LOVE ALL - Episode 5

varalotti · Dec 14, 2008

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LOVE ALL

A Serial By Varalotti Rengasamy

Episode 5

Yamini was ushered into the beautifully decorated large room. Arvind stood up from his seat to receive her. Yamini wanted to shake hands with him. But Arvind folded his hands in the traditional manner. Yamini was impressed.

“Tell me Yamini what do you want from me.”

There was so much of love in that soft voice that Yamini could not control her tears. It appeared that if Yamini had asked for his heart he would not have hesitated to pluck it from his chest and give it to her on a platter.

Arvind looked much more handsome in person. He was very tall. ‘Should be at least two inches taller than me’ thought Yamini.

Yamini’s unusual height had always been a matter of great concern for her mother. ‘Who will come forward to marry a girl, who’s a six-footer?’ Yamini made a mental note to tell her mother about Arvind’s height.

Seeing Arvind’s eyes Yamini immediately knew the secret behind his success as a writer. His eyes were reservoirs of love. And Arvind transferred a small portion of the love from his eyes on to the paper or to the computer screen.

If his eyes were rivers of love then his heart should be the <st1lace w:st="on">Himalayas</st1lace> of love. His heart ensured that the love-rivers in the eyes never ran dry. During summer <st1lace w:st="on">Himalayas</st1lace> lets some of its snow and ice melt to make sure that the river <st1lace w:st="on">Ganges</st1lace> always ran to its brim.

What <st1lace w:st="on">Himalayas</st1lace> did to <st1lace w:st="on">Ganges</st1lace> his heart was doing to his eyes.

There was a mischievous smile on Arvind’s face. He flipped his hand before Yamini’s eyes in order to bring her back to the present.

“Yamini, did you hear my question? What do you want from me?”

Yamini’s heart shouted at the top of its voice.

‘I want you, Arvind. I want to hold you. I want to hug you. I want to be with you for all time to come.’

Her heart was playing games with her. Having spoken so shamelessly about her love it also redirected all the blood supply to her face which became red. Arvind could not understand the mischief played by Yamini’s heart. There was real concern in his voice.

“Yamini, Yamini… are you ok?….YAMINI…”

Yamini gathered herself and before she could respond she felt somebody pushing her shoulders.

“Good Morning, Yamini. It is already <st1:time hour="19" minute="30" w:st="on">seven thirty</st1:time>. Just wanted to tell you that you have an appointment with Arvind at ten in the morning.”

Her father’s kind face and kinder words made her land on the world of reality with a thud. The dream might not be real. But the sweet after taste it left in her heart was very real.

varalotti · Dec 14, 2008

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Part 2!
“My name is Yamini Ramamurthy. I have an appointment with Mr. Arvind at ten.”

Yamini showed the print-out of the mail she had received from Arvind’s office. Arvind’s secretary was a youngish looking woman dressed in a transparent, violet colour tissue saree.

‘Do you need somebody like this as your Secretary, Arvind? Will not a burly middle-aged man do?’

She bit her tongue. ‘My God! Where did this possessiveness come? Who knows, this young bird might be even his wife. Arvind might have two or three children.’

“Please sit here, Ma’am. Boss is a little busy now.”

Yamini sat in a comfortable chair in the visitor’s lounge. She saw the time. <st1:time hour="9" minute="55" w:st="on">9:55 AM</st1:time>. She had come in five minutes early and so it was proper that she should wait.

But when the waiting extended till 10 30 Yamini started losing her patience. She went again to the tissue-saree-clad secretary and told her in a stern voice.

“You see Miss…”

“Kalpana”

“Ms. Kalpana, your office gave me an appointment at 10. And now it is 10 30. How long are you going to make me wait?”

“I’m sorry Ma’am. The meeting with the Movie Director Srikumar which started at 7 45 this morning is not yet over. You know Arvind’s story Nothing But Love is going to be made into a movie. And they are discussing the screenplay.”

“But then you could have given an appointment to me at 11, or 12 or even tomorrow.”

“Sorry, once again, Ma’am. He sincerely thought that the meeting would be over by 9 30. But you know, Ma’am, my boss is not a chartered accountant or a dentist who can precisely estimate the time.

“Writing is a creative art like painting, Ma’am. Can you imagine our M.F.Hussain painting a picture having one eye on the clock? You don’t have any control over time in matters like these. My boss’ writings are really timeless.”

