From & To Sathish #5 - Page 85

https://youtu.be/-tU7kTDDKNc

Avan, Aval Adhu 278

The most abundant elements in this universe we live in are Hydrogen and Helium. A trillion and more galaxies make up the observable universe and each of those glaxies are made up of a billion or more stars. Each and every star burns because of a nuclear fusion of hydrogen and helium in its core. But, with the advent of social platforms, I have come to the conclusion that the most abundant element in the universe is not Hydrogen but Opinions.

I know that opinions are equated to Ass.oles and such but I think that all of us are entitled to our opinions and thoughts. Democracy and all. But when opinions and assumptions become beliefs and they in turn become the truth, well chaos and destruction to say the least.

Rasaathi Ammal spoke aloud her thoughts in a voice that was full of pride and admiration. ' I am his mother and by that I mean that I know him better than anybody else. He is my only child and that means that me and my late husband devoted all our energy and time on him. But, I have to be honest with all of you when I confess that I have no clue as to what my son was and is until now.'

Gayatri looked at her wondering what she was leading up to and Ravi's mother reading her eyes, smiled, ' What I am trying to say is that I have no idea how good and how great my own child is? ' and pointing to the door through which Kandhan the Paliyan had just left them, ' That man came to our village seeking refuge and looking for work a few years back and yet he knows something about my son and about the plants in my own garden that I had no clue about until now. Sometimes I wonder who my Ravi really is and if there are other people living inside him.'

Dharmalinga Thevar's face bloomed with a bright smile, ' Rasaathi, forget plants and gardens and stop and recollect how Ravi helped me in the election campaign.'

He looked at both Gayatri and Daksha and nodding his head, ' sounds incredible, right but it is all true. The moment I was given a ticket by the party to compete in the state election, Ravi called me up and spoke to me for a few minutes and then we met up a few times and discussed how I was going to go about trying to win the election and that too against an AIADMK person who was very popular and very well off.'

He looked at Gayatri, ' Ravi said that this election was not going to be about DMK and the AIADMK but about the vacuum left behind by both the late AMMA and Kalaignar. Rather than attack the opposition and level corruption charges against them, he said it would be better if I went to the people and spoke to them about what I could do and would do if I was elected. He told me not to talk about the sitting MLA and instead talk about myself and what little I have done over the years for Madurai and the villages around it.'

Shaking his head, ' Gayatri, you will not believe it if I tell you that a lot of my own party people had no hopes of me being elected, for the contesting Ruling party MLA was too strong and had moreover had been an MLA for the past two terms. In fact, none of my own party bigwigs came to campaign for me and left me to do my own thing. Yet, I won by a huge majority and was elected. I am not a great speaker but everyone thinks I am and the reason for that is Ravi was the one who wrote all the speeches for me. He was the one who told me to speak from the heart and reach the hearts of the people.'

Rasaathi Ammal's face revealed her surprise and with a smile, she said, ' Ravi did not speak one word about this and if you had not mentioned it, I doubt if he would have ever spoken about it. This is exactly what I was talking about and what I meant when I was saying that I have no idea as to who my only son is.'

Gayatri sat down next to her and throwing her arm around her, ' There is one thing that we all know about Ravi and agree and that is he is special. A real special person and a great soul and I feel privileged to have met him.'

Dharmalinga Thevar growled angrily, ' Then why has this happened to our child, our hero. Who in this world has the audacity and guts to attack him?'

Daksha looked at Gayatri and said, ' I think the whole thing was an accident. I am sure these criminals came for Gayatri and not for Ravi. What happened to him was totally unplanned, uncle.'

He looked at her with a fierce expression, ' It does not matter child. Ravi. It does not matter who their target was for my anger is that they had the guts to do it and I am sure there is somebody behind this. Somebody very well connected and somebody very powerful. It will take some time but I will get to the end of it and when I do, I am going to.............................'

Hearing noises they all looked at the large glass door that separated the ICU corridor from the other sections and all of their hearts leapt in joy for Inspector Sargunam had returned with the Paliyan tribal Kandhan.

Kandhan informed Rasaathi ammal and Dharmalinga Thevar that they had been delayed because he had to prepare the herbal paste and it was a complicated process. With a smile, he said that he was ready to administer the paste and requested all of them to lead him into the ICU.

