Hurdles of Writing

When I read the early days of writers, I can understand that they all have done some common things. They wrote a lot in the early days, not minding the content or quality or the intrusions or obstructions or objections. According to one famous writer, he wrote on anything that he fancied, not minding about others opinion on them. Another writer says that he is very adamant that he wont allow others to dictate what he should or what he should not write. He just writes.

While reading the contents or stories of some of the yesteryear's writers, we feel that they are so advanced and liberal in their thoughts and that their family members are so privileged and lucky to have them in their family. Seldom it gets revealed that in reality it is not so. I remember a recent interview by writer Sujatha's wife about how atrocious he used to be in home and how he used to influence and control her in all the possible ways.

For many a years I was writing without any intrusions or objections. But its not so anymore. Mainly because other than me no one read my articles or posts for so many years. But no so anymore. I am still not sure if many are reading my posts, but from the hit-counter I can safely assume that many are browsing(at-least) though my posts.

I may succumb to it in future, but at the moment, nothing can stop me from the hobby that I have voluntarily chosen. I will go on in-spite of the intrusions or objections, though I may try to accommodate them as far as I can. Also another thing that became clear now is that my writing as a hobby has moved on to the next stage :-).

- SPGR.

Actress Savithri

Since January 2012 I am on a long paid rest ;-). With no other work to do, most of the day I spent on browsing and learning new things. Recently I happened to read about the lives and gossips about some of the old tamil movie stars in a blog, during which I came across the life of Vintage actress Savithri. Though I was not a fan of her, I was forced to see some of her movies that were in put in DD.

Savithri - in a Black & White movie

Savithri - in a colour movie

[Savithri]

During my childhood, during casual talks, Amma used to tell me about Savithri and I was surprised to know that she was the wife of Actor Gemini Ganesan. For long I thought that she was his only wife. When I grew up, I got to know she was not his first wife and indeed he had many wives.

Savithiri & Gemini Ganesan

[Gemini Ganesan & Savithri]

The stories that Amma told us in the morning, mostly when she was in her kitchen work in the mornings were some of the moments, I cherish. It had no boundries on subjects, which I think was the starting point of my life to search and know more and more in life and world & at one point of time I understood that this search is never going to end...

As part of her stories, one day she explained about the last days of Savithri, probably which she would have read from magazines. I was very sad for Savithri on that day. Today while searching for Savithri, I came across a very rare photo of Savithri, taken when she was ill. It exactly matched the description given by Amma. Today also I became sad for sometime and I believe Savithri's soul rests in peace.

Savithri in her illness - Her Son Sathish, Gemini and Doctor(probably) behind

[Savithri]

A detailed account of Actress Savithri is available in the following link:
http://rinkster.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/was-gemini-completely-responsible-for-savitri%E2%80%99s-death/

First close all those NCs

All assembled in front of Lord Yama in his durbar for the morning roll call. This was an arrangement made by Yama so that he can keep track of his subjects in his kingdom and identify those who might have escaped to earth(which is worst than this place for some) or to heaven and take the needed steps to bring them back.

"Today we have a visitor" announced Yama to his wards after the roll call.

The crowd started thinking whom it might be.

Yama himself gave it out after a short pause "Lord Hanumaan is visiting us..."

"This is just a courtesy visit..." he added.

Yama's assistants with the help of his wards started making arrangements to welcome Hanumaan.

A prayer session was arranged by Yama himself, wherein everyone will assemble in front of Hanumaan and sing songs praising Hanumaan and chant some slogans in an attempt to please him.(Author's comment - But I dont understand that what is the point in pleasing Hanumaan once you are in hell. May be people in hell can answer).

Hanumaan was punctual and he came flying and arrived at the right time. Yama gave an elaborate welcome and so did his subjects, except one Guy who was standing in one corner of the durbar and watching all these happenings.