The secretary was enjoying her own repartee.

“But your boss is not writing now. He is just talking, right? I think that’s not an art form for your boss, at least as of now.”

“ “

“But tell me this at least, does your boss have any rough idea when will this meeting be over? If it is going to go on till <st1:time hour="0" minute="0" w:st="on">midnight</st1:time>, then I am not prepared to wait.”

“Just a second, Ma’am. I will inform my boss and let you know.”

varalotti · Dec 14, 2008

Part 3!

Kalpana came running out of her boss’ room in the next few minutes.

She gave a piece of paper and a pen to Yamini.

“Boss wants you to briefly write about the purpose of your visit.”

Yamini controlled herself and started to write. The intercom on Kalpana’s desk rang. Yamini looked up.

Kalpana was talking to her boss in a whisper. Then she came running to Yamini.

“Ma’am, why don’t you sit here and write?”

Kalpana showed a place opposite to Yamini.

“But what’s wrong with this place?”

“No, Ma’am. This will be more comfortable.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You see, Ma’am, my boss doesn’t sentimentally like somebody sitting at this place. He is uncomfortable. So… please.. Ma’am.”

‘Sentiments, bull ****.’ Kalpana could clearly hear Yamini mumble these words but did not react.
Yamini looked up and understood the reason for the change of seats.

She wrote about WomenWorldwide.com and how Arvind could fit in there as a Leader of a dedicated forum.

How her site was going to become very big and Arvind would have a discerning, captive audience running into thousands, why even millions, in that site. He could publish even his laundry list which the ladies would be only too willing to devour.

She gave the paper to Kalpana and came back to her seat. Kalpana went in to her boss’ room.
She did not come out for the next forty minutes. Yamini wanted to gate-crash into Arvind’s room, pull up his collar and question him on this rudeness.

Now she knew very well that there was nobody inside the room and the writer was only indulging in a waiting game.

Yamini had heard that writers always had larger than life size egos. Even then this was too much. If the he had denied the appointment or even if he had not responded to her email, she could have understood.

Having invited her and having given a specific time and now dilly-dallying does not suit a writer of Arvind’s stature.

varalotti · Dec 14, 2008

Part 4!

She wanted to walk out of the office. But then she decided to wait for the tissue-clad self-conscious, arrogant secretary and then give a piece of her mind to her before staging a walk out.

Kalpana’s coming out of Arvind’s room with an indulgent smile was like pouring petrol over the fire already-raging in Yamini’s mind.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am. You may have to wait till <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:time w:st="on" Minute="0" Hour="16">4 PM</st1:time> or come two weeks later. “

“Who the hell does your boss think he is? I thought he was a great writer. Now only I understand that he is not even a good human being. After all these even if he were to come to my place to beg me for an opportunity I will not let him come a mile near my website.”

“But Ma’am, you see the movie Director..”

“To hell with the movie director, to hell with your boss! Ask your good boss to take a sabbatical and learn some rudiments of culture and good behaviour.”

“I can explain, Ma’am…”

“And your ego is no less. I care a damn for your explanation. I am going out now. You can now go in and resume the duet with your boss. Good bye.”

Kalpana froze. She was used to Arvind’s soft words. She had not heard such stinging words of abuse.

She was watching Yamini walking out of the office. Yamini reached the door and then came back to Kalpana who was now shivering.

“Can I tell you something? Your boss should be either rich enough to afford two cameras or wise enough not to provide a seat for the visitors outside the camera’s reach.”

“I don’t understand….”

“The reason that you insisted that I should change seats while writing that note was that your Boss could not see me through the cc camera which was behind my back. And you started spinning the sentimental ******** yarn to me.”

Yamini walked out of the office like a tiger which had devoured its prey but was not in a mood to eat at that time. A frightened Kalpana ran inside to relay her words to her kind boss.

varalotti · Dec 14, 2008

Part 5!

Yamini was fretting and fuming even after she reached home. She went to the study and gathered all the books written by Arvind. She wanted to dump them in the backyard. And if possible burn them all.

Her mother who was trying to walk with the help of a physiotherapist saw the rage in Yamini’s face and the books in her hand. She guessed what had happened.

“Yamini, are you going to throw away all his books because he did not agree to write for your site?”

“But Ma, he was rude. He made me wait for hours. He did not even have the courtesy to apologize. I don’t want our house to contain books written by that rascal.”

“Yamini, then please do take Valmiki Ramayanam too. For Valmiki, the poet, was a thief and a worse rascal before he wrote the epic.”

“But Ma he reformed himself after a while and then only he wrote Ramayan.”

“What difference does that make Yamini? If Valmiki had written Ramayan first and then changed himself later, will that make Ramayan a lesser epic?”

“ But Ma…”

“OK, I concede that to you. Leave out Ramayan. What about O.Henry’s short stories? You and your Dad used to discuss those stories for days and days. O.Henry was a convicted felon. And he wrote the stories while serving his prison sentence.”

“ “

“OK, then what about your favourite author Jeffery Archer? He was convicted of perjury and while he was in prison wrote the book Prison Dairy. And you were reading that book like mad.”

“ “

“Why do you have double standards, Yamini, one set of standards for Archer, Henry and the rest. And another, a much difficult one, for Arvind?”

Even the physiotherapist was speechless. Parvathi then turned to the therapist.

“Can you please get me a glass of water?”

She understood her need to be alone with her daughter. Parvathi now lowered her voice and softened her tone.

“I know the reason for these double standards, Yamini. With Archer, Henry and all you just love their writings. In the case of Arvind you love the author as well as his writings. That’s why you could not tolerate his rudeness. You saw him as your soul-mate. And you could not tolerate such rashness from your life partner. Am I right?”

Yamini flew into her mother’s arms and started sobbing.

“My dear, dear silly girl! These things do happen in love. I am twenty five years older than you. I have seen enough of life. Somebody like Arvind whose words gently touch our hearts like a bird’s feather could not be a rascal. Impossible.

“Appearances are deceptive. Just ignore this and think about your women’s movement.

I am not sure of many things in life, Yamini. But there’s one thing of which I am damn sure. Real love never fails.

“Remember somebody sitting up above is making some mega calculations which need not fit into the calculations you make with your small brain. Leave everything to time. You are going to be very happy, my child.”

Yamini’s sobs became louder.

varalotti · Dec 14, 2008

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Part 6!

In spite of her mother’s sobering words Yamini was not her usual self for the whole of that week. The usual smile was missing from her place. She did not even go for her “mandatory outing” citing “a vague pain on one side of the head” as the reason.

She did not check her mails. She had switched off her mobile. When calls came for her on the land line number she made the cook or the nurse take the call and made them to say that she had gone out.

Ramamurthy became concerned.

“What happened to you, Yamini? You are not your usual self. You are not doing anything for your movement? Is there anything that I can do to help you?”

“Thanks Dad, for asking. There’s nothing you can do, Dad. I feel depressed. That’s all.”

“Then you should go for some kind of counseling at least, my child. Don’t let the depression destroy you.”

“I am not interested in pouring out my life story to some stranger in the name of counseling.”

“You need not go to a stranger, Yamini. KG, your religious forum leader is an excellent e-counselor. He even counsels troubled teens from the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>. You need not meet him. You need not even talk to him on the phone. Just send a mail. Or chat with him on the Net.”

“But honestly Dad, do you think, an orthodox religious Brahmin and a retired bureaucrat can handle this kind of a brief?”

“Give a test problem to KG and listen to his counsel. If you find that okay then you can confide everything in him. Something similar to getting a sample post for the religious forum.”

“Will do that, Dad.”

‘I will test KG in my own way.’
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varalotti · Dec 14, 2008

Part 7!

It was a Friday evening. Yamini was sitting idly in the drawing room of her house doing virtually nothing. She did not have the mind to read, browse, watch TV, chat with her mother or do anything for that matter.

Love is a miracle in itself. It makes the heart extremely sensitive. And that is love’s worst weakness as well as its greatest strength. In that kind of sensitivity even a small pleasure like touching the beloved gives utmost pleasure.

Unfortunately by the same token when such a sensitive heart is hurt, the pain is way too much to bear.

Yamini was going through that pain. Four days of isolation and inactivity had removed all her rage against Arvind. What now remained in her heart was a vague pain and a numbness. Yamini badly needed a catalyst to make her swing back to action.

Destiny was now suffering from feelings of remorse for what it had one earlier. It now decided to compensate for its deeds in its own way. By just winking its eyes it had arranged for Yamini’s resurrection.

In the next three minutes an apparently troubled Kripa walked into the house. Yamini had a blank look on her face. She did not notice Kripa walking in.

Kripa was shocked to see Yamini in that state. Yamini was still in her night gown. Her hair was disheveled. There was no bindi on her forehead. And to cap all those there was a forlorn look on her face.

“Yamini… YAMINI…. YAMINEE…”

Kripa shouted at the top of her voice. The cook and the nurse came running to the drawing room. Yamini’s mother also started walking towards the direction of the voice.

“What happened, Yams?”

“Come on in Kripa.”

Yamini stood up and receive her in a flat voice. Kripa hugged Yamini and started crying.

“I can never bear to see you like this Yams. You are my guardian angel. If you are like this, who will be there for me? If you have problems, why didn’t you call me? You didn’t take my calls. You never came on Gmail. I sent more than fifty mails to you during the last 4 days. No response.”

Kripa’s affectionate words made even Parvathi wipe her eyes.

Yamini was moved by Kripa’s love.

Kripa asked in a concerned tone.

“Now tell me what happened.”

“Please Kripa. Please don’t ask about anything. I’ll tell you at the right time. Now, will you be my guardian angel and let me cry on your shoulders for a while, please?”

Kripa did not wait for Yamini. She hugged her tight and let Yamini cry. Kripa was also crying.

Even the nurse and the cook who were watching the scene from afar were crying.

After a few minutes Kripa placed her hands on Yamini’s shoulders. She took out her hanky and wiped Yamini’s eyes.

“Oh My God! We have just ten minutes left for the meeting. Dress up and get ready.”

“What meeting? Where? When?”

“Our pre-launch meeting. It’s going to happen right here. I have summoned the meeting of all our Forum Leaders. Amma – I mean Dr.Gayathri is also coming. Janaki and Bala will be there. Shobana and Vaishali are not in station. KG also could not come.”

“When are they coming?”

“It’s 6 20 now. They’ll be here by 6 30”

“I should ask the cook to prepare some light refreshments for them.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Yams. Janaki has offered to bring hot keera vadais and wheat halwa. Please ask your cook to prepare coffee for all of us. And now be a good girl and introduce me to your mother.”

varalotti · Dec 14, 2008

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Part 8!

The pre-launch meeting of WomenWorldwide.com started in all earnestness at a <st1:time hour="18" minute="45" w:st="on">quarter to seven</st1:time>. Kripa insisted on having the meeting in Parvathi’s room as she did not want her to be left out.

Janaki sat by the side of Parvathi at her bed. Dr.Gayathri and Bala sat in comfortable chairs opposite to Parvathi and Janaki. Yamini and Kripa sat in a desk by the side and were giggling like school girls.

Kripa informed them that the site design and development work was over and she was ready for the actual launch any time. As promised Gayathri had paid for the hosting services.

Kripa had sent emails to all the moderators about their roles and responsibilities. To start with Yamini and Kripa would be the Administrators of the site and would have absolute vetoing powers.

Kripa explained that though their set-up was going to be democratic such great powers are necessary to deal with emergencies.

Dr.Gayathri voiced her concern about the PR measures.

“Yamini, we need to do something about publicity. You may have the world’s best website but there’s no use if people don’t know about it. Getting the first 5000 members is pretty crucial.”

“Amma, can I tell them about your surprise gift?”

“If you are going to tell them, how will it be a surprise gift Kripa?”

Others looked puzzled.

“Please Amma, please Amma, let me tell them.”

“Ok.”

“Listen guys. Dr. Gayathri is launching an aggressive ad campaign on the Net. Advertisements about WomenWorldwide are going to appear in prominent places in almost all the women’s sites. She has also contracted with Google Ads for that. Campaign fully sponsored by Dr.Gayathri, Chairman, CWS.”

“How am I going to thank you?” Yamini told Gayathri in a choked voice.

Kripa continued.

“And to strengthen our revenues we are going to carry a lot of Google ads.”

“How do they work?”

“They’d appear all over the site at the various forums. We will get paid when somebody clicks those ads. The per click rate will be a pittance something like 5 cents. But in a site with thousands of members that will be a significant revenue.”

The discussion then turned to forums.

varalotti · Dec 14, 2008

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Part 9!

Janaki’s friend Bala opened her mouth for the first time.

“I heard about all the forums. I think we should have a Forum for Counseling. Women especially the NRI types have a lot of problems which they cannot discuss with their family.”