Once inside the ICU, the doctors and everyone else stood a few feet away from Kandhan and watched nervously and with bated breath as he began to treat Ravi.

He looked at all of them, ' We are called Paliyans for a reason and that is because we are followers of Palani Malai Murugan. But we worship and follow one person who is our Kula Guru and his name is Agastyar who is known all over India as a sage but here in our lands we worship as a Siddhar. Legend has it that Lord Shiva also called the Adhi Yogi was the first teacher and the first Siddha and he taught his son Lord Muruga who in turn passed on his knowledge to Sage Agastyar.

Kandhan closed his eyes and folding his hands chanted a shloka that reverberated all around the ICU. " Aum Amm Cham Agasttheesaaya Namaha. "

After chanting it three times, Kandhan slowly removed a clay jar from the bag he was carrying and opened it. The moment he opened it, the aroma from whatever was inside filled the ICU and filled everyone senses and all of them suddenly felt very relaxed and felt a sense of calm fill both their minds and bodies.

The Paliyan tribal Kandhan looked at all of them, ' If just the fragrance, the whiff of this herbal essence can lift all your spirits up and fill you with positive energy, stop and think about what it must do to people and animals that live among these special plants and herbs all their lives. Think about Master Iyaa and the effects they must have on his soul and his mind for he spends a lot of time in the garden every day and without fail.'

Inspector Sargunam looked at Kandhan and looked away for he seemed to be unsure about asking the questions that seemed to be so obviously swirling in his mind.

Kandhan looked at him, ' Inspector sir, I caught you staring at me when I was plucking the leaves and gathering some berries in Iyaas' garden. I should have spoken to you and explained to you what it was I was doing but then it would have broken the link that I was forming with the plants in the garden.'

One of the doctors unable to contain himself, stepped forward and questioned Kandhan. ' What do you mean by using the word link and in what context?'

' I mean that I was conversing, talking to the plants whose leaves and roots I was going to take to make the paste.'

The doctor smiled and stepped back, ' Okay boss, now you are getting all weird and I am sorry to say that is not my field of expertise.'

Kandhan's eyes were full of empathy as he gazed at the doctor and his voice was full of sadness when he addressed him.

' Doctor sir, do you know how all the medicines that you prescribe and use on patients comes to you? Are you aware that healthy animals and human beings are used to develop and research new drugs. Do you know or have you ever thought for a second about the pain and sorrow those poor rats, pigs, dogs and monkeys experience when they are administered all those experimental drugs?'

Pointing to Ravi, ' I didn't too but Master Iyaa opened my eyes and taught me to see this world as one and that lives and breathes as one life attached to one mother and he told me that we should thank everything and take their permission before we take from them. Starting from a blade of grass to a leaf from a plant.'

Turning to Guna, ' Inspector sir, that was exactly what I was doing when I was plucking those leaves from the plants. I was thanking them and also apologizing to them for hurting them.'

All of them watched with unblinking eyes as Kandhan slowly applied the paste all around the wound and then he smeared a bit of it on Ravi's nostrils.

He looked at all of them, ' You might find this hard to believe but I felt the plants and the trees tell me that they were happy to be of help to their best friend who needed their assistance and I found some of the plants and branches bend themselves towards me as if they were offering themselves just to be one with master iyaa again.'

One of the doctors gasped and said, ' It is working. Look at his skin that was grayish just moments ago has now become a healthy pink and red.'

All of them jumped in fear when one of the machines began to beep loudly and steadily and all of them stared at the screen and marvelled for Ravi's heart had begun to beat faster and soon fell into its regular pace and normal beat.

There was a loud knock on the door and a police constable poked his head in like a bird peeping out from a nest and informed Inspector Sargunam that there was an old man waiting for permission to enter the ICU wing.

Guna looked at the constable with irritation, ' Old man you say. What business does he have here in the ICU wing?'

The constable mumbled something and Guna not hearing it properly, yelled slightly, ' What are you mumbling and why are you doing that? Speak up loudly and be clear about it.'

