HE - Episode 7

Hello Shanthi,
(I was wondering whether your name will have a h in the end or not. You may not know, but h is an important letter for me. If I spell my wife's name without the h, there will be nothing less than a civil war in the house.
And there is another friend of mine, the top person of this site, whose name has a h in the end. I got into trouble when I accidentally omitted it a few times. There was another Chitra (not our dear Chitvish) whose name did not contain the h.
And then there is a Sharada in the site, whose name, virtue of habit, I used to write with h in the end, Sharadha. She went on to prove that there is no h in that name. Since that time, I dropped h in the name of my character Sharada. I think, I can write a blog on the mahathmiyam of h, well for the word mahathmiyam, should there be the second h? The debate goes on)

Destiny is one entity which never fails in its duty. Destiny is so very powerful that Valluvar who said "Uzhaiyum uppakkam kaanbar" (there are those who will see the backside of destiny, meaning they will turn it away from their lives) went on to say, "What in this world is greater than destiny? Nothing. even if something else intervenes, it will still do its duty.

Any remarkable success is like an itch, and is like a "high" a person gets while on drugs. After a while you get used to one high and then seek higher and higher levels of "highs". That's where the problem starts.

Is there going to be any damage control...or destiny has had its last laugh????

Time alone can answer this question. But in any situation, destiny hasthe last laugh.

Thanks for the fb.
regards,

Dear sridhar,
You have time and again proved that, you, the story writers will never allow a newly married couple to live in peace for a good length of time. Your hands itch so much that you wake up the sleeping giant called DESTINY and ask it to wag its tail !
Well, now, let me be a little (only little) naughty !
Before they were married, Priya & madhavan on the first day of their tete-a-tete got so close that you descriptively reduced the distance between them as zero.
Now that they are married rightfully, you describe in mundane language that they "made love".Why, Sridhar, is the thrill totally lost after marriage ?Well, this can be answered only by those who had an affair going on for a few months which finally ended in a marriage.No hint given to anybody, please.Definitely no reference to my friend who had to wait for eight years to marry his lady love !
As you are aware, Kumar is the vice-president of Gandhinagar Club , Adyar. Next time, I go there, I will order for
thick drumstick soup with crispy vegetable springrolls and panneer 65 on the side, ghee cashew pulao rice accompanied by red chilly panneer and hyderabadi vegetables and a large bowl of chocolate ice cream with fruit salad.
I will give you my comments on how rich it is !

When you write about the vulture-lawyer, you write
For him anything in life was like a take-over.
I do hope & pray, our very own dear Priya is not on his list !
Well, since Destiny has gone in seach of greener pastures, the damage (irrevocable?) has been already done, perhaps !
You are mixing the right ingredients - lust, love, shock, thrill, scare.... in the right proportion in your serial.
I hope the next (on the list) baby is conceived !! 8th no: of "immaculate conception" !!
Love,
Chithra.

Hi Varalotti,

I guess I owe you a peace offering since I said after HE5 that it was proceeding on predictable lines like a Mills and Boon. (I guess it touched a very raw nerve in you). Anyway, you as a master narrator and beyond that as a master story teller have shown that one should not short guess destiny or writers. This episode proceeds in very unforseen lines, gripping like a Sidney Sheldon.

I am learning a lot about the business world from this episode. Blessed as I am with a husband who specialises in mergers and acquisitions, I am yet to hear him speak about his work at home since he feels it is never in good spirit. There are always hearts, real people, careers, dreams and lives broken in this game. You have shown this aspect beautifully along with the predatory streak in Priya, quite like a lion that has tasted human blood. I am not amazed at how she mutated from a MC to a hostile take over hobbyist- the human nature is never something that we can predict. You have brought that out strikingly. And also have proved that women on a roll especially in corporate circles are more dangerous and at times devious than their male counterparts. Viva women power!!!

Well, we never expected Priya and Madhavan to live happily ever after. But I expected an affair (on Madhavan's side), a miscarriage or the usual favourite leukamia. This twist is very gender affable and very 21st century affable.

