HE - Episode 10

Hello Hemalatha,

Welcome aboard HE. Thanks for the kind words. I had to go to the Railway station early in the morning on Saturday to pick up my daughter. So I posted the episode on Friday night itself.

I find it very heartening to know that you like both HE and SHE. One ILite who likes HE very much, says that she was not comfortable with SHE. Another who found the controversies in SHE very lively, finds HE relatively bland.
As you know very well, for the writer, every story has a purpose. And the purpose of HE is way different from that of SHE.

Thanks once again, Hemalatha. Looking forward to your fb for future episodes as well. Stay tune.
regards,

Dear Vidya,
(you may please drop the suffix ji; I am old, no doubt. But not old enough to deserve such a suffix.)
Thanks. I am sorry that my story started interfering with your routine. But Vidya, when something disturbs you deeply - it could be anything a child's vulnerability or a flower lying on the road - it means that it is entering into your being. And that's the function of good literature and quality entertainment. I am proud that my piece of writing also had the same effect on you.

'It is better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all'

Sethu spoke these words already while replying to Balki in Episode 6 or 8.

Maddy and Priya are on the wings now and will move on to the stage in less than 140 hours from now.

Its a pleasure waiting for the next episode..

Words like these inspire me to run to my system to write the next episode.

thanks once again,
regards,

Hi Vandhana,
I am amused to note that HE is playing with your hair and your teeth.

Re: HE 9 : some of the real life stories I know are far worse than what I have portrayed. This real life incident happened 30 years ago. That lady was a multi-millionaire's wife. At that time owning a textile mill was the sign of prosperity. In those days if I ask something from my dad, which he can't afford, he would say, "Do you think that I am a mill-owner?"
Now this mill-owner's wife was seduced by a small textile shop owner. I have seen that man. Not handsome at all. I didn't know how the chemistry worked. But the lady fell into the net and transferred her shares in the mill to that fellow. We came to know of this affair because, as CA apprentices we were presented with the issue of the validity of the share transfer. The whole family was ruined. They have not recovered yet. So these things do happen.

Just wait for a few more weeks, everyting including Sethus past will come out. I know his past and am waiting for the right opportunity to insert it. Have not got it so far. (Incidentally the smiley you have chosen is quite apt and as I write this reply, I can see the smiley showing a threatening hand ,to me. Looks like you are present in person in the screen to chide me. Well a shiver runs through my spine)

I think all Il'tes would take cudgels to Balki if they ever happen to meet him in real life!!

So long as they do not take cudgels to me, it's okay.

I am impressed with the food menu choices you make. But then Sridhar, i have to say, you cannot just pick and list them, You need to try them out yourself first( i mean cook it yourself). Am sure Preethi and Indhu will make good judges. And I will be a willing volunteer too.

I had planned to talk about the food choice while replying to the post which talks of it. Well, most of the items I took from our own dear IL site. Some are from Chitvish's recipe. I took Kamla Orange rasam from Kamlas dinner to Malathy. Permual Thosai (Azhagar Koil Dosai) was what I had at a buffet lunch at Sheraton several years ago. There was an Iyengar cook who even gave me the recipe. (I don't have it now) The tender coconut concoction is what I have as an appetizer when I have dinner in a star hotel. (Oh I do it quite often; whenever a bluemoon appears on the sky.)

I thought of picking up a few items from the very exquisite spread you offered to me on 14th September, 2007 at San Jose. But I knew I will be caught if I did that. But anyhow I have reserved that for another grand occasion.
About my cooking them, well, the most I can do in the kitchen is preparing hot water. If my cooking them will be a bad experience, your trying to eat them will be hundred times worse.
Indhu and Preethi are wise women. They don't let me go near the kitchen. For that matter they don't let me sing or dance. I asked why. Preethi said, some kind of social service.
thanks for the fb, Vandhana.
regards,

Dear Chocolate,
Sharada had an inclination towards Sethu right from the beginning. But only now the time has ripened to propose.
What you said about two evils is right. Whether they are against each other or together does not make any difference.
Thanks for the fb, Chocolate.
regards,

Dear Kamla,

I was a little pre-occupied with Madhavan and Priya. Their sorrow sort of produced a hangover in me which delayed Sharada's walking out.