Then people started singing and chanting, and Hanumaan was also pleased and seemed to enjoy the situation. He also didn't fail to notice that Guy who didnt participate in anything, but was constantly looking at Hanumaan and his activities. Yama too noticed the Guy and the Guy's activity seemed to irritate him.

After all the prayer was over, Yama called that Guy and asked "Why you didnt participate in any of the prayers... Don't you think that you are insulting our guest..."

"I have a reason for that..." said the Guy.

Hanumaan interruped "Sorry for interrupting... Can you please introduce yourself..." he asked the Guy.

The Guy told his name and continued "Before coming here, I working in the IT industry... earlier as a budding programmer, learning and coding on all latest Java & J2EE technologies... At one point the company thought that I was paid more than what I deliver to them and so they insisted on doing some extra work and sent me for some trainings..."

After a pause he went on "I attended a couple of sessions which they call the Auditor's training..."

Yama, Hanumaan and the people assembled seemed to have got interested in this and the Guy and continued "That was nothing but finding fault in other's work, however good they do it... which we call as Non-Confirmation... NC in short..."

"All that I learnt was that people do mistakes when they work, and its an auditor's job to find that out, report to the top management, and put them in trouble..."

Thus he concluded.

Yama asked "Now tell me, why you didn't give the due respect to our guest, Lord Hanumaan."

From the expressions on Hanumaan's face, one couldn't guess whether he was sad or angry about the Guy's activity.

"I have three observations about Hanumaan. In fact they are NCs... " said the Guy.

"What are they?" Yama asked. Hanumaan was puzzled and gave a suspicious look at the Guy.

The Guy continued, "First, when Lakshman was sick, Hanumaan was sent by Ram to bring the medicinal herbs to cure Lakshman... but what this Hanumaan did... Instead of bringing the medicinal herbs alone, he brought the whole Sanjeevi mountain... This is NC No.1"

"Ok... what else...", this time Hanumaan himself asked.

"Mr.Hanumaan, you brought the Sanjeevi mountain right... Did you replace it back in the same place...? This is NC No. 2"

Hanumaan nodded his head in agreement.

"anything else..." asked Hanumaan.

"Yes... one more... You say that Ram is your Lord and you are his disiple... But he walks with his wife and brother... but you fly to wherever you want to go... This is not agreeable and I would like to raise this as NC No. 3." The Guy concluded.

"I will not pray to Hanumaan until he closes all these NCs..." the Guy declared.

Yama, the crowd and Hanumaan too seemed to agree with the Guy.

Hanumaan had no idea of closing those NCs and started thinking whether there is any way by which he can audit this Guy so that he can come up with more NCs that what the Guy found on him. It seems auditees are alike everywhere...

Note: I became internal auditor in our company recently :)

- Pavala

My first Novel Attempt

One of my wish when I started this blog was to write a story, actually a novel that runs into several chapters. After long thinking sessions, I have come up with a theme and a good story out of it. This story will have most of the elements of a novel like Senti, Romance, Horror, etc.

Planning to post one chapter a day. As of now I do not know how many chapters this novel will run to, as this is my first attempt in writing such a big story.

I request all the 1 million readers & visitors of my blog(!?!?!?... too much da… ithu unakke over-a theriya???) to read the chapters regularly and provide your comments then and there.

And so in my next post my first Novel "In a Different World..." starts... Be ready to receive it...

- Writer(In which station???) Pavala.

NOTE(Nov 12, 2010): Due to un-avoidable reasons, novel attempt is post-poned for the time being.

Actor Murali is no More...

Morning, came to know that actor murali expired due to heart attack. Sad to know that. At the same time we have to appreciate his attitude due to which till his last minute, he kept attending college and kept loving his classmates, though it was not reciprocated, atleast until the cilmax...
May his soul rest in peace and let God give his family infinite strength to move on...

Family Problems...

The number, amount and impact of problems in a family is exponentially proportional to the number of children a couple have. Thank God, from very large families, though Government's initiatives on family control measures, now we have nuclear families. But even now we have so much problems. Cant imagine how it would have been, a few decades back...

