*From & To Sathish* - Thread 4 - Page 125

en vazhi thani vazhi

It is a beautiful, romantic, emotional and a sentimental moment when I turn my face to the rising sun that shoots off photons towards me and caresses my body and then entering into it warms my soul and stokes the fire of desire to live on and endure another day.

But, the beach also happens to be filled with others stars that make up the Galaxy called satish and his life and apart from the sun, the light, love and smiles of many of friends and well-wishers whom I consider my friends and stars that make up my night sky and my way of life.

Just as I am finishing my morning workout in the gym, my coach never fails to reprimand me by saying, ' sir, you could have easily lifted heavier weights but you did not.'

As always my reply is, ' master, namaa bodykku idhu podhum master. Now, all that is left is go and meet my beach buddies that include both two and four-legged ones and spend time with them.'

Many of friends frown on my indulgence that I show other species but also indulge my pet peeves and turn a blind eye to my other needs and only on rare occasions does one of them say, ' Podhum satish, too many dogs around us.'

My beach buddies include both sexes and happily and luckily are mostly above the 55-year category and the majority are above the 65 years category.

Yet, all these souls from various decades and generations mix tides and waves with me and I do too without any inhibition and that is a scary thought for most of you know what happens when satish is let loose and that he really becomes a loosu.

Fortunately, even though there have been moments when I have rubbed a few souls the wrong way or when some of them have without their knowledge irked me, it is all fun and it all fair and life is going on smoothly.

I do sometimes feel a bit inferior among them for compared to my actor status, most of them are in a different league in terms of achievement and yet they have embraced me into their fold and I have many a time sat with all of them and shared a drink or two or more and have shared gentle and emotional moments that I will cherish for a long time to come.

Vaanathai Pola 206

The man who they knew as Aghori Baba and who he had so arrogantly and wrongly assumed to be just a blind beggar must be an Olympic long-distance marathon runner and sprinter at the same time and surely must be some sort of athlete thought Deputy Commissioner Karthik as they jogged behind the Baba and the Lion called Buddha.

All the anger, rage and frustration that he had focused on the Blind man had been pushed aside first by fear and then with that phone call from the Commissioner himself.

But, to DC Karthik, it was not the request to follow the Blind man's lead that shocked him but the final words of warning that the commissioner had issued.

' Karthik, do as I have told you and please heed my advice or else both of us will be out of a job by evening. Do you understand me and will you comply, please?'

Karthik's head was swirling with a million questions but all that had been burnt out by that one warning of being kicked out and he had decided to comply and now here they were following a blind man and a lion and unable to keep up with them.

Both his Sub-Inspectors Anil Kumar and Kailasam gave their boss a wide berth for it is not every day that one bears witness to an IPS ranked officer being treated roughly and the flung aside wantonly like a spoilt child and that too in front of all his lower-ranking officers.

Even though he knew that it was his duty to comply with his superior's orders, he knew that he did not have to set aside his anger and rage and loss of face and deep in his heart he knew that he had to face this blind man and face him head-on.

The Baba who was about ten feet ahead of them suddenly slowed and raised his right hand and said,' stop' and slowly turned his head first to the left and then to the right and then looked down at his pet, the giant black-maned lion and said, ' Happy hunting you big fat kitten and maybe it was high time that you had some workout and exercise.'

Buddha the lion tried swatting him with his front paw and then stood up and placing its giant front paws on the Baba's shoulders, gently nudged him and kissed him and they both stood hugging each other.

Deputy Commissioner Karthik and the others then watched in sheer fascination and heard with terror as the Lion roared its challenge and its intent.

If the loud ear-splitting roar was not enough, all of them watched as the Blind Baba brought out a conch that was covered with silver and gold and placing it in his mouth, blew into it.

The noise that came out of the conch matched and surpassed the roar of the lion called Buddha who then went left and vanished into the darkness.