Many times even if the conditions are ripe for an action, you need what the psychologists call an "igniting factor" which actually propels that move. For Sharada it was her catching her husband "in flagrante delicto".

Now about Sharada's suicidal thoughts. I have not said that she planned her suicide. But when one's life is in deep turmoil, the though of suicide will definitely cross one's mind. Many psychiatrists say that there is hardly a person who has not contemplated suicide at least once in his or her life. And in many cases it is a kind of extreme thought after going to which the person is actually rejuvenated and then starts planning to live even more vigorously.

By the way, loved the Latin touch!

For the benefit of a "paamaran" like me, will you please explain what is a Latin touch

And there you go again...tender coconut water sprinkled with spices and fruit pieces. Hot minestrone soup with crispy panneer pakoras and vegetable springrolls-cute mini cucumber oothappams liberally dozed with the traditional chilli powder-the famous Azhagarkoil Dosai-Kamala orange rasam and rice- curd rice-fig fruit Walnut Halwa and a yummy chocolatie ice-cream sundae in freshly baked waffles.............

And Madam, you forgot that Kamla Orange rasam is your own making. When Malathy and Jey visited you, your dinner menu included that. I picked it up from there. Some of them I picked up from Chithra's spread. Some from the net and a few from my own eating out experiences.
Well, I had to do that because, the lady ordering the food is the General Manager of a star hotel, as posh as Lee Meridien. She is loved by her employees. And she has asked them to do their best for Sharada's sake. I had to go out of the way to produce that "outlandish" menu. Believe me Kamla, I spent as much time researching the menu as I did for writing the whole episode. After all am I not writing to 14000 ladies, with more than half of them being Master Chefs?

I enjoyed reading your analysis of how tragedy effects different people. You have given it a lot of thought and penned those words. I feel those words are very true.

These statements are not just results of thought but products of personal experience. I have always felt that being insensitive to pain and pleasure as some of the self-styled gurus have intrepreted the lines "seethoshna sukhadhukada" appearing in Gita, as a kind of degeneration. Losing one's capacity to suffer pain or enjoy pleasure, is to me the greatest handicap a person can have.

Of all the characters, I somehow like Nalini. And now with her scream, I am really worried as to what could have happened to her. I hope her scream is only the result of seeing something horrible and not because she is hurt. That would be very sad.

I am so moved by your words that I wanted to write something. But checked myself, because that would amount to closing my options.

So, there is nothing I can do but wait for another two weeks to find out the mystery of scream. And you are still keeping Sethu's story under wraps. Looks like plenty of thrills and chills awaits us!

I can't think of any better way. Next week we shall spend some time with Madhavan and Priya. And come back to these people the week after next.

Thanks Kamla, for the encouraging fb.
love,

hi kripa,
Well, I wont accept this as a fb. You have just test-checked the episode and have given your report. Madam Chartered Accountant, stories like HE cannot survive mere test checks. You have to go for a complete, comprehensive check and scrutiny.
First it was Le Meridian dinner and not luch. (you see the results of test check?). And second, yes, I do agree that I lifted something from chitvish. I also lifted from what Kamla prepared for Induslady. And lifted something from the menu at Le meridian.

eagerly waiting for a detailed reply.
love,

Dear Lalitha,

I am grateful to you for sparing your time and not minding the host of interruptions you got while reading it.

For recipes you need to address your questions to the forum "Ask Chitvish". Cookery experts are there. This forum has only an eating expert.

How very true!! in life we do get brickbats like this from the most unexpected quarters that too from our loved ones. Reading this for me was too emotional. Sridhar, how well you juggle with your words. It really strikes a chord in my heart. I was overwhelmed and near tears. I think this would be the apt salutation to your writing.

