From & To Sathish #6 - Page 19

Avan, Aval Adhu 483

Raising both his hands in protest and surrender, Ravi looked at Spartan with both his eyes full of confusion and a head brimming with a million questions. But, sanity had returned to the Headmaster of Kumarapalayam, and realizing that he and Madhu were in a sort of a situation over which they had no control, stepped back and shielding Madhurima from her own bodyguard Spartan, declared, ' I don't know what is going on here but it is obvious that you are in the middle of it.'

Dropping his hands, he extended them backward as if they were barriers and fences and growled, ' You have already caused the death of one member of my family. Your war ancient or otherwise is your personal war. Not mine. Nothing to do with me and my wife.'

Malar who had heard enough from Ravi, stepped in and confronted him, ' Master, I too like our king and leader and my husband think highly of you and hold you in great esteem. What you have done with this small village is nothing but a miracle and you have done that nearly all by yourself and with very little help from the outside world. But....'

Spartan whispered a command, ' My queen. Please don't ' and Malar turned and yelled, ' My Lord, I would rather cut off my ears and hands than stand and watch you being insulted by these ungrateful mortals when they they should be falling on their knees and thanking you for all the help that you have rendered to them.'

Turning angrily, she confronted Ravi and looking straight into his eyes, roared, ' Human, you are not aware how many times my Lord has saved your mortal woman from certain death.'

Pointing to the ground, ' Yesterday evening, when both of you met here, right in this very spot after more than 25 years, did you know that Meenakshi sent a gang of seven thugs to kill her ' and turning to Madhurima, ' she sent another team of five killers today morning to the hotel to kill you in the very room that you are staying in.'

' Malar ' Spartan whispered and this time his wife, queen, and fellow warrior heeded and stepped back and falling to her knees apologized.

Spartan lifted her up gently and looked at Ravi and Madhu with kind and loving eyes and said, ' Children, my friends, everything that Malar just told you is true.'

Seeing both of them staring at him with disbelief, he smiled and raising his hands, said, ' Take them and see for yourself '.

Ravi took the right hand and Madhu took the left hand and looked at Spartan.

Nothing happened for a moment and then both of them feeling a strange tingling sensation near their feet looked at each other and then both of them felt an immense surge of power and energy rush through their bodies and transport them into another person's head.

Both had entered Azhagan's head and were floating in his memories.

Malar watched quietly as this now familiar situation unfolded and stood watching both Ravi and Madhu stand frozen like rocks with their eyes wide and unfocussed on some distant object.

Both Ravi and Madhu saw everything that Meenakshi had plotted and heard her talk to Spartan while he was being held captive by the second team of five men and then they heard her talk to him just moments before dying.

Letting go of their hands, Azhagan smiled kindly and said, ' There was good in her even though it was a selfish kind of good, master ' and using both his hands he gripped Ravi by his shoulders, ' She knew that she might die by trying to save you and yet she came. She came to save you and she died happily and with a smile for she knew that you had forgiven her and she knew that you really love her and cared for her in your own way. Even though it was not the love that she wanted.'

Unable to take the tragic but heroic death of Meenakshi, Ravi began to cry and collapsed into Spartan's arms and Azhagan took him and held him like he had held Meenakshi as she had breathed her last moments just a few minutes earlier.

Sobbing like a child, Ravi lamented, ' What do I do now? What do I tell my uncle and aunt and how do I convince them of what happened here?'

Spartan smiled and said, ' Trust me, for it is going to be okay. Your uncle and aunt are not going to be the problem for they will understand what went down.'

Ravi looked at Spartan, ' I don't understand you. What do you want us to do?'

Azhagan whispered, ' Exactly what I tell you to say and do. But for now, you both have to leave for we are running out of time here.'

' Leave ' Ravi asked in a loud voice and asked again in a confused voice, ' What do you mean you want us to leave? How can I do that? How can I abandon Meena and leave her to lie all alone in the forest? She is not very comfortable with either darkness or the forest. I know her very well. Poor thing she will be scared to death being on her own.'

