From & To Sathish #5 - Page 2

                                                         Adhu 3

Gayatri saw the resemblance in both mother and son's eyes but years of experience made her realize that the resemblance in the eyes was but a shallow, physical one and that the similarity between Ravi and his mother Rasaathi ammal ran much deeper and welled from the heart and soul.

Gayatri saw the same indulgent, patient and kindness in the old lady's eyes and smile and even her folded hands that greeted her in the familiar Indian way of Vanakkam, namaskaram echoed her soul in the way Ravi had greeted her.

' Please come into our home and grace it with your presence.'

Gayatri hesitated, but for just a second for hesitation had never been her friend while bold and open thoughts had been and would be for they defined her very core and her soul.

' Thank you. But, I don't want to impose myself. Maybe some other day and with advance notice.'

Ravi smiled and she saw it reveal shiny white teeth and she thought they look like lightning bolts on his brown skin and face.

He glanced at his mother, ' Amma, our guest thinks that there is not enough food for all four of us and that is why she is hesitating.'

Rasaathi ammal too smiled and Gayatri saw that even in their smile and teeth mother and son were one and the same.

' Ma'am, please forgive me if I happen to make you think that we are boasting when I tell you that there is more than enough food for you our guest and also if more guests happen to drop in now.'

Then Gayatri saw mother take her son's arm and slowly step down the five large steps, and placing a hand on Gayatri's right arm, looked at her and said, ' Please forgive me for not stepping down the moment I greeted you ' and pointing to her left hip and knee said, ' Both are not in very good condition after I fractured them a long time ago. Steps make me very nervous and that is why I stood at the door and greeted you.'

Gayatri felt something move in her, a spirit awakening, and she looked into Rasaathi ammal's eyes and saw a familiar light and slowly smiled for she knew and recognised that light and understood what it was. It was the light of love and purity.

Before she even knew it, Gayatri gently hugged Rasaathi ammal to herself and filled her arms and soul with the thoughts of her mother on who she had turned her back on many years ago and had maintained very little communication over the past ten years.

Then realizing what she had done quickly began to apologize but Rasaathi ammal stopped her with just her smile and said, ' I needed that and it has made me realize that my only son hardly ever hugs me and it has been ages since he has done that.'

Ravi smiled and stayed silent but Brahma whispered and his whispers were loud enough and were heard clearly by all of them.

' I don't know about huggings but amma, it is sir who massages your feet and arms every night before you go to sleep and it is who helps you with your physiotherapy exercises and everything and here you are going on about hugs that you never got.'

Rasaathi ammal looked at Brahma, ' Ganesa, no dinner for you today and even if Ravi allows you in, no specials and only leftovers from what I cooked in the morning.'

If Ganesan who was affectionately called Brahma by the people who knew him felt left out, he did not show it and instead cheerfully countered, ' Amma, even your leftovers will taster better than what most people serve fresh in their homes including what my own mother serves me every day.'

All of them burst out laughing at his frank and honest observations and then Rasaathi ammal taking Gayatri's arm for support slowly climbed the stairs and led her into their house.

Gayatri stopped, froze for the door of the house opened and revealed not a house but a Library. Every wall had racks of books towering over all of them and her eyes took in the large hall and then slowly tracked the house, the walls, the books that ran away into the other parts.

She looked at Rasaathi ammal who smiled and nodded, ' I know for I too feel that this is more like a library than a normal house.'

She looked at Ravi who only offered a very brief but fitting explanation.

' For me, there is no difference between a library and a home as they are the same and one in my opinion.'

Brahma added, ' Sir, thinks that each and every one of these books in this house are his close companions who might be dead in life but alive and eternal through their thoughts and spirits.'

Gayatri looked at him and thought, ' who are you?' in her mind but her lips spoke and made sounds and questioned, ' how many books?' and Ravi shrugged and said, ' I have lost count and the last time I counted them was about five or six years ago.'

' The count back then was 40,000 thousand and more and only he knows how many he has added to that count' Ravi's mother said.

She should not have asked, but Gayatri did, for she could not have not asked, for that was not who she was and so she did.

' Have you read all of them?'

' Yes and many of them I have read many a time.'