- s p g r.

சுதந்திரம் குடு...

தாணுவிற்கு இரவு சாப்பாட்டிற்கு இப்போது எல்லாம் இட்லி தோசை பிடிப்பதில்லை... அவனுக்கு 'பெட் டோஸ்ட்' தான் வேண்டும்... அவன் அம்மா இப்போது எல்லாம் காஞ்சி பேக்கரிக்கு சென்றால், கேட்காமலே பிரட் பக்கெட்டை எடுத்து தந்து விடுகிறானாம். இவன் எல்லாம் அமெரிக்கவிலோ லண்டனிலோ பிறந்து இருக்க வேண்டியவன் என்பது அவன் அம்மாவின் கருத்து.

ஆம்மாம் நம்ம வீட்டுல தான் ஒரு வெள்ளைக்கார தொரை இருக்கிறான் என்று பேகேரிகாரன்க்கு தெரியும் போல... என்று அவளிடம் சொன்னேன்...

நேற்று இரவு அவன் பிரட் டோஸ்ட் சாப்பிட்டு கொண்டு இருந்த பொது, எங்க வீடு தொரை கிட்ட சுதந்திரம் கேட்கலாம் என்று நினைத்து கேட்க ஆரம்பித்தேன்.

"தம்பி, சுதந்திரம் தா..."

"தடமாட்டேன்..." கையை வேறு பின்னல் வைத்துகொண்டான்...

"சொஞ்சம் சுதந்திரம் தா கண்ணு..."

"தடமாட்டேன்..."

நிச்சயமாக இவன் வெள்ளைக்கரனாக தான் பிறந்து இருக்க வேண்டும் என்று நினைத்து மேலும் தொடர்ந்தேன்...

"தம்பி..."

"என்ன..."

"Quit India..."

"மாட்டேன்..." மேலும் உறுதியானது...

"சரி... எப்போ சுதந்திரம் தருவே?..."

"நாளைக்கு கீச்சுக்கு போகும் பொது தான் தடுவென்..."

"அப்படியா.."

"அமாம் அப்படித்தான்..."

"சரி..."

பிறகு வேற வேலைகளை கவனிக்க தொடங்கினேன்...

சிறிது நேரத்திற்கு பிறகு, சேரில் உட்கார்ந்துகொண்டு தீவிரமாக எதோ யோசனை செய்து கொண்டு இருந்தேன்...

அது அவனுக்கு நான் வருத்த பட்டு கொண்டு இருந்ததை போல் தோன்றி இருக்க வேண்டும்...

மெல்ல என் அருகில் வந்தவன்,

"அப்பா..."

"என்ன..."

"சுந்தம் வேணுமா..."

"அமாம்..."

"இந்த வச்சுக்கோ..." என்று சொல்லி நான் அவனிடம் சுதந்திரம் கேட்ட பொழுது அவன் கையில் வைத்திருந்த பொம்மையை கொடுத்தான்...

- எஸ் பி ஜி ஆர்

Is a mother's love selfless

Is a mother's love selfless? Obviously let me elaborate this question. This question has daunted me several times and everytime I have come to the same conclusion. The conclusion is "No. A mother' s love is not selfless, but a selfish one."

We all like something that we have. We like the computer we own and use it, though it may not be superior to our neighbours. So, here is the trace of selfishness. We like it because it ours...

The love of a mother originates on a baby because it is "HER" baby. Since it belongs to her and since it is part of her, that powerful love emerges on the baby. Its not un-common to see that when a mother has to decide between her baby and her spouse, she will always be on the side of her baby, because it is her baby and her spouse is someone else's baby. Also, the same mother will not have such a love on any baby which is not hers. This we can see everywhere around us. In most families a daughter-in-law is a daugher"-in-law" only can never can be a daughter.