' Master, she is already dead. The dead don't feel anything. Only the living feel and feel and die again and again drowning in their own feelings.'

Ravi shook his head and tried to say something but Spartan raised his hand and said, ' Don't worry. I repeat it is going to turn out all right in the end. Just tell your uncle what I told you. He will know. Now, leave.'

Ravi nodded for he had heard something change in the way Spartan had just said " Leave " and answered, ' Very well. But before we leave, answer this one question and clear the doubts that I have about you.'

Wiping his eyes, he asked in a defiant voice, ' Your wife calls you king. Why? Who are you? Where is your kingdom and where are your people? '

Spartan smiled and replied, ' Master, this ancient land and forest of Perumalvaram is my land and to it and its people and lives, I belong. I have never professed myself as king or leader.'

The night and the forest that had lain quiet but for their voices and words now rustled and bustled and Ravi and Madhu looked around and saw the forest move all around them.

What had appeared as trees to their eyes were in fact Giants, eight and nine feet tall. What had looked to their poor night eyes as shrubs and boulders now moved and took shape as leopards and lions.

Then from the darkness all around them, rows and rows of armed men emerged and stood around them encircling them and then all of them fell to their knees and roared, ' Pagalon, Maasilan, Mamannan, Kathiravan, Meykandan, engal kula deivam Kavin we salute you.'

Spartan smiled humbly and looked at Ravi and Madhu and said, ' These are names, titles bestowed on me by my friends and family members. But, I have always preferred the name with which my mother Avini called me.'

Casting his eyes toward the tall peak that stood in the distance, towering over the forest, Spartan spoke in a sad voice, ' She called me Azhagan. That is my real name.'

The boy who was born out of light and went into the dark and came back as light itself.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPEy1X6VJd4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrHAl0G_oAA

Avan, Aval Adhu 484

“Any time you create something that’s measurable, you also create a kind of competition.”

Human beings are obsessed with competition, records, and feats. It is in our genes and in our making and maybe it is the way Mother Nature evolves better versions and models of each new species.

From the time Computers came into our lives, we humans have pitted our brains with machines and it has been going on for some time now. But as of today, a supercomputer does not hold well when compared to the potential of a simple brain.

Well, It's not really fair to compare that three-pound (1.3-kg) melon of nerve cells in your noggins with a silicon and plastic computer, the size of a master bedroom.

In the safety of his rocky subterranean dwelling, Rajendra Cholan watched quietly as " Sembi " his AI assistant went about copying all the files from the servers of " Chakravyuh" and once it was done, she spoke in his late mother's voice, ' Master, it is done.'

' Thank you, Sembi. Exit and close all the paths that you used to hack into the Servers of " Chakravyuh " and once you have done that, start working on breaking down the data that we have stolen from their servers.'

' Okay, master ' Sembi answered politely and went about its computing work.

But unknown to " Sembi " and Rajendra Cholan, a visitor had come along with the data that they had stolen after hacking into " Chakravyuh " and his name was Malcolm the autistic genius, a savant whom we first met in the story of " Redemption " many years ago.

He made the call to his friend as he had promised and Azhagan answered immediately, and Malcolm quickly explained to him what was going on.

' Malcolm, copy all the data that you can find on their computers and once you are done, track the copies he has made and backed up in Tokyo, Moscow, and Washington and on my cue, erase them all.'

' Okay, sir. I will wait for your cue.'

Azhagan thanked him and said, ' Malcolm, child, you are proof of the power of what a human brain can really do and achieve if it puts both its mind and soul into it.'

' Sir, this man, this Mr.Rajendra Cholan our foe, is also very good.'

' Maybe so, Malcolm, and coming from you that is high praise indeed. But, I know better for even he and the most powerful supercomputers in this world cannot hold a candle when it comes to what you can do with your brain.'

' I guess so, sir but I am still labeled as an autistic person and there are people who snigger behind my back and call me differently abled and sometimes crudely tease me by calling me a handicapped person.'