' Fascinating' she said loudly but silently thought, ' Interesting. A really interesting man and a humble one at that and not bad looking at all.'

She looked at Ravi and saw that even his brown teak coloured skin only worked to make him look special and different and even the little scattering of white in his thick black hair gave him an August presence.

She knew then in her heart that she would have to spend more time here than she had planned in the town and with him for suddenly she knew that he and his life were more interesting than the village itself.

I returned home late and really tired on Saturday that just passed by and was ready to collapse on the bed and die a restful sleep for as many hours as possible. Sadly, for an actor, it is not possible for there a couple of hurdles to be done and dusted with. Makeup remover cream, wipe with cotton, face wash and if any embers of energy left then a quick bath. Eat what is placed in front of me, brush and then off to meet Alice in wonderland in my sleep dreams.

More be nearly three years since I poured myself a drink and I did that on Saturday. A tiny tot of scotch and water which soon vanished down my gob and soon the parathas too went missing.

You pour a good scotch in a nice glass and I swear I did not for the last glass broke many a year ago. So, a steel tumbler worked out just fine and I hardly knew the difference and what the heck, who was going to see and comment on my Faux pas

I swirled the steel tumbler and the golden spirits of Johnnie walker danced to the tunes of my fingers and I saw their faces and heard ghostly whispers of blood gone away too soon.

Why? because they danced too close to the spirits of alcohol.

1972 was the year my little brother Navin died fighting blood cancer and in 2020 January my other little brother Sunil passed away after fighting his own ghosts and fears with only alcohol as his ally and fate finally did what it is meant to do. Nearly 10 to 15 years of hard-drinking finally took its toll on all his organs. Navin was barely 3 and Sunil was 47

A sigh of a ghost escaped through my lips from my soul and I continued to swirl the steel tumbler encasing Johnnie walkers recipe for a good time and my favourite singer Kishore began to hum, " Mere naina saawan bhadon, Phir bhi mera man pyasa.."

One of my favourite songs and also because it brings back to memory, fresh as a daisy one evening when many of us had gathered under Murthy and veena's roof for dinner.

Our own pet baritone voice singer Pradeep Warrier who we call " Daddy Long legs" began to sing and then proceeded to make fun of Yesudas and his Malayalam accent when he sang " Sunayana sunayana" and did so because he was a Malayali himself.

Rajah began to hum Mera naina and requested Pradeep to sing it for him. Pradeep who was just about getting ready to get another drink fixed ( lost count) snapped funnily, " Poda, nainavum vendaam unga aayavum vendaam."

All of us broke and roared in laughter but rajah kept that constant smile on his face.

That is how I remember him. His constant half-smile like a fading crescent moon and that is all I will remember of him.

Well, Rajah passed away in March last years and he was just in his 50's.

No, I am not too bothered and concerned with this pandemic stuff and I remain stoic with my emotions and display that has remained constant and honest from the time I began to talk and express myself.

I know that I meander a lot with my thoughts but meandering is all that is left as life meanders us and our fates.

Sometimes people accuse me of being weird and konjam loosu and I smile and think to myself, ' Not me people but the lives we lead, especially mine."

We all cope with our life and its fortunes and tragedies that it throws at us and we do that in our own weird, eccentric and wondrous ways. Some take to drinking. some to drugs. some take to being destructive. some recede into the darkness of their own shadows. Most snuggle into their loved one's arms and hide from life and memories.

Me, well, I talk back to life and write scathing reviews about it. why, because I can?

 Vaanathai Pola 299

The call that Raman made to his old boss was answered on the second ring. As for as Raman was concerned, Mr Krishnaswamy Iyer was more than just his employer for that single word would just not do to encapsulate what he thought and felt when it came to his boss. Krishnaswamy Iyer was his mentor, trusted ally, a father figure, and more than anything a person who he looked up to with awe for his brilliance when it came to work and with immense respect for the way he carried himself in and out of office.

The word " Uplifting" was a constant and that which always sprang to Raman's mind when it came to best describing and encapsulating his boss and his life. He had used that very word as the topic of his speech in a small and very private function that had been held in Boat club, Adyar many years ago to felicitate his boss Krishnaswamy Iyer for completing 40 years in the practice of law and all of them priceless gems in the opinion of all those who were gathered there that night.

