problem between us.'

Wiping her tears she declared, ' I admit to you as I admitted to your dad that I had indeed been interested in marrying the person who you just mentioned but after my dad put his foot down, I gave up those thoughts and gave in to his commands and got married to your father and we lived a happy and peaceful life.

She looked at him angrily, ' why? why bring it up now?'

' For a good reason mother and for the same reason that you brought up my past that I had buried with great difficulty.'

Looking at her, ' Please share the reason why you didn't fight back against your parents and why you didn't stand firm and get married to the man you were interested in.'

' Ravi, I am a woman. I had no other go but to follow my father and do what my parents wanted me to do. But, how is my life relevant to this moment of yours?'

' Highly relevant, mother, for unlike you, I have the guts to say no and stand firm in what I want and believe in. Your situation is relevant because unlike you, I don't have the strength to change my heart and convictions fearing anybody. Your life is relevant because unlike you, I am capable of loving just once.'

He stepped forward, ' You think I and Gayatri will be happy with each other. How is that even possible, amma when I am still living with Madhu? Don't you think that marriage is about two people and not three? Even if the third is invisible?'

Bending to his waist, he picked up the duffel bag and looked at his mother with a sad expression, ' Mother, marriage is not everything and surely is not the be-all and end-all of a person's life. It is not some magic recipe that can cure a person of all their ills. Times have changed mother and today it is not just about marriage but more about compatibility and companionship. Agreed, that Gayatri and I are very good friends and I also agree with the fact that she is interested in me but the sad fact is I am not and I need a lot of time to come to terms with my feelings and emotions.'

Ravi placed a soft kiss on his mother's cheeks and then softly pecked her lips and said, ' Mother, I have spent almost all of my adult life living with Madhu and I cannot change just like that and that too overnight. You are a woman, so think of Gayatri's life with me and how crowded and painful it will be for her with Madhu still a part of me. She has already been scarred badly by her first marriage and I think she might be rushing into me with her eyes and mind close and only with her heart open. Do you think it will be fair on my part to further wound her with my past and with my own burdens?'

Rasaathi Ammal nodded, ' I know Ravi but ...'

' But nothing amma. Let it be. For what will be, will eventually be.'

She saw him walk away and she heard the sounds of his Enfield bullet roar and thump into life and leave the compound and head towards the hills of Kodai and in the direction of his best friend.

https://youtube.com/shorts/FUn7ckGLSCk?feature=share

https://newspost19.com/2021/10/09/%e0%ae%85%e0%ae%9f%e0%ae%9f%e0%af%87-%e0%ae%af%e0%ae%be%e0%ae%b0%e0%af%81-%e0%ae%a8%e0%ae%ae%e0%af%8d%e0%ae%ae-%e0%ae%aa%e0%ae%be%e0%ae%95%e0%af%8d%e0%ae%95%e0%ae%bf%e0%ae%af%e0%ae%b2%e0%ae%9f-2/