From & To Sathish #5 - Page 63

Avan, Aval Adhu 206

If a spaceship from a different world had landed near them, the other world beings would have mistaken Ravi and Gayatri for some wild animals and a part of the ecosystem. Maybe if God, that God as described by the Bible happened to stumble across them, he would have mistaken them for Adam and Eve. They lay oblivious of everything around them and in them. Gone was any trace of inhibition and boundaries that people put up between themselves and others even when sitting or standing next to each other.

They lay facing each other with Gayatri's head resting on his muscular left bicep and Ravi's left-hand fingers slowly caressing her shoulder and back.

' Ravi, I have never felt this way before ' and taking his right hand, she gently placed it on her breast, ' There was this hole, a dark abyss right here in my chest. I think it was always lurking there may be waiting to reveal itself. Then its time came with the death of my father who finally succumbed and lost his battle with cancer.'

He saw her eyes brighten and soften with tears but did not move or say anything for he knew that sometimes it is better to let a person talk. That it is best to let a friend you care about or even love, shed their tears and cry their way out of the darkness that they have fallen in and with that begin a new and unburdened chapter of their lives.

' Those were some of the darkest days of my life. I had just suffered a miscarriage. I was heavily into booze and maybe even a borderline drug addict and I was fighting with my husband every day and we also physically assaulted each other. Although, it usually ended with my ex doing all the beating and dishing out the hurt.'

Ravi used a single finger to wipe the tears in her eyes and asked her, ' Is it okay if I speak on what you are speaking now?'

She nodded but clearly with fear and hesitation and he knew why they had made their appearance in her eyes.

' Don't worry, Gayatri. I am not going to pass any judgement on you or your past life. I have never done that and will never do that and that includes everyone and everything.'

Using the same finger with which he had wiped her tears away, he slowly brushed away the strands of hair that had fallen on her left cheek and said, ' I have been in this teaching business for more than 22 years now and thousands of students have passed out of our school.'

Smiling sadly, ' I can remember almost all the kids who I have taught and interacted with on a day-to-day basis and some on a more personal level. Those kids I called and segregated in the special kid's category for they needed a lot more care, protection and watching over than the others because their lives had been subjected to various sorts of pain and tragedy. Some of them had lost either their father or mother and some of them had lost a sibling. Then there were many who were daily witnesses to domestic violence and other brutalities and in some cases, there were girls who were being interfered with by some relative or neighbour.'

Gayatri's eyes opened wider with fear, and pain but more out of empathy and she asked, ' How, Ravi? What made you notice all that?'

' My post-graduation in clinical Psychology.'

She chuckled madly, ' you are a psychiatrist?'

' No. Sorry for correcting you but I am not a psychiatrist but a psychologist. But, I am not a practising one.

' I didn't know that. I always thought that both of them were kind of the same.'

' Yes and no. Yes, that they concern the brain and its behaviour and no for a psychologist is more about studying and observing behaviour patterns of a patient, a psychiatrist about that but also goes deeper into the physical anomalies and structure of the brain. Then you have the tasks of prescribing medicines and surgery which only a psychiatrist can do for he is a certified doctor in the field of medicine.'

Gayatri looked, listened and then asked, ' But, this topic started with me and then ended with you. I mean your students.'

' Yes, I was getting there but now I am reconsidering it.'

' why? Finish saying it, please. Don't worry about me, for I respect your thoughts as much as I respect everything about you.'

Ravi Kumar slowly told her about the many times he had seen kids with injuries like cuts, bruises and swollen foreheads and then he told her about a few extreme cases of kids who had attempted suicide.

' OMG! The poor things.'

Ravi's face was grim and so was his voice that spoke on.

' It took me time but eventually, I realized that most of the injuries I saw on the kids were self-inflicted and almost all of them were due to pain and depression and some sort of trauma.'

She began to cry softly and Ravi did not interrupt.

' Almost all of us, be it kids or adults face pain in its various avatars, once, twice or more times in our lives. The physical ones we can handle, although what Partha went through by losing his legs is a totally different case altogether. I am talking here about mental trauma. The trauma of losing loved ones. The trauma of being ignored or being treated differently in society and at home and the inferiority complex that comes forth from those situations.