Good going Varalotti. Nice to see that you are two steps and one timeline ahead of your readers (read Vidya).

regards
Vidya

Dear Sridhar,

Don't know if it is the effect of exposure to the fast life on your recent visit to US, this story sure seems to be jettisoning, fast forward!
Our young couple in love do not seem to have much time for each other or their homely life, ala their many counterparts in this part of the globe. Very understandable, given the backgrounds that you have sketched out for them. It would have seemed untrue if they had settled in to marital bliss, after all, they are successful corporate beings. Hence, I appreciate that you kept their characters true to their form and one gets the feeling that this is how it will be in their world. It is also very probable that an ambitious Priya will turn out power hungry and success driven, especially when she feels that will auger the success of her husband to boot.
As expected, they seem to be heading to some big trouble, though how devastating it will be depends entirely on the author's intentions! Hope the author is not too cruel, some of us are of soft constitution...please remember!
I enjoyed this new character very much...He seems really vile, cruel and very contemplative...No, I don't mean the lawyer, Mr Vulture ( you did not name him!), I mean Mr Destiny. This time, he is a full fledged character. To read about him and his behavior was chilling.

And now what.....................

L, Kamla

Dear Sridhar,

Was a very fast paced narration......i guess almost a year has passed by , in their lives......
But sorry to see that Priya has changed to a power hungry female.....i am sure Maddy will not find her to his likings anymore, anyway. So destiny has started its play.....and Love will take a back seat now-.....as usual .....but since both of them are in a fast paced corporate world, i guess it is happening faster.Usually it is addition in the family, like a birth of a child which makes the couple go farther....well.....lets wait for New year to catch a glimpse at what Destiny had in store for them.
Bu´t a great narration.....felt like it was happening just in front of one's eyes!
waiting for the other timeline now.....

Dear Chithra,

At the outset I have to concede that by your teasing post you have made me break my habit of leaving a "two-day" cooling time for replying to the fb. Your fb is quite interesting and I should say a little teasing and a lot more challenging. And to handle a review like this I will have to revert to the good old accountants method of taking up point by point.

You have time and again proved that, you, the story writers will never allow a newly married couple to live in peace for a good length of time. Your hands itch so much that you wake up the sleeping giant called DESTINY and ask it to wag its tail !

That's our bread and butter. Instead of writing an episode like this, suppose I were to write,
"Madhavan and Priya woke up in the morning. They brushed their teeth, had their morning coffee. Then they saw the papers and discussed the world affairs. By 9 they had bathed, dressed up and had assembled at the dining table for breakfast. At 930 they left for office.
They had lunch in Madhavan's room around 2 pm. By 6pm they drove home. They had a bath again. And a light dinner before retiring to sleep.
The next day.
"Madhavan and Priya woke up in the morning. They brushed their teeth, had their morning coffee. Then they saw the papers and discussed the world affairs. By 9 they had bathed,....
If it goes on in this strain, ILites will somehow find out my address and come to my place with rotten eggs and tomatoes.

Well, now, let me be a little (only little) naughty !
Before they were married, Priya & madhavan on the first day of their tete-a-tete got so close that you descriptively reduced the distance between them as zero.
Now that they are married rightfully, you describe in mundane language that they "made love".Why, Sridhar, is the thrill totally lost after marriage ?

Before marriage, there was no entitlement or expectation. After marriage a lot of factors settle in. I would say like this. Making love after marriage is just like getting one's monthly salary. You are happy but not very ecstatic about it. Making love before marriage is like winning just about the same amount of money in a lottery. Since it is a windfall there is always an attendant excitement.
If I were to describe their love-making scene in the same romantic terms, then my sanity will be suspected. Now you see people appreciate me as a "realistic" writer.

Well, this can be answered only by those who had an affair going on for a few months which finally ended in a marriage.No hint given to anybody, please.Definitely no reference to my friend who had to wait for eight years to marry his lady love !

I am so very innocent in this matter that I honestly do not know whom are you referring to. If my guess about your friend is right, during the 8 years period he did not even talk to her once. And did not even as much as touch her finger nail. All touching and talking happened only after the engagement. And Madam, nature does not have a different rule for your friend. The rule is the same. But my mortal fear of infractions prevents me from describing it in detail. Got the point?

As you are aware, Kumar is the vice-president of Gandhinagar Club , Adyar. Next time, I go there, I will order for
thick drumstick soup with crispy vegetable springrolls and panneer 65 on the side, ghee cashew pulao rice accompanied by red chilly panneer and hyderabadi vegetables and a large bowl of chocolate ice cream with fruit salad.
I will give you my comments on how rich it is !

I never thought I will hit a home run on this. Any how try your luck. But I heard that the Chef Gandhinagar club had at the time of Madhavan and Priya's story is not there now. And they have a new Chef who may not be good at the same things. Why don't you ask Kumar and post the information here? It will be helpful to Adyar ILites who might plan a ILite meet at the Gandhinagar Club.

When you write about the vulture-lawyer, you write
For him anything in life was like a take-over.
I do hope & pray, our very own dear Priya is not on his list !

