LOVE ALL - Episode 6

varalotti · Dec 28, 2008

LOVE ALL

A Serial By Varalotti Rengasamy

Episode 6

After reading KG’s answers to the various sample counselling queries posed to him, Yamini decided to confide her problems and worries in him.

“Dear Uncle,
Pardon me for calling you, Uncle. ‘Sir’ sounds quite formal, KG too presumptuous. Being my father’s friend, you are more like a father-figure to me. So please allow me to call you Uncle.

Uncle, you made me cry with your religious stories. And made me laugh with that ‘before a hungry lion’ answer to my counselling query.

Our wavelengths are similar and that gave me the courage to seek your counsel on a very complex, intimate, personal issue.

You see, Uncle, I’m in love. With one of the finest writers of the day, whom I have not met so far.

And so the mail went on and on for three pages describing Yamini’s feelings for Arvind, how she was insulted at his office and how her hopes to rope him in for the Fiction Forum were frustrated.

In the absence of a creative writer, how could they start a forum for Fiction? She also sought KG’s counsel on that.

The mere act of seeking counsel from a matured person, the very attempt of describing her ambivalent love feelings in writing had a soothing effect on Yamini.

When she hit the sack at a quarter past ten on that day she lapsed into a sound sleep.

And in that state she could not have heard the sound of a group of men working in another room in the house.

varalotti · Dec 28, 2008

Part 2!

November 27<sup>th</sup>. A very auspicious New Moon day. When the alarm in her mobile phone went off at 4 30 AM Yamini woke up and was surprised to see that the entire household was up and running.

The live-in nurse was helping her mother to change into a grand silk saree.
Yamini came out of the room and saw her father talking to a group of workmen.

Her father had already bathed and was dressed as if he was going out somewhere to meet a VIP.

Ramamurthy disposed off the workmen and came to Yamini.

“Good Morning, Pa.”

“A very good morning, Yamini.”

“What’s happening? Looks like you are ready to go out somewhere. Mom is dressing up as if she were going to attend a marriage.”

“Your mom and I are excited Yamini. Today is a very important day in our lives. Don’t you know that our dearest daughter is going to start a world-wide movement today? You know I could not sleep at all last night.”

When Yamini came out of the bathroom after having a refreshing cold-water bath she saw her father waiting for her with a concerned look. Yamini knew that he was there to convey something unpleasant.

There was another figure standing with her father, whose form was not visible to anyone. Destiny.

“Yamini, KG had a mild heart attack this morning and has been admitted in the hospital. His assistant called just now. He is still in the ICU but is doing fine.

"He can’t come here for the inauguration. He has conveyed his wishes.”

Yamini was upset. She was the one who was at first very skeptical about KG’s inclusion in the website. But now KG had endeared himself to her by his religious writings and his sane counsel.

And only a few hours before Yamini had confided all her problems in him. KG now has become a pillar to her. Yamini felt that the ground beneath her was slipping by.

“Dad, I want to go to the hospital to see him. Right now.”

“KG does not want any visitors in the hospital.”

“Oh.”

Yamini was lost in thoughts. ‘Is this a bad omen? Should I postpone the inauguration?’

Ramamurthy responded as if he had read his daughter’s mind.

“KG wants everything to go on as planned. He is confident of being back to action in one week at the maximum.”

Destiny now heaved a sigh of relief. Now that it was finished with the bad news first it could go on happily to deliver the good ones.

varalotti · Dec 28, 2008

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Part 3!

KG’s sudden illness had a deep impact on Yamini. She had got up in the morning with all the enthusiasm in the world.

Suddenly she did not know what to do. She sank into the sofa in the drawing room staring at the blank wall.

She came back to life only around <st1:time hour="18" minute="30" w:st="on">half past six</st1:time> when the cook came to give her a mug of hot coffee.

Carrying the coffee mug in one hand she went up to the porch to collect the day’s newspapers – Deccan Chronicle and Times of India.

The household had switched over to Deccan Chronicle from HINDU long before. A friend of Ramamurthy had gifted a Year’s subscription of the Times of India when it was launched in Chennai in April 2008.

She picked up the papers and went to the dining table to browse them.

As she turned to page 3 of Deccan Chronicle she jumped in her chair spilling the strong brew on her sky-blue night gown.

There was a catchy multi-colour advertisement on Page 3 which no one could miss. It was a quarter page ad with lots of blank space coloured light yellow.

In the centre was a message in bright blue letters.

“Women worldwide have a new home from now on.

At WomenWorldWide.com.

Womanhood at its authentic best.

Beneath the message was the logo of the site in its blue and brown colours.
‘My God! Who’s doing this to me! Is it Shobana, or Kripa or Dr.Gayathri or KG or perhaps, Dad?’

She turned to the other newspaper Times of India. No, there was no ad on the third page for sure.

But when Yamini kept the paper down she was surprised to see the half-page ad on the last page. The same ad. The same design. The same words.

