Indusladies Writers' Meeting In Bangalore - 12-3-06

There is a saying that “One should recognize a friend not by his outward look, not by the dress of heroism, but by his smile, by his talk, by his strengths, in how he treats people , how he respects human life, " The very first time I met Sridhar, few months back, I saw that he is made to be ‘everybody’s friend’- We ( Pankaja, Sharada, Sudha and myself ) knew that he is a good writer, but after meeting him.,we realized he is a ‘great human being’. So our friendship got cemented with a force and today we all stand together as one majestic monument of “friendship and love”.

Our second meeting in our city, the fabulous Bangalore, ie on the 12-3-06 had a deeper significance, because apart from our individual standing as writers, we are all writers of one lovely inspiring forum- we are all bound by one common interest, we all look in one direction, and share one sight ( Site)- INDUSLADIES.COM. Thanks to it, we are always ‘connected’ and we are loved and appreciated by many other lovely friends. All this happened because Sridhar very generously introduced us to this ‘wholesome’ site, which caters to and rejuvenates all the senses of the members.

When we planned to meet at Nilgiris Café on the Brigades, we were mildly excited, but once we met and comfortably seated ourselves, our happiness and excitement reached its height. Over cutlets, sandwiches, fruit juice and coffee, we cut jokes, pulled at each others’ legs, ( and heart strings too ).

Our senior most writer Pankaja was in her usual ‘respected’ position, so we answered sincerely to all her queries albeit in a tongue-in-cheek manner…she realized it and concentrated on her cutlets and coffee, leaving the banter to we youngsters …( hahaha )

We discussed everything under the sun, right from why the cutlets had more garlic to why we were born as writers- having to face rejections and acceptances with equanimity…

We were joined by Mr.Achar, husband of Sudha, who provided relief to Sridhar from the continuous talk of four strong lady friends. Though Sridhar can efficiently handle pressure, he too got perplexed at one point, but I couldn’t catch him in my camera, with that _expression …sorry about that ladies…

The evening flew by, before we could realize and we parted ( only to meet thru Internet and Indusladies)
No man is poor when he has a loving friend, goes a saying,- we all felt rich , very rich because we have a loving friend in one another,
We all decided to meet more often, a sincere promise tying up our friendship for good…


( Enjoy the pictures and give your comments..we are all greedy for compliments....love you all wonderful ladies...)

Picture 1

From Left to Right - Sharada, Ambika Ananth, Sridhar(Varalotti), Nuggehalli Pankaja, Sudha (RVNachar)

Picture 2 - Closeup of the Women Writers

From Left to Right - Sharada, Ambika Ananth, Nuggehalli Pankaja, Sudha(RVNachar)

Hello Friends,
Beautiful photo ! Thanks for posting it for our benefit, Ambika.
Sridhar looks dashing, a delightfully happy Gopikrishnan, surrounded by a bevy of colourful ladies !
Just like you, Sharada & Sudha have youth on your side, Pankaja has grace on her side !
Me from the " khana-pina" group of I L is happy to see the " intellegentia" group of I L !
Love & regards,
Chithra.

HI ambika,

I was overwhelmed to see My Bangalore's name first of all!!! I just miss all the goodies out there!!

Varalotti looks too coy amid the bangalore beauties!!!A nice picture. I am sure u guys had a great time. When i come to bangalore this time i will make it a point to pose beside u ppl though not as a writer but certainly as an "ILite"!!!

Ambika when u mentioned Nilgiris, Brigades, it brought back(sweet) memories as that was the first place me and my hubby went for "some coffee" after we got engaged!

Thanks for capturing and sharing the friendly encounter with all of us.

The afternoon sped by too soon! Next time we want more members from the IL forum to join us. Ambika was the efficient coordinator, calling up, sending emails, confirming...As it was a Sunday each one had other family plans, outings - but all were cast aside for the group to meet! Hero Varalotti was in Bangy only for a few hours, so we had to fix a time and meet up. Those of us who live here think "oh, we can meet any time," but due to busy schedules it doesn't happen!
We teased Pankaja about hounding us for computer tips. All of us spoke, cribbed, joked almost simultaneously! There were main discussions going on and side remarks being passed!
Happiness all the way! Varalotti was relaxed and happy - in our company, what else can u expect?! Ambika has taken lovely pics - three cheers to her!
Sharada

Thanks Ambika, for posting the pictures. You all look great. Now we can give an identity, i mean a face to all of you when we read your invaluable posts!
All of you look so good and looks like your meeting was also a great time. Thanks once again for sharing all the details in a neat anecdote form , that way you made us all a part of it too!

Long Live your Friendship!

regards,

Roaming through the streets of our IL-site (as usual),
suddenly did I come across my Picture! Peering closer, seeing Ambika, I comprehended--our Ambika had
immortalised us by a swish of pen and click of camera!