Far away from Washington, USA, where Malcolm was calling from, Azhagan stood deep inside the forest of Perumalvaram listening to his young friend's anguish.

' Malcolm, I know you and you know me and the rest of us. For now, it will do, child. Unless you want me to get into your head and....'

' No, sir. No. I am happy the way I am. People might call me a mad man but this mad man was created thus for a reason. You and what I do are the reasons, sir and I am okay with it.'

' Thank you, Malcolm. We owe you a big one.'

Malcolm's laughter was childish and a bit weird sounding and yet Azhagan enjoyed the sounds of it and heard his young friend speak his heart.

' Soon, young Malcolm. I promise that I will fulfill your wishes and dreams and will do it much sooner than you can imagine. Be prepared, my friend.'

Malcolm thanked him and wished him. ' Happy hunting, sir.'

Azhagan smiled and thanking Malcolm ended the call and looked at Malar, ' It's time, my queen. Come, let's wake these Robots up and see what we can learn from them.'

https://www.collegesearch.in/articles/first-computer-in-the-world

https://www.quora.com/If-the-human-brain-were-a-computer-it-could-perform-38-thousand-trillion-operations-per-second-The-world%E2%80%99s-most-powerful-supercomputer-BlueGene-can-manage-only-002-of-that-But-we-cannot-perform-like-a-supercomputer-Why

Fall in love................... with yourself

Yes. If you don't love yourself, respect yourself, make an attempt to understand yourself_ no one else will or at least do such a good job that you might if you spend more time with yourself.

You are the spring from which your own life and energy flows from. So stop frothing and bubbling and let go and become a fountain.

But do you know how old I will be by

the time I learn to really play the piano /

act / paint / write a decent play?”

“Yes . . . the same age you will be if you don’t.”

— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

Life is full of challenges. Mostly external ones. When we leave our front door every morning, we don’t know what we’ll run up against. Other people and situations can sabotage our day, even when we’re doing everything right: Someone might spill their coffee on us; a flight might be canceled last minute; we might receive an unexpected bill that throws our budget off; we might not get the job we wanted because of prejudice, discrimination, or bad treatment. The world is not a meritocracy, and the world is certainly not fair. Each of us is in a roulette game of privilege and luck, with some talent and hard work also sprinkled in. Less talented people become more successful than better-skilled, harder-working people all the time. It’s one big, random merry-go-round of Who Knows and no amount of breathing exercises is going to change the societal structures that cause the pain in the first place such as racism, patriarchy, poverty, and other forms of pressure and oppression.

But while there are so many things outside of our control, there is one thing we can control, and that is our relationship with ourselves. We can control the foundations we set, the choices we make, the things we do or do not do. We can choose not to self-sabotage in a world that can sabotage so much for no reason.

You are allowed to fall in love with your own life. It can be just as easy to recognize the good in our own lives as it is to recognize the good in others’. Our brains have the power to reshape our perception and change our thinking patterns and therefore can change our lives too. We can’t control the outside world, but we can control what goes on within us. What if we,inside of ourselves get to be our own happy place?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/heart-syndrome-identifies-among-obesity-110100957.html

Avan, Aval Adhu 485

“If you want something you have never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done.” Thomas Jefferson

His silence felt more heavier and oppressive than the darkness and the silence of the forest.

' Anyone else in this situation would have been more worried about being attacked by dangerous beasts or bitten by poisonous snakes and yet here I am more worried about the state of my husband's heart ' Madhurima thought and looked around. Her eyes could not make out anything but her mind perceived the security that lay all around them and the creatures that walked in darkness as darkness. Some were on two legs while most walked on four legs.'

Unable to take his silence anymore, she stopped and yelled out to him, ' Stop, Ravi. Please stop and talk to me, Jaanu. Don't shut me out. Not now and not ever. But especially not now when I am here with you and a part of your life now.'

Ravi stood still as a rock. He said nothing and did nothing and even his shirt seemed to be in sync with his quiet for it fluttered not even whilst a strong and steady breeze gusted all around them.