But in the end, it is about pain and how best we cope with that pain and go on with our lives.'

' No offence, Ravi. But what about you?'

He smiled even though it was a sad smile making Gayatri think in wonder, ' Anyone else at this moment would have taken offence and would have shot off a quick counter retort. But, my man smiles.'

' Exactly. Good that you included me too in this conversation for I might have sneaked my way out of it.'

Sighing heavily, ' You coped with your pain at that dark point of your life by drinking, doing drugs and also by marrying the wrong person and maybe just to anger your dad who had just remarried and that too to a very young woman. I on the other hand shut myself off from my pain and coped by burying myself in studies and education. I channelled all my rage, pain and trauma by pouring it into our school and its construction and into bettering the lives of all the children who came to study there.'

She stared at him and then bringing his face closer to hers gently kissed him and asked, ' If you channelled all that pain away and found ways to cope with it through your school, why did you choose to be single? Why haven't you married? Surely, there must have been proposals from women who would have loved to marry you? So, why have you chosen to remain single and on top of that, you have remained a virgin?'

💕

Just simply enjoy these Funniest Quotes about Ageing:

"The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened.

*- Mark Twain*

"First you forget names, then you forget faces, then you forget to pull your zipper up, then you forget to pull your zipper down."

*- Leo Rosenberg*

"At fifty, everyone has the face he deserves."

*- George Orwell*

"At age 20, we worry about what others think of us… at age 40, we don’t care what they think of us… at age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all."

*- Ann Lander*

"As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two."

*- Sir Norman Wisdom*

“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.”

*- Andy Rooney*

“Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.”

*- Larry Lorenzon*

"I’m 59 and people call me middle-aged. How many 118-year-old men do you know?"

*- Barry Cryer*

“Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.”

*– Maurice Chevalier*

"Grandchildren don’t make a man feel old, it’s the knowledge that he’s married to a grandmother that does."

*- J. Norman Collie*

"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old."

*- Mark Twain*

"Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician."

Avan, Aval Adhu 207

Pain Middle English (in the sense ‘suffering inflicted as punishment for an offence’): from Old French peine, from Latin poena ‘penalty’, later ‘pain’.

Pain a few synonyms - suffering, agony, affliction, torture, torment.

Pain is as diverse as man. One suffers as one can.Victor Hugo

There is only so much one can do to hide, mask their thoughts and emotions when face to face with a person and virtually impossible to do even that little when you are lying side by side breathing each other in. Skin on skin, heartbeat on heartbeat and breath on breath and on top of all that, open doors to the halls of each other souls and so, as I said, there is just no wriggling out from answering such direct and honest questions.

Her questions to him felt like a mirror being held up to a person and asked to look into it and recognize themselves and not fool themselves and live in an illusion.

Ravi saw Gayatri and her questions as his soul and life mirror and in them he caught sight of all that had plagued him and had robbed him of so much and unable to cope with what he was facing, seeing, he slowly closed and squeezed shut his eyes.

She saw his pain, confusion and also a glimpse of anger in his eyes before his eyelids dropped down to protect him and went further by locking his long lashes together.

She saw clearly his torment and his struggle to answer her question and unable to take it anymore, whispered, ' Let it go, Ravi. Forget my questions for I have no right in subjecting you to such inquisitions and that too just to satisfy my own curiosity.'

Ravi opened his eyes and shaking his head said, ' No, there is no more letting go, Gayatri. I am glad you asked me these questions for now I can ask myself the very same questions and answer them honestly and that too in front of you.'

Taking a large and deep breath like an underwater diver, Ravi whispered, ' Ask me but slowly, and one question at a time, for I, one who takes pride in knowing himself very well, can tell you with absolute guarantee that I am not myself when this particular topic is broached and even by accident.'

He exhaled and she inhaled and took in all his fears, doubts and worries and said, ' Ravi, I don't know what we have here but I know it is beautiful. Exquisitely beautiful. But, I don't want to force you and drag you into anything against your will.'