Never can I forget that evening-second meeting of us Bangalore-based IL!(Shridar, half based)
If the first one was over north and south dishes-packed lunch trying to know more about each other, this
was over samosa etc, furthering our knowledge about
magazines, publishers, current trends of writing, etc.
Ambika as the editor of 'MUSE'(E-literary journal), and



many other literary organisations ,voiced our thoughts well, while sharada was her ebullient self, Sudha adding colour to the party in her own quiet way; Ofcourse, best
person was our Mr.Induslady-very much at home,
impressing the company by his versatile personality!
I could see that dignified Mr.Achar-husband of Sudha , also succumbing to the contagious atmostphere of joviality!
As usual, I felt my years slipping away-once again
I was of their age(till I left the table). I- a
permanent guest of Ambika right from the first time
we met, wouldn't exchange that evening for all the
world!Thanks, IL....
Nuggehalli Pankaja

Dear All,
The same group of writers - Ambika, Sharada, Pankaja, Sudha and yours truly - met during July 2005 over lunch at Bangalore. We were seeing each other for the first time then. We were interested to know about each other's family, their occupation, their outlook to life and writing.... all general subjects of conversation. Later in my mail to them I dubbed the meeting as one of "middles-writing, middle-class, middle-aged writers" (note: a middle is a small article of about 500 words usually published in the editorial page of a daily. all of us write middles for Deccan Herald).

During that earlier meeting I told them about this wonderful site, Indusladies.com, and asked them to come on board as members. They jumped on board the very next day and the rest is history. These women painted the site red with by their snippets, posts, responses, writings and their general participation.

So when we met this time - the full credit goes to Ambika who took upon herself the formidable tasks of co-ordination and logistics - it was not just a meeting as before. It was a magnificent reunion.

Thanks to this great site which wove us together through a thread of love and affection, it was as if the members of a family, the siblings and cousins and all had a get-together.

We just started the conversation from where we left. There was no formal intros, no great table manners, but an informal bonhomie. Of course we created so much noise (People always say that I am born with an in-built amplifier in my throat) that we made people turn their heads. Two hours flew as if it were two minutes. And as the Brigades was getting ready for the onslaught of the proverbial Sunday crowd, we left Kurinji,( the place we ate) with our hearts full and heavy - full because of the happy meeting, and heavy because of the inevitable parting.

That's the difference between our last meeting and this. And we can say with pride: Indusladies made all the difference.

Of course there was another person who made a difference :Mr.Achar, Sudha's husband. His presence to some extent mitigated the pathetically adverse sex ratio - the ratio which tempted Chitra to call me Gopikrishna.
If my wife comes to know of that expression.....well.... I had it.

Now coming to your response, Chitra, don't isolate us by branding us as intellectuals. I'll let you a secret. Almost all of us expressed our wish that the meeting would have been far nicer had you been there with us.

With your jokes, intrepretation for the Ostritch jokes, it could have been a great moment for all of us. We missed you .

And who told you that khana peena is less important than intellectuals or writing? In my opinion preparing a delicious dish faultlessly is equal to writing a beautiful poetry. Both are expressions of creativity. Only the medium of expression is different.

And to top it all you already to belong to the intellectual club with your review of 11 minutes. And I learn that some more books are coming under your review shortly. You have one hand in Microwave and the other in Microsoft.

Thank you Ambika for the wonderful pictures and the beautiful write up that accompanied it. Thanks Sharada for the nice fight we had in the payment of bill. Thanks Pankaja for giving us hope that we can also be happy when we come to your age. I can't forget your probing questions, some of which made me to probe into myself deeper. Thanks Sudha for sharing your experiences with the editors. And as luck would have it your middle got published soon after the meeting. So friend's wishes do have a role. And convey my thanks to Mr.Achar for being there and supporting me in the meeting.

Thanks my dear friends. Thanks, IL
sridhar

It was a pleasure to see you all in the photos. Indeed, very sweet and friendly of you all to share your lovely moments with us, the IL'ites, (an extremely well coined term by Prathi)!

I am a bangalorean too and Nilgiris was one of my favorite haunts, my school being just down the road, the Good Shepherd's Sacret Hearts! Hence, with the mention of that landmark, you got me into the nostalgic mood too.

Another heart warming aspect of these pics were the mixture of genders and ages and how everyone sounded jolly in each others' company. Surely the common interest of writing may have brought you all together, but defenitely it was the spirit of joy, tolerance and friendship which must have binded you so.

Once again, thanks for sharing with us and making us a part of your precious get together. And lastly, thanks Indusladies for this forum:)

Dear friends,

Let me not make this sound like a Vote of Thanks, but I do have to mention my gratitude to Ambika for organising the meeting, taking pictures and also posting such a lovely account of our meeting. Of course IL gets all the credit for bringing us all together.

I knew Sridhar (Varalotti) since 2001, when I translated one of his stories published in the Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan, into English and got it published in Deccan Herald. From my very first encounter with him, we have been almost like brother and sister, sharing our experiences and dreams. As a writer, he is much senior and has achieved much more. Yet he magnanimously praises me for my small little achievements and keeps me in good spirit. Many a time, only after reading his mail, will I realise that my middle has been published! So quick will be his response. Even when I won a prize in a contest on IL, he was the first person to call me up from Madurai and congatulate. Though Ambika, Sharada and Pankaja were all very much in Bangalore and we all knew each other through our articles, it was Sridhar who first brought us together physically. Now, of course we keep in touch regularly.

That day's meeting was like leaving the table just after a delicious appetiser. We look forward to more meetings with more number of IL members. Of course at such meetings age or sex really don't matter. Bubbly people like Ambika, positive minded people like Sharada, down-to-earth people like Pankaja (who is very very senior in the literary field and has achieved many things in the Kannada literary scene), loving and friendly people like Sharada, patient and supportive people my husband can only make such meetings successful.

I was overwhelmed to see the various responses and I thank one and all for sharing our joy this way.

Sudha Narasimhachar