The sounds of the lion and the conch travelled in a circle all over the forest and into the hearts of all those who heard it and as always the hearts are split into two, Good and bad and angels and demons.

Vaanathai Pola 207

Radhu and Kavita heard the Roar along with Palam Swamy and froze in their footsteps filled shock and fear and then the mighty roars that obviously had stemmed from the lungs of a large predator passed them by and was then replaced by the noises of a conch being blown and obviously by a human.

Both watched with sheer fascination as their guide fell to his knees, facing the direction from where both the noises of man and beast had just assaulted their ears and raising his hands prayed, ' Pagalon, Maasilan, mamannan, engal kula deivam Kavin vazhga.'

Radhu fell to his knees in front of Palam Swamy and looked at him with fear and frustration, ' Sir, this whole morning has been filled with nerve-wracking moments and at the same time incredibly mysterious and it all started with your arrival.'

Pointing to Kavita, ' My priority and the only priority is her and not just because she is mine and that we love each other but also because she is a Minister and someone's only remaining child.'

In a pleading voice, Radhu begged, ' What is going on here, sir? We all heard the loud roars of a beast and I am sure it was either from a large male tiger, a lion or in the least a leopard. But, here you are on your knees and praying to some God when you should be guiding us to a safe spot where we can protect ourselves or at least protect her if it comes to that.'

Palam Swamy smiled and instead of answering Radhu, he turned and looked at Kavita and said, ' Ma'am, you are indeed lucky to have him with you and in your life for his heart truly belongs to you and no other.'

Kavita's patience too was nearing its end and casting aside, manners and etiquette, she looked at Radhu, ' Baby, don't concern yourself with this old man any more and let us be away from this place and let us look for our own protection.'

She put out her hand to Radhu and whispered, ' Rise my beautiful hero and let us together face what comes our way and if anything should happen to us then I will know that we were side by side when it happened. we are one and we will remain one even in death.'

Radhu sprang to his feet, ' I will burn this forest down and kill everything in it before I let something hurt you or even put a scratch on you.'

Before she could even realise what he had in mind, Radhu bent down and lifted her like she was a toy and ran towards the nearest tree and placing her on a branch told her to climb up and go up the tree and as far away as it was possible.

Kavita looked down at him and gently bent and covered his mouth and kissed him deeply and asked, ' what about you?'

Radhu replied, ' I am coming up too but not before I forge some kind of weapon with which we can at least keep the animal at bay for some time. For, surely, your security team would have heard the roars and will right now be co-ordinating with the Commissioner and it won't be long before they are here to rescue you.'

Radhu's eyes searched the clearing and they quickly spotted a small Bamboo thicket and he ran towards it and placing his knee against a stout bamboo tree, used his mighty hands to pull it down and broke it in two pieces leaving the one in his hands with jagged edges that could be used a spear against the marauding beast.

Radhu then broke a slightly slimmer one and handed it over to Kavita who taking it slowly made her way up into the upper branches and Radhu too jumped up and joined her although he stood a few branches below her and thought, ' lion or tiger, you have to go through me before you reach her and that is just not going to happen.'

Now that both of them were in a slightly safer place than before they turned their attentions to the old man Palam Swamy and called out to him to join them up in the branches.

Palam Swamy looked at them and smiled and then taking out his bottle drank a little and then got up to his feet and threw the bottle to Radhu who after drinking a little from it handed it over to Kavita.

Palam Swamy again persisted with his smile and told them, ' it is too late children for the lion is almost on top of us' and pointed to the tall green grasses that were being parted by something and that was so obviously not human.

Radhu looked at Kavita, ' babe, I know that the old man is crazy but I just cannot stand by and watch him die for that reason and that at the hands of a beast.'

Kavita opened her mouth to protest but Radhu had already jumped down to the ground and in blinding speed had run and placed himself between the old man and whatever nightmare that was coming through the grass and was coming towards them unerringly.