Madhu worriedly pulled at his hand and asked him if he was okay,' Jaanu, are you all right?'

Ravi's expression of shock and confusion that appeared as embers in his eyes were enough to answer her question and unable to help herself and him she looked away helplessly and whispered, ' I am scared Ravi. I am scared to see you in this state. Please talk to me and let me in. Don't hurt yourself like this. We are both involved in this baby. So, please, I beg of you. Talk to me.'

She saw his shoulders sink low like a flag that hangs half mast in mourning for a fallen leader and then she saw him slowly turn towards her and thought, ' Thank God ' and the next moment thought, ' Oh F..k '

Any other person in the same situation would have reacted angrily in a violent manner and would have screamed their heads off and argued loudly punctuating their arguments with colorful cuss words. They would have been justified for that is how we are and that is what we are programmed to do when suffering a mental trauma.

But then heroes and for that matter, villains are not most people.

His voice was like a knife that cut, sliced, and stabbed as he spoke his mind. But his voice and his words felt like a soothing balm when compared to his dead eyes and dead soul.

' Talk to you, Madhu. Share with you ' he smirked and asked, ' What do you want to talk about Madhuji? ' and raising his right hand pointed towards the direction they had come and said, ' Shall we talk about Meenakshi or shall we talk about how she lies there on the forest ground all alone?'

Taking a deep breath, he exhaled his anger and his life breath and asked in a quivering voice, ' Maybe we should now talk about what we are going to tell my Uncle and Aunt and how I am going to explain the murder of their only remaining child.'

Stepping closer to her, he asked her again in that eerie and somewhat creepily calm voice that was devoid of any emotion.

' Do you have an answer for my questions or are you still going to whine and wail like all women and demand that I share my thoughts with you.'

Even a slap from his powerful hands would have hurt less. Even if he had stabbed her with a sharp knife, it would have hurt less. But what he said and the way he said it was painful. Unbelievably painful.

She heard his voice deep inside her. She heard her Dada's voice as it whispered to her soul. ' He is hurting child. Don't worry and don't let his hurt get to you. Remember even the tallest and largest mountains collapse when nature erodes them and levels them to the ground through her elements. The pain and shock that you feel is what you are feeling. Step away and stay silent and let him grieve on his own and let him heal on his own. For now, step away and remain silent.'

Madhu's tears were hot and a waterfall as she softly apologized to him.

Ravi said nothing and turning his back on her quickly began to walk away.

She heard his voice in her soul. She heard Spartan whisper to her and she listened carefully.

' Madhuji, nothing is perfect in life. For that matter, life itself is not perfect and there is no real meaning or a standard that can explain perfect. We play this game called life and live it moment by moment, day by day, and year after year. Remember the sun and not the clouds that cover it briefly. Remember the sun and not how it was eclipsed by shadows. Remember who Ravi really is and in the same way, remember who you are.'

Madhu placing a hand on her heart thought, ' But who are you, Spartan?'

She heard him, felt him in her heart and head as he told her who he was.

' I am no different, to you, child. I too am a human like you. Maybe slightly different but still I am a human and I feel and have felt all that you are feeling now. So, listen to your late Dada and listen to me when I tell you that it is going to be okay in the end.'

Madhu whimpered in fright, ' In the end. This is not the end? You mean the end has yet to come?'

' I am afraid so, Madhuji and it is not going to be easy. But, it will turn out okay. You will see and you will tell me about it when we meet again.'

Spartan did not speak. Azhagan did not reply and in the silence, Madhu heard a cough and a growl and turned and saw a huge black-maned lion standing there watching her.

She froze in fear and at the same time felt her heart slowing down as she looked into the lion's eyes and watched as it came closer and closer to her.

It finally stopped in front of her and opening its mighty jaws said, ' Ma'am, can we go now? The master is busy now. I have been assigned to watch over you and walk you home.'

Madhurima gasped loudly and asked, ' Who, what are you?'

