LOVE ALL - Episode 8

varalotti · Jan 11, 2009

LOVE ALL

A Serial By Varalotti Rengasamy

Episode 8

Janaki was shivering in fear after reading Rex’s stinging post against KG. She spent the most unpleasant ten minutes of her life till Angel came online to chastise that bigot.

As she finished reading Angel’s rejoinder to Rex her mind was filled up with immense happiness which was trying to find some kind of an expression.

Though she had retired for the day she could not sleep. She was tossing and turning in her bed for a long time. Finally she threw aside the blanket and got up from her bed.

“Janaki, are you all right? I see that you cannot sleep. Any problem? Is it the usual migraine? Can I take out the tablets for you?”

Janaki’s husband was really concerned.

“Oh, nothing. And thanks for asking. I realized just now that you cannot sleep when you have some unexpressed happiness in your heart. And unexpressed happiness is as bad as unexpressed anger in disturbing one’s sleep.”

“What’s that Janaki?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you tomorrow. It’s about our website. I have something important to do now. I will be back in a few minutes. I’m sorry I disturbed you.”

Janaki almost ran out of the bedroom.

varalotti · Jan 11, 2009

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Part 2!

Janaki started her computer and logged on to WomenWorldWide.com. She was no doubt moved by KG’s soft reply. She was quite sure that KG would come up with some touching story from the other religion.

But what bowled her over were Angel’s strong words. There could not have been a more severe blow to bigotry and religious fundamentalism. A nasty religious controversy was nipped at its bud.

KG had in a way demonstrated the truth contained in all his religious lessons. If you act with pure, genuine love the whole Universe will rush to your side, if you are in trouble.

That kind of philosophy was all right at one level. But what kind of pure, selfless love, what kind of matchless maturity should Angel have had to lash out somebody from her own religion!

With feelings of love, happiness and gratitude overflowing in her heart Janaki started to reply to Angel’s post. She clicked the “quote” button in the Angel’s post and started writing.

“Dear Amma,
To call you Amma is the first of the two liberties I am going to take from you, Angel. My mother died fifteen years ago and since then I have lost forever the right to call any one Amma except of course the Goddess.

Your are not a mere angel, Angel. You are the Goddess Herself. You told us that you are going to take over as Mother Superior shortly. But to me you are the Mother Supreme, the Jagan Matha, Mahalakshmi, whom I worship every day with the Vedic hymn:
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Om</st1lace>, Hiranya varnam harinim Suvarna rajatasrajam
Chandraam hiranmayim Lakshmim jatavedo ma avaha.

As Janaki was keying in the words with which the Shree Shooktham opened, somebody standing behind her and peering over her shoulders was shivering in fear. It was none other than our old friend, Destiny which was amazed at Janaki’s selection of the verse to glorify Angel. And then Destiny did something which it did very rarely.

It looked up above and showed a sign of reverence to the Jaganmatha. It spoke to the Holy Mother in a whisper.

“The script I have been given tells me that this hymn is going to play the most crucial role later in the story. I know that very well. But how did this good lady know about that? And why should she select this verse over a million others?”

The Holy Mother’s answer was just a smile, which was like a half-opened lotus and conveyed many things out of which Destiny could understand only a few.

It was aware of its role, more especially its limitations. With people whose hearts are soaked in selfless love, Destiny was absolutely powerless and had to take instructions only from HER, the Jaganmatha.

‘Any violation of this fundamental rule’, SHE had already warned Destiny in the strongest of words, ‘you will see me as Bhadrakali who will burn you to ashes.’

Even the normally invincible Destiny felt the fear in the roots of its being and started muttering the lines of the hymn to please the Goddess.

And I always call my Goddess Amma. And so please let me call you Amma.

The second liberty I want from you is to touch your feet when we meet in person. Let me see if I can rub off a portion of the love from you by such an act.

We the members of WomenWorldWide.com are all your children, Amma. When you kneel before the altar tomorrow please intercede on behalf of all of us.