*Bleeping* New Normal

The phrase "New Normal" is probably the most annoying thing to come out of this pandemic.

I am not saying this due to its gross overuse or because people say it with a smug proprietary expression that suggests that they invented it or, at the least, have become more intelligent because of having used it in a sentence.

It is an insidious phrase because it normalizes a terrible situation which is anything but normal. In fact, the predicament we are in right now is the exact opposite of normal. Make no mistake, we are bang in the midst of a calamity that has devastating ramifications on our fragile existence. It is truly a matter of life and death!

And yet, thanks to phrases like this, we go on our merry ways without any intention of taking even the first steps required to remake ourselves into considerate and responsible denizens of this planet.

When the earth, our only home for the foreseeable future (notwithstanding what Elon Musk might have to say), tells us that we cannot survive without additional protection and isolation, it is telling us, in no uncertain terms, that we have overstayed our welcome.

We are now like strangers in a familiar land, foreigners in our own country, aliens on our home planet. The very nature that created us and allowed us to thrive in a dynamic equilibrium is literally spitting us out!

The message is clear. We are not wanted. We are expendable, and the sooner we disappear, the better it is for the planet as a whole.

In short, the earth is saying "Die Bench*d! And take your *bleeping* new normal with you!

I dont know who has written this as its a whatspp forward but i must say this is really a masterpiece😍

It is not important whether you are spiritual or believe in God .... But the four principles of metaphysics apply to all from the moment one is born n until our last breath !!

The First Principle states: "Whomsoever you encounter is the right one" ... This means that no one comes into our life by chance. Everyone who is around us, anyone with whom we interact, represents something, whether to teach us something or to help us improve a current situation.

The Second Principle states: "Whatever happened is the only thing that could have happened" ... Nothing, absolutely nothing of that which we experienced could have been any other way. Not even in the least important detail. There is no "If only I had done that differently, then it would have been different". NO .. What happened is the only thing that could have taken place and must have taken place for us to learn n evolve in order to move forward. Every single situation in life which we encounter is absolutely perfect, even when it defies our understanding and our ego.

The Third Principle states: "Each moment in which something begins is the right moment" ... Everything begins at exactly the right moment, neither earlier nor later. This is because we are subconsciouly ready for the new experience or challenge.

The Fourth Principle states: "What is over, is over"

... It is very simple. When something comes to an end, it helps us evolve. Hence, enriched by the recent experience, it is better to let go and move on.

Is it a coincidence that you're here reading this ???

If these words strike a chord, it's because you meet the requirements and understand that not one single snowflake falls accidentally in the wrong place !!

Just be good to yourself. Always be happy ...

Love like there's no tomorrow. And if tomorrow comes, well. Love again .

*"Queen Elizabeth has survived

The plague

Smallpox

Malaria

WWII

Korean War

Vietnam War

Making of Land Rover and Range Rover

The Concord

The retirement of the Concord

Nazi rule in Germany

Destruction of Berlin

Partition of Berlin

Unifications of Berlin

Creation of Israel

Sending poor Palestinians into diaspora

Tripartite invasion of Egypt in 1956

1967 Arab- Israeli War

October 1973 War

West-East Cold War

Iran-Iraq War

First Gulf War

Fall of Saddam Hussein

Fall and disintegration of Soviet Union

Britain joining the EU

Britain leaving the EU

Apollo 1-17

Independence of countries in Asia and Africa

14 British Prime Ministers

Charles and Diana

Charles and Camilla

Andrew and Fergie

Harry and Megan

14 American Presidents

7 Saudi Kings

48 Italian Prime Ministers

9 UN Secretary-Generals

3rd, 4th, and 5th French Republics

Mad Cow Disease

The Internet

Apple TV

Netflix

Wi-Fi

Donald Trump

Covid

Only because she rarely leaves her palace

SO Keep Safe and Stay at Home✅✅👌👌👍👍

Vaanathai Pola 208

When everything you love has been stolen from you, sometimes all you have left is revenge. Sometimes, the innocent get hurt. But one by one, the guilty will pay. Nothing ever goes exactly as you expect. And mistakes are life and death. Collateral damage is inescapable.