The constable tried his best to speak loudly but the sight the imposing figure of Dharmalinga Thevar staring at him was a bit too much for him to handle and so he squeaked, ' The old man is going on about Varmakalai and adimurai and some other strange stuff that made little sense to me and the others.'

Dharamlinga Thevar grabbed Guna's shoulder, ' Can it be true, guna? Can this really be happening? We are looking for a vaathiyar who can help us and it looks like our Ambal has sent us one. '

Inspector Sargunam left the ICU and went out and a few minutes later returned with an old man who looked to be in his 80s or 90s.

He was tall even though age had bent him and shortened him by a few inches. The orange kurta and white dhoti were faded but clean and spotless like his face that shone like a full moon. The white snowy hair on his head resembled a crown made of clouds or cotton and they fell down to his shoulders and seemed to be in a duet with his long white beard.

His voice when he spoke was feeble, slow but strong and deep. He folded his hands and greeted all of them.

' Namaskaram. Enda peru Ananthan Namboodari.'

The doctors and nurses groaned in frustration and one of the nurses spoke out, ' Inspector sir, if this guy starts talking, I promise you that he will not stop talking until you fall dead or your ears start bleeding. All he needs is someone to listen to him and he will bore you to death by just talking to them.'

One doctor offered more information about the mysterious old man, ' His son who lives here in Madurai has been admitted to this hospital for treatment. Liver problems brought on by years of alcohol abuse. This old man has set up camp outside the hospital and spends most of his time sitting with his son.'

The old man smiled, ' All that the doctor said is true but I am here right now because I happened to overhear two nurses talking about varmakalai and mudras and I could not help but try and find out more about what they were talking about.'

Inspector Sargunam sighing tiredly looked at both the elders and Rasaathi Ammal nodded her head and said, ' Guna, Kandhan came to us like a miracle and has defeated the poison and if it is God's will that this old man can work another miracle and bring my son back to me, conscious and fully healed, then who am I or who are we to say no to the almighty's will.'

She greeted the old man, ' My name is Rasaathi ammal and the person we are all talking about and who is right now lost to us is my only son, Ravi Kumar.'

The old man pointed to the ICU and asked if he could go in and entered when the door was opened wide and everyone followed him inside.

The doctors collectively mumbled that the ICU was being treated like a general ward and all protocols were being broken.

The Paliyan tribal Kandhan who had stayed back inside the ICU took one look at the old man and immediately ran forward and touched his feet in reverence and the old man gently touched his head and said, ' OM, OM.'

Taking a deep breath of the air in the ICU, the old man chuckled like a kid and said loudly, ' aha! if only all the ICU'S in all the hospitals around the world smelt as good as this place then even terminally ill patients will start recovering from their diseases.'

He looked at Kandhan, ' child, are you the wizard who created this herbal fragrance?'

Kandhan shook his head, ' Illa saami, not me. The real wizard is our master Iyaa who is there in the bed' and pointed to Ravi and the old man looked in Ravi's direction and stared hard at him and exclaimed loudly, ' Impossible. Impossible. If I had not seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it. Fantastic. So, it is true after all that there is a keeper, a guardian of the ancient arts.'

Then the old man did something that none of them least expected. The old man touched Ravi's feet and then fell to the ground and whispered, ' bless me master.'

Rasaathi Ammal began to cry softly and looked at Gayatri , ' That is my son that old man is talking about. That is my only child whose feet that old man just touched and asked to be blessed. Like I was asking earlier, who is this man who is posing as my son and who is this person that all of us see as just as a master and our friend.

https://youtu.be/WN5IN3xrp18

Avan, Aval Adhu 279

“We all have a god and a poet inside us. The poet, the human; the god, the divine. It is by the grace of our god that we can find the divine inspiration with which to wax poetic about our human experiences.” Michele Jennae

The old man who had introduced himself as Ananthan Namboodari laughed to himself and said, ' woman, who is it that you cry for and ache for? This person, this body that will one day grow old, wither and die and return to earth as ash and as dust.'

Rasaathi Ammal looked up angrily at him but he raised his hand signalling her to calm herself down and asked her, ' If you are this master's mother then I am sure that you do understand what I am talking about but your physical love is blinding your real sight.'