Pray to Christ that we should all be blessed with such a kind of love which burns all the narrow lines and boundaries that separate people professing different faiths.

My God! What words! What force! What love! Amma, by your intervention you have saved this wonderful community from the clutches of loveless religious fundamentalism.

I am going to read your post a thousand times and more! That to me is as holy as the slokas I recite every day before my Goddess.

You should live for a hundred years and more, Amma! It is only love coming from people like you that nourishes the humanity and prepares it to fight against the divisive forces.

Janaki – Super Moderator

Janaki read her reply to Angel once again, wiped her eyes and clicked the ‘submit’ button. Her wonderful words of love were soon uploaded in the server and every member of the community from <st1:state w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">New Mexico</st1lace></st1:state> to New Zealand got to read them.

varalotti · Jan 11, 2009

Part 3!

Janaki now felt a sense of fullness in her heart. She was about to log off from the web-site when by sheer force of habit clicked the “New Posts” button.

Kripa had created that special facility for all the Super Moderators.

It showed all the new posts made in the site since the last time the button was clicked. Posts were sorted based on the seniority of members so that the Moderators could read the ones from the new members first.

Most of the troublesome posts were from the new entrants who were not aware of the community’s culture.

Janaki was particularly wary of those with peculiar, funny user-IDs. If the ID was ‘Bangalore_Stud’ Janaki knew that the intentions of the member were not exactly holy.

She would mentally issue a yellow card to the user, have a very close eye on whatever the user might write in the site and soon the user will be evicted either for a ‘vulgar post’ or for a ‘friendship solicitation.’

At times when there were a few hundred new posts she will save the page in her system for a detailed scrutiny later.

On that day she had checked the new posts only before the Rex trouble. So there were hardly a dozen of them now.

What attracted her was an unusual user ID “Repentant”. How on earth could someone in her senses choose such an ID which had a strong negative connotation?

Repentant had sought counsel.

varalotti · Jan 11, 2009

Part 4!

I am a young housewife living with my husband in the US. He is a software engineer and life has been good to me so far. Ours is a love marriage which was approved by our parents.

We have been married for three years and are planning to raise a family soon.

We had planned to go to India this April. We could not go last year because he was in a crucial project and told me that taking time off at that time would almost kill his career. I agreed.

So I was eagerly looking forward to the trip this time. Like a kid I started counting the days. I have even started shopping for gifts for my parents and in-laws and friends in India.

Two weeks back when I asked him whether he had done the ticketing, he told me with a blank expression, ‘We can’t go.’

I screamed ‘Why?’

‘Do you ever read the papers or watch the news? Do you know what’s happening? The US Economy is melting down. Thousands of people are being laid off. Everyday some company or other is going belly up.

‘Half of the people in my Department have been laid off. And I am doing the work of three people. Can’t even think of taking time off during the week-ends. Vacation has become an obscene word in our company now.’

‘Okay. You stay back. Let me go.’ – I told him.

Only now do I realize that I should not have been so heartless. But somehow it was not fair.

Going to India to meet my parents and his, well, that is not exactly a vacation. It’s homecoming. And our trip was already delayed by one year. I wanted to go, come hell or high water.

He got wild and shouted at me. I shouted back. Finally he slammed the door shut and went out of the house.

That was the start of a cold war between us, the very first to happen in our marriage. Of course we live in the same house. And both of us go through the motions of living. I still get up early and prepare his breakfast.

Some days he comes home for lunch. He would send a message to me by 11 that he was coming for lunch. And I would prepare a simple fare – mostly reheating things from the fridge.

I have lost all interest in cooking. We don’t go out. We don’t talk to each other. We eat at different times and sleep in different rooms.

I have become completely paralyzed by this stand-off. I have stopped all my other activities – like TV, browsing, gardening etc. I have lost all interest to live.

I can’t go on like this anymore. At one level I want to openly apologize to him for my insensitivity and make up with him.