The moment Radhu aka Radha Krishnan aka Ayan Ahmadi aks Adam Connors aka Abbas Ali Khan got down from the safety of the branches of the tree and placed his feet on the ground, his thoughts now focused entirely on the safety of the old man who called himself Palam Swamy and also the paramount safety of Kavita.

When Radhu stepped forward and stood in front of Palam Swamy using his body to shield him armed only with a jagged-edged thick bamboo stick, all doubts and fears dropped away like life abandons the living once the body has been judged Dead and now he stood ready to do battle and in a way he had become a beast and a top-level Alpha predator.

Radhu's mother Shinogai Ahmadi, the head of Spartan, America's most secret and covert intelligence wing had seen this in herself and had identified this in her own son, Ayan even when he began going to high school.

The small bruises on his forearms, the occasional black eye, bumps on his forehead and the tiny muffled groans that he made from the time he joined high school in Nebraska, USA, she knew and understood that he was being targetted because of his faith and name and yet he bore it all with immense patience and tolerance.

Then, Shinogai's attention and curiosity were both Piqued from the sudden absence of the familiar bruises and had one day asked Radhu, ' baby, are you okay? anything you need to talk about or do you need any help?'

But Radhu aka Ayan Ahmadi has smiled and a creepy and scary smile that bordered on evil and had replied with a smile, ' I took care of it, Ammi.'

Radhu had indeed taken care of it with a little help from their shadowy companion, " The Old man" who was right now in Chennai cleaning up the trails of death that he had left behind in " The Flock" and that his own mother had left on the ground far below their room that was on the fourth floor of Global hospitals.

Both Kavita from up the tree and Palam Swamy watched Radhu with fascination as he began to slowly move forward towards the tall grass from where the unknown danger was approaching them.

The forest fell silent and the animal that had been walking towards them too fell silent and time itself seemed to slow and pause all around them but for Radhu's eyes and instincts and then the Grass parted and all he saw was a huge yellowish-brown animal rush past him and Palam Swamy who stood behind him and then the grass parted again and he caught a fleeting glimpse of two young people, a man and woman run past them with swords drawn and they were following the big lion that had just made its appearance.

Radhu stood frozen with shock and amazement and he turned to see what in the name of Allah was happening and then he charged for nearly twenty men all armed with knives and other sharp weapons stepped out from the cover of the tall grass in which they had obviously been lying in wait and now they charged with loud yells and with weapons and with deadly intent.

In the seconds he had to see, evaluate and react, Radhu saw five men disperse by stepping back while the others rushed towards the lion and the young couple who had made their arrival so suddenly.

Radhu saw the lion dispatch three men with just one powerful swipe of its front right paw and then it stood on its hind legs and roared so loudly that it cause temporary hearing loss to all of them.

Radhu's instincts screamed warnings and a veteran of many covert operations, he realized that somehow Kavita was the target of this sudden attack and turning he ran towards the tree and just in time for he saw the same five men who had slowly slipped away from the main group of attackers now approach the tree with their eyes focussed solely on Minister Kavita Durai Pandi Arumugam and charged with loud screams.

A bamboo stick, a spoon, a fork, a butter knife is but that in the hands of us normal people but turn into deadly weapons in the arms of warriors and ones who have been trained to kill and dispatch other warriors with minimum effort and so it was in this situation and fight.

Radhu's only goal and plan was to keep Kavita safe and with that, he moved and he moved with force and power.

The five men realizing that Radhu stood between them and their own purpose advanced and then made a mistake.

