Cheeniya And His Alter Ego

Cheeniya was sitting alone staring at the computer screen and running his hands aimlessly through his bald head. ‘What could have gone wrong?’ he muttered under his breath. There was a sound of someone approaching. He looked up and saw his alter ego in the mirror. He grimaced and muttered ‘He is here again’

‘Yes, I am here again’ responded the alter ego. “I have told you a hundred times that you are woefully lacking in the skill to read the mind of people’

‘I don’t want you to come here early in the morning and shoot your mouth aimlessly’ cheeniya replied in a wounded tone.

‘Why are you getting angry with me as if I am responsible for this mess?’ asked the alter ego.

‘Do you have to come here early in the morning and irritate me? Is not a man entitled for his peace and privacy?’ wailed cheeniya

‘I have not come here to cause you any mental anguish. On the contrary, I have come here to help you out of your trouble. But before that, can you tell me the cause for your present anguish?’ asked the alter ego.

‘You are the all-knowing like the Almighty. Why do you ask me?’

‘Ok. Your latest thread posted two days back has got only four feedbacks and that’s bothering you. Isn’t it?’ asked the alter ego.

‘Nothing can escape the notice of this terrible fellow. Not even my innermost feelings!’ thought cheeniya and felt even more miserable.

‘Be sensible cheeniya. You can’t blame the people for not responding to the muck you write’ said the alter ego in a direct attack.

‘It’s not muck. It’s soulful rendering of my aging process’

‘Who is interested in your aging process?’ shouted the alter ego adding ‘everyone goes bald and have a white beard at your age. You talk of it as if you have performed a miracle!’

‘I did not mean it to sound like a miracle. I just wanted people to know how such changes in our physiology should be approached. I mean how joyfully!’

‘Joyfully? You don’t give me that impression’ retorted the alter ego.

‘How does one communicate his feeling of joy? By grinning from ear to ear?’ cheeniya asked angrily. It was obvious that the dialogue with his alter ego was getting on his nerves.

‘Listen’, said the alter ego. ‘It is alright if you write about yourself once or twice. The problem with you is that if people showed appreciation for your approach to a certain subject, you get stuck with it’

‘I don’t write a long serial about any subject. Even about my growing old, this is only my third or fourth’, lamented cheeniya.

‘Third or fourth? Come on cheeniya! Grow old! Of course, I can’t even say that to you for you have grown old enough. The problem with you is that when you find a particular topic gets popular with readers, you get stuck to it like a fly in honey! It happened with your lizard series too in the past’ the alter ego pointed out.

‘As a writer, is it not my duty to give the readers what they want from me?’ asked cheeniya in a wounded tone.

‘Who told you that they wanted a serial on your growing old? Or for that matter, on the lizards that frequent your home? Show variety old man! For another six months, don’t talk of your bald hair and white beard. Remember, you got a knocked for calling a white beard as gray? I could not control my laughter!’ The alter ego started laughing uncontrollably.

‘Listen’, he continued, ’Give yourself a break. What I mean is give your readers a break!’ he chuckled and disappeared from the mirror.


‘

 

@Iravati
altsri: So you met her again? Isn't it the seventh time today?
altira: Oh I am tired. Can we have a pepsi?
altsri: Sure! My pleasure! What's the problem this time?
altira: It's something your guy has written. She says she cannot write a FB to it.
altsri: She getting tongue-tied is great news indeed! One more pepsi please!This is the rarest of rare occasions.
altira: I don't know why she is so worked up. I tell you both are real nuts.
altsri; Then why the prices of nuts are not coming down? (Laughs hysterically)
altira: (Gives him a nasty look) Is there no way to silence these two?
altsri: There is. Tell her silence is golden. Women are fond of gold.
altira: I tried it. She says she has switched over to platinum!
altsri hails the bearer and asks for two mugs of water.
altira: Why? We just drank a glass of pepsi.
altsri: To wash our hands off them! They have become too nutty to counsel.
altira: OK! Thanks for the pepsi. God save the two of them!

 

@shyamala1234
My dear Syamala
I am afraid you got it all wrong. This post is not an expression of anguish regarding the number of feedbacks I get for my ramblings. Sometimes when I write about a very light subject, there may not be much scope to give a feedback and people just read it, smile and carry on with their lives. When I write on a deeper subject, people respond with their views and in turn, I answer every one of them seriously and honestly.
To tell you the truth, I wrote this post in a lighter vein. I am a committed Rambler. Nothing can stop me, not even a 'zero' feedback!
Sri

 

@sangeethakripa
Dear Sangeetha

Thanks a lot for that very reassuring statement.

Thanks again for those words. The only correction there is that I am not a 'superior' in any sense of the term. I may be a senior here by virtue of sheer efflux of time since I started writing here. That's all!
Sri

 

@PushpavalliSrinivasan
Dear PS

I am quite moved by these words of yours. At the outset, I must tell you that this post of mine was not written in anguish but in lighter vein. I have written 220 threads in the past ten years that almost works to an average of 22 threads per year. This again works out to almost two threads per month. There are threads that had over 30000 visiting it. There are threads that clocked less than 1000 views. What do I have to worry about?
Having said that, I know I must be careful in the selection of my topics in order to ensure that the members find them interesting.
My present thread is perhaps my reflection of my concern to ensure that I keep producing Ramblings of interest. In any case, what do I have to worry about if my Ramblings continue to interest friends like you?
Sri