Hmmm... Just thought of writing something... So wrote about this question, which quite often comes to my mind... That a mother's love is as pure as milk... But even these days even milk is not pure...

From all this I have to conclude that a mother's love is not selfless.

அவன் ஏன் அப்படி பண்ணுனான்...

"தெரியும் இல்ல, அவன் பொண்ணு பார்த்துட்டான்..."
"எப்போ..."
"முந்தாநேத்து..."
"அவங்க வீட்டுக்கு தெரியுமா..."
"இல்ல... அவன் மட்டும் போய் பார்த்துட்டு ஓகே சொல்லிட்டான்..."
எங்கள் அலுவலகத்தில் முகேஷ்க்கும், வினீத்க்கும் இடையே நடந்த உரையாடல் இது...
கம்ப்யூட்டர் ல இருந்து கவனம் சிதறியதால், உரையாடலை தொடர்ந்து கவனிக்க ஆரம்பித்தேன்.
"பையன் வீட்டுல இருந்து ஏன் யாருமே போகலை?"
"அதன் தெரியும் இல்ல போன வாரத்திலே இருந்து, அவன் அவங்க அப்பா அம்மா பேச்சை கேட்கறது இல்லை..."
"அதுக்காக பொண்ணு பார்க்க போகும் போது தனியாவா போறது?..."
"போன வாரம் என்ன பண்ணுனான் தெரியுமா..." பிஜுவும் சேர்ந்து கொண்டான்.
"என்னடா பண்ணுனான்?..."
"அவன் பிரண்ட மட்டும் கூட்டிகிட்டு ஒரு பொண்ண பார்க்க போனான்..."
அவர்கள் குறிப்பிடும் பையன் யாராக இருக்கும் என்று நான் யோசிக்க ஆரம்பித்தேன்...
"சரிடா... இப்போ என்ன அகும்ற..."
"தெரியலடா.... இன்னகினு வேற productionல கரெக்டா போன அப்புறம் தான் கேளம்பனும்னு மேனேஜர் சொல்லிடாரு..."
"முடிஞ்சுது... அப்போ... இன்னைக்கு நைட் இங்கதான்ன்னு சொல்லு..."
"ஆமாம் டா... வயிப்ஆ பார்க்க சொல்லிருக்கேன்... இன்னைக்கு தெரிஞ்சிடும், அவன் ஏன் இப்படி செய்யுறன்னு..."

தலையில் அடித்து கொண்டேன்... திருமணதிற்கு பிறகு பசங்களும் இப்படி டிவி சீரியல் பார்பாங்கனு இன்னைக்கு தான் தெரிஞ்சிகிட்டேன்...
பெண்கள் மாதிரியே... அத பத்தி ஆபீஸ்லயும் டிஸ்கசண் வேற...
என்னோட half an hour போச்சு... நல்ல இருங்காப்பா ...

- எஸ் பி ஜி ஆர்.

If I were...

Thank you Shen for tagging.
Let me continue here...

If I were a month, I would be January
If I were a day, I would be Sunday
If I were a computer, I would be IBM
If I were a laptop, I would be Lenovo
If I were a processor, I would be Intel
If I were an jewel, I would be Diamond
If I were a TV, I would be Sony
If I were a city, I would be Mysore
If I were a King, I would be Babur
If I were a lady, I would be Victoria
If I were a pen, I would be Montblonc
If I were a river, I would be Thames
If I were a sea, I would be Atlantic
If I were a drink, I would be Champagne
If I were a baby, I would be Dhanu
If I were a vehicle, I would be Space jet
If I were a tree, I would be Neem
If I were a season, I would be winter
If I were a bird, I would be Phoneix
If I were a mobile phone, I would be iPhone
If I were something, I will be the best...

I tag Dhanesh Amma to continne....

post from mobile.

hey... i have learnt to access internet from mobile and this is my first post from my mobile. next week we are heading to my better half's and i am thinking of making some good posts of that journey. its a land of good scenic views, river, mountian, etc. more next week during or after that travel. - s p g r.