If they had spread out and had advanced towards the tree in which Kavita had taken shelter in, maybe one of them would have had an opportunity to launch an attack on her but they came as a tight group and that was enough for Radhu who ran towards them armed with just a bamboo stick held in front of him suddenly changed tactics and holding the bamboo stick firmly in both his powerful hands rammed into all the five attackers and swept them away from the tree with the force and power of a charging elephant.

All the five men were taken by surprise and before they could react they found fists made of stone coming at their faces with the speed of bullets that had been fired from a machine gun.

Radhu's left fist-pumped out a punch that knocked the man who stood close to his right and at the same time his right leg launched a kick to the knees of the next one and in the same movement, his right fist now fired a punch into the face of the one who stood to his left and three fell and then the remaining two were knocked out and probably fell down with their lights knocked out more out of fear than from the ferocity of the punches that met their bodies.

Just a few seconds had passed and with the slippery five dealt with, Radhu quickly turned and ran to assist the two youngsters who themselves were just about finishing breaking bones and jaws of the attackers and stopped in his tracks for the beast, a huge lion swiped and knocked down the last two men who had dared enter the forest with intent to maim and kill and turned and looked into him and whispered into his soul.

' Welcome Radha Krishnan, child of the snowy peaks and I hope you and your queen find peace and solace here. My master and companion calls me Buddha.'

Radhu stood staring into the eyes of the huge lion and saw strange lights dancing deep inside the lion's eyes and said, ' Surely, this is all a dream for lions don't talk and surely lions cannot get into a humans head and converse in English.'

The lion slowly advanced on them with both the youngsters side by side and Radhu realized from seeing them properly for the first time that they were not that young and were adults in their early or mid-thirties.

They looked at Radhu and at Kavita who had climbed down from the tree and now stood facing them and the man smiled and spoke in pure Oxford English, ' welcome, Ma'am, and a warm welcome to you too Mr Radha Krishnan, I am Arul and this is my sister Jothi. Our queen Malar sends her warm wishes and greetings and has requested that you be brought before her and the God of this forest and mountain who will soon join us in Perumalvaram once he is done punishing all those who dared to trespass into this ancient and sacred land.

The peace and tranquillity of the forest were broken by clicking sound and both Buddha and Radhu reacted at the same time and Radhu put out his left hand and pushing Kavita behind him turned to shield her and took the bullets that were fired by one of the attackers who lay on the ground.

Vaanathai Pola 209

Life, existence is a complex web spun by an unseen artist and an unknown force that we address with full faith and belief as GOD. It is an energy, an immense unknowable and unfathomable power that is mindblowing in its size, reach and age. This entity that we call creator is everywhere and is present in everything and pervades into the deepest of deep chasms.

I say unknowable and unfathomable in its size because today, most of us who classify ourselves in the group " Average intelligence" know that the planet we live in is not everything and that this planet that we call Earth is but a speck of dust.

" A speck of dust you say" you might ask me and then spread your hands around the house, the area, the city, the state and until your hands mean this mighty planet and I will point to the sky and say, " there is no sky, there is no roof but space, endless space in which this speck of dust floats on.'

But, my use of the above lines was to bring in the word Nexus.

Nexus means a central or focal point, a connection or series of connections linking two or more things and it is with this word and meaning that I lead you up the dark and evil filled path that leads to the house called Thevar Illam and into the den of Mookaiah Thevar, the patriarch of one of the most powerful, well respected and feared family that made their home in Madurai.

For the day that started with the discovery of the decapitated body of Superintendent Manohar left hanging outside the Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple did not start that day and began many decades ago.

The Guardians, the angels, the gods that protected the forest of Perumalvaram and all that lived inside its womb largely ignored all that which took place outside its boundaries and this was put in practice by those who had come early and when I say early, I mean during the dawn of life and the dawn of the first human many billions of years later.

They were the farmers of the universe, the bringers of life with the seeds that they sowed and nurtured and then left it all alone for life, nature and fate to take its own course.