Opening its jaws the lion yawned loudly and throwing a bored look at Madhu, replied, ' My name is Buddha. I have no clue as to what I am or how I am. All I know is that I like this particular form for I have a lot of fun with it.'

' Fun? How?'

' Well. most people pee and s..t in their pants when they see me for the first time and that is funny I tell you. Really funny.'

Madhu's voice was soft but deadly when she asked Buddha, ' Have you ever done that? I mean has it ever happened to you?'

Buddha the lion smiled and said, ' A couple of times, and both of those times, he was involved in it.'

Madhu's forehead wrinkled in a frown and Buddha hearing her without her speaking, answered, ' He means him. Azhagan. He can be a bit nasty and scary when he gets angry and there is no telling what he might do or not do when he is in that state. I and the rest of us give him a wide berth when he is like that.'

Frowning slightly, the huge lion said, ' Come to think of it, your husband Ravi is in that sort of state right now. So.....'

Madhurima glared at the lion and walked away without answering him.

Buddha sniggered to itself, ' Ungrateful beings. I am trying to be so friendly and accommodating and all I get is to watch her back as she walks away from me.'

Grizzly Attack! by Peter Michelmore

A romantic hike turned into a fight for their lives.

Dale Johnson and his girlfriend, Rhonda Anderson, were hiking along a narrow trail leading to Trout Lake in Montana’s Glacier National Park. It was early afternoon last October, with shafts of sunlight streaming through the trees, and Dale, 31, led at an unhurried pace.

“Not far now,” he encouraged Rhonda, 27, who was a step behind. A trim, pretty woman in T-shirt and shorts, she wore a pink bandanna over her light-brown hair. Her beaded earrings were a gift from her lean, dark-bearded companion.

The couple had been chatting back and forth, their voices ringing through the silent woods, but now, in tune with the hushed tranquility around them, they had grown silent. As they approached a bend in the trail, Dale stiffened. He caught a movement in the brush ahead, and in the same instant he heard a guttural growl. To his horror, two bears, cinnamon brown, came snorting straight at him. His heart pounded. Grizzlies!

From the corner of his eye, Dale saw Rhonda jump behind a tree. But he stood rooted, frozen with fright. The bears were in full charge, their fur rippling in fury.

Don’t run! was Dale’s one thought. To the grizzly, a runner is prey, and the bear will give chase at speeds no man can match. Dale’s mind seized upon a desperate ploy. Make yourself bigger. Bluff them. Leaping, yelling, waving his arms, he confronted the charging bears. Immediately, one veered off into the woods, but the other—400 pounds of unrestrainable savagery—bore down upon him.

Snatching a stick as long as a broom handle and as thick as his wrist, Dale brought it down on the bear’s skull. At the same time he let out an unearthly scream. When the club shattered, Dale rolled to the ground and curled into a ball. Park rangers always advise people to assume a cannonball position if attacked. It is supposed to indicate to the bear it is not under threat.

Face in the dirt, Dale wiggled his backpack higher. You’ve got to protect your neck. He felt the sharp rake of claws across his back. Suddenly all sensation was lost in the sound of his screams. Only Rhonda, watching from behind the tree, would remember the terrible moments that followed.

“It’s a seven-mile round trip to the lake,” Dale had said when they parked their station wagon and set off about an hour earlier.

A sign at the trail head warned that they were entering bear country. But being from the nearby town of Whitefish, Rhonda and Dale were well aware that the park was home to black and grizzly bears, and they were ever watchful.

Park rangers always advise people to assume a cannonball position if attacked.

Noise was the best protection against a surprise meeting with a dangerous grizzly. Usually Dale wore a small bell on his pack for added security, but he had forgotten it this day.

Rhonda noted the time, 1 p.m., and remembered that bears were mostly spotted in the early morning or late afternoon. They’ll all be sleeping at this hour, she thought. At any rate Dale and Rhonda knew that bears preferred to keep their distance. It was rare for a grizzly to make an unprovoked attack.