அன்பை மட்டும்...

அன்பு, கோபம், பொறமை, வன்மம், என்றுமே எவ்வளவு கொடுகின்றோமோ அதே போல இரு மடங்கு திரும்பி வரும்... கடவுளே, என்றுமே அன்பை மட்டும் கொடுபதற்க்கு எனக்கு உதவி புரி...

- எஸ் பி ஜி ஆர்.

An Overheard Conversation

Yesterday I happened to go to Chennai Airport and be in the arrival section for roughly around 3 hours. I saw an interesting thing in the airport. I will tell about that towards the end of this article. Now the matter is about an young married couple, especially about an interesting conversation of the girl with her parents when the Guy was away for a while. (Disci - This statement has no implication that the conversation of a Guy can never be interesting).

The guy is 27 years old and the girl should be around 25. The girl was slim, had a very fair complextion. I was waiting on the visitors side of the fence and they were on the passengers side of the fence. Her parents were standing next to me. The young couple first came to her parents. Her mom greeted her son-in-law "Vaanga Maapillai Sir". I could sense a line of sarcasam in her greeting. He smiled at both of them and then went away. I could see that he is going to his parents who stood a couple of foots away from her parents. Then the girl started her - mostly one-sided - conversation. Being a relatively new blogger, its tough for me to write the entire conversation here. So, I will write a few of them here:

"He wants me to be polite. How can I be polite? They want me to drop and pick up kid from the day care, visit super markets in the week-ends. And at the same time I they want me to be polite with him. His father says that no one used to argue with his son. In that case, they should not have got him married."

"His father says that they all are open and they openly discuss anything with everyone. I also told that in our family also we are open and discuss anything with everyone."

(So, here I understood that the fight is between the father-in-law and his daughter-in-law).
"He asked whether you have any idea to buy a house there (From now on she refers to her father-in-law, unless otherwise I specially mention). I told 'yes', that will be good and an investment. For this he said, 'thats ok', but that should not be a commitment to stay there itself and you should be ready to dispose it and come back. I want you to come back after a couple of years".
She added more and more and more. Some of replies given by her father and mother were:
"Yes, you should be like that only. We have not sold you to them. We have just got you married" - Her Father.
"Nanna Sonne di" - Her Mother.
And then suddenly her husband came and told "Ennama, polama...". She abruptly stopped her conversation and smiled at him and they went towards Emigration checking counter.
I know to that these days girls are very choosy in selecting the guy for marriage. In addition to that they want to be dominant also it seems.
- spgr.

An Announcement

This is to announce that I am going to write and post many interesting stuff in this blog. So keep watching.