I also hope so. But I don't think our hopes will be fulfilled.

Well, since Destiny has gone in seach of greener pastures, the damage (irrevocable?) has been already done, perhaps !

Normally Destiny makes it easy for an evil person to step in. And when it sights such a person, it is happy and silently slips away looking for greener pastures.

You are mixing the right ingredients - lust, love, shock, thrill, scare.... in the right proportion in your serial.

Thanks a lot.

I hope the next (on the list) baby is conceived !! 8th no: of "immaculate conception" !!

To put it correctly 8th baby is in the LM stage. And there is going to be a contest for ILites to expand this acronym.

Love,
sridhar

Hi Vidya,

Anyday you are a better writer than me. And now you are literallly my Boss, as you are this forum's moderator. And you are a "green letter" moderator. Let me first use this thread to welcome you as the moderator of this forum.

I guess I owe you a peace offering since I said after HE5 that it was proceeding on predictable lines like a Mills and Boon. (I guess it touched a very raw nerve in you).

There was no war earlier and hence there is no need for peace offering. Since I haven't read M&B, I was wondering how to take in those statements. One ILite writes that my HE 5 was no less than M&B romance. And you wrote it was just like (read as bad as) M&B. Honestly I was confused. That's all.

Anyway, you as a master narrator and beyond that as a master story teller have shown that one should not short guess destiny or writers. This episode proceeds in very unforseen lines, gripping like a Sidney Sheldon.

Thanks a lot, Vidya. The compliments mean a lot to me.

I am learning a lot about the business world from this episode. Blessed as I am with a husband who specialises in mergers and acquisitions, I am yet to hear him speak about his work at home since he feels it is never in good spirit. There are always hearts, real people, careers, dreams and lives broken in this game. You have shown this aspect beautifully along with the predatory streak in Priya, quite like a lion that has tasted human blood. I am not amazed at how she mutated from a MC to a hostile take over hobbyist- the human nature is never something that we can predict.

When we have a photograph of a person taken some 5 years ago, we don't expect the person to remain the same. The same is the case with qualities and abilities, with morals and values. I have seen persons with top-class values degenerating into third-class citizens, because of the life they have chosen or the circumstances that surround them. Priya as a MC was just a snapshot taken an year ago. Priya as a take-over hobbyist is what she is now. I don't know whether it is fortunate or unfortunate; because of my
profession I had to move in high-money circles. There, people do not have any time or consideration for soft feelings, morality or values. Survival, ruthlessness, killing and sucking blood are the virtues that are admired. Values, morality and consideration for human beings always takes a back seat and many times are thrown out of the car.

You have brought that out strikingly. And also have proved that women on a roll especially in corporate circles are more dangerous and at times devious than their male counterparts. Viva women power!!!

That's a very pertinent observation. One of our clients had borrowed money from a finance company. (Amount: several crores) There was some delay in returning the loan. The lady CEO of the company used such harsh words while talking to my client, I am sure nobody would ever dream of using against a debtor. I do not blame her. When the borrower fails to repay the money she has to face the music somewhere. Being obliged to meet delinquent borrowers she is so much hardened that I could not see any soft feelings in her. Well, you can say viva women power. But I am sad that the cruel, harsh corporate world, hardens even the most graceful woman in the world.

Well, we never expected Priya and Madhavan to live happily ever after. But I expected an affair (on Madhavan's side), a miscarriage or the usual favourite leukamia. This twist is very gender affable and very 21st century affable.

Those cliches have been almost beaten to death by all the Tamil movies. I could not even think of going near them. I had to invent my own way of conflict.

Good going Varalotti. Nice to see that you are two steps and one timeline ahead of your readers (read Vidya).

And thanks again, my moderator, for these words.

Regards,

Dear Kamla,

Writing time line A has been natural for me, as I had the blessing of seeing some UHNWI (this is the modern term, ultra high net worth individuals) in close quarters.

I have heard of one couple. The husband is the CEO of a 2000 crore company and the wife the CEO of a 1000 crore company, which she inherited from her father. These people have two children. The children grew up with their grandparents and other relatives. For one thing I appreciate the sense of this people. Knowing fully well they can never spend time together under the normal circumstances, they have decided to meet each other and the children first Sunday of every month in a star hotel in Chennai. They will go around half past ten and spend time till about three or four in the afternoon. Thereafter for one month they will never contact each other.

I know another high-profile couple in Coimbatore. If the husband wants to meet the wife he talks to his PA who in turn talks to the wife's PA and arranges a meeting. The standing joke in the company was that it is much easy to schedule a meeting with a competitor than between the spouses managing the same business.