She kissed his mouth and gently stroked his strong muscular arm to comfort him and said, ' Our making love, our coming together should not be the basis upon which our love and future are built upon. I don't even want to go in there until you are ready and willing. That is the only reason why I asked you these questions for your answers will give me a better understanding of you and in turn of myself.'

Ravi's smile was full of bitterness and opening his eyes, he looked at her, ' Gayatri, you have every right to ask me any questions and absolutely correct when you say that my answers will give you a better understanding of me.'

She saw his eyes take on a far-off look as if he was time travelling back to the moment when he had experienced whatever trauma that befell him and which led to him and his woman parting ways.

' Gayatri, this version of Ravi that you see is her gift. I was not like this and by that, I mean this calm, cool and composed person that you and the world see for I was a bit of a terror when I was a kid. No, not a rowdy or a ruffian. But, more like both Tom and Huck in one body. I was good at studies but never applied myself to the fullest of my capabilities and I went about indulging in everything but studies.'

He smiled and with it all the darkness and sorrow that had filled his face and that which had spread after first afflicting his soul fled away and Gayatri saw a new, beautiful and radiant Ravi instead of the sad and grim one that had existed just a moment ago.

Avan, Aval Adhu 208

“If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering.” Viktor Frankl

Ravi sat up and shook his head and whispered, ' It's been more than 25 years since she left that night. But, I remember every moment of that night that she left with her family so clearly and in stark detail that I sometimes wonder if it happened decades ago or moments ago.'

He turned and looked at her with a calm expression but she could see ghosts and their shadows dance in the depths of his eyes and the pain they brought to him with their appearances

' You will not believe it when I tell you that I can remember the bird's caw and coo to each other, the smell of rain that had been threatening for days to unleash itself but never did. Although, it did the next day and for a whole week after that.

Gayatri too sat up and asked, ' What was the reason for her to leave and that too in the middle of the night? what? Did you both have a fight? '

' Fight. Between us.Me and her fighting. Never. But you are right, for a fight did happen that night but not between me and her but between us and them. With that, all hell broke loose and nothing has been the same again.'

' I am sorry Ravi but you have me all confused and I have to confess that I am totally lost when it comes to understanding what went on or what happened in your life that has made you live a life of exile.'

Shrugging her naked shoulders, she raised both her hands as if she was appealing to him, ' Okay, there was a fight. But why should that fight have led your lady friend to flee your town ' and stopped realizing that she might have offended Ravi by using the word " Flee", she quickly apologized, ' I am sorry for using that word in this context.'

Ravi mumbled that it was okay and said, ' no offence taken.'

She laid a gentle hand on his arm and said, ' From what little I have seen of you and from Partha's narration about that day when he lost his legs and nearly lost his life and how you carried him for more than a mile in your arms and saved his life, I can safely say that you are neither a weakling or a coward. Moreover, you were in your town, among your people and who could have dared to fight with you and with your lady friend?'

She watched Ravi reach for his pants and her heart quickened its pace for she feared that she might have hurt him and provoked him by asking too many questions. She forgot to breathe and the air froze like ice in her lungs and then she exhaled in relief when she saw him take out a piece of paper from his pants and offer it to her.

Quietly, she took it and opened it and stared at it and unable to make any sense of the crude drawing, she asked him, ' A fish-eye with a line or what seems like a stake or maybe an arrow in it?'

' That was left by our common friend in the safekeeping of his wife, Malli.'

' Malli, common friend. Who are we talking about here, Ravi?'

' Beedi man himself. Mr Devathoothan.'

Gayatri smiled and realizing that it was inappropriate and seeing Ravi's face getting grimmer by the minute, ' Oh! Him. Did he draw this?' and then turned to see what was on the other side of the paper and realizing it was blank, came back to the fish eye and asked, ' why did he draw this and leave it for you?'

' As an advance warning.'

Her eyes grew round and big, ' warning for what and why should he be warning you? I thought I was the one involved in this rather silly and petty mess with those garden variety temple thieves ' and then she stopped and smiled wickedly and said, ' that too has been taken care of and I am sure in the next couple of hours, you will see the phone call I made take effect.'