Pointing to himself, ' you call me an old man and feel shocked that I touched your son's feet and asked him to bless me. Have you forgotten how old and ancient his soul is and how much more wiser and intelligent it is than all of us? Have you forgotten all that he must have surely taught you over the years? You see him as just a piece and a part of your flesh and a child that has come from your womb? Open your eyes mother and see him not as your son but as the teacher and guardian that he really is.'

Everyone, there was taken aback as the old man belying his age suddenly dropped to his knees before Rasaathi Ammal and folding his hands spoke to her. ' Look at him not just as your son but as a wise soul. Don't put too much stress on your physical womb in which you carried him for you are nothing but a vessel, a container that the almighty thought was worthy enough to place such an old soul in for a new voyage.'

Patting his chest, ' your real womb is not your uterus but your heart and your soul. People make too much out of life and death and the comings and goings rather than dwell on the in-between. The life, the living and the time that is given to us starting from life and ends with death. A mother's duty is not about just feeding and caring for her child but giving the best environment for the new soul to grow and thrive in. Being just a physical mother or becoming a spiritual mother is up to all you women and mothers.'

Their jaws dropped open in awe when the old man jumped back to his feet like a young fawn and one of the doctors could not help but ask him in a loud voice filled with admiration and envy, ' Mr Namboodari, I know it is a bit of bad-timing but could you tell me what your diet is and your daily exercise regimen for it is obvious that you are really fit and are doing something right for a man in his 70s or early 80s.'

Anandhan Namboodari smiled, ' I am sorry, doctor, but you are wrong about my age for I am 104 years old.'

One of the nurses forgetting who she was and where she was returned to her local dialect and exclaimed a filthy word, " OTHA!"

But she was safe and had company for both Partha and Daksha blurted " WTF! 104 years old " and immediately added, " Sorry, very sorry."

The old man smiled and waved their words away, ' cool people, no worries for I get that a lot around me and I am old enough to know the difference between shock and anger and when a bad word is used to describe the state of their emotions.'

Then he asked Rasaathi Ammal, ' mother of this master, can I take a look at him?'

' Please do and please help him to come back to us whole and in one piece.'

The 104-year-old Anandhan Namboodari smiled to himself and said, ' Me, you want me to help your son, a master who is on a higher plane. We will see, won't we.'

They all watched with nervous excitement but also with hearts full of hope as the tall old man slowly approached Ravi and then closing his eyes said, ' If the machines make odd noises or behave unusually, please don't worry about it for that is to be expected when matters of the mind are in progress. Some of you might feel a slight tingling in your bodies which again is normal and so I request you all to stay still and be calm and not panic and disrupt the conversation that I am going to have with this great master.'

“Be grateful if you look younger than your age

while also being wiser than many of your contemporaries.

It means the fire of your Old Soul is alive and well.

Embrace it.

Surround yourself with those who celebrate this fiery Light

shining bright out of your soul;

those who are summoned to fan your glimmering flames

and dance within them.

Embrace them.”

― Omar Cherif

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ACSAfSHyUsU

Avan, Aval Adhu 280

Everything we do, every thought we've ever had, is produced by the human brain. But exactly how it operates remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries, and it seems the more we probe its secrets, the more surprises we find. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Many fields of science are complicated, and of course, anything under active scientific investigation is not fully understood. But the brain seems different. Extra complex. Extra mysterious. Scientists have known for centuries that the brain is the seat of human thought, but we’re still in the dark about how it works.

Let’s start with some stats. Your brain has 86 billion neurons, give or take in the same order as the number of stars in the Milky Way. If you look at the synapses, the connections between neurons, the numbers start to get beyond comprehension pretty quickly. The number of synapses in the human brain is estimated to be nearly a quadrillion, or 1,000,000,000,000,000. And each individual synapse contains different molecular switches. If you want to think about the brain in terms of an electrical system, a single synapse is not equivalent to a transistor, it would be more like a thousand transistors.

To make things more complicated, not all neurons are created equal. Scientists still don’t know how many different kinds of neurons we have, but it’s likely in the hundreds. Synapses themselves aren’t all the same either. And that’s not even taking into account all the other cells in our brain. Besides neurons, our brains contain lots of blood vessels and the third class of brain cells known collectively as glia, many of which are even more poorly understood than neurons.

