From & To Sathish #5 - Page 4

Vaanathai Pola 302

Velu, constable, and driver for Inspector Rajarajan ( pigrajan) spoke fast and in great detail, and by the time he was done, Raman's emotions had fluctuated wildly and now it took all his immense strength to stay calm and composed.

Constable Velu looked at Raman, ' Sir, I have told you everything that I know and I know very little for I have been in this station for just a few months and I doubt if I will last here any longer.'

' Why do you say that? Where were you before being posted to this station, Mr. Velu?'

Constable Velu's face changed from fear and unease to that which expressed Gratitude and loyalty and with a smile of respect, ' You addressed me as Mr. Velu. That is the first time that someone has done so. Thank you, sir.'

Then his eyes filled with memory and his face began to fill with light and with joy, ' sir, I know who you are and thought that I recognized you from all the papers and tv reports. But, I was too scared and shy to confirm that for you walk with people that rule this country while I am but a lowly driver.'

Raman spoke in a strict and stern voice, ' No, you are not, Mr.Velu. You are a police officer and you have sworn an oath to this country to protect and defend it against all enemies, even if that enemy turns out to be your senior officer or any other

higher-ranking colleague.'

Velu stared at Raman silently and then turned away unable to face him while he spoke his mind and its thoughts, ' Sir, neenga hero and an exception. When people like you, Rajini sir, Vijay sir, and Mgr sir talk these punch lines, people will listen and enjoy but will laugh in my face if I say the same words or try to do the right thing.'

Constable Velu smiled and 99 out of 100 people seeing it would have thought just that, " A smile" but Raman was that rare one out of 100 and more and so knew and understood that the smile did not stem from happiness but instead was a cry for help, a scream of a soul who was submerged in a deep well which itself was submerged in total darkness.

' Sir, you asked me where I was posted before I came here. I was in Mylapore sir and before that in Parrys corner. In a short span of three years, I have been transferred 8 times. Some of the transfers were done because I requested it and all the others, because I refused to take bribes and also comply with the beating of people who have been arrested for simple reasons and that too elderly ones.'

The wail of an Ambulance reached their ears announcing its arrival and to Raman's mind, the wails were that of the person who was being brought in and that of the patients near and dear ones.

Constable Velu too joined Raman and stared at the Ambulance that raced through the gates of the Hospital and asked, ' Sir, why are you staring at that ambulance? Is it carrying somebody you know?'

' No, Mr.Velu, no one I know. Although, I too am familiar with an ambulance and its sounds.'

' Then why are you staring at it so intently, sir.'

Raman faced Constable Velu, ' Because its wails and your words have the same effect on my soul.'

Taking out his phone, he raised a finger and said politely, ' Please excuse me, Mr.Velu, I will be back in a few moments.'

Constable Velu nodded and watched as Raman began to talk into his mobile phone and stood recollecting all the reports of him single-handedly taking down those dreaded assassins Gulab and Jamun a few months ago. He had also faced down and killed many of their gang members although most of the information about that case concerning Minister Vaidyanathan had been hushed up as they are always done.

Raman finished his call and came back and told Velu to go and find Inspector Rajarajan and bring him to the Managing director's office cabin.

' Take your time for that will give me a few minutes to prepare my clients and also time for me to work out a plan to handle this Inspector of yours.'

Constable Velu smiled and Raman saw that this time the smile was that of relief and joy for it came from a happy part of the soul and lit up the happy and shiny parts of his eyes.

' Sir, if I may?'

' May what?'

' Sir, I meant if I am permitted to speak my mind?'

' Of course, Mr.Velu, feel free to speak your mind.'

Constable Velu smiled, ' Thank you, sir.'

Then he spoke freely, ' sir, you are lying when you said, "Take your time for that will give me a few minutes to prepare my clients and also time for me to work out a plan to handle this Inspector of yours" because that is not the truth.'

Raman stared at him and asked, ' what do you mean by those words?'

' I mean that the truth is that you have already worked out a plan and have devised ways to nab the Inspector. Am I right sir?'