Ravi looked away and said, ' Good. Something tells me that we are going to need all the help we can get.'

Gayatri feeling totally perturbed by all this cryptic going on's, asked in an irritated voice, ' WTF is going on here with you and your friends? I caught you guys whispering in the kitchen and then I come back and you have already disappeared and then I find you here. I mean, for God's sake, what is the problem here? Is it me or something else? Why all this beating around the bush?'

Ravi leant towards her and grabbed the paper with the drawing and tapped it and said, ' Fish, in Tamil means, Meen. Akshi which is a Sanskrit word that means Eyes.'

Gayatri felt like someone had just slapped her silly to wake her from her stupor and she gasped, ' Meenakshi. That is the name of your cousin. That mannerless, rude and crude creature whom we met a couple of days back.

For a few months now, I have been bumping into my ground floor neighbour as she goes around our apartment block compound on my way out to the gym or on my way out for my work. I see her always busy watering plants, trees and if not that, she is on her knees hard at work digging, planting, seeding, and plucking out weeds etc. All the walls of our compound are not single and solitary anymore for they have new companions now in the form of plants. Bare yellow walls now scream in joy and are always exploding in green of colour and in life breathing life. I walk the stairs to my first floor and even there green plants of various shapes and sizes greet me in their variety. Kutty krishna, ganesh too are there among the plants acting as the very foundation from which the plants grow. Discarded plastic oil cans have their bottoms sliced off and mother natures element, Earth is cast in for seeds to bloom roots and erupt as plants. Even the handle of the can is put to good use by reminding us of Ganeshas trunk. Baby Krishnas eyes are round and loving in their message and i hear it carried by the breeze that has just left the plants. Love. All we need is love. All it takes is a little more love to make this world a more beautiful place to live in.

யார் எழுதியது என்று

தெரியவில்லை.

ஆனால் உண்மை.

1. ADULT ஐந்துஎழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல YOUTH

2. PERMANENT ஒன்பது எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல TEMPORARY.

3. GOOD நான்கு எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல EVIL.

4. BLACK ஐந்து எழுத்துக்கள்.

அதே போல WHITE.

6. LIFE நான்கு எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல DEAD.

7. HATE நான்கு எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல LOVE.

9. ENEMIES ஏழு எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல FRIENDS.

10. LYING ஐந்து எழுத்துக்கள்.

அதே போல் TRUTH.

11. HURT நான்கு எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல் HEAL.

12. NEGATIVE எட்டு எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல POSITIVE.

13. FAILURE ஏழு எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல SUCCESS.

14. BELOW ஐந்து எழுத்துக்கள்.

அதே போல ABOVE.

15. CRY மூன்று எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல JOY.

16. ANGER ஐந்து எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல HAPPY.

17. RIGHT ஐந்து எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல WRONG

18. RICH நான்கு எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போல POOR.

19. FAIL நான்கு எழுத்துக்கள்

அதே போலPASS.

20. KNOWLEDGE ஒன்பது எழுத்துக்கள்

அதேபோல IGNORANCE

வியப்பாக இருக்கிறது

இந்த ஒற்றுமை.

இதிலிருந்து அறியப்படும் நீதி

என்ன என்றால்,

LIFE is like a double edged sword but the choice we make determines our future.

Avan, Aval Adhu 209

Almost all Indians are familiar with the word " Karma " and invariably use it several times to describe their life in situations involving themselves or others. Almost all those who use the word Karma, use it almost exclusively to curse, blame and accuse and use it in the same breath with " Paap " in Hindi or " Paavam or paabam " in Tamil. Funnily, I have never heard anyone around me say, " My good Karma that good things are happening to me " or if I have, my memory fails me at this moment.

Usually, people will say, ' Naa pona jemathula enna punniyam senjeno, indha jenmathula ennoda vazhakaiyula nallathu nadakuthu. " When translated, this popular Tamil saying means " I must have done some good in my previous lives and am reaping those benefits in this current life."