Raman had been surprised at being invited for the event and had even mulled for a moment whether to go and then talk about someone who was the sky when he himself was the earth that looked up for deliverance.

But he had accepted and had carried on as if he knew nothing and then that evening when his turn had come and the mike had been given to him, Raman had stood up and his eyes took in the nearly 150 advocates who had gathered there at the Boat club and had been stunned to see some of the biggest luminaries in the practice of law had made time to travel from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkota to attend the felicitation for his boss.

Raman had stood up and had after taking the mike offered to him by the convenor of the function, his eyes had immediately sought his  Guru Mr Krishnaswamy Iyer and had glued themselves to his eyes. A few seconds had gone by before Raman began speaking and this had led many of the brilliant minds gathered there to think that the young Raman, Mr Krishnaswamy's junior had been overwhelmed by the occasion and had become tongue-tied on seeing the August gathering of men in front of him but what followed had been written into the history of best speeches ever given by an advocate at a felicitation and many of the points from that speech had been repeated again and again and the one word that Raman had begun his speech with and the same word that he had used throughout it had become a Mantra and a slogan for countless aspiring advocates.

Raman began to speak and with his first word had caught and bound the attention of all those who were gathered there.

" Uplifting. This English word is the one word that comes to my mind when I think of my teacher, mentor, guide not only in the practice of law but in the practice of life itself.'

Raman had paused and after letting his opening words sink into all of them had continued, ' Uplifting. When we closely examine and dissect this very word we are left with this on thought, one result and that is all life on this planet strives for one goal' and he had looked up and pointed to the sky, ' yes, uplifting our very soul to reach the skies or should I say heavens and not in our afterlife but while still breathing and alive.'

Raman had looked down at the table he was standing at and then had slowly raised his head and had said, ' Skies, heavens in Tamil, my language means " Vaanathai Pola." It means to possess a heart, a soul as large and infinite as the sky. My Guru is like the very sky itself in his work and also in the way he conducts himself even when he is away from it and in private.'

Everyone's hands had instantly come together and many had roared, " Hear, hear, bravo, bravo."

Raman then softly whispered into the mike, ' Boss, with your permission I raise this glass of champagne to toast you and salute you and your illustrious life and career. God bless you sir and thank you for doing what you do and doing it in the best way possible. Also, thank you for letting me be a small star in your vast sky.'

Adhu-4

Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.” ― Jodi Picoult

A table had been set for two and accepting Ravi's offer of the chair, Gayatri sat down in it and was then completely taken aback to see his mother in the other chair opposite to her instead of Ravi who she had been expecting to do the same and had been conditioned to do the same.

Instead, Ravi and Brahma filled their plates and sat down on the ground on a mat and began to eat their food.

His mother Rasaathi Ammal asked her if she would prefer being served to serving herself and Gayatri smiled and said, ' Thank you. I will help myself.'

Not knowing what to say and a bit confused she decided that it would be better to let things flow in their own time and space for it was neither her river or her space to ask and be answered.

 Ravi looked up at her and said,' Miss Gayatri, I can tell you with absolute certainty that you will enjoy the food even though it is a bit sparse in variety but vast in taste' to which she replied, ' It is not always about the food and how much of it is there or how many varieties have been served but it is always about the taste and quality.'

She looked at him and his mother Rasaathi Ammal, ' For me, from the time I can remember, good food has always meant eating it with people who I am comfortable with and eating food that has been served with love as its main ingredient and flavoured with more love.'

All three looked at their guest who smiled and said, ' Gosh, sorry for being overly expressive but I just can't help it and keep my thoughts contained.'

Ravi smiled, ' You don't have to and you shouldn't, at least not here in this house, and as long as you breathe the air of our land, Kumarapalayam.'

The food was sparse indeed but was heaven and Gayatri ate like a person who had been famished for several days and after filling her plate three times, finally burped gently and immediately closed her mouth and began to apologize profusely.

' OMG! Oh no. I am so sorry for doing that.'

Ravi, Rasaathi and Brahma all looked at her and then all three of them burped gently and said, ' Okay. Now we are all equal in our burps.'