When Rhonda saw the grizzlies, her instinct was to climb a tree. In panic, she grabbed for a branch, but there wasn’t one within reach. Paralyzed with terror, she saw the bear claw Dale’s shoulders, then close its great jaws over his left arm, wrenching it from side to side, biting through muscle and bone. In anguish, she thought, He’s being killed! Do something!

An image crossed her mind: her neighbor’s fierce Labrador. Once he had come snarling at her when she was taking out garbage. She grabbed the metal can and held it in front of her, fending off the animal. “Don’t, Buster, don’t.” At the command of her voice, the dog backed away.

Shucking her backpack, she held it out as a shield. Advancing on the hulking grizzly, she cried, “Bear! Go away!”

Startled, the giant dropped Dale’s arm and looked around. With lightning speed, it charged Rhonda. She reeled back. In a blur, she saw the grizzly’s lips pulled back over huge teeth and four-inch claws the color of amber. The teeth sank into her pack, and claws slashed her right wrist. Blood spurted from the wound as she fell to her knees and screamed.

Hearing Rhonda’s cries, Dale came out of his daze just in time to see woman and bear, face to face, inches apart. “Bear! Bear!” he shouted, determined to lure the grizzly away from Rhonda. The attacker’s head snapped around. With a rush, it turned once again on Dale.

“Get down!” he yelled at Rhonda. We have no defense, he thought, We have to play dead!

An instant later Dale was in the air, being shaken violently, the bear’s jaws locked on his buttocks. Claws swiped at his shoulders. Flooding adrenaline had numbed him to pain, but Dale knew his body was being savaged. If he doesn’t stop, it’s all over for me.

Rhonda had heard Dale’s cry to get down, but she could not abandon him. Grabbing her tattered pack, she advanced once more, yelling for the grizzly’s attention.

This time the bear attacked on its hind legs. Towering over her, its claws ripped into her neck. Mouth open, the bear clamped its jaws on her upper left arm, teeth crunching hard to the bone.

Somehow Rhonda kept her feet, toe to toe with the bear, not conscious of pain, but of rising fury. Setting her jaw, she pounded a fist into the animal’s stomach. In an instant, she was flung to the ground. Rhonda expected jaws to close on her, but the grizzly dropped to all fours and loped off into the trees.

Dale struggled up from the ground. His left arm was crushed at the elbow, the forearm laid open to the bone. From the feel of his buttocks, he knew the bear had bitten out a chunk of flesh.

Rhonda managed to remove the sweatshirt tied about her waist and bandage her wrist. Her neck and shoulder wounds oozed blood.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this nightmare,” Dale said. He vowed to himself that her life would not end in misery on a trail in the woods.

“We have to make it back to the car,” he said. “No one will come for us.”

Hooking her pack over her undamaged right shoulder, Rhonda led off down the trail. She didn’t lack for confidence. From motel maid and fast-food waitress, she had moved on to a good job as an examiner in a real-estate-title office. Now her concern was for Dale. His wounds were deep, and they had to walk three miles. But she didn’t question his determination.

In ten years, Dale had parlayed a degree in electronics from a small college in his native Oregon into a position as co-owner of a company that specialized in computerized aerial photography. Seeking out a spot where they could couple business with the sporting lifestyle, he and his partners moved the firm to Montana’s Flathead valley.

Walking behind Rhonda, Dale kept shouting to spook any bears that might still be nearby. The pain in his arm intensified. He felt lightheaded and realized that surrender to shock would be the end. As a veteran hiker and climber, he knew that he was at the edge of his limits.

Then Rhonda saw the creek she remembered was near the trail head. Her watch read 2:32 p.m.—32 minutes since the attack—when they reached their station wagon.

“We made it this far,” said Dale, his voice labored. “The next part can’t be as hard.”

But his face was creased with pain, and Rhonda knew she had to take over. Tugging the keys from her pack, she unlocked the door and eased behind the wheel. “I think I can drive,” she said.