The old man slowly massaged his fingers and with a twinkle in his eyes, smiled at all of them and said, ' The human heart and the brain are the only organs that generate electricity. Although the brain uses both chemical and electrical signals to carry out its functions.'

Wiggling his fingers theatrically like a magician would do while hovering over a crystal ball, ' I am a Reiki master and a registered one at that. But, I stopped practising a long time ago and use my knowledge only on rare occasions when people seek me out or when I seek people out which I must confess is never ever.'

They all watched solemnly as he slowly placed both his hands a few inches above Ravi's chest and after hovering there for a few moments, informed them that Ravi's heart was working just fine.

' I work using my senses and my instincts along with my Reiki training and what I do is not heal which is not possible through this technique, but rather learn more about the person's energy fields and how well his brain is functioning.'

Slowly, the old man moved both his hands gracefully over Ravi in a manner that reminded Gayatri of a leaf floating gently over a deep but calm river and then came to a halt over Ravi's head and hovered there with his eyes closed.

Several minutes passed before the old man called Anandhan Namboodari opened his eyes and then slowly moved down to Ravi's hands and gently made his hands dance over them.

Then just like that, the old man stopped abruptly with a vague look on his face and looked at Rasaathi Ammal and said, ' I can tell you what I have learnt about your son and why his fingers are clenched in that rarest of rare mudra's. The Sanjeevani mudra.'

He slowly walked towards Ravi's mother and said, ' Come, let us find a quiet spot where we can talk in peace and in privacy.'

Rasaathi Ammal shook her head and told him that but for the doctors and nurses, everyone else there was her family and that he could speak freely in front of all of them.

Inspector Sargunam's voice cracked like a whip in the quiet calm of the ICU, ' Doctors, nurses, please, kindly step out for a few minutes.'

The doctors protested loudly, ' This is not fair. It is not every day that we get to see other branches of medicine and healing at work and that by experienced people who know what they are doing. Please, let us stay and let us listen to this gentleman's findings.'

Anandhan Namboodari shook his head once and said, ' Sorry but what I am going to discuss with the family concerns only them and are matters of great privacy and have no connection with your fields. But, if you do want to talk to me and discuss about what I do, then you will find me as always, next to my dying son.'

The doctors and nurses marched out unwillingly with all their faces revealing a lot of frustration that comes when one hears an interesting story but is left clueless about how it ended and what happened to the characters of the story.

The door closed and Rasaathi Ammal immediately looked at the old man and asked if Ravi was in any danger and if he would ever wake up and be normal again.

The old man from Kerala, Anandhan Namboodari sighed wearily, ' I am afraid all your questions can be answered only by your son for he has locked himself in his head.'

In a voice full of panic, Gayatri grabbed his hand, ' Is he in a coma? Is he brain dead, sir?'

' No, child. No to both your questions and pointing to Ravi's fingers that had been misread as being clenched in pain, ' I am 104 years old and to my limited knowledge, there is no one who can unlock that mudra for it is a lost art. The last person who knew something about it was Kesavan Varma and he passed away many years ago in Kottayam.'

Dharmalinga Thevar's asked him with fear in his eyes, ' Then how do bring him back? Who can bring him back to us?'

Anandhan Namboodari smiled, ' There is one but I don't know who that is for only the master knows and he is not going to tell it to someone like me who is on a much lower plane than him.'

Rasaathi Ammal's eyes were full of agony and mortal pain, ' Who is that person who can bring him back, wake him back to life? Please, give us a clue, any clue that can lead us to that person and I will go and fall at their feet and beg for my son's life.'

All of them looked at him for an answer for they knew it was going to be important and a game changer.

' All I can tell you is that this person means the world to him. All I felt was that master Iyaa has entrusted his soul for safe keeping in that person's hands. If my instincts are right then the master will wait for that person's arrival. Until then, he is going to remain in this state and how long that is going to be is up to that person.'

Partha hearing Gayatri exhale loudly and gasp in pain turned quickly but was too late for she fell to the ground unconscious.

*DO YOU KNOW THAT*.....

It's in our culture to not touch anything with our feet.

Otherwise we would have been No.1 in Football...⚽!!