Gayatri could not help it and her smiles graduated to chuckles and then she burst out laughing and then suddenly stopped and looked at all the three serious faces staring at her and realized that her laughing was no laughing matter at all.

' I am sorry if I have hurt your sentiments but I could not help it after all three of you tried to burp and join me.'

Brahma looked at Ravi and his mother and said, ' Okay, we got her' and all three began to laugh and enjoy themselves in varying degrees.

Gayatri realizing that they had pulled a fast one on her joined them in their laughter.

It was Ravi's turn to apologize, ' sorry Miss Gayatri, but we could not help ourselves. Really sorry.'

' It's okay but please be honest and confess your sins.'

' Our sins. What sins, Miss Gayatri?'

Gayatri looked at her empty plate sadly and then with a serious face looked up at Ravi and asked, ' You play this prank on all of your guests, right?'

' No. Not really. But, we don't miss the chance if it presents itself.'

She saw him glance at his wristwatch and then exchange a look at Brahma and then he looked at her, ' I am sorry but it is time now for me to take leave of you.'

Looking at Brahma, ' Ganesan will drop you off at the hotel that you are staying and we will talk more tomorrow and in leisure.'

That said, Ravi got up and after washing his hands, stopped at the door and picked up a large torch and then turned and looked at her directly and right into her soul.

' Miss Gayatri, forgive me if I sound impertinent but like you, I too, sometimes am unable to contain my thoughts like right now.'

With a gentle smile, he told her, ' Be yourself and remain thus. Good night.'

OUR SOUNDS by Rumi

They are like a lasting kiss, our sounds when they are tender.

How else would I want to speak to you except in a way that unfolds your curves, rolls you out like an heirloom tapestry across a rare sky?

You have an important story to tell. It is like mine. Yours is nearly complete.

The last-minute, though, is 1000 times more packed than all that has happened so far.

If you can soften your look on someone you have not been kind to for a while,

your power will increase, and in this world that is handy.

Who would not want the ability to say to sadness, Be gone you rascal, and have it respond—“Okay.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1ohF2xULr8

wat s ths thread...nt understanding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_1WGNBAX4

Vaanathai Pola 300

Shakedown the activity of getting money from someone by threatening or tricking them.

But, when we give the English language and its numerous dictionaries a shakedown, we end up extorting from them, other words that resemble the word Shakedown.

Extortion, Coercion, fraud and yes Blackmail.

Krishnaswamy Iyer cut straight to the point after quickly dispensing with a short greeting, ' Good afternoon, Ram. I need your help and I need it right now.'

Raman's answer was even shorter and crisper. ' Yes to both sir.'

Raman had worked many long hours with his mercurial boss and had seen him in action in court and had worked even longer hours with him while in his cabin poring over old cases and their judgements for hundreds of litigations that concerned their clients who were pitted against the government.

So he knew that when his mentor used the two words, " Help, now" it meant something serious and that it concerned a case about someone who was special and dear to him.

He heard his old boss as he strived to explain the situation to him and said one word that sprang to his mind.

' Shakedown sir. It is a plain and simple case of blackmail. But messy since it concerns the police department.'

' I know Raman and I also have informed the client to do what is necessary in this situation.'

Raman smiled and shook his head, ' My advice too would have been the same, sir. Pay the corrupt Bas.ards and be done with it. B..T.'

Krishnaswamy Iyer echoed Raman, ' Butttttttttttt. I too know the meaning of that Ram and I know very well that this shakedown will not be the first and last and the scavengers will come back many times.'

Raman pondered for a few seconds and added to his mentor's thoughts, ' Then it is about the cash and where to find it and that too in white and not in black for that will give way to other avenues of blackmail. This hospital is a corporate one and all its transactions will be examined through a powerful microscope by the Income-tax department.'

Krishnaswamy Iyer spat in an angry voice, ' my fears are largely about the fallout if this situation is handled badly for that will ruin the relationship between the hospital and the police department.'

Raman chuckled, ' The police department is too big and mighty a foe to take on for we know from experience what all problems they can give us and all the headaches they have caused us.'

' Correct Raman. Thank God that you are very close with the former DGP Devarajan for that helped solve all those irritating problems the local police department were putting in our way.'

Raman remembered that incident very well for it had happened just a few years ago.