Keep it up

Thanks Lalitha.
All these and a number of other states are born out of personal experience. I have been more hurt by friends throwing of casual remarks at me than my enemies planning to hurt me.

A song in the Shivaji Movie Avan Than Manithan has the following lines.
Believe me, Lalitha I also cried when I wrote these lines.

Love,
I have won my enemies by my intelligence.
But with my friends, I have lost, ; because of my love.

Dear Sudha,
Thanks for bearing with me the inconvenience of a long narration. That's why I delivered it in a "mini adai" format to be taken one at a time.

I am sure if the detective wanted to he could have stopped himself from giving those pictures...that is if he felt that Sharadha should not be tainted!

That, I should say, is a classical observation. Many of us are not perferctly good. Nor are we totally bad. We might do bad things. But then we do hear a feeble voice of conscience. And fight with our minds for a while. My Tamil teacher used to say that there are "Vibeeshanas" and "Kumbakarnas" amongst us. For Vs righteousness is more important than relationship. Vibeeshana stood up to Ravana and when he did not listen deflected to Ravana's side. But Kumbakarna also spoke against keeping Sitha imprisoned. His lecture to Ravana on morality is admirable. But still he fought on his brother's side. Yes, righteousness is important; but not that important as one's own brother. In the ultimate analysis both these guys are good.
Now the Detective Chief is a "Kumbakarna" type. Yes, righteousness is important. But not as important as a client. He did his part in advising Balki and then left the matter in Balki's hands.

Sharada should have left Balki long ago,agreed. The marriage was dead long back. But she needed an ignition to break her inertia which was provided by B's escapade. Suicide is not a logical decision for her. With that kind of marriage, she ought not to have even contemplated. But at that time she is taking an extreme step of walking away from her home. She is not sure about Sethu's love. She is not sure about so many things. In those moments of fear and uncertainty, it is not unnatural for thoughts of suicide to flash across her mind for a brief second.

I am not only weaving a web in the story. But have also woven one around myself. Pray God that I should be able to extricate myself soon. For a week let's forget this complication and think about the other.

Thanks for the fb.
regards,

Dear Chithra,
I have seen you writing more than a 300-word fb for a 2000 words-episode. This time the episode was more than 3500 words and your fb was just 108 words (if "dear sridhar" and the signature below are not counted). Is there a Murphy's law which states, longer the narration, shorter the fb?

The terms like, "killing a marriage:, "performing a decent funeral for an indecent marriage" - I wonder how you imagine such phrases !

To paraphrase Vivek's words all these things thaana varudhu. But honestly these phrases are not quite new. They have been used by many authors in many books.

Well, I strongly doubt that you have carelessly (or casually?) browsed through my recipe index. I am sure you will not admit it, in case you have. A few of the names you have mentioned are never available in Meridien, as far as I know !

Your recipe index is an ocean. If I had to search for items there, this episode would have been delayed by a month. I saw the spread you offered to us, when we visited you on three or four occasions. Because only there I could relate to the name, the form and the taste. Perumal Dosai is what I ate in Sheraton. A few items I picked from the net.
When you go to Le Meridien next time, let me know. I will tell Nalini to ask the Chef to prepare these items for you.

So, Sethu's story is going to unfold, next, I hope.
But why does the GM, wail, I am quizzed!
No problem, I will wait.

I am not sure of what is going to unfold or what made Nalini wail. Anyhow you have solved the problem by opting to wait. I will also wait along.

love,

Dear Sridhar,
this week's episode is both sad and relief. Sad that Sharada had to come across Balki's cheating this way and relief because at last she decided to leave him. Now what will happen to Nalini?
And it is not fair to give such explicit menu, nust when I am dieting. You are tempting me no end. As Chitvish had said, there are some recipes which you will not get except at an ILiite's home.
Now awaiting Priya and Madhavan's story.