A Good News! Seek Your Wishes And Blessings!

srinivasan_vanaja · Aug 2, 2007

Dear Sir,

The cover is really striking. I am little bit curious to know what the title tries to convey. Awaiting reviews too. All the best.

regards,

Vanaja

varalotti · Aug 2, 2007

Thanks Vanaja. The credit for cover design goes fully to my publisher, read my wife. In fact I had finalised another cover and had almost completed the project. She saw the cover and chided me "I wont let you post about a book with this kind of cover in IL." So we went through all the galleys which the site had to offer. When this cover came both of us jumped in joy.

One needs to read the title story to know what the title conveys.

thanks,
sridhar

gayathriar · Aug 13, 2007

Dear Sridhar

I am reading the book now. I liked 'The promise' and then 'Young crow' best so far. It brings out the sensitivity aspect of your writing very well.

-Gayathri.

varalotti · Aug 13, 2007

Dear Gayathri,
The Promise has been the most-blogged story so far. Young Crow is seeing the light of the world for the first time in this book. I am very, very happy that you liked the story.
It is a defining moment for me. Thanks a ton, Gayathri.
regards,

Shobanag · Sep 11, 2007

Hello Sridhar -

I received your books a few weeks ago. I am half-way through the book. I am not a huge fan of short stories - but have started getting into it after reading Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies. I should have finished it a long time ago - but the last few weeks have been stressful for me - my parents who were visiting (for 6 months) went back to India and my only child went off to college and is no longer living with us - the house is empty and I cannot take the silence and it was very difficult for me to get motivated to do anything - but I am slowing getting back to my routine and am reading the book. I will give you a fb once I am done!

Congratulations again on being a international published author!!

varalotti · Sep 11, 2007

Hello Shobana,
I am very much moved by your gesture of buying my book and reading it, even though you are not a short-stories-fan.
I know your condition. When your child moves away you get an empty nest syndrome and it takes a while to adjust ourselves to the new life. This is the right time to pick up a good activity and pursue it. It could be gardening, cooking, writing, painting learning a language or simply anything you have always loved to do.
Eagerly waiting for your fb on the book.
regards,

mythili · Sep 13, 2007

Dear varalotti sir,
I did not quite enjoy the short story 'The weaker sex'. I guess the story did not digest in me, so could not appreciate it.. Everything seemed picture perfect and slightly unrealistic including the last part. sorry i am so narrowminded!

'The young crow' brought a tear in my eyes as I finished reading it.
Very touching indeed. Hope no one has to face this kind of situation in life.

I really enjoyed the way you narrated it. The main story line and the narrators thoughts going in parallely. It was really nice.

Still reading through others.. just thought I will let you know meanwhile.
Regards,
Mythili

varalotti · Sep 13, 2007

Dear Mythili,
The Weaker Sex is the most controversial story written by me till date. All the magazines refused to publish it. A website rejected it twice before considering it for publication.
Well, these things do happen Mythili and once in a way, a writer has to write about these things also.
Some said that the narration is a little too sexy and sallacious. But with that kind of the subject I could not do any better than that. I dont write about sex per se. But nor as a writer I can ignore it.
I am happy you said very openly that you cannot digest it. I respect your feelings.

The Young Crow brought tears to my eyes as I wrote it. I first wrote the main story alone. Then one of my editors (Venkat) suggested that there is not enough "dhum" in the story. So I had to bring in another story, all in italics. After that the story became quite heavy and quite powerful. I have read that story at least a hundred times. But still when I read it last week, there was a distinct wetness in the corner of my eyes.

Looking forward to your comments on others stories as well.
Thanks Mythili.
regards,

Shobanag · Sep 18, 2007

Dear Sridhar - finished reading Weaker Sex. As I was reading the Black Dog, I was horrified - being a dog owner, I could not even fathom what Natarajan wanted to do - you redeemed yourself in the end!! The Promise as others had written brought a tear to my eye - if only adults could be as compassionate as that little girl - the world would be a much better place. The forcing of food down her throat - why do people do that? I have seen it happen and I do not like it at all! The Love Letter was well written - you have captured the pangs of a young wife very well. I was in a similar situation when my husband came to the US and I was waiting to get my visa. You are sort of in an in-between stage; this story captured the emotions of a young wife in a vulnerable situation. I have to say that the Weaker Sex was a different and bold venture - yes, I can see that a lot of people cannot digest the topic. But to me what is important is - these things happen, more than one wants to admit. You have written about a very delicate topic with dignity and without going into details but conveyed the message. Have we not read English novels that (even very popular ones) that have elements of explicit language and details? I did like the story - whether I accept the theme or not is irrelevant to how well it is written. The Picture of Life was another one that I enjoyed - as human beings, the need to be love and be loved was brought out.

Well, I am going to shut up now and let the others give their reviews!!

varalotti · Sep 19, 2007

Dear Shobana,
Reading your review I felt like a mother learning about her kid from his school teacher. As you know to any writer, his writings are his children. And no mother is bored when others talk about her children - good or bad.

To be honest I had hidden the story Weaker Sex from the eyes of the ILites as I was sure that people would hate me after reading that. How can you portray women like that, many of my ardent fans shouted at me.

Shobana, to attribute goodness, morality, evil, sexual desire to a particular sex to the total exclusion of the other is a form of prejudice and bigotry. If in that story the roles had been reversed, instead of the woman, if the man had sought sexual favours by devious methods, then the story would have been accepted by all; but it would have been quite boring. I am happy that you liked the story and am proud of you that you segregated your "liking" from your "acceptance.". To be honest to you, Shobana, acceptance here means not accepting that woman-character, but just accepting that things like that could happen in real life.

I am surprised that you have not commented about Young Crow and the Power Game. They are tragic and controversial respectively. If these stories still linger in your memory, write a line or two about them.

Excuse me, my friend, I am not very comfortable with dogs. I am scared of them. But I assure you I have never hit a dog so far. I always take a stone and pretend to throw just to scare those creatures away. A black dog in my neighbourhood made me run for my life. And that gave the seed to the story.

Now that you have read the story The Love Letter you may go to this thread,
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/v...stories/578-love-letter-needs-your-reply.html
IL in those days announced a competition (was conceived and designed by me and approved by Induslady) to the ILites to draft a reply to The Love Letter. I was so impressed by the winning entry by Sudha, another gifted writer from Bangalore. Go through all the replies. Some of them are fantastic.

While writing The Picture of LIfe, I cried myself.

Thanks for your time Shobana. I know how busy life in the US can be. If in spite of that you have spared your time for reading my stories and commenting on them... well, I am moved and touched by the gift of your time.

sridhar