But we love to pull others' legs ...

That's why we are 🤼‍♀ No.1 in Kabaddi....🤣

Avan, Aval Adhu 281

Like delicate lace,

So the threads intertwine,

Oh, gossamer web

Of wond'rous design!

Such beauty and grace

Wild nature produces...

Ughh, look at the spider

Suck out that bug's juices!”

-Bill Watterson

The spider's web: She finds an innocuous corner in which to spin her web. The longer the web takes, the more fabulous its construction. She has no need to chase. She sits quietly, her patience a consummate force; she waits for her prey to come to her on their own, and then she ensnares them, and injects them with venom, rendering them unable to escape. Spiders so needed and yet so misunderstood.

Spider venom comes in many forms. It can often take a long while to discover the full effects of the bite. Naturalists have pondered this for years: there are spiders whose bite can cause the place bitten to rot and to die, sometimes more than a year after it was bitten. As to why spiders do this, the answer is simple. It's because spiders think this is funny, and they don't want you ever to forget them.

“What these men do not know about me, though... is a black widow dangling by herself on a single thread... is a deadly thing. A really dangerous thing.”

The Phone rang and picking it up, she saw that it was her husband's dog of a manger whose name was Dindugul Raja calling. The time was 3.00 am.

' Hello, it must be really important for otherwise, you will not be calling me instead of my husband and that too at this early hour. What is it?'

' Amma, I am really sorry but it looks like things didn't go as planned in Kodai.'

Meenakshi blinked her eyes twice and willed her mind to go on full alert and through her beautiful shapely lips, she spat her thoughts, ' Explain and don't leave out any detail however small it might be.'

' Amma, there are not many details to tell you for I have no idea what you planned and how you were going to execute it.'

' Then why the f..k are you calling me at this hour and wasting my time.'

' Because, he is in the ICU and from what I was told, his situation is critical.'

There are many faults that can be pointed out in Meenakshi's character and in the way she lives her life. But, even God, the creator will not find fault in her intelligence and in her evil skills.

The moment she heard ICU and critical, Meenakshi knew it was Ravi for otherwise, her husband's manager would not be calling at this hour and certainly not call her directly.'

' Quickly, tell me all that you know. Quickly for we might be out of time.'

' Amma, a police helicopter landed at our airport and Ravi Iyaa was carried out into an ambulance on a stretcher and brought to our city's government hospital where he is being treated right now. That woman Gayatri and Iyaa's friends are there with him right now along with his mother.'

Meenakshi cursed loudly, ' Muruga, what happened up there? Have you failed me at last?'

' Amma, He is there too with Ravi Iyaa.'

' Who are you talking about?'

' Periyavar, your dad is there with all of them.'

Taking a deep breath and exhaling it slowly, she quickly issued orders, ' Raja, we knew that this moment would come and I hope you remember that it is I who placed you next to my husband. So, be ready for any eventualities and be ready to carry out my orders at a moment's notice. No mistakes and no talking to anyone else. Raja, I am warning you that the next few days will determine if we survive this storm or not. If we don't get ahead of this situation right now then we will all hang for this and all the other killings over the years. Do you want that?'

' No amma. I am ready to do whatever you till me to do and no, I have not forgotten that you are my real master. '

' Okay. first things first. No more phone calls for from now we interact only through WhatsApp for that platform is encrypted and safe from any prying eyes.'

Then she slowly laid out her plan and explained what she wanted to be done from him when she made her moves using her pawns.

She read his thoughts even though he was far away from her and whispered softly, ' Kill or be killed. For us to live some have to die. These are not laws of the jungle but the laws and commandments on what all our modern human lives are based on and were built on. Sacrifices have to be made, Raja. Be prepared and move the moment you get my message.'

Meenakshi stared at the phone and then looked at the large painting of a black widow spider that hung on the wall and growled, ' You mate and then kill and eat your mate for the future of your eggs and the little spider children that will pop out. I don't eat but I do kill and whatever I do, I do for him and for me. For us. Nothing, no one, not even God dare stand in my way to him for I will not hesitate to strike down God itself.

https://youtu.be/muOKysvW7lQ

https://youtu.be/qlSYqBgOmSc