Raman nodded and smiled and thought to himself, ' well, my instincts have never let me down and my opinion about this gentleman is correct. He will turn out to be a great asset and colleague if trained properly.'

' We will talk more, Mr.Velu after we have finished with this matter and over a cup of coffee.'

Constable Velu's face lit up like the afternoon sun, ' a cup of coffee with me, sir, with me. You and me at the same table, sir.'

ஒரூ கவிதை, கவிதையை எழூதும் அழகை கண்டு, நான் ஒரு கவிதை எழுத முயற்சித்து,  தோல்வியை தழுவினேன்.                                               வார்த்தைகள் பல வந்து சென்றன. முடிவில், ஒரு வார்த்தை மட்டும் போதும் உன்னை வர்ணிக்க என்று நினைத்து, அதை அனுப்புகிறேன்.           அழகு.

Every year Martin's parents took him to his grandmother's house for the summer break, and they would return home on the same train the next day.

Then one day the boy says to his parents:

′′ I'm pretty big now. What if I went to grandma's house alone this year?"

After a brief discussion parents agree.

 they are standing on the train station wharf, greeting him, giving him one last tip through the window, as Martin continues to repeat:

′′ I know, you've already told me a hundred times...!"

Train is about to leave and father whispers:

′′ My son, if you suddenly feel bad or scared, this is for you! ′′

And he slips something into his pocket.

Now the boy is alone, sitting on the train, without his parents, for the first time...

He looks at the scenery through the window that scrolls..

Around him strangers hustle, make noise, enter and exit the compartment, the controller comments him that he is alone.. A person even gives him a sad look...

So the boy is feeling more uncomfortable...

And now he's scared.

He lowers his head, snuggles in a corner of the seat, tears rise to his eyes.

At that point he remembers his father putting something in his pocket.

With a trembling hand he seeks to grop this piece of paper, he opens it:

′′ Son, I'm in the last wagon..."

This is how it is in life...

When God sent us in this world, all by ourselves, HE has also slipped a note in our pocket,

MY CHILD,  I AM IN THE LAST WAGON ❤️

So trust him, have faith in him, our GOD IS ALWAYS WITH US, in the last wagon.

This is hilarious but then quite relevant too given Indian habits......

*USE YOUR MASK THE WAY U USE UR UNDERWEAR:*

1. Dont remove it in front of everyone !

2. Dont go out without wearing it !

3.Do not keep adjusting with your hands in public !

4. Dont let it slip off !

5. Keep it very clean ! 

6. Change daily and wash the used one !

7. Do not use the one with a hole in it!

8.Dont lend yours to anybody else nor use the one which belongs to someone else...!!!

Avan, Aval, Adhu-14

The traffic on the highway was light and Ganesan made quick work of the distance and turned right into the smaller road that led to Kumarapalayam from the highway.

Gayatri tapped Ganesan on his shoulder and pointed to the road ahead and remarked, ' This road that leads to Kumarapalayam is so well maintained and so much better than the highway itself. Why the difference, Brahma?'

Ganesan turned and smiled and he then pointed to a spot up the road and Gayatri strained her sharp eyes and tried to see through the morning mist and failing to see his point, asked, ' What did you point at now?'

Ganesan switched off the radio that was playing but not very loudly, and then switched off his engine and let the auto coast in neutral gear and which it did, silently.

They and the auto coasted through the mists for many moments and wondering what Ganesan was trying to prove to her, looked at him questioningly. Then, she thought she heard something, chants, wails, screams, and then as the sounds became more clear, she realized that they were choruses of women singing in Tamil.

The mists looked like spirits of ancestors long gone but still lingering on earth attached to their previous lives through thin wispy spider silk connections and tried to stay by merging and dancing with the vapors of the earth.

' This mist and these sounds are like the breath of mother earth and her gentle snores as she slumbers on, refusing to rise with the new red sun, Gayatri thought and hurriedly reached for her bag and took out her camera and hang it around her neck, began to click away.