He had appeared in court on behalf of an old lady who was trying to evict a police Inspector from her property where he was staying as a tenant. But, to no avail. The traffic department Inspector had been defaulting on rent and had also refused to allow his landlord, the old lady to raise the rent by even a few hundred rupees and that too after five years had passed since he had rented the place and which he had on using a Benami and false words.

Knowing very well that people were wary and scared of renting their properties to either the police or lawyers he had instead resorted to using another person to rent it and had burrowed himself there like a rat that has burrowed deep into the foundation of a house.

Raman had taken the case after having seen her plight in court and had appeared for her.

The Traffic Inspector had called him and had told him to back off or else in no uncertain terms and when Raman had not backed off, the Traffic Inspector resorted to harassing Raman and the others in their office.

Motorcycles were taken away for parking in no parking zones. Cases were filed for simple mistakes and then it had graduated to their clients being harassed by asking for their licences, getting the vehicles checked for narcotics and other banned goods and this had gone on for nearly a week and finally, Raman had made a call to his sensei, his other mentor and master Former supercop DGP Devarajan who had made a call to the Commissioner and who had made a call to the Inspector and all was well and all problems had been solved.

Raman observed vocally, ' That was a civil case, boss, and posed very few dangers even if it had turned bad. But this case is a tricky and dicey one and which has to be handled with kid gloves.'

' That is why I have called you, Ram.'

Raman smiled, ' Okay sir. I am leaving right now and should reach Global hospitals in about 30 to 40 minutes. Please inform your client and advice him to sit still and not do anything rash and to remain, mum,  until my arrival as his counsel.

Avan, Aval, Adhu- 10

Gayatri was left feeling a bit put out at the abrupt departure of Ravi Kumar. Prudence took over her thoughts and decided that it was none of her business what went on a quaint town turned and thanked his mother Rasaathi Ammal for the lovely dinner and for having extended an invitation to her, a complete stranger.

' One need not be friends or family to share a table and share their food, Gayatri' the old lady said and looking into her eyes, ' Under this sky and on this earth we are all one and part of one great big family and connected to one another through some mysterious bonds. Current, past and maybe even before that.'

' That is our master's motto and thought' Brahma Ganesan said with a huge smile and Rasaathi Ammal accepting his observation, ' True. This entire town of Kumarapalayam follows this motto and follow our headmaster's lead although I still tend to think of my land as a village that is slightly over-sized.'

Gayatri could not help herself and looked searchingly at both Rasaathi Ammal and Ganesan who themselves saw her eyes brimming and just about ready to explode with several questions.

Placing a gentle hand on Gayatri's wrist, the old lady said in a soothing voice, ' All in good time. Go now and rest and come back tomorrow and we will talk more. But.......'

Gayatri cocked her head and asked, ' But... what ma'am?

' But, only if Ravi says it is okay.'

Gayatri smiled revealing rows of perfect teeth and shrugging her shoulders, ' I think I know what you are going to say next.'

Ganesan too smiled, ' You are right ma'am. Everything that happens here happens only with his knowledge and after it has reached his ears and mind.'

Rasaathi Ammal 's face became a bit serious, ' Gayatri, the day starts with him and sets with him for us and for Kumarapalayam.'

' I am sorry but what does that mean, the days begins and sets with Ravi.'

' Ravi in Sanskrit means " Sun" but he means much more than the sun to this village town and all those who belong here think and exist by swearing their loyalty to him.'

It was becoming a bit too much to take in for Gayatri who decided that it was time to leave to the lodge that was about fifteen km away and on the highway to Madurai in a place called Soorakulam.

Rasaathi Ammal enquired as to how she had come to Kumrarapalayam and Gayatri informed her that she had come to Madurai from Chennai by flight and had taken a cab to Soorakulam for that was the closest area to Kumarapalayam with a decent lodge.

Brahama jumped in by saying, ' I met ma'am there as she was enquiring about ways to get here to our town and offered my services.'

He saw the questioning look that Rasaathi gave him and hurriedly explained the reason for him being there at Soorakulam Highway hotel, ' Sir, only sent me to there on a small errand.'

Thanking Ravi's mother once again and saying goodbye, Gayatri got into the autorickshaw and Brahma started its engined and slowly puttered away into the night.