Story 1 - The Begining

Finally I reach home after a heavy load of work at office. My wife and others were ready and having their dinner and they were with full of enthu about going to our native place after a long time. As soon as I entered home, my best half hurried me to get ready soon as only one hour is left for catching the train.
Understanding the situation, I also got ready soon, having a quick bath and quick dinner. We all set out carrying the lugguages, two each, came down the stairs and as usual we came to the main road and started waiting for getting an auto. Now 40 minutes are left for us to catch the train. It takes roughly about 20 minutes to reach the railway station.
Two empty autos fled past us, I just left them, since it is customary for me to leave an initial set of autos. The idea behind this is, if we get an auto immediately upon coming out of the home or out to the main road, the auto fellow will think that we are in a hurry and charge high rates. With this idea I left the first 2 autos. At this point my wife threw a different look at me, for which I normally used to pretend as if nothing happened.
A third empty auto also fled by. Now I am waiting for an auto which will come near us and ask whether we need an auto. The logic behind this is that, an auto without any business for a long time will be in search of business and naturally we can negotiate for a resonable(if possible for a lower) amount.
Yes it happened, and an auto came near us and its driver looked at me keenly. I was happy at the way he looked me, since it showed that he had rightly identified that I am the responsible person who can take my family safely to our destination.
I started the negotiation process
"We need to go to Egmore railway station, four of us"
"Ok Sir" came his reply.
"How much"
"Fifty rupees Sir"
"We normally give forty only. We regularly travel in this route"
"Normally it is forty, but you are four people. Only three people are allowed to travel in auto at a time and if caught by those traffice police, I will be in trouble."
"You auto men always come up with some stories. Once even five of us have travelled to Egmore at this time for forty"
"Forty-five Sir"
"No only forty".
At this point my wife whisperd into my ears "Its ok. we shall take this auto. Its getting late and only 30 minutes are left".
I was not ready to compromise on my offer of forty rupees. Its high time that I need to learn the negotiation skills. This experiences will also help in my work to negotiate for promotions.
So, I told her "Wait, forty is the correct amount. This man is greedy. He wants to earn a lot in a few trips. Anyway all these money will be going to the TASMAC only".
"Only forty. If not, we will another auto" I told him.
He just left the place murmuring something. I was shocked. Because even I was ready to pay forty-five if he didnt agree this time, as it was getting late.
My wife and this time my mother too threw their different look at me. My father was just watching all these happenings, as he normally doesnt put himself into any trouble.
Luckily another auto came.
Again I started repeating the process.
"How much to Egmore".
"Sixty Sir"
"What??? Sixty??? Upto Egmore only".
"Yes Sir. Now it is night time rate. Ten rupees extra."
At this point my wife interupted and whispered into my ears that "Its better that we take up this auto or we are going to miss the train".
I turned around to see the reaction from my parents. I found my father missing from the scene. My mother was eager to get into the auto. This can be attributed to her eagerness to go to her native place.
Anyway I was not ready for this amount.
I tried to negotiate with the auto fellow, at which point my wife was screaming "Appa got a taxi. Since only twenty minutes are left, we can go faster in this and get the train. Come on, get in". I saw my mother already seated comfortably in the taxi and my father was just holding its door open for me to enter.
I was not ready for that. Taxi will be too costly than an auto and now I am ready to pay sixty for this auto. But still I had in mind that I can talk to this auto man and bring it down to fifty atleast. So, I asked my family to come out of the taxi and come here.
Since my family knew about me, they partly hesitated, but I insisted.
Suddenly I heard something from my wife, totally unrelated to this situation -
"Ennanga(roughly translates to 'Dear' in English), its already six-thirty. Get up you need to get ready and catch the 7:20 bus to reach office on time".
Oh no... Even I couldnt find out whether we went by auto or taxi and how much we paid for it and whether we caught the train. She could have allowed me to sleep atleast for ten minutes more. But I cant ask this to her and I was happy that atleast in my dreams I was able to take decisions on my own.

What is the reason for attempting to write stories...

In my childhood, often we used to visit our native place. It was an ideal small village and my grandparents house was situated right in front of a National Highway that connected two important cities in that region. It was calm, beautiful village with a small river at the end of the village. Most of the people there were ignorant about the happenings outside that place. (But now it is totally upside down. Thanks to the telephone and cable TV network). In one way the village lost its glory.

Let me come back. Just before going to bed, when I was a small kid, my grandfather used to tell me stories. I think it was common during those times for the grandparents to tell stories in the night to their grandchildren. As I was their first grandchild, I had more privilage than others. Most of the stories that he told was self-composed. A wide range of stories from Kings and their Kingdoms, Amimals and thier kingdom, Villagers, Farmers, their lives, etc. etc.

Some of the stories are scary-haunted houses, witches, demons, giants-most of which resembles Harry Potter stories.

That was during my childhood. As I grew up, I got chances to read fictitous stories of various stories both in my mother-tounge and english. Sometimes after reading the story, I have felt that even I can write such stories. . And now I feel that the right time has come to start the same.

Whenever I get time, I will stuff this blogspot with stories, stories and stories...