Oh My God! Episode 12

Sriniketan,
This side of Kamban is not much known even in the literary world. When somebody who has got so much talent, someone who by divine inspiration had written a great epic had to suffer so much, just imagine the plight of us, poor writers.
I presume the Lord wanted to dramatise the release of Kamban's work and immortalize his life story. That was his gift to Kamban. When you read the verses from Iraniya Vadhai Padalam you can see the impact.
tallying pleasures and pains.. well as an accountant I have been doing that all my life. Even this week's epilogue is on those lines.
Happy to see that you like the Hassidic story. I read it about twenty years ago. I could not still come out of its influence.

thanks for the fb, Sriniketan.
love,
sridhar

 

அன்புள்ள இந்து,
ஆஹா! கம்பனின் கவிவண்ணத்தை நான் சொன்ன வண்ணம் உங்களை மயக்கிவிட்டதோ! பேறு பெற்றேன் நான்! என்னைப் பாராட்டு மழையில் நனைய வைத்ததற்கு நன்றி.
மீண்டும் தாங்கள் வரப்போகும் அந்த நல்ல நாளை ஆவலுடன் எதிர்பார்த்துக் கொண்டிருக்கும்,
உங்கள்,
ஸ்ரீதர்

 

Most Gracious ILites,

The time now is 10 pm. I feel tired after a really long day at my office. I am yet to start packing my cases. I am going out of town for an extended week-end.

I don't want you to miss reading OMG. Hence I am posting the 13th episode right now.

And I have made it a shorter episode this time. And there is a four part epilogue on an issue closely related to the main post.

I need to seek your forgiveness for I am yet to complete replying to your fb for OMG 12. I am planning to get up an hour earlier than usual tomorrow to complete that task. Till then please bear with me.

Now it's time to move on to OMG 13.

love,
sridhar

 

Most Gracious Ladies,
In spite of my best efforts sacrificing an hour of sleep and delaying my packing etc. I could not find enough time to reply to your fb for this episode. Please bear with me. Rest assured not a single word of yours will go unresponded. Please give me time till Monday evening.
I am really sorry about this unusual delay.

take care and have a great week-end.
love,
sridhar

 

Dear EQ,
As of now I have been writing for more than 10 years. 300 short stories, 12 books and most of them being on women - if I had not used that small nuance in the narration then.. well there is no point in my writing about women. FYEO has also trained me, no doubt.
The Lord can toss the mighty hills around to save the smallest of ants. He not only has the might to do so but also the love to do it.
If only you happen to read Kamban's poetry you will know that his suffering had borne great fruit especially for us. People many times accuse me of making my readers crying. Well Kamban is a past master in that art. If you just read a simple scene where Guhan and Bharathan meet... or the scene in which Dasarathan's spirit appear before Rama just before the Pattabikshekam day .. you will be crying for days on end.
That Hassidic story has been giving me peace and keepng me sane all these years. Happy to know that you enjoyed it.
thanks once again for the fb, EQ. I am really sorry that I delayed my response to you so far.
love,
sridhar

 

Dear Meenakshi,
Thanks for the Wow and the hands up smiley. I feel like winning a great reward. I used to say this every time I write an episode for a serial, be it The Haunted House, SHE, HE or ALS or LA that every time it is like delivering a child to me.
That statement is intensely true in OMG. I first conceive two or three plots. At times I am not sure which plot I am going to use. So I develop two of them and discard one at the last moment. I have all the incident pains and pleasures of delivering a child.
The mother forgets all her pains when she sees the child's flawless face and her little hands. I forget mine when I see the beautiful fb posted by the ILites.

Such kind of discomfort is there in any relationship. I will share another secret with you. Suppose there are three women who are friends. They are very thick friends. Every one will be slightly "uncomfortable" when she learns that the other two met and had a long discussion. There is nothing wrong in that feeling. It is just love trying to come out in a different way. Once the discomfort is released the love that bursts forth will be ten times more intense.

This time the main story and the epilogue was pretty long. I will be trying to contain them in one page, 10 parts, limiting the number of words to 4000 at the maximum. You see OMG 13 has followed this rule. I am now thinking of doing the same thing in OMG 14.
thanks for the fb, Meenakshi.
love,
sridhar

 

dear padmini,
How can I ever thank you for your eloquent reply full of apt quotations?
யாமறிந்த புலவரிலே கம்பனைப்போல் வள்ளுவன்போல்
பூமியிலே யாங்கணுமே பிறந்ததில்லை; உண்மை வெறும் புகழ்ச்சியில்லை.
If Mahakavi could blurt out in such words we can understand one thing; Kamban and Valluvan were great simply because they were inspired by God Himself. They did not write to appease a cheap film producer or a cheaper audience of these days.
Padmini, now that I know your interest in literature, I would suggest you read the whole Gangai Kaan Padalam, the one in which the song you have quoted (aazha nedunthirai..) appears. Kamban is an excellent screenplay writer and an even more excellent Director. His depiction of the change of Guhan's mind would make anybody not just shed tears but sob aloud in sheer love. I used your fb as an excuse to read a few songs from that padalam once again. You shoud read the one which begins with தாயுரை கேட்டு...you will be crying for a week continuously.
And when it comes to Surpanakai the song which describes her coming is superb poetry. The one that begins with panji oli vinju.The metre rhymes with the strides of the demoness.

And your quoting another poem from the same Iraniya Vathai Padalam பிளந்தது தூணும்.. is quite apt here. That song sends shivers in me every time I read it. All the 176 songs in this padalam are great.
Even in this song we find Kamban's humility. After having described the love of the Lion faced Lord the Greatest of poets laments in this poem, who in this world is capable of describing the greatness of the Lord.

Thanks for the interesting, informative and enlightening fb.
love,
sridhar