' Village town but so clean and well maintained. All the street light are shining properly and a sense of calm and peace seems to fill this space' Gayatri observed loudly and looked at her driver friend, Ganesan.'

' I have but one answer to your observation ma'am and that is' and before he could finish saying what he was going to say, Gayatri finished it for him, ' Mr Ravi Kumar. Your sir, master, headmaster and that is the answer.'

She then looked at both of them, ' I find it a bit strange but at the same time relieved by your behaviour.'

Both, Rasaathi and Brahma heard her and then looked at each other hoping to find meaning in her words and unable to do so turned back and looked at her with patience.

' I meant that apart from asking me my name which makes sense for it is needed to address a person, a stranger, you have not asked me anything else. Like, where I am from, what I do and what I am doing here in your village?'

Ganesan opened his mouth to say something and then quickly it, an action that mimicked a fish that was gulping for air, thought Gayatri.

Ravi's mother Rasaathi Ammal took her time to answer Gayatri and then she did and took her time doing it.

' Gayatri.I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Now the question is do you believe? Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? Do you believe that people come into your life because it is destiny? The universe works in ways that are unknown to man. Everything that happens around us from the people in our lives to what occurs when is due to a reason. We don't meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our paths for a reason. There are many reasons as to why we meet people or people come to meet us and also why we travel to a certain place at a certain time. But the answers to that lie with Time and what we have been praying for.'

The words moved her and she did not know why they made her feel as if they were prophetic in nature but her heart told her that the words and the immense meaning in them were true.

All Gayatri could do was just nod for she felt overwhelmed and quietly step down and stepped into the auto and Ganesan drove her away.

The universe works in ways that are unknown to man. Everything that happens around us from the people in our lives to what occurs when is due to a reason. Someone had rightly said, ' We don t meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our paths for a reason'

Now the question is do you believe? Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? Do you believe that people come into your life because it is destiny?

If you ask me, then let me tell you that personally, I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. The question is whether I know the reason or not, I believe.

I read it a while back that perhaps sometimes people simply come into your life and the minute they do, you know right away that they were always meant to be there. Life happens when you least expect it.

Some people only enter your life for a short while. It may seem strange but this happens only cause to serve some sort of purpose or to simply teach you a lesson. In certain cases, it has been even seen that some people may enter your life as acquaintances but they end up staying for long. 

Some people are bridges.

These people are not meant to last for the long road ahead. They are an enjoyable pathway to get us to where we need to go.

These people are needed to arrive exactly at the time and place you met them  to transport you to the next level of your life journey.

You meet these people for a reason even if they are only here for a season.

Some people are roadblocks and re-directors.

These people come into your life to delay you  for both little things and big things.

For example, you might have a conversation with someone which then delays you and prevents you from getting into a bus accident.

Or you might spend time with someone  and this time spent creates a time hiccup which delays you  so you wind up meeting a new, amazing, romantic partner.

You might have heard the expression, Sometimes rejection is a redirection to something better. Well, thats what these people do. They might show up as a rejector  but they are a redirector.

Some people are assignments and teachers.

Often your tormentors double duty as your mentors.

They are here to teach you important life lessons via the process of pain which helps you to grow who you are.

Their crisis pain creates the crisis fuel you need to motivate a necessary change you didnt want to put in the effort to make.

Plus, some people are just straight-up inspiring teachers  who teach you life lessons in a more loving manner.

Some people are angels

These people are here to protect you and remind you to stay safe and stay self loving.

They are guardian angels of some sort.

Their purpose: Make sure that you do not stray too far from the path you are meant to be on.

In times of need and desperation they help you  when others are not there for you.

Some people are guideposts.

They represent and symbolize something you want.

Their purpose: Motivate you to keep pursuing what you want  and stay on track.

Their presence helps to make sure you stay awake, energized and committed to moving forward on your souls true-to-you journey.

Some people are your tribe.

These are the ones who are here to stay the long haul.

These people are far and few between  but they are the ones who are loyally there for you during tough times and celebratory times.

They see you clearly and accept you as your flawesomeself.

Tribe members support you when you are invisible to others.

Tribe members root for you with a pure heart  when others might feel competitive or jealous.