Karma

Karma in Sanskrit means action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called the principle of karma, wherein intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and happier rebirths, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and bad rebirths.

The concept of karma is closely associated with the idea of rebirth in many schools of Indian religions (particularly Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism), as well as Taoism. In these schools, karma in the present affects one's future in the current life, as well as the nature and quality of future lives. This concept has also been adopted in Western popular culture, in which the events which happen after a person's actions may be considered natural

consequences.

Karma quotes are all around you: “What goes around comes around.” “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” “You get back the same energy you put out.” “You reap what you sow.” Over the millennia, people have come up with many different ways to talk about the type of cosmic justice that says people are fated to get what they deserve—good or bad. People who believe in this call it karma, generally speaking, and see it as a way of making life fair, at least in the end.

Karma Quotes

I am a sucker for quotes and sayings and yes, them Japanese haikus that ring my soul bells and then proceed to reverberate all around it and my mind walls and forever echo on in them. In the closed space that is the vacuum of my mind, quotes ( Those that I like and identify with ) are in a permanent state of perpetual motion.

As far as I am concerned, Quotes are as good as the fundamental laws of physics (Energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed) and that can be more or less proven with the above-mentioned Karma quotes that I repeat here again, “What goes around comes around.” “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” “You get back the same energy you put out.” “You reap what you sow ” for almost all of them have conducted practical classes in our daily lives.

Karma is basically energy. One person throws out energy through thoughts, words and actions, and it comes back, in time, through other people. Karma is the best teacher, forcing people to face the consequences of their own actions and thus improve and refine their behaviour, or suffer if they do not.

What goes around comes around

The moon takes nearly 28 days to rotate around our parent planet Earth which itself takes 365 days to go around the Sun its parent star. ( F..k that means the sun is the moon's thatha! ) The sun, our very own and only star takes 235 million years to go around our home galaxy, The Milky Way. Sssssstop. Yes, okay. I will stop crunching numbers.

Karma too is in motion regardless of whether it is good or bad for the person concerned and whether it is just ahead of you or just behind you. Like life, so to Karma orbits in a circle, looping around but definitely coming around.

Ravi sat naked next to the naked Gayatri and both were totally oblivious to their skin and their sex.

She looked at him but not really looking at him but instead using him as a portal to go back to that moment when she and the woman Meenakshi they were talking about had met briefly. But, even that brief encounter with her had left Gayatri with nothing but repulsion and contempt for the woman and her strange deviant behaviour.

' Your, cousin sister. Your nephew Aditya's mother. Correct, Ravi?' and then she quickly added, ' I remember you telling me two things and although I did not realize their significance then, I do now.'

She turned his face towards her, for she wanted to see his eyes when she spoke to him and repeated what he had told her.

' You told me that she was not always like that, a rude, spoilt girl. But then you warned me not to tangle with her or cross paths with her as long as I was there in your village town.'

Ravi smiled sadly and nodded, ' I will say it again and again until you have learnt to heed those warnings' and turning back to her, he asked her, ' Will you promise me something?'

She smiled, ' I will. I will promise and I will do whatever you want me to do but one thing I cannot promise on and that is to stop loving you and turn my back on you and abandon you when you are in trouble.'

She did that once again. She did that very same thing that Madhu used to do and which was blow air from her mouth to push away the strands or locks of hair that fell on her cheeks or over her eyes.

' 25 years since she had been gone and yet it feels like she is still part of me and part of everything around me ' Ravi thought as he stared at Gayatri and then he quickly got to his feet and said, ' Come, let us head back home before this fog becomes really bad for there is a chance that we might get lost and that is something that I want to avoid badly this moment.'

Gayatri looked around and saw that the fog was indeed getting worse and she asked Ravi how they were going to get back when visibility was so bad.

Ravi tapped his watch, ' My chronograph watch has a compass in it. Partha and Daksha gave it as a birthday gift many years ago.'

He raised his open hand and said, ' that promise that I wanted ?' and looked at her and she smiled and then her face lost that smile and took on a serious look, ' I promise to do whatever you ask me to do.'

' Don't talk about us and what happened between us to anybody. Not even my friends. This stays between us and only between us until things get better.'