The Red Sun shrouded by the mists hung low on the eastern board looking like a drop of crimson blood. To her eyes and to the lens of her camera, she looked at the sun and imagined it as a Bindi adorning a woman's forehead.

She slowly lowered her camera and watched in amazement as the mists were suddenly brushed aside by an invisible force and she saw green upon green paddy fields start from near her and run away into the red zone of the horizon. The green paddy fields were peppered with hundreds of women in colorful clothes and they all stood looking in one direction.

A sudden gust of wind swatted the mists once more and cleared Gayatri's vision and she saw that all the women stood in a circle and their complete and undivided attention was on one place and that was in the center of them.

Gayatri raised her camera and zoomed in on the center of the gathering and the Canon lens obliged and did its duty and displayed the happenings.

Some kind of ritual was happening in the middle of the field and a priest was throwing flowers and chanting loudly and next to him stood a man with a bare upper body and a white dhoti covering his lower body. Another man stood there with him along with a woman who appeared to be his wife and the two youngsters who were obviously their children.

She saw the man take the flowers that were offered by the priest and throw them on the small statue and asked Ganesan, ' what is going on Brahma?'

' The usual offering of prayers and thanks to God, ma'am. The owner of this field is thanking God for his blessings and also thanking Master sir for all that he has done and is doing for this village-town called Kumarapalayam.'

' What? you mean that the bare-backed man is Mr. Ravi?' and Ganesan nodded, ' yes, ma'am.'

Gayatri quickly raised her camera and saw through the lens and saw all the family members hold a shining brass plate and do an Aarathi to the small statue and then they did the same thing to Ravi who humbly bowed his head and accepted their love.

The sun hung red on the horizon behind his profile and the fire on the aarthi plate blazed below his face and yet she could see that he glowed in a strange way and stood clicking and capturing the moment, totally mystified

I am sharing this article that my Rotarian friend Madhu has written about the legendary singer, SPB

                                         SPB, the natural music wizard

His was a wonderful voice. It could soar like Mohammad Rafi, intoxicate like Kishore Kumar, caress like A M Raja or energise like T M Soundarrajan. “Whenever I felt low, his voice would rejuvenate me,” said Suhasini Mani Ratnam, referring to the music legend S P Balasubrahmanyam.

His record as a playback singer was staggering. He sang some 45,000 songs in 16 languages over 54 years. Besides, he composed music for 40 films, acted in 45 films, and dubbed in Telugu for several top actors; he was also variously the voice of Ben Kingsley (for the Telugu version of Gandhi), Anil Kapoor, Rajinikanth, and Girish Karnad. He won six National Awards, six Filmfare, 25 Andhra Pradesh Nandi, four Tamil Nadu State, and three Karnataka State Awards. He was honored with the Padma Shri in 2001, the Padma Bhushan in 2011. He recorded 21 songs on a single day for a Kannada film, 19 Tamil songs on a single day, and 16 Hindi songs on a single day. He performed thousands of live shows around the world and was a huge draw each time — demonstrating that the SPB mania was as potent in the US or UK, Singapore or Malaysia, as in India. SPB was the first singer from the south to achieve national stardom. He went on to become the voice of Salman Khan.

Prolific singer

The Telugu film Sankarabharanam (1980) epitomised both the majesty of classical music and the power and wizardry of SPB. All of SPB’s nine songs in the film (including six duets) were enthralling — the film got the lay public hooked to classical music. Intriguingly, SPB had no classical training himself. How did he manage this feat?

Says lyricist Vairamuthu: “A dictionary does not make you a good writer; tutors and classes don’t make you a good singer; even talent alone won’t do. But SPB combined natural musical talent with expressiveness, astonishing grasping power, and memory.” Vairamuthu added that just as Sivaji Ganesan could memorise text very fast, SPB could memorise tunes at remarkable speed. “He learned a tune in 15 minutes and sang it in 10 minutes,” says A R Rahman.

