SHE - Episode 16

Hello MJ,

I dont know about destiny's role. But I had a fascination for that name right from the time I started to write. Or may be even earlier. I don't know or I am not so sure. Once I had been to Preethi's school to drop her. Her principal came running to me. I thought he was going to complain about Preethi or something. I was waiting for him literally gasping. He came near and told me with a smile, "Why, sir, this undue obsession with the name Malathi? For God's sake, let your next heroine bear some other name."

Till then I did not know that I had been using the name so extensively. In fact when I reproduced one of the stories here in IL, I wrote to IL-Malathy asking for her indulgence, for in that story the character is not presented in such a good light. She was graceful enough to wave me off saying, 'It's just a name, sridhar. I don't mind.'

One thing is so sure there is no real-life character after whom I am naming my heroines. In fact later I switched over to Sharada (eg. The Haunted House and even The Beauty and The Brain)

Since you bear that name I thought I will keep you posted.
regards,

PS: I saw your picture in the IL meet. I had expected a form based on your writings and your real picture perfectly conformed to that. Good.

 

Dear Varloo,
Missed you for some time in SHE. I think you were not there for a few episodes. This story is written as a serial and when I started I did it only one by one. So every week I was writing afresh letting my imagination go as far as it could. A senior writer used to say when you write a serial afresh week after week, it is like milking a cow every day for fresh milk. But when you write the whole serial in one go and release one episode at a time, it is like buying milk in large quantities, keeping it in a fridge and giving out dose by dose. Any day, he said, freshly procured milk is a thousand times better than stored milk.

It is very kind of you and Malathi to have ceded the right to do whatever I want with my heroine. In fact I have done everything for her. I have finished writing the remaining two episodes. To an extent Shalini's fate is already sealed.

But once the serial is over, after some interval, we will discuss the storyline in detail.

Thanks for the participation, Varloo.
regards,

 

My Dear Friend,

As usual you are at your critical best. What you have given are very valuable inputs to a writer. In fact that distinguishes writing in IL compared to elsewhere. Here the pudding that is served is immediately eaten and instantly commented upon. For the cook, to receive an instantaneous feedback, especially if he has to cook dinners for a lot of people in future, every word uttered is worth a million. Now a blow by blow, sorry, a line by line reply, which surely your well-thought out response richly deserves:

SHE is surely going places !
Thanks a lot

From a headstrong girl to patronizing a sanyasi...she has come a long winding way.
That is life for you. The mettle of the yarn-spinner is tested on how he walks her along the long and winding way.

In a way, her experiences ring true for women who belong to a certain strata of society.
True. And thanks for saying that.

Shalini is after all free from the struggle for survival. Born with a Golden spoon and also a beauty with brains, her life has nothing wanting in it.
Very often, when one has everything in life, one goes out looking for some loopholes to collect trouble. Well, Shalini surely seems to be inviting such troubles into her life.

If Shalini had not invited troubles, read experimented with lives and choices, then there would not have been a story worth telling. Let's assume Shalini stayed married to Rishi. Got children, brought them up, married them off, went on a holiday, fought with her husband but stayed put where she was, went on a holiday, became old and then finally died. That would not have been a story but a bland bio-data. At the risk of repetition I want to tell you that Shalini is far from being perfect. And her charm, her attraction is her imperfection.

I am quite aware that you will say that Shalini's was not a wholesome life and she has no one to call as her own, which is the main staying factor in any one's life. Agreed. But then, add to it poverty and plain looks and poor intellect. What avenues are open to such women ?

Very good thinking. After reading this I am wondering who is the writer, the person asking the question or the one answering it. Now let me tell you that we all think that women with poverty and plain looks and poor intellect do not have a healthy life, or have a lot of struggles. At one level it is true.

But my theory is slightly different. Problems and troubles arise only when a woman aspires for a life more than what she can handle. I have known many plain looking dumb women who lead happy lives. One advantage of poor intellect or being plain dumb is that there are not much aspirations or desires. Contentment, many times comes easy to such people and though their lives may not be great, they are certainly good.

I am now quite piqued and await with curiosity about the next turn of events in Shalini's life.

It is another 48 hours for the next episode and another 216 hours for the climax. So just wait and see. And don't expect the unexpected.

Our heroine here had alternative blessings which she somehow has not used to her benefit. She seems to be just flowing along a river without much aim or direction...apart from that of finding a man !!

Having a man (or for that matter, for a man having a woman) is definitely important. Once we have one we may not realise the severity of the needs of those who do not have any. And here having a man is not just for sex, it is for relationship. Ones identity is to be found only in healthy, vibrant relationships. Robinson Crusoes might find food and build home but they would never discover their identity because of the absence of relationships.

I am hoping that she will show some spunk now and prove that she is a SHE !
I will complete the story in another two episodes and leave this matter to your able judgment.

L, Kamla
L, Sridhar

 

Madam, (Pl. excuse me for this)

Oh, Malathi, please do not embarass me. Just enjoy the statement and do not try to analyse it.

If you want to be so sure, let me say this, you definitely look good.

yours sincerely,