She nodded and smiled, ' I promise, master and I always honour my promises. But can you answer one question, just one question, before we head back?'

' Why one and why not more, Gayatri?'

' No, just this question.'

' Okay. Then please ask your question, ma'am.'

She stepped closer to him and she looked right into him and said, ' I am a middle-aged woman but there is a little girl, a teenage girl who wants to know where she stands with her boy, with her man for she is in madly in love with him.'

Taking both his hands in hers, she kissed them softly and tried to speak but was unable to do so for her voice was choked with emotion and dipping her head down she stood as that emotion called grief, and insecurity froze her body and buried her in it like an avalanche.

' Gayatri, Gayatri, look at me ' he whispered and when she raised her head, he kissed her eyes, her tears and then her mouth softly and said, ' I love you.'

Movies and scripted TV are usually intended as a means of escapism. They will try to draw you into a world that this particular story exists within. They will try to garner a certain emotion or energy that the characters on screen are experiencing.

They don't have to. It's an artistic choice, no matter how corny, on behalf of the team. Why do they choose to do this? Because it creates an atmosphere that they feel supports the story. A sad moment may be emphasized more to the viewer with music that conveys this emotion. A suspenseful scene can be made more suspenseful with dark, drudging music. A happy scene can be made giddier with bubbly music.

But, here I am, writing this story in this blog and I want you to indulge my indulgences with the choice of songs that I add to the chapters.

Of all the reasons that I can think of, the main reason is that it adds some gravitas, and meaning to my words and my thoughts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-doQhcwDS8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wln6NX0V4AQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d49USeHogUs

Avan, Aval Adhu 210

The waves of the sea are cool in their touch and noisy as they splash on a touchdown on the open chest of the shores. The waves bound by laws of gravity come in tides and on time in big and small sizes. She, the sea never fails to evoke the poet in me and I never fail to feel utterly helpless and at the same time fascinated by the waves but what lies beyond the waves and in the deep waters.

Love, do I dare term it an emotion or a miracle drug, a natural pain-killer that God engineered in its heavenly lab? But even that drug called love is dangerously potent and the one who imbibes knows its effects on them.

For example, there is a huge difference between the words, " Love you ", " lots of love and best wishes" ( Which I often use ) and " I love you". The same huge and significant difference lies between Happiness and peace.

The main difference between happiness and peace is that happiness is conditional, while peace is unconditional. Happiness cannot remain forever, while peace remains forever. The level of happiness can be judged, but peace cannot be judged. Happiness is a state of being satisfied, while peace is a sensation of fulfilment.

You can use the word " Love " while slurping and licking ice cream and exclaim in ecstasy " I love this ice cream flavour" or whisper, " Lovely coffee. I love the coffee you make." I love your house, love your style, love the way you have decorated your garden, love your sandals ( F..K it)

But all that fades, withers, and pales into insignificance when the one you love, the one who you think is your significant other half looks into your eyes and through it into your soul and says, " I LOVE YOU."

It was not the words, it was not the kiss, but the way he said " I love you" and the way he looked at her and stood looking at her. There were a million questions that she wanted to ask of him and a million things she wanted to say to him but all that faded away into the shadows for all she heard was him say those words that each and every one of us wants to hear regardless of being a boy, girl or both or alien.

Gayatri smiled and said, ' Please, say that again ' and Ravi said, ' I love you, Gayatri.'

She hugged him with the power to break rib cages and she hugged him because for the very first time she felt she was breathing at last. Breathing fully and from every part and piece of her lung, it sent a message to all her cells in her body and she felt it and she knew that it was unlike any emotion, feeling, or pleasure that she had ever felt before or would feel again but with him and in his arms and drowning in his breath.

Karma is a bitch. A nasty bitch who sits at the table dealing with both good and bad karma. The stupid, ignorant and naive f..kers that we are, we play with her not knowing fully well that she is dealing cards from not only this life but all your past lives.

WTF! Yes. Sounds silly and petty of God and Karma and its various Kurma recipes. I say it because even when one has lived a good and pretty decent life, one is still subjected to many sorrows and tragedies and you just give up.