“Your song can impact a listener only if you transform your personality,” says Vairamuthu. “You must become a lover, a warrior, a philosopher, a bird flying in the sky. SPB achieved such transformation with remarkable acumen.”

The Rafi touch

He says SPB was the king of romantic songs. “He sang between his nose and throat for such songs, to give his voice a young feeling.” For philosophical songs, he would modulate his voice, giving it greater maturity. Singer Surendran Menon says that the script of SPB’s songs sometimes had the word “Rafi” written above particular words — a reminder to himself that he should impart a Rafi touch when converting those words to song.

Pianist Anil Srinivasan said SPB’s voice demonstrated the multidimensionality of emotion. “Even happiness is sometimes tinged with sorrow — something his voice conveyed brilliantly.”

SPB used to say that a good singer should be a good human being as well. He himself had a heart of gold — as young singers like Mano whose career he boosted have pointed out — and a sweet tongue. Pianist and also a Rotarian, Anil Srinivasan says that SPB offered to donate money for a 7-crore state-of-the-art government school that was set up last year in Perumbakkam by the Rotary Club of Madras. It was meant for children of a community affected by the 2015 floods. “I helped raise 2 crores through my contacts in the US. Hearing about this, SPB contacted me and made a donation.”

He adds that the SPB Fans Association has rendered some splendid community service very silently, donating crores of rupees for good causes.

    Even happiness is sometimes tinged with sorrow — something his voice conveyed brilliantly.

    – Anil Srinivasan, pianist

Early days

He was born in Konetammapeta village of Nellore district in 1946 into an orthodox Brahmin family, and a musical environment as his father was a Harikatha artist. His childhood ambition was to be an engineer — “I had in mind a gazetted officer’s job on a salary of 250 per month, going about in a chauffeur-driven jeep.” But failure in PUC aborted his ambition, and he moved to Madras to try his luck with AMIE, a professional certificate course.

At 18, he won an amateur singing competition in Chennai. This led to his first film song in Telugu. In 1969, MGR (who had some differences with his regular singer T M Soundarrajan) was most impressed by a Telugu song by SPB, then an unknown youngster. Result: he was asked to render Aayiram nilave vaa composed by K V Mahadevan for the MGR-Jayalalitha starrer Adimai Penn (1969). SPB fell ill with typhoid before the recording but MGR waited for him to recover, and sing that song.

This became one of the best Tamil hits of all time, and MGR gifted SPB with a gold ring as a gesture of appreciation. Earlier, legendary composer M S Viswanathan got him to sing the duet Iyarkai ennum ilaya kanni to be filmed on Gemini Ganesh and Kanchana for the film Shanti Nilayam . This was a massive hit too.

SPB’s career zoomed. Sankarabharanam (1980), on the life of a great Carnatic vidwan, was a landmark of Indian cinema.

Carnatic stalwart Balamurali Krishna was to sing the songs, but composer K V Mahadevan wanted SPB. This was a masterstroke. The film became a thundering musical and cinematic triumph. SPB won the first of his several national awards for the sublime and stately rendering of the song Onkara nadanu. The following year, he won his second national award for the song Tere mere beech mein from the film Ek duuje ke liye (1981).

Thus began a glorious achievement-studded journey as singer, composer, voice-over artist, international stage show performer, and collaborator with the tallest composers, actors, singers and directors.

                                                        A rule-breaker

In his personal habits, SPB was a rule-breaker. He indulged in ice cream, sweets, chilled water and cold beverages, spicy food and yoghurt. Asked whether buttermilk was bad for the throat, he responded “What use is a throat if you can’t drink buttermilk?” He was a smoker for around 30 years, but gave it up when his daughter Pallavi implored him to quit this habit.

He underwent bariatric surgery in 2012 to lose weight, and brought his weight down from 126kg to 95kg.

Several years earlier, he underwent a surgery to remove a nodule in his throat that affected his singing. Lata Mangeshkar called him to advise him against the surgery, which she said was risky. But SPB went ahead as he was impatient to resume singing. Fortunately for him, it worked.

