The Price - Part 8

Nice Arguments....but...

Vedasri,
At the outset I am very happy that my story has got so much effect on you. Our Tamil film Director K.Balachandar in the field for so many years used to say, our story should disturb the audience. They should be affected, they should feel a kind of impotent anger or outright rage, if not for the characters, at least for the author. That way I am happy.


Now, Madam, you have awakened the half-asleep lawyer in me. And I am not legally responsible for that lawyers' statements. You are free to accuse me of suffering from MPD. All of us do, the degree varies.


Bibheeshan (as you call in Marathi) and Kumbakharna are blood-brothers of Ravana. And in those days the Shastras rule, "Jyestha Bratha pitr samaha" that the elder brother is equivalent to one's father was applied.


That apart, the point here is not comparing the closeness of a brother and a life partner. It is something totally different. Both B and K were interested in Ravan's welfare. So B went ahead and told him what he was doing was wrong. B knew very well that for this audacity he will be insulted and even thrown out. But he did not mind that. His love for his brother was so great.

K also loved his brother. For him his brother was everything. Whatever his brother did was right. He also tried to mildly dissuade him. But finding Ravan strong in his infatuation he goes to the battle and dies for his brother.
Vidyas love for her husband was something like that. Please remember Vedasri,

Vidya was not discussing the problem as we do in the airconditioned comfort of our homes and offices, analysing the right and wrong. Raghavan was desperate to get into filmdom. He had quit his job. And he even threatens her that if he did not get a chance then suicide will be the only option. It was in that crucial condition that Vidya gave herself.

At one level Vidya's act was one of immorality. And we can comfortably assign percentages of fault to her. But another level, I would say, that her supreme love for her man has burnt the blemishes of her act. And she comes out as pure as an angel.


And madam, you have condemned my heroine without trial with the following words:

"In that period only its the high time for near and dear ones to come forward to help that person and making that person understand the reality and the right path for proceeding next. Raghavan was deserving this kinda guidance from Vidya but as she didn't say anything to him, he didn't feel as a grief and continued on the same line. In the present presentation, 40% guilt goes to Vidya also."

Well to satisfy readers like you I could have inserted a scene and a page of dialogue where Vidya advises Raghavan on the dangers of cinema and all that. But any woman knows that advising a man especially when he is that desperate is perfectly useless. So Vidya opts for the other route.

The only other option available to Vidya is to have kept quiet and watch her husband die or being destroyed.

I loved your following words which shows that you are also a wordsmith.

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sridhar
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Nice Arguments....but... Part II

"You have to make your love so much strong enough that it can withstand with the morality and ethics.. and there is where exactly the battle of life is !

Don't give Morality and Ethics backseat for Love.. but ask to Love for coming to foreseat to sit with Morality and Ethics."

When I gave backseat to morality and ethics I meant only the conventional morality and ethics. By her action Vidya gave the front seat to love and along with love the highest form of morality and ethics.

I will quote one instance in the life of the great Saint Ramanujachariar. Once he was touring South and suddenly decided to go to the house of one of his very poor disciples. Along with Ramanuja were about 30 of his disciples. The poor host badly wanted to properly welcome the great Guru. But he did not have anything in his house.

He had a good wife. The village grocer had been having an eye on that lady for some time. The lady went with her husband to the grocer. She told him that if he could supply enough provisions to make food for Ramanuja and his disciples, she would accede to his request. But the grocer should wait till she cooks the food, feeds the Guru and his disciples. The husband promised that he would bring his wife to the grocer once Ramanuja left the place. The grocer gladly obliged. This fact was not known to Ramanuja.

The lady cooked excellent food which the visiting Group happily ate. As they were packing up to leave Ramanuja had a mild suspicion. How could a poor householder give that kind of food to so many people all of a sudden. He asked one of his disciples to find out the truth. The disciple did an investigation and reported the findings.

Ramanuja was moved by the womans sacrifice. Our Shastras say that a woman who leaves her marital bed to stay with another man is cursed to the lowliest of the hells. If in spite of all that she had done this kind of sacrifice, what would have been her devotion?

Ramanuja saw the husband and wife walking to the grocer’s house. He met them on the way and gave them his prasad which he wanted the lady to deliver to the grocer. On partaking the prasad the grocer realised the grave mistake he was going to commit and worshipped the lady and the husband for their nobility.

Ethics and morality, both conventional and that of the highest form, took the back seat when Raghavan started an affair with another actress. But when Vidya sacrificed herself for her husband I just see in her the poor disciple’s wife.

Sorry for the long reply. I can’t help it.

Thanks for making me to think about my character so deeply.
Regards,
Sridhar

 

Dear Anusha,
what you have written would make a wonderful epilogue to my serial. You are right our being caught in materialism.
I have been seeing that in many people. A CA I know suddenly got too much of wealth.He divorced his long time wife to marry a much younger woman. In fact his wife was with him when he was struggling in his initial years.
Of course he gave Rs. 5 crores to his first wife and children and started happily living with his second, new-found wife.
He had found a granite mine and as luck would have it, he developed some quarrel with other businessmen, who hired goondas to kill him. In a way it was good for the first wife; for if she were there with him at that time, she would have been also killed. The second wife had gone out when the murder happened.
Suddenly everything looked so trivial to me. And in that heat I started writing this story.
This was published in Womans Era in 2003 January in two parts. And I wrote this into a pocket novel which was published by Kumkumachimzh.
If you read Tamil, let me know. I'll send you a copy by post.
thanks for the profound fb
love,

 

Sure will do that, Anushka.waiting for your pm.
sridhar