My Stories Published in Womans Era and Anandha Vikatan

meenaprakash · Nov 25, 2005

a completely different story .....................

Hello Sridhar,

I could get the AV only last evening. Read ur short story and it was like going back memory lane. The description about the place (the small town), people's mentality, and the flow was all so different from your other stories I've read till now.

Its a very simple story with an important message at the end.
I could relate to it easily. There are many a times we end up miscalculating somebody's action only to find otherwise later and feel bad.

Another nice story, Sridhar... But we are so much used to reading about Lakshmi's & all about relationship; this story is completely built on a different plane - location, the school boys, the PT Masters, the Sports Shop & Motilal Seth, etc.

Reading ur story, I went on a flashback trip to my school days.
I was in the volleyball team, and used to actively participate in all sports. So it was a nice time spent thanks to ur story.

Another good one, Sridhar.

varalotti · Nov 25, 2005

Thanks Meena!

Hello Meena,
Very happy to note that you liked this story. We short story writers need to avoid one great risk - that we could right only in one genre. Well, novelists can afford to have specialisations. Sheldon for thrillers, Agatha Christie for detective stories, JK Rowling for fantasy and so on. But in short story writing one has to cover the entire ground lest one should be labelled an uncreative writer. There has been sufficient accusation (both inside IL and outside it) that I write a lot about women and sex. In this story which you have read there's not even a single woman character and sex is not even remotely connected to the story or its characters.
I am also delighted to see that the story could kindle your childhood memories. Many readers have had the same experience.
Thanks for your time, and for your nice words, Meena.
sridhar

Lakshmivinoth · Dec 5, 2005

About your short story in Anandha Vikadan (Inime Indha Oorla Mazhai Peiyuma?)

Dear Sridhar

I have gone thro your short story. As you have righteously said, there is no trace of a female character and it’s a very different story compared to the previous ones. Its again a wonderful story based on the rural life style where people know each other very well. In our life, we mistake/misunderstand many people and we curse them without knowing the root cause of their behavior. I believe that a curse is a curse and it always comes true and hence we must not curse even our close enemy. A curse doesn’t see the good/bad deeds of a person. Here, the setji is mistaken to be a greedy person but he is a very kind hearted human being. Unfortunately he was mistaken by a school student who curses him and it came true. The school boy had realised that the setji was a kind hearted person (After 25 years!!) but it was too late and the curse had come true. See how powerful a curse can be!!

Please do translate this story in English and post the same in IL. I am sure that all other members will like it as well.

Regards

Lakshmi

varalotti · Dec 5, 2005

Thanks for the involved reading!

Lakshmi,
You have read the story with utmost involvement. Like me, you have lived with the characters in that setting. Otherwise you could not have written a comment like that.
Yes, it's true, we frequently mistake/misunderstand people and hurt them (not necessarily by curses, by a million other ways) and then repent and shed tears when it's too late. This statement has been the theme for a billion short stories so far. You might have heard of the pet mongoose story. Where a woman has a mongoose (keeri pillai) for a pet. She has a ten-months old baby. One day when she goes to the market alone where her friend warns her that the mongoose might kill and eat her child any day. She runs back to the house and finds the mongoose with bloodstain on its jaws. She thinks that the mongoose had eaten her baby and in a fit of fury kills the mongoose then and thee. Wailing, she enters the house and finds that the baby is alive and is smiling. She finds a dead snake near the baby. The snake had come to kill and the mongoose had killed the snake. Now the lady weeps over the dead body of the mongoose.
This story had been haunting my memory for so long that many of my touching short stories have borrowed this basic principle.
Good you liked the story. I'll translate it for IL one day. Sure.
Meanwhile please read The Haunted House Serial appearing in this same forum and give your comments. Since it's a serial I have the luxury of changing the story line based on the comments I receive.
Thanks for the time, Lakshmi.
sridhar

nuggehallipankaja · Dec 5, 2005

Eager

Dear Sridar,
I am reading the comments of your readers, and with each comment, desire to read that story is swelling! Do translate it quick, and send it to our i.d.l. I liked your story 'Scar' very much. It is a powerful one! Can i know the background?
Nuggehallipankaja

varalotti · Dec 5, 2005

Would Love To Do For You, Pankaja, But..