Incidentally, SPB’s Hindi film career began with him spilling tea on Lata’s sari during a recording for Ek duuje ke liye! He was agitated and upset, but Lata calmed him saying, “don’t worry, this is a good omen”!

                             Influences on SPB

SPB hero-worshipped Mohammad Rafi. “No one can be a bigger fan of his than me,” he said. “Something happens to me when I listen to him.” And SPB sang Rafi songs so much like the master that Rafi’s own family was thrilled! When composers tried him out, he always came out with Rafi songs. He said heroines on screen were in love not with the heroes but with Mohammad Rafi, their voice! SPB’s ambition was to sing with Rafi, but he only managed to greet his idol and touch his feet at a recording studio once.

SPB was close to Kamal Haasan. For several years, the singer helped organise an annual live show, Kamalum naanum. He was Kamal’s Telugu voice for as many as 110 films. Said Kamal: “SPB has been a part of my life, my romance, my melancholy, part of my first love and marriage.” It was Kamal who arm-twisted his friend and coaxed him to become an actor.

SPB’s friendship with composing wizard Ilayaraja was more than five decades old. He sang some 2,000 songs under the baton of Ilayaraja for films such as Payanangal mudivathillai, Nenjathai killadhae, Rajaparvai, Vettri vizha, Salangai oli, Thalapathy. The two friends fell out three years ago on the question of royalties for Ilayaraja’s compositions. Ilayaraja even sent SPB a legal notice. However, they made up later. Their respective sons are close friends and collaborators in film ventures.

SPB regarded K J Yesudas as his guru. They often sang together at live shows, in India and abroad. “Today he looks like a sadhu, a yogi,” said SPB recently. Before SPB embarked on an international tour in 2017 to celebrate his 50 years in cinema, he washed Yesudas’s feet and did a pada puja ceremony. Yesudas recalls an occasion in Paris when he and SPB returned to the hotel late in the evening. He was famished and there was nothing to eat. In came SPB with a cup of rice, saying “room service”. It was eaten with home-made podi and yoghurt. “It was divine, and I’ll never forget that little dinner,” said Yesudas.

Lyricist Vairamuthu wrote the lyrics for some 1,500 SPB songs, and the two often traded compliments and light-hearted barbs. At a live show some years ago, SPB said of a Vairamuthu lyric “You couldn’t have written this unless you had failed in love at least once.” SPB sang the song based on the lyric, and Vairamuthu remarked “You couldn’t have sung like this unless you had failed in love at least twice.”

The paadum nila (singing moon, a title given to SPB by MGR) has fallen silent, but its radiance will live forever.

                                         Some favourite SPB songs

Though difficult to take a pick from SPB’s armada of songs, here are a few of my favourites; others have been mentioned earlier in the article.

    Dil deewana — Maine pyar kiya,1989

    Enna satham inda neram- Punnagai mannan,1986

    Nilave vaa — Mouna ragam, 1986

    Mannil indha kadhalandri — Keladi kanmani, 1990

    Sundari kannal oru sethi — Thalapathi, 1991

    Kadal rojave — Roja, 1992

    Didi tera dewar deevana — Hum aapke hain koun, 1994.

    Malare mounama — Karna, 1995

    Thanga thamarai magale — Minsara kanavu. 1997

My own voyage with SPB and my favourite songs -1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJQad3lsIl0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfdw0GQ7yhc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MT758TvZnM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7U7M8YPFTg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4CEgbcM8Fk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyrGjKbx5Go

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQPlbAVFeR4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5CbqHxMLd0

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-J2YjDtBGs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBTQ3Qb7nww

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha1BQP3ACoc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqL9FEYvwOk

Avan, Aval, Adhu-15

The whole moment was a surreal and a magical one for Gayatri and it was all the more special because of Mr. Ravi Kumar who stood in the center of the field, clad just in a white dhoti.