Rhonda had no strength in her left arm to hold the wheel while shifting with her right, so Dale changed gears as Rhonda worked the clutch. Crouched dizzily at the wheel, she tried not to run off the road.

After several miles, they came to Lake McDonald Lodge. It was closed for the season, but Dale spotted a pay phone and shouted for Rhonda to swing into the driveway.

Mercifully, there was a dial tone, then a 911 operator on the line. “We need help,” he said hoarsely. “We’ve been mauled by a bear.” The operator took down the location and notified Glacier Park headquarters.

Ranger Charlie Logan reached the lodge within minutes, and a highway patrol car soon delivered a nurse, who set up intravenous lines. By 3:30 p.m., the battered hikers were beginning their ambulance ride to Kalispell Regional Hospital.

Dale and Rhonda spent eight days in the hospital, and each had three operations. In addition to wounds on his back and buttocks, the elbow of Dale’s left arm was fractured, and the bear had broken off an inch-long knob of bone. Doctors performed a fourth operation later to repair the elbow damage. Rhonda’s left biceps muscle was completely severed—and bear-tooth fragments were lodged in the bone of the upper arm. The claw that cut into her neck missed the jugular by a quarter-inch.

On their third night in the hospital, Rhonda sat at Dale’s bedside and told him how she had attempted to drive off the grizzly with her backpack. “I thought you were being killed, and I had to do something.”

“I didn’t know that’s why the bear left me,” Dale said, his voice growing husky. “You saved my life.”

As part of the healing, Rhonda went home to her two-room cabin. She put on a video documentary about life in the north country that she loved so much and let her cat curl up on her lap.

Before the grizzly attack, Rhonda had not really comprehended how dangerous such an attack could be. But the event had confronted her with her own vulnerability, and impressed upon her how much we need the closeness of family and friends—and to be there for them when they need us.

With her left arm in a cast, Rhonda found even the easiest chores difficult. One day she was trying to braid her long hair with fumbling fingers when the telephone rang. It was Dale. There was a new dimension to their relationship now. If love was built on respect, they knew they had a solid foundation.

“I can’t even braid my own hair,” she said brusquely. “I think I’ll cut it all off.”

There was a pause, then he said, “Come on over. I’ll make you dinner.”

When Rhonda arrived, Dale sat her down gently and began braiding her hair. It was, she thought, the sweetest gesture she had ever known.

Originally published in the June 1992 issue of Reader’s Digest magazine.

Dale Johnson and Rhonda Anderson remained friends for many years but have since lost touch. Dale still lives in Whitefish, Montana, where he enjoys foraging for wild mushrooms, hiking, hunting and river-rafting in the area’s vast outdoors. He tends to avoid the area of Glacier National Park where he and Rhonda were attacked and he always carries bear repellent.

Avan, Aval Adhu 486

The sun, our nuclear star lies at the heart and the center of its family around which we, Earthlings, and the other planets, asteroids, and comets orbit around.

Azhagan stood in the circle facing the two Hybrid Androids with his arms folded across his chest while his family of Malar and all things human and animals and trees stood outside the circle watching their leader, king, and forest god.

The circle was ten feet in radius and even though it was invisible, the circle was a ball of energy that was bound on all sides by the power of the one who had created it.

Azhagan flicked his fingers and the sound was like the crack of lightning and it brought back the Humanoids to power and wide awake.

Both the androids stood staring at Azhagan, and Hybrid 25C Meenakshi immediately took the lead and asked who he was and what had happened to them and then raising its left hand touched the side of its head and proceeded to gently tap itself.

Its eyes suddenly began to blink rapidly and unlike a human and then it stopped and Azhagan knew that it had rebooted itself and was now awake and maybe even aware.

He slowly walked around the two Android Meenakshi's and declared' Not bad at all. Rajendra Cholan has indeed made progress after all.'

Then before their super sensors could even register the movement, Azhagan drove his hand into Hybrid 25A's chest, ripped out its parts, and stepped back and watched as the Humanoid Meenakshi slowly fell to the ground making metallic thumps and screeching noises as its internal parts scraped and scrapped their way to Mother Earth.