Before Yamini could recover from the pleasant shock Destiny was ready with another.

Janaki called her on her mobile.

“Yamini, you are really great! That should have cost you a fortune!”

Yamini was sure that Janaki was talking about the ads in Deccan Chronicle and Times Of India.

“I have been reading HINDU for donkey’s years. Have never seen such a tasteful ad. And that too prominently in Page 3.”

Seconds later an excited Bala called her to talk about a similar ad in a Tamil daily. The entire campaign including the hoardings should have been orchestrated by a master-mind thought, Yamini.

For the words used, the colour-scheme and even the “indenting”, the jargon used by the ad industry to refer to the technique of leaving a lot of blank space, was the same.

Yamini was now dying to know her hidden benefactor.

varalotti · Dec 28, 2008

Part 4!

It was almost seven when she called Kripa. Yamini woke her up from sleep. Kripa had been working till 3 in the morning attending to all the minute details of the site.

Kripa heard whatever Yamini had to say about the ads. She had not seen them and she had absolutely no idea about the person behind the campaign.

“Tell me Kripa, if somebody saw the ad now and try to go to the website what will happen?”

“Why don’t you do that right now and find out for yourself?”

That seemed to be a good idea. Yamini ran to her laptop. It was not there. Her work-desk in her mother’s room which held her laptop, books and other things had simply vanished.

“What happened to my desk, Ma?”

“Do you think I could have moved it Yamini?”

Her mother had a mischievous smile on her face.

Yamini ran to her father.

“How do I know, Yamini? I thought you removed it last night. Why don’t you search the entire house?”

‘What happened to these people? Have they gone crazy?’

varalotti · Dec 28, 2008

Part 5!

Still in a state of shock Yamini went to the kitchen and the drawing room. Her desk was not there. Finally she went to her father’s spacious bedroom.

Yamini could not believe her eyes. The room had been painted bright white. Milk-white false ceiling adorned the room. The lighting which came from an array of fluorescent lamps added a pleasant aura to the room.

On the centre was a large desk with an Executive chair behind that. Her laptop was on the centre of the table.

On the one side of the room was another laptop which was also connected to the Net. The room was large enough to hold a dozen chairs. And there were a dozen chairs.

On one side of the wall was a large marker board. A duster and a bunch of marker pens were there.

The desk was stacked with all the needed stationery – paper, pens, pencils, erasers, highlighters, files and folders. At the other end of the room was a file cabinet.

With her eyes filled with tears she turned to see her father standing at the door with an understanding smile.

“What’s this, Dad?”

“Global Headquarters of Womenworldwide.com. This is where the CEO sits.”

Yamini ran into his arms.

She was sobbing continuously.

“But Dad, this is your bedroom. If you give this to me where will you sleep?

“In the study near the kitchen.”

That was a small ten by ten room with place just enough for a bed. It did not even have an attached bathroom.

“It’s not fair Dad. You should not have done this.”

“This is the least I could do to your movement, dear.”

It took a few minutes for Yamini to recover from the shock.

“I was such an idiot Dad. I did not know about the work going on in this room. Looks like an army of people were working here night and day.”

“Do you remember this room had a small door opening to the garden? I made all the workers come through that door to do the painting and refurbishing work.

"After the work was cover we locked the door and covered it with the filing cabinet. Only yesterday night we moved your laptop here.

"I was talking about the website to my colleague. She was impressed by the idea and gifted her laptop for the project.

"And I got the chairs organized for today’s grand inauguration. The workmen left the place only this morning.”

Yamini would not have been that happy even if her father had gifted her a diamond necklace or a Toyota Corolla car. In terms of money value this gift would be only a fraction of the value of the jewel or the automobile.

Ramamurthy going out of the way to see that Yamini did not know about this arrangement, the meticulous care he showed in selecting even something as small as an eraser and above all his agreeing to sleep in a cramped room – even if Yamini had gifted the entire world to her father, still his gift would have been the more precious one.

varalotti · Dec 28, 2008

Part 6!

Ramamurthy hugged his daughter and whispered in her years.

“You deserve much more than this, my dear child.”

After a while both the father and the daughter wiped their eyes. Ramamurthy wanted to switch the topic.

“I have asked the caterers to come at 9.”

“Caterers?”

“Yes. Aren’t we having the inauguration function? All your colleagues will be here. I have also invited a few of my women colleagues. Shouldn’t we serve them breakfast? “

“ “

“Won’t you ask what’s the menu? It is hot kesari, pongal, vada, dosa and filter coffee. I have asked that fellow to prepare Dosas here so that they will be fresh and crispy.”

Yamini was speechless.

varalotti · Dec 28, 2008

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Part 7!

Kripa called her on the mobile.

“Yamini, I’ll be there around 8 30. I’ll come with Dr.Gayathri. Better if you can give a reminder call to the other Forum Leaders – Janaki, Bala, KG, Vaishali and Shobana. Hey, did you try to go to the site now?”