Through the lens she saw him bend his head and accept the garland of flowers that were laid around his neck by the family that owned the field and then what she saw astonished her and she looked at Ganesan, ' Brahma, I can understand the two youngsters touching the feet of Ravi sir but it does not make sense for the parents to fall on the ground and prostrate themselves at his feet. It just does not make sense.'

Ganesan, smiled and then pointed his hand and said, ' Ma'am, zoom in on the statue to which the pooja was done and you will be more astonished. Do that and then we will talk.'

' Okay, I will do just that and then you can tell me all that you know about what just happened and why it happened' Gayatri said and zoomed her camera lens on the small statue that was now more visible for the Spirits of ancients and the wispy mists finally began to retreat giving way to the power of the sun.

She zoomed in on the statue and then went, ' What?' and quickly turned to Ganesan, ' seriously' and then again turned back and stared at the statue and kept staring at it as her mind tried to make sense of what her eyes were seeing.

Her eyes were still fixed on the small statue that stood in the center of the field while her arms lowered the camera and let it hang on her neck and then she asked Ganesan, ' That is Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation. But, why him, a human, and not a God or Goddesses? Like those scary ones, sitting with their tongues sticking out and holding huge knives and swords in their hands.'

' Ma'am, you mean the warrior gods, Ayyannar, Karuppaswamy, and other Munis who are placed at the entrance and exit of almost all villages in Tamil Nadu.'

Gayatri nodded, ' Yes, and they usually come in an assortment of bright colors and almost all of them look ready to pounce on anyone who passes or strays too close to them.'

' Those are our local village deities also called as our guardian deities who watch over the villages in the night. The deities guard the village and protect the believers who worship them in rituals. The Warrior gods, like Ayyannar or Karuppaswamy, will be placed on the outskirts, to better protect from outside dangers. In almost every Tamil village there is a shrine of Ayyanar, who is regarded as the watchman of the village, and is supposed to patrol every night, mounted on a ghostly steed, a terrible sight to behold, scaring away the evil spirits. By making nightly riding tours, deities are believed to control their territory. They defend village borders from demons, witchcraft, and evil powers that threaten people from outside. As stealing and robbing is a major concern for the villagers, the deities also turn their fierceness against those criminal intruders who act under the cover of darkness.'

' Thank you but my question remains unanswered. Why not those deities and why the statue of Mahatma in the center of the field?'

Ganesan looked at her thoughtfully, ' well, that will be and should be answered rightfully by Master sir himself when you ask him the same question.'

She smiled and winked her right eye, ' Okay, I get it now. There is a story behind this statue, isn't it?'

' Yes ma'am and I hope you get your story and pointing to her camera, ' that is why you are here, right ?'

' Correct, Ganesan ' and hearing loud noises and cheers quickly turned and trained her sight on the field and saw that the family along with Ravi were heading towards the opposite direction and away from them.

Gayatri did not know Tamil but knew the rhythm of the songs that were folkish in nature and then her ears picked up one word which she knew very well and asked Ganesan, ' Am I right when I say that I am hearing the word dharma being repeated again and again?'

Her young guide and companion nodded and elected to remain silent.

' Come on Ganesan, stop playing this game of suspense and explain why they are singing about Dharma right now.'

' Ma'am, they are not singing about Dharam but rather singing the praises of master sir.'

' What, why. what is going on here and why is your master sir being sung in songs and praised using the words dharma?'

Ganesan looked at her and searched her face for the answers that she wanted and asked her, ' Have you ever worshipped anybody and felt immense gratitude for the love and kindness that they showered on you?'

' Yes and no. Although I have not thought of it that way, there is a person or rather was but not now for we have lost touch with each other.'

Ganesan unable to comprehend her words, ' how is that possible? how can you lose touch with a person that gave you love and kindness?'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWPT5RQjIRU

Vaanathai Pola 303

“The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.”  'This quote should be your mantra, and slogan at all times and remain in your thoughts at all times when you are practicing law' his mentor, guide, and boss Krishnaswamy Iyer had told him and his colleagues and it had never been forgotten by Raman.