On many instances I have seen good people remaining good only for want of proper circumstances. I know some of my friends, who in those days, while suffering for want of money, were epitomes of goodness. But as days advanced and they got money, power and position, well they were devil-incarnate. To the quote that "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely", someone added a correction. "Power does not corrupt. But when basically corrupt people, who could not do anything wrong because they did not have power, get into positions of power, they corrupt it absolutely."

As expected, they seem to be heading to some big trouble, though how devastating it will be depends entirely on the author's intentions! Hope the author is not too cruel, some of us are of soft constitution...please remember!

Kamla, after a while the story writes itself. So don't blame me if something goes wrong seriously. Now are we not advised to watch what's happening in our lives with detachment and as impartial as a witness? I think we should at least do that to HE.

I enjoyed this new character very much...He seems really vile, cruel and very contemplative...No, I don't mean the lawyer, Mr Vulture ( you did not name him!), I mean Mr Destiny. This time, he is a full fledged character. To read about him and his behavior was chilling.

Destiny is a character in every life and hence in every story. I decided to give it an acknowledgement that is overdue. I am happy you enjoyed its role.

And now what.....................

A million dollar question indeed!

Love,
sridhar

Dear Sudha,

This part of the story was the most difficult to write. As a writer I believe that the deadliest villain never comes from outside us. They lie deep inside us and when the circumstances are favourable they come out. But to make that villain appear in a character as lovable as Priya, was something very difficult. But things like that happen in real life.

The second part of the difficulty was that I found it very difficult to write those lines myself. I had fallen in love with my characters and for a while I thought why should I disturb them. But without disturbing the characters the story cannot move.

Let's pause here, Sudha, for a brief moment for some philosophical introspection. Madhavan and Priya are just characters in my story. For them I am God. I can kill them, make them happy, make them loving, make them fight with each other or do whatever that I want them to do. And like that you, I and all of us in this world and all other possible words are just fictional characters of a novel written by God Herself. God can do anything with us. To make the story of the Universe go on the lines planned by God, we will have to just do the parts assigned to us.

It will be ridiculous if Madhavan and Priya were to come to me in my dream and plead, "Please don't disturb our lives. Leave us alone."

And so will it be ridiculous if we plead to God, "Please leave us alone. Play with somebody else's lives for your story of the Universe."

Sorry for being philosophical. But I couldn't help that.

Love may take a backseat or may even be thrown out of the car. And stories like these will become quite common when we confuse values with things and happiness with materialism.

Bu´t a great narration.....felt like it was happening just in front of one's eyes!

Thanks a lot, Sudha.

waiting for the other timeline now..

That reminds me, I am yet to conceive the next episode, let alone plan its delivery.
regards,

Hi Sridhar,

Thank you for 'welcoming' me as Mod of Good to Read. You do however know, that I dont moderate your forum.

Thanks also for the statement that I am a better writer than you. We both know it is not really true. I am not a writer at all, leave alone a better writer. My writing days are over and all I do is moderate writers.

I still contend that my comparing HE-3,5 to a M&B touched a whole raw nervous system. To the extent, that in one of your posts, you referred to me as 'one member'. Let me get this clear. I love books of all types. I love Mills and Boon, I love Sidney Sheldon. And after a stage, they all become familiar/predictable. Writers hate to be told that they are predictable, it is like reading their minds. As a writer, you have to at times mimic (go with) the flow, and at other times mock it. And it is my prerogative as a reader to express my views. But of course, in good order. That is one lesson I learn from your forum repeatedly.

No, people dont remain the same. So, it is not fair that MC Priya retains the same home spun values after being exposed to a harsh ad world where words do not always match morals. But sadly, people when they change, lose only their goodness. The not so nice attitudes, the latent evil, it never changes, only gains more force.

When I said, Viva women power in a twisted sense, I knew it was not ethical. And I would hate to see anyone doing bad business -man or woman. But women tend to have more spite and strength in their misdoings. Agatha Christie refers to that in Murder in the Orient Express. The victim is found stabbed violently 13 times (I think). She says that a man would stab once in anger, but only a women could exhibit such pent up rage and fury. Our parents said it simply as 'saadhu mirandaal, kaadu kolladhu'.

Again, it is quite an experience reading the episodes of HE set in two time lines. As a reader it is a discerning experience, an evolving experince. And thank you for teaching us a lot about many things thru your stories.

Bouquets or brickbats, I will be there.Though bouquets make your life and mine happier.

regards
Vidya