You want me to elaborate on that above statement.

Okay. I will. I remember, long ago my cousin sister, Sujatha telling me about a couple who were her close friends and the eight tragedies that they suffered over a span of two decades.

See, the couple was happily married, in love and then were over the skies in joy when she got pregnant. Miscarriage after two months.

It hit them pretty badly but since they were young and in their mid-20s, they tried again after several months. Miscarriage after four months.

If not just a miscarriage after four months, the next time in the 9th month the doctor tried to save the child by trying a cesarean but the baby was already dead.

This happened eight times over a span of nearly 20 years and just when they had finally given up in their mid040s, she finally manage to carry her baby through the full term and delivered a beautiful baby boy.

Science will say " These things happen and there is always a reason for it " but when all ideas and theories fall flat and go splat on their faces, they will look up to the skies and say, ' Thala vidhi. All fate. Enna karmamo. Pona jenmathula ennellam paavam senjiyo."

She cupped his face in her hands and stared into him. She felt a feeling of peace, an immense peace, a feeling of belonging and she knew that she had found her home and had entered it finally.

Ravi who was looking at her saw the smile that radiated what she was feeling and then his body stiffened and jerked in shock as he saw her tears and knew that she was feeling some immense grief and asked huskily, ' What ails you, Gayatri?'

She kept looking at him as she spoke, ' I feel so happy and more than that, I feel one with myself and peaceful. But, that peace made my soul introspect for your love reminded me of my family. My father whom I hurt, again and again, knowing fully well that he was dying and had just months, weeks to live. But, that did not stop me from lashing out in anger even though I knew that he was fighting for me while taking his last dying gasps of breath. If that was not sinning enough, I hurt her, my step-mother who was dying with him and trying to live for him by loving and caring for him.'

She shook her head sadly, ' Redemption, Ravi. I need to redeem myself, set right at least a little what I have broken, injured and hurt and all that in the cruellest and diabolical manner.'

Ravi kissed her eyes softly and said, ' Then do that ' and pointing to the tree, ' with this tree called Miracle that stands as our witness to our love and to our times in this life, say it, speak it and pray to your father's soul and ask him to grant you redemption.'

' How do I do that, Ravi? He is gone. How do I tell him how much I love him and how sorry I am about all that sh.t that I dished out to him and her?'

' Pray, talk, let it go and let Nature do the rest. I believe that when you talk to God, from your soul, when you reach out to him, from what you consider the purest part of you, God will listen and along with it, the universe too will listen and align itself for you.'

She nodded, ' stay with me, please and don't ever leave me.'

He tenderly lifted the strands of hair that had fallen across her cheeks and said, ' never ' and then kissed her.

The half-dead and half-alive tree stood over them as judge, jury and witness and in the darkening ambience of the thick fog, Ravi stood watching Gayatri, as she placed her head on the tree and prayed to be forgiven and prayed for redemption.

Her tears ran down the tree and ran down into the thin cracks of the dead and dry bark and true to its name, a miracle was born.

The girl who went into the dark and came back with light and found the light was a boy.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESt5I8Enw6I

*THE LAST LEG OF LIFE !!!*

Most of us are now in the last quarter of our life and should read this interesting piece of advice 👍

This is one of the nicest and most gentle articles I’ve read in a while: No politics, No religion and No racial issues - just food for thought.

You know, time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years.

It seems just yesterday that I was young and embarking on my new life. Yet, in a way, it seems like years ago, and I wonder where all the years went ?

I know that I lived them all.

I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams.

However, here it is, the last quarter of my life and it catches me by surprise !!!

How did I get here so fast ??

Where did the years go and where did my youth go??

I remember well, seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that I was only on the first quarter and that the fourth quarter was so far off that I could not visualise it or imagine fully what it would be like.

Yet, here it is !! My friends are retired and getting grey, they move slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than me, but I see the great change. They’re not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant. But, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd become.

Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day and taking a nap is not a treat anymore !! It's mandatory because if I don't of my own free will, I fall asleep where I sit.