As an advocate, he had always tried to go in for an out-of-court settlement with the opposition and had always advised his clients to follow his advice. It would have worked in a utopian world but then humans are the damned, the fallen, cast out from the heavens and rarely follow wise words of advice and instead prefer to follow their hearts and lust after war, violence, and power.

Raman in his many years of practicing law had seen such vile and vicious men both as his clients and as his adversaries. He knew very well and understood the corruption that ruled everyone's souls. These men hungered and thirsted for power and money and craved nothing else and would stop at nothing to get it.

He shook his head sadly and thought to himself, ' What makes people behave in such a way and what drives them to do vile things is beyond my understanding and maybe like in the religious books, the devil does exist and works his evil through his chosen subjects such as Inspector Rajarajan. I hope I can get this matter solved amicably and return back to the army base and resume hunting for the missing Brigadier.'

Then suddenly, a famous scene flashed in his memory and he smiled and remembered the famous line uttered by Kamal Hassan in the film " Thevar Magan" when confronting the villain Nasser and mimicked it as he entered Global Hospitals.

" Maayan, Unakulla muzhichuttu irukara adhe mirugam, enakulla thoongittu irukku. Thatti ezhupidaathe." ( The beast that is awake in you is asleep in me. Don't wake it up.)

“Inside me, there are two dogs. One is mean and evil and the other is good and they fight each other all the time. When asked which one wins I answer, the one I feed the most.”

Raman knew very well the two dogs that lay in every human's soul for he was familiar with his own beasts that slept in him and awoke occasionally to wreak destruction and mayhem and worst kill and kill again.

He knew that the blood of Gulab and Jamun stained his heart but then he had made peace with their deaths that had happened through his own hands.

He stopped at the reception desk and informed them that he had an appointment with their MD and the receptionist immediately contacted the secretary of the MD and informed her about Raman's arrival.

After being informed that Raman was a very important visitor, she placed the phone back and nearly jumped up from her chair and said with respect, ' Sir, please follow me for I have been asked to personally escort you to the office of our Managing director.'

 Raman thanked her and followed her through a narrow corridor that led to a private elevator.

' Sir, there is only one button press it and it will take you there' the receptionist said and Raman nodded and got into the elevator and pressed the single green button.

The elevator rose up the building smoothly and silently and Raman wondered, ' if only our souls could rise up to the heavens in such elevators, basking in so much comfort or maybe they do.'

The elevator opened directly into a large suite and Raman saw a man standing there waiting for him and who was obviously Mr. Subash Rao the Managing director of Global Hospitals.

The man who looked to be in his mid-fifties moved forward quickly, eagerly with his hand extended in greeting and ready to shake Raman's hand.

' Welcome to our hospital, Mr. Raman' and then he looked anxiously behind Raman and then tentatively enquired, ' Is it just you, or are the other, I mean your seniors following you here. When will they be joining us?'

Raman smiled and said, ' I am sorry to disappoint you but for now it is just me, and yes I am alone and no one else will be coming for now.'

Subash Rao did not know how to react for it was obvious to Raman that he had never faced such a situation before and was obviously at his wit's end.

They both turned hearing the door open and in walked Jayaprakash, the hospital's security chief and retired Additional superintendent of Police, crime branch, Vellore.

Subash Rao walked, hurried, and ran to meet the former officer and Raman heard him clearly as he spoke nervously and complained, ' JP, they have sent one man and that too a junior, a very young kid to handle this monster of an Inspector. How will he be able to cope with a devil that has invaded our premises and is at this very moment contaminating it like a deadly virus?'

Jayaprakash, former ASP, crime branch locked eyes with Raman, and both looked at each other across the room and then he looked at Subash Rao and declared, ' Sir, he is going to do just fine and everything is going to be all right. He might be one man but he is equal to an army.'

The Managing director of Global Hospitals, Subash Rao watched with astonishment as his hospital's security chief and consultant walked towards the young advocate called Raman and stand before him and bow to his waist and say, ' Sensei ni rei, Master. I see you and greet you.'