At another level my pride would not let me do so. ‘Why can’t he apologize for all the strong words he used? It was he who shouted at me. And it was he who should apologize.’

And today was the worst. Looks like he had some problem in the office. I saw him hitting his head with his hands.

My heart goes out for him. But I can’t bring myself to speak to him. Why can’t he speak first?

It is now 11 AM here. He has sent an sms to me that he would be coming home for lunch around 2 PM. Can someone tell me what should I do?

Should I swallow my pride and talk to him or should I continue to live in this loveless hell?’

Repentant

varalotti · Jan 11, 2009

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Part 5!

Normally KG handled most of the queries. But he had told the Mods that any other member wanting to handle the query was welcome to do so.

Janaki saw the time. It was <st1:time minute="0" hour="23" w:st="on">11 PM</st1:time> in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">India</st1lace></st1:country-region>. She saw the time when the query was posted.

She could infer that Repentant should be somewhere in the Central Time Zone in the US, which meant that it would have been already 11 30 AM for her.

Unless she did something in another two hours, her marriage, why even her life might be at risk. KG had logged out for the day and would not come till the next day. Repentant was still logged in.

Janaki wanted to help Repentant. Angel’s love was still doing wonders in Janaki’s mind.

In that white heat of love, sprang the words that were going to change Repentant’s life forever.

Dear Repentant,

I am Janaki, a Moderator, someone old enough to be your mother. And I want you take my words as if they were coming from your mother.

I have been married to a wonderful man for the last forty plus years. Believe me Repentant I have gone through similar experiences many times.

Well, I have been a housewife all along, had not studied much and there was not much of a ‘security blanket’ for me. Cooking is all I know and I always try to solve most of the problems with cooking.

Do you know the proverb that if your only tool is the hammer then every problem looks like a nail to you?

So is the case with me and my solutions are rooted mostly on food. But believe me dear, it worked for me – almost every time.

Now the time there should be <st1:time minute="30" hour="11" w:st="on">half past Eleven</st1:time>. Your DH will be there in another two and a half hours.

First you need to prepare your dining room. Pull down the curtains and darken it. Then light a few candles and place them on the dining table.

Now I am going to walk you through the process of preparing an eight-course, delicious dinner complete with a soup, sweets and ending it with a special curd rice and a dessert of Faluda ice cream.

Now first tell me what do you have in your fridge and what things you can get from the neighbourhood super-market?

Janaki – Super Moderator

Janaki clicked the ‘submit’ button and was waiting for Repentant’s response. It came in less than a minute.

varalotti · Jan 11, 2009

Part 6!

Dear Janaki Aunty,

How I wish you were somewhere near here! I would have buried my face on your shoulders and would have cried for hours on end.

I have potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, brinjal, Bindi raw, plantains and a lot of coriander leaves in my fridge. The super-market is just two blocks away. I can reach there in five minutes. Everything is available there.

Repentant

Janaki came out with a perfect game plan.

Dear Repentant,

Listen, this is going to be your menu.

Janaki did a quick “cut and paste” job and had produced a two-page menu with her time-tested detailed recipes.

It started with a semi-thick vegetable soup with roasted papad on the side. The next item was hot coriander rice sprinkled liberally with cashew nuts and other spices and crispy plantain-chips with hot chilly powder sprinkled on it.

There were six more items coming in quick succession, each to be served in a small quantity but prepared by religiously adhering to the recipe.

Janaki delivered her punch line towards the end.

I understand your plight in not being able to apologize to your DH. Well, you need not do that. But your manners, your action and your behaviour should shout “SORRY” to him.

They should make him feel guilty and ultimately make him apologize to you. And when he does that you should be gracious enough to say, ‘I too was insensitive. Please pardon me.’

Best of luck and may God bless you and your DH.

Love,

Janaki – Super Moderator

Repentant wept all over the thread and immediately rushed to do as instructed.

Janaki went to bed that day with a full heart. She had another realization that day – you can’t sleep either with a full heart or a full stomach.