Hybrid 25C stood staring at Azhagan and after a few moments asked, ' Who are you human? How is it that you are so fast? How is that possible that you are faster and more powerful than even me, the most advanced creation on this planet?'

Azhagan smiled and nodded his head, ' True, and it is also true and I agree with you when you say that you are the most advanced creation on this planet.'

Hybrid 25C Meenakshi blinked its eyes in a weird and inhuman way and Azhagan stepping closer to it said, ' You can try but you will fail.'

Blinking its eyes again and again in a weird fashion, it declared boldly, ' Fail. I never fail. I won't fail. My master did not create me to fail.'

Azhagan stepping back observed loudly, ' Malar, do you see what is going on here with this piece of metal?'

Hybrid 25C snarled loudly, ' Metal. I am not just metal, human. I am indestructible and my master created me out of some of the most precious and rarest of alloys that he procured with great difficulty.'

Azhagan shook his head, ' So, you think, and because you think, you have assumed that you have become self-aware and because of that awareness you think you have become a human.'

Hybrid 25C Meenakshi nodded its head proudly and declared, ' Yes to all of that. I am more human than all of you.'

Azhagan pointed to the spot where Meenakshi lay dead and asked, ' Why did you kill her? You realized that she was not bad or evil but just misguided in her thoughts and emotions. You heard her confess her sins and you heard her declare that she had come to save Ravi and Madhu even though she knew her own life might be in danger. You must have heard her talk and heard it all loud and clear and yet, you killed her. Why?'

Hybrid 25C without hesitation replied, ' I had my orders. My master specifically told me to kill her if I found her here or proceed to kill her after reaching her home.'

Azhagan fell quiet and his question though a whisper was heard by everyone present there when he asked it.

' I thought you said you are aware and more aware than any human being and yet you proceeded to murder her in cold blood without even giving her a chance to defend herself. What is human about that? Nothing. You are just a machine. A cold and calculating machine that carries out its orders without thought and without judgment. You are nothing but an executioner, a weapon meant for destruction and nothing else.'

Hybrid 25C once again raised its hand and tapped the left side of the head and seeing it do that the third time, Azhagan said, ' It's a waste of time, machine for I have removed all your transmitters and also the optic fibers that you need to send home what you are seeing and hearing right now. I have also erased your hard disks but I have left your memory and knowledge banks intact.'

Meenakshi Hybrid 25C's eyes went round, square in panic and then making a quick check of itself and its parts, realized that what the human in front of it had said was indeed true.

A defiant look filled its face and then it mimicked Azhagan by talking to him in his own voice, ' Okay, I am not human and just a machine. But what about you, what are you going to do with me? Are you going to murder me in cold blood or are you going to give me a chance to defend myself? Are you going to be a ruthless machine or a weak and sympathetic human being?'

Azhagan smiled and said, ' I am neither machine nor human. I am more than that.'

Dropping his hands to his sides, he smiled and said, ' Machine, you said that you are the most advanced creation on this planet and maybe you are. But, unlike you, I am not from this planet and I have been created not with a planet in mind but with the eternal and expanding universe in mind.'

Those were the last words that Hybrid 25C heard and then it ceased to exist.

He nodded to Malar who roared, ' It is time children ' and led the forest away towards Kozhiyur.

Once they were all out of sight, Azhagan looked up into the dark skies, and the next moment a bright white beam of light burst through the top of the trees.

He stood watching as both the Hybrid Androids were lifted up into the dark ship that hovered over him and said, ' I am ready '.

Buddha the lion who had left Ravi and Meenakshi safely near their house had then raced back to his friend and master and realizing it was late by a few minutes, watched in silence as the spaceship vanished in the darkness of the skies and thought, ' Master, you pretend to send all of us on the ground to do battle while you have already reached Rajendra Cholan's place. Not fair that you always fight your battles on your own. But, Happy hunting master.'