But, the GOD of the Mountain that they prayed to as Kavin had risen in fury when the evil nexus of Mookaiah Thevar and Jagatratchagan had dared to think of entering the forest and placing their greedy and tainted hands on all that was hidden in the womb of the mountain.

From the four corners had come the five elements of the earth and had whispered to the entity that was called the blind baba, the plans being hatched inside Thevar Illam.

The forty years of looting ancient and priceless antiques had finally come full circle when the nexus of politicians, police, temple authorities and rich and powerful people had decided to loot the treasures of the ancient Meenakshi Amman Kovil.

The blind baba had waited for six months and had waited patiently, hoping that the outside life and its machinations would not force his hand and force his rage to resort to punishment for he knew very well that when he punished it always meant the end

But the nexus of Mookaiah and Jagatratchagan with the police department and along with temple priests had crossed the final line and were about to execute their plan which was to steal the treasures that lay in the many vaults of the Meenakshi Amman temple and so the blind baba had acted and had left behind the headless body outside the temple as a warning and its head on a spike at the gate of Thevar Illam.

The guardian angel, God called Blind baba stopped and heard the gunshots and whispered to the air " Buddha, my friend, carry Radhu to the mountain and ask Queen Malar to tend to him and wait for my return."

Taking out the ancient Conch inlaid beautifully and intricately with silver, gold and precious gems, he placed it on his lips and blew into it and looked at DC Karthik, ' Young man, I blew the conch as a signal to the trees that are not trees and that are hiding in front of you in plain sight."

DC Karthik nodded timidly for he had seen enough and had also personally experienced enough at the hands of the blind beggar to disagree to him and yet he whispered quietly, ' Trees among trees, Mr Baba, isn't that a bit vague even for you who i and the others have no understanding about.'

He had not finished speaking when the ground began to rumble and tremble and DC Karthik and the others panicked and looked at the Blind baba and whispering fearfully, " Elephants, a whole herd of elephants are charging towards us " and all of them took refuge behind the tall, slim figure of the blind Aghori baba and watched with bated breath as in the gloomy afternoon darkness of the forest, shadows began to move towards them.

i

How Much Money is Enough?

Brothers Dick and Mac McDonald opened a small drive-in restaurant in San Bernadino, CA in 1940 which became a surprise hit for the locals. It turned a profit immediately because it was fast and cheap, making ita destination for teenagers and young families.

Following World War II, the brothers foresaw a number of changes occurring in the country, which made them want to focus more on their time building up their customer base of families.

There was a burgeoning middle-class intent on making the American Dream come true. People were buying homes in the suburbs at a rapid clip and families were growing from a post-war baby boom. This meant people had less time to cook because commutes into the city were now longer and people were tending to their growing families.

People were quickly learning what it was like to bebusy.

The McDonald brothers got the message loud and clear so they did a deep dive into their operation to discover where they could find efficiency gains in the kitchen to speed up the process. The original menu including hot dogs, BBQ and a variety of sandwiches but the receipts showed 80%of sales were for hamburgers.

So they simplified their offerings to rely exclusively on hamburgers, fries and shakes. Burgers were less labour-intensive so this allowed them to turn food prep into an assembly line. Dick McDonald later said,“Our whole concept was based on speed, lower prices, and volume.” After closing down for a kitchen overhaul, the new and improved McDonald’s opened for business in 1948.

Fast food was born.

By the mid-1950s, business was booming and the brothers were sharing $100,000 a year in profits, a tidy sum at that time, especially when you consider the burgers cost just 15 cents a piece.

McDonald’s was doing so well it was only a matter of time before franchise opportunities presented themselves. The problem is, the McDonald brothers had no aspirations to build a fast-food empire. David Halberstamexplains why in his book The Fifties:

In truth they were already content with their lives and saw no reason to expand—they were making more money than they had dreamed of, they had lovely houses with tennis courts, new Cadillacs every year. Neither had children and therefore there were no thoughts of leaving a financial empire to their heirs. They thought of McDonald’s as a one-shot