Janaki expected some kind of an acknowledgement if not a thank you note from Repentant the next morning.

She had logged off around 1 45 pm her time which meant that she had kept that page open to carry on the instructions. Could she not post a small note telling Janaki what happened?

varalotti · Jan 11, 2009

Part 7!

It was 5 PM the following Sunday. Yamini logged into the site to check on the Interior Decoration Forum.

Mathangi, the Forum Leader, who had gifted the site’s name was doing great. She was mainly answering the various queries from all the members. Her very first principle of decoration that a good decoration scheme need not be an expensive affair and that whatever is expensive need not necessarily be good was well received.

And she demonstrated this cardinal principle by explaining an elaborate interior decoration scheme using mostly inexpensive screen cloth and terra cota objects.

Yamini was happy with the number of responses in Mathangi’s forum.

She then went on to the Handicrafts Forum which had become one of the hot-spots of the site. KGs religious threads were highly popular throughout the site.

But it was Vaishali’s fine display of art that always had the maximum views and replies. Vaishali loved to individually reply all those who had written in her thread. She had also started taking classes free of cost to the members.

A small window popped up to tell her that she got a private message. The Moderators still had the PM facility. The message was titled ‘Call For A Mods Meeting’ and had come from…

Yamini almost fainted as she read the sender’s name. The message was copied to all the Moderators. The meeting was at the usual venue – the Moderators Chat Room at 7 PM Indian Standard Time.

As it was a Sunday evening most of the Moderators could not attend the meeting. Only Yamini, Kripa and Janaki had responded to the invitation.

When the three invitees came to the chat room at the appointed time the member who called on the meeting was already there – Prathi.

“Welcome back, Prathi. First tell me that everything’s fine at your end.”

Janaki’s anxiety was obvious.

Yamini and Kripa welcomed Prathi with loving words.

“Everything’s fine. I have come here to thank you all for giving my life back to me.”

“What are you saying, Prathi? What did we do except shouting at you when you suddenly disappeared.”

In response to Janakis words Prathi just inserted the “bowdown” smiley twelve times.

“What was that, Prathi?”

“Aunty, in our tradition when we prostrate at the feet of our elders we will have to do it twelve times when the person is one’s parent or Guru or someone who has saved one’s life.”

“So..”

“Janaki Aunty, for me you are all the three. You spoke to me like my mother, you advised me like my Guru and you saved my life. Actually I will have to do namaskarams for another twenty four times. Here I go.”

There was a string of bow-down smileys. Yamini and Kripa were perfectly clueless.

“Yes Aunty, I am the ungrateful user Repentant who sought your counsel on Thursday and did not even send a thank you note. Your approach was simply brilliant. You know what happened?”

“For heavan’s sake can someone tell me what’s happening here?”

“Kripa, please let us finish. It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later. Tell me Prathi, what happened?”

“Aunty, as suggested by you, I prepared the feast, darkened our dining room, lit the candles and created a romantic ambience.

“I also placed a bunch of flowers near the door with a welcome card. I printed the menu and had placed it on the table. Poor guy! My DH was simply floored! He should have been feeling guilty about the shouting and all.

“When he saw what I had done, he came running to me, and you are never going to believe this Aunty, he touched my feet and apologised. I have never cried like that in my whole life. And I have never been happier.

“Then we sat down to enjoy one of the finest lunches of our lives. He then called his office to say that he would be taking off for the rest of the day. We went out together like a honeymoon couple. We ate out in the evening.

“On Friday when he came back from office he hugged me tight and whispered in my ears
‘Prathi dearest, we are going to India. I have talked to my boss. Instead of four weeks it’s just three weeks. And my boss has asked me to go in May instead of April. Happy, darling?’

“Janaki Aunty, now it appears that I was suddenly transferred from hell to heaven by a non-stop direct flight. I owe it to you, Aunty.