And so, now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done, but never did. At least now I know that, though I’m on the last quarter and I'm not sure how long it will last, that when it's over on this earth, it's all over. A new adventure will begin, I feel !!

Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't done; things I should have done, but truly there are many things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime.

So, if you're not on the last quarter yet, let me remind you that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life do it quickly.

Don't put things off too long. Life goes by so quickly.

So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether you're on the last quarter or not.

You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of life. So, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember - and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the past years.

‘Life’ is a gift to you. Be Happy !!

Have a great day !!

Remember, it is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold, silver or printed Notes or even property.

You may think:

Going out is good - but coming back home is much better !!!

You forget names - but it's okay because some people forgot they even knew you !!!

You realize, you are never going to be really good at anything like golf - but you like the outdoors. So, do it.

The things you used to care to do, you aren't as interested in anymore - but, you really don't care that you aren't as interested.

You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV on than in bed – you call it ‘pre-sleep’ !!! If you enjoy it, just do it.

You miss the days when everything worked with just an ‘On’ and ‘Off’ switch !!!

You tend to use more 4 letter words – ‘what’ and ‘when’ ?

You have lots of clothes in your wardrobe, more than half of which you will never wear – but just in case !!

Old is good -

• Old is comfortable.

• Old is safe.

• Old songs.

• Old movies.

• and - best of all,

• Friends of old !!!

So, stay well, ‘Old friend.’

Have a fantastic day.

Have an awesome Quarter, whichever one you’re in !!!

Take care.

*Send this on to other "Old Friends" and let them be smiling in agreement.*

It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.

love is a many splendoured thing

Love is a beautiful thing. A state, a world that almost all want to be a part of and whose citizenship is craved and desired by almost all and over even American citizenship. But, love is not the same for all those concerned and it becomes both a boon and a curse if not understood and handled carefully.

Falling in love in your teens and 20s is natural and beautiful. But falling in love in your 40s or 50s is totally a different ballgame and the players need to know the rules well and follow them properly. Hopefully, our 40s characters will realize that and imbibe them well and diligently.

Love that blooms into existence between two souls, two people in the end is a secret binding contract whose papers are drawn up by that judge, Mother nature. I will bypass all that love that blooms or that people think blooms in one-night stands, casual affairs, f..king for the sake of f..king and its convenience and will instead stress on that love that makes people who are in it think more in long term. Meaning, marriage obviously and children if the timing is right and both partners so desire.

In your early 20s and luckily until your mid or late 30s, love masquerades dressed as lust, desire, horny and indulges the members involved with sex. But when all that lust and desire dries out, runs out, what remains?

Some will examine those remains and go, " Is this the girl or the guy that I fell in love with and married? " while some will go numb in shock and retreat into their shells and live out their remaining days as the walking dead. Thankfully, those entities called children are dropped into their laps by that proverbial passing stork and both lose their love and their desire and live out their lives washing themselves upon on the shores of their children's lives.

After. What does it even mean, after?

After, you have had S.X, what comes after that? More S.X? okay, what after that for at some point you will get tired of even great s.x. What after that?

After all that kissing, foreplay, f..king, marriage, children comes that point when your partner becomes more.

More, what?

More of a friend than just a human dildo or an inflated sex doll.

He or she becomes that shoulder for you to rest your weary head on. His or her arms become the wings that lift you up or fold and ensconce you when you need them. His or her voice becomes the voice of reason and that whispers only when you ask for it and does not blare loudly like traffic horns that make you want to shoot those pesky, honking f..kers down.

More. Yes, there is more. Your partner in love will step back and give you space to breathe and be yourself and you will respect it and do the same.

It all sounds so lovely and beautiful. Yes, it can be but just never is.

When he or she tells him or her, " You decide what is best for you and I will support you " it will be good if the person takes it in good faith but sadly they will retort, " WTF! Why are you stepping away and being so distant? Why can't you decide for me and tell me what I should be doing? You don't love me for you are cold and aloof.'

OMG! People, what do I tell about us species, humans, and us who are those people. Total nutcases.

I push, you pull. I pull you push. I step forward and you retreat. You come forward and I retreat.