My very first middle in DH for all of you to enjoy & comment

Dear Ambika,
Like everyone has already said, VERY TOUCHING piece! I too remember all these tarkari women and maid servants who have so many prolems , physically and mentally, and when you just give them some time , they feel so grateful. What more can we do....and the number of problems they seem to have and ontop of it they always do their work.....of course sitting here, i dont come across such people here,but i do remember these people.
But truly what a trong character this lady is na?
And thanks to you for posting your fantastic middle on IL!

Dear Ambika,
With so few words you could bring in us the whole range of emotions we are capable of.
When you said Sadness is as old as the human race, but some lives are so inherently laced with sadness they seem more like blunders in creator’s handiwork
we had the serene expression of the Buddha.
Vegetable vendor, dutiful wife, helpless, threatened mother, caring grandmother – the roles are unending and 24 hours inadequate for all the demands.
These words left us gasping in admiration about what a human being and that too in the lower income group is really capable of
The only legitimate daughter-in-law (other two sons managed to ‘keep’ women) doused herself with kerosene and torched herself in front of the house
These words left us in shock.

“I had gone to Karimariamman temple yesterday and I prayed for you also, amma…!” She knows the chaos my gallstone can create as so many mornings she had seen my face creased with pain and discomfort.
These words filled our minds with hope. If so much of goodness is to be found in a woman with so much suffering, then it is a little premature to lose faith in our race.

I can say as your avid fan that you are a great poet and a writer; and as your friend I can say that you are one of the finest specimens of our human race. May you always remain blessed, Ambika.
regards,
sridhar

My dear friends

I cannot thank you enough for your responses, you have proved time and again that this site is a confluence of wonderful people....thanks a lot.

I know where to look at when I am under a grip of writers block...your love and encouragement will surely bring out the best side of my creative self.

I wrote this middle, because I felt a great NEED to verbalize the pain I felt for 'Tarkariamma'...her story bringing tears in your eyes is a telling testimony to the fact that there may be many many such distressed lives, each one will evoke pain and empathy in their own way ..
thanks again dear friends...this love and appreciation from all of you mean a lot to me..
ambika

Dear Ambika,

I cannot better the sentiment of my fellow IL'ite here who said that the poet in you sees the poetry of life. If we can only make that little time to 'see' our immediate surroundings with feeling, a wealth of lessons can be learnt.
Doing a lot of learning about 'seeing' and 'listening' today on IL:)

L, Kamla

Dear Ambika
It is very kind of you to share your experiences with the takariamma.

It is written very well especially I liked the following sentence “Happiness is a smile of comfort to the sorrowful”. Being read your poems I know only you can write like this. So poetic. Takariamma will live in our memories for a long time.

Regards
vidhi

hello

laugh and the world laughs with you
cry and u cry alone
i c that the tharkariamma didnt cry alone!!
nice guesture.. they say it rains
when good people take care of others in pain
rain sure welcome!!

sathya

Dear Ambika,

My fellow ILites have already expressed enough how touching this middle of yours is. Though this 'tarkariamma' is not new to any of us, sure we would have come across a similar vegetable vendor, flower vendor or servant maid in our lives. But the way you have portrayed her sadness and the humbleness in her inspite of the sadness kindles our emotions.

Look forward to more such real-life middles.

Regards,
Malathy

Thank you Malathy for providing a beautiful platform in IL to showcase one's talents and innate feelings As regular contributors to print media, we may get satisfaction, but what we get here, is something totally exhilarating. I feel proud and privileged to be a part of this wonderful community.
Kamla, Vidhi, Twinmom and Satya, thanks dear friends for your encouraging words.
I was planning to bring out all my middles in a collection, and that idea took deeper roots after this overwhelming response and encouragement from all of you...
As I had said earlier, I cannot thank you enough..
love you all
ambika

hello...

that was a nice middle
wonder if its your own experience
of meeting this vegetable godsend!!
looks like HE doesnt act directly
like giving bedsheets or solace
he sends people
well if its gallstones thats bothering u
the tharkari woman might have an answer
like vaazhai thandu..banana stem
juice it and drink it once a day
and perhaps the gall stones
will just melt away

sathya

Thank you Satya...very kind and thoughtful of you to mention a simple natural remedy for gall stones, apart from your appreciation of my work in a poetical way...will surely try it out..
thanks a lot
regards
ambika