“I told my DH about you and your idea. He told me that even before seeing our parents we should see you and get your blessings. You have given me everything Aunty. ”

Janaki now told Yamini and Kripa about Repentant episode.

Yamini then told Prathi about the reorganisation of her duties and the decision of the Moderators to remunerate Prathi for the work done.

“You have already remunerated me more than enough, Yamini. Didn’t you give someone like Janaki Aunty to me?

“An American in my place would have gone to a shrink or a marriage counsellor and would have spent thousands of dollars. Even if I were to give a million dollars who could have given such a motherly advice to me?”

Janaki intervened.

“That’s okay, Prathi. You are slogging hard and it is but fair that you get something in return. Take my advice, again. Please accept the payment. But don’t spend it. Save it. That will be a kind of a safety net in these troubled times.”

The three women almost forced Prathi to accept the salary.

varalotti · Jan 11, 2009

Part 8!

“Ok, guys, now let’s get back to work. What do you think of the latest thread in KG’s forum?”

After Rex’s stinging post in KG’s Forum and Angel’s even more stinging reply to him the thread became the centre of attraction.

Women from around the world had condemned Rex and had praised KG and Angel sky high. Did the matter merit a closure now?

“Yamini, I have a flash. Why don’t we invite KG and Angel to our chat room and ask them about the thread?”

“But how can they come in? They are not Super Moderators, right?”

“Simple. The pretty old, ‘Ek din ka Raja’ trick. I will make those two Super Mods just for the Net Meeting.”

“Great. Let’s have the meeting by coming 8 AM on Thursday, Indian Time. “

Yamini and Kripa were updating Prathi about the developments in the site during her absence.

varalotti · Jan 11, 2009

Part 9!

Forum Leadership in WomenWorldWide.com was a crown of thorns. To give a hassle-free community experience to the 35000 members the Moderators had to go through real hell many times.

But there was also a positive side to it. There were times when they had such happy and fulfilling moments which the members could never hope to have. The Net Meeting to which KG and Angel were invited was one such occasion.

All the moderators were already present when KG floated in at the appointed time followed by Angel.

Yamini welcomed them. When KG and Angel started to interact the ladies simply stood away and watched the conversation with utmost reverence. It was like Sheerdi Sai Baba in conversation with Saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

varalotti · Jan 11, 2009

Part 10!

Angel : Welcome, KG. Your stories are simply awesome.

KG: Thanks, Angel. I bow down to your love and grace. But for your handling Rex we would have been caught in a nasty controversy.

Angel : Any true Christian would have done that. KG, you know I am simply bowled over by the kind of tolerance you have in Hinduism. Last week we had a preacher from the US who had studied the myths and sacred texts of almost all the religions.

He told us that Hinduism is about the only religion that even accepts atheists in their midst. And even those who think that life is all about enjoying sensual pleasures.”

KG : The Charvakas. You are right, Angel. Hinduism is an open religion. That’s why even now we are able to produce one or two prophets in a century. Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi of Thiruvannamalai and JK are the ones for the 20<sup>th</sup> century. And we believe that all paths lead to the ultimate.

It was your man Father Anthony De Mello that lovable Jesuit priest who summed up that feature beautifully in one of his books, “Whatever way a river twists and turns ultimately it never fails to reach its home – the ocean.” Atheists and sensualists reach the ocean by a different, circuitous and often painful route.

Angel : Oh you have read De Mello’s works?

KG : All of them. I love his The Prayer of the Frog and his One Minute Nonsense.

Angel : Great, KG. I have read them both. What are you working on now?

KG : I am working on the words “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” appearing in the Lord’s Prayer. There is something magical about these words. These words talk about the concept of Prapatthi or Sharanagathi or Absolute Surrender, the soul of Vaishnavism.

Angel : I am really ashamed KG that my knowledge about Hinduism is not even a thousandth of your grasp about our religion.

KG : Come on Angel, you and I know very well, that religion is not about knowledge. It’s all about love, which you have in abundance.