I would love to translate the story right now at least for you. But you see I have committed to write weekly episodes for a ghost-story. I've posted the first and am ready with the second. This takes most of my spare time as of now. But any time I am able to grab in between shall definitely translate the story for IL in general and for Pankaja in particular.
Pankaja, I know you are a very good story teller and two of your stories have made into motion pictures. I want you to read my thriller "The Haunted House" and comment on it so that I can have your words in mind when I design the future episodes.
Will you do it for me,
sridhar

varalotti · Jan 13, 2006

My New story in Anandha vikatan

Dear All,
The latest issue of Anandha Vikatan (Issue Cover Date: 22/1/2006) carries my short story "Veri". Those of you who have access to the magazine may please read the story and post your comments.
Nymphomaniac or Nymph has been for aeons, a very derogatory word used against women. Fuelled by pornography and cheap sex books, this term has been also used in many English novels. I was against the use of this term and even did a mini research on the Net. I was surprised to find that the modern psychologists have completely denounced that term.
I used this story to bring out the modern psychological finding. I did a tight-rope walking while writing that story and had to take extraordinary care in crafting every word lest the story should become obscene.
The story has come out well; but as usual there are controversies. Some say it's too explicit; some say it's too melodramatic. I'll leave the judgment to you people.
For those of you who can't access the magazine I'll definitely translate into English and post it in IL. But that'll be only after the ending of The Haunted House.
varalotti

varalotti · Mar 5, 2006

My Story In Womans Era!

Dear All,
The latest Womans Era magazine (March I issue) carries my story "A Husband's Fantasies." As the story suggests it deals with a forbidden subject. And you should remember that the issue of Womans Era is labelled "Health, Beauty and Sex Special."
Whatever it is I am not going to post that story as I feel a little embarrassed to openly discuss the subject.
But some of the IL members like Chitra and Sharada have already read the story. If any of them can discuss the points raised in the story I will stand in the corner and overhear the interesting discussion.
Varalotti

Chitvish · Mar 13, 2006

Yes Sir, I read your story !

Dear Sridhar,
I did read your story in W E , March 1 st issue.
If I had read your story 20 yrs back, I would have got the shock of my life, how a married man could think on those lines ! At that time a cousin of mine was discussing this with me & I felt very disturbed !
Now with our exposure to internet & more literature by psychiatrists being available, I realise it is absolutely harmless , so long as one does'nt mention names with the spouse around. It is bound to create disharmony. In fact I read an article by a psychiatrist that it is normal & infact he went to the extent of saying that it is a healthy practice ! He says it is emotional fulfillment of the cravings one has in mind & so there is nothing wrong ! Thereafter the cravings are " emotionally done with".
But will our society accept that what is good for the goose is good for the gander as well ? Your story gives the correct answer !
I cannot help admiring the way you have written this story, beautifully, subtly bringing out the nuances of the sensitive subject !
Very well written Sridhar. Congratulations on understanding a woman so thoroughly.
Love & regards,
Chithra.

varalotti · Mar 13, 2006

Thanks Chitvish, For The Nice Remarks!

Dear Chitra,
Your analysis is right. Twenty years back, even a boisterous male group will have hesitated to discuss the problem. Now even a 20 plus bride discusses this openly with her husband and if he is not responsive to a counsellor or a psychiatrist. Such things are favourite lunch-time topics among working women.
This whole thing of fantasy is a very sensitive issue. No woman in her senses would tolerate her husband blurting our some other name while in her company. I have heard about a marriage ending up in a divorce simply because the husband while approaching her with all love on their wedding night called out the wrong name. A genuine error or some fantasy, I don't know.
Thanks for those nice words. Coming from you they carry a lot of weight and mean quite a lot to me.
regards,
sridhar