Yamini went to her laptop, connected to the net, opened a browser window and typed for the first time the name of her site.

A beautiful analogue clock sprang up. The dial was of bright blue colour and the hands of the clock were brown – the colour scheme was same as that of the site’s logo. Beneath the clock bright letters were flashing

“Watch the time! From <st1:time hour="9" minute="0" w:st="on">9 AM</st1:time> today things are not going to be same.

WomenWorldWide.com will be born.

With Forums from cookery to counselling, from money to religion and fine arts, well, you’ll feel proud to have been born a woman.”

Yamini smiled.

varalotti · Dec 28, 2008

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Part 8!

Yamini was dressed in dark blue jean trousers and a milk-white kurthi. She was at the gate to receive the people.

Assisted by the nurse her mother was the first to arrive at the function venue – Yamini’s brand-new office room. Her father was there attending to some minor detail.

At 8 35 Kripa and Dr.Gayathri walked in. Within another five minutes Janaki and Bala came in. Both the women had brought their spouses too.

Vaishali came a little later. Shobana walked in at 8 50 AM. Two of Ramamurthy’s women colleagues had responded to the invitation.

Prathi’s attendance was virtual. She was on Skype with her web-camera on. Kripa had positioned the web camera so that Prathi could see what was happening, sitting on the other side of the Globe. For Prathi it was 7 30 PM of the previous day.

Kripa had brought in her laptop. She set her up machine in a spare desk and started working on the last minute details.

Precisely at <st1:time minute="55" hour="8" w:st="on">8:55 AM</st1:time> the site was up and running. She shifted her laptop to the standby mode.

She then wrapped the laptop with colourful gift ribbons. She had also brought a decorative scissors for the function. Parvathi had asked the cook to bring in a silver oil lamp.

It was more like a small marriage party. The women were talking as if all of them had grown up in the same house and belonged to the same family.

Surprisingly Dr.Gayathri was asking for some cooking tips from Janaki who was responding to her with enthusiasm. Kripa and Yamini were discussing some nitty-gritty about the site. The two women also chatted with Prathi who looked pretty excited.

Vaishali took an immediate liking for Bala. Bala was asking for some details regarding machine-embroidery from Vaishali.

Shobana was talking shop with Ramamurthy. Janaki’s and Bala’s husbands looked like proud parents whose children were going to dance in the school day function. They were childhood friends and were happily discussing about their wives’ project.

Parvathi who was talking to Ramamurthy’s colleagues, was also watching everybody with tears in her eyes.

‘How many great people have responded to my daughter’s invitation?’

varalotti · Dec 28, 2008

Part 9!

“Ok guys. Time for us to start. Over to Yamini.” – Kripa.

Yamini moved over to the centre of the room. There was an expectant silence in the room. Yamini spoke softly.

“I now request Dr. Gayathri to light the lamp, cut the ribbons and launch our movement.”

Kripa escorted Gayathri to the centre.

“I request Yamini’s mother Mrs. Parvathi to light the lamp. After that
Yamini’s father Mr.Ramamurthy will cut the ribbons and inaugurate the site.”

A tearful Parvathi was escorted to the lamp by Yamini and Kripa. She lighted the lamp and then hugged Yamini and kissed her on her forehead.

“You have forgotten me, Ma.”

Parvathi then held her in her arms and kissed her on her forehead.

“How can I forget you my dear? You gave my Yamini back to me.”

Ramamurthy came up, prayed silently for a minute and then cut open the ribbon. He opened the laptop and pressed a button. The machine came up to life from its hibernation stage.

Kripa had already logged into the site. The central Forums page was open. The background design resembled the November Sun at that time of the day. Now three laptops were connected and the same page was opened in all of them.

Kripa explained the method of navigating to various forums, how to post a new thread, how to edit an existing one and how to add a post to a thread.

There was so much excitement in the room till 9 45 when Ramamurthy called everyone to breakfast.

varalotti · Dec 28, 2008

Part 10!

Kripa filled up her plate with kesari, pongal and a crispy vada. She also had coconut-chutney and a chutney made of coriander leaves.

She then took her fully loaded plate in front of the embedded web-camera in Yamini’s lap top so that Prathi could see it.

“It’s not fair, yar. Here I am having a dinner of cold chapattis. And you guys are having all those yummy, yummy dishes.”

Prathi was screaming through Skype. Kripa was showing her fingers to her and laughing aloud.

Soon after breakfast Kripa convened a meeting of the Forum leaders to discuss “strategy” mainly for increasing the site-visibility and increasing the membership.

‘We might have got a hundred registrations by now. Our target is…”

Dr.Gayathri interrupted.

“Kripa, why don’t you check up the figures before we start?”

Kripa refreshed the Central Forums page and was surprised to see that there were 700 members already and it was fast growing.

The first meeting of the moderators of WomenWorldwide.com discussed the strategy to increase the membership.