“But how do we locate a competent counselor to lead that forum?”

Yamini remembered her father’s words about KG’s e-counseling.

“KG our religion-Forum leader is doing some sort of counseling. I’ll ask him.”

“That’s great, Yamini. As soon as he says yes, let me know. I’ll create a forum.”

Dr.Gayathri clinched the discussion.

“Yamini we are all set for the launch. We need to find an auspicious day and formally launch the site.”

Ramamurthy walked into the room at that time. He was surprised to see so many ladies chatting in his wife’s room. And he was happy and relieved to see Yamini in her original form.

Yamini introduced him to all the ladies.

“Dad, we are now ready for the launch. Can you suggest an auspicious day for that?”

“Give me a few minutes, dear.” Ramamurthy went to the study to consult the Almanac.

Meanwhile the cook started serving hot keera vadais and wheat halwa. Wheat halwa had a tricky recipe. If the end product is very sticky it will be very difficult to munch it. And if it is very sweet it will soon cloy the taste buds and nobody would go for a second helping.

Adding a few cashew nuts or almonds will break the monotony of sweetness and make the dish rich in taste, and of course rich in calories too. Janaki had done her homework perfectly well and the halwa was heavenly.

Everybody went for three, four helpings. Keeravadais were hot and very crispy and when accompanied by chutney prepared from coriander leaves, it was a great eating experience.

As they were praising Janaki sky high she told her ideas about the cookery forum.

“I plan to post some simple recipes first. And these two are going to be in my very first post.”

“Aunty, you have hit a sixer in the very first ball.”

Ramamurthy walked into the room.

“November 27<sup>th</sup>. New moon day. Ideal for the launch, Yamini.”

“Thanks <st1:state w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Pa.</st1lace></st1:state>”

Kripa was excited.

“Listen gals. We have hardly a week to go. We’ll launch the site from here. We’ll all assemble around <st1:time hour="9" minute="0" w:st="on">9 AM</st1:time> on that day. All of you send your first posts to me. I’ll post it for you in your name.

“Your initial password will be your user ID. And your name is your user ID. If you have any particular preferences for your user ID please let me know right now. And please do not forget to change the password immediately after the launch.’

The women were talking excitedly about many things till nine in the night.

varalotti · Dec 14, 2008

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Part 10!

November 23. An excited Shobana called Yamini on her mobile.

“You have done it gal. It’s really big. How did you pull that one?”

“What are you saying?”

“I am flying to Mumbai today. Reached the airport just now. On my way, just about two kilometres from the airport there is a giant-sized hoarding about our website. Oh My God! I have never seen such a large advertisement in my life.

“That’s the talk of the town now. The board is in bright yellow. And our logo appears in its original blue and brown colour. It should have cost you a fortune, Yams. Congratulations. My flight is announced. Will catch up with you later.”

Yamini was frozen. Who could have done that? Did that silly girl Kripa pour all her savings into this? Who asked her to do that?

Or perhaps Dr.Gayathri should have done that. Very kind of her. Yamini was in tears. Do I deserve so much of love from so many people?

I should call Gayathri now and thank her. Gayathri’s number was engaged.

Surprise of surprises. Yamini’s Nokia N17 flashed “Dr.Gayathri calling..”

“What’s happening Yamini? I know you are enterprising, dynamic and all. But even I could not have dreamt that you could do something like this.”

“ What’s happening, Ma’am?”

“I had a meeting with TCS this morning. I was going to their facility at OMR. My God! There was this gigantic hoarding in bright yellow announcing the name of the site. Right at the entrance of OMR. The entire software industry in the city knows about your site now.

“The logo has come out very well. The launch date is there in bright red letters. I am sure with this kind of publicity our site is going to be flooded on the very first day. Spending this much.. I really appreciate your commitment, dear.”

Yamini was now sobbing.

‘Who’s doing this to me?’

She could not even talk coherently to Dr. Gayathri.

Gayathri was excited.

“That reminds me, Yamini. I should tell Kripa to go in for a dedicated server right now. You are in for great things, Yamini.”

Destiny’s smile was quite benign.

Prathi called from the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>.

“A well-orchestrated campaign on the Net, Yams. Our site ad appears in almost all the women’s sites, all Desi sites and even in some web-mail sites.”

Yamini told her about Dr.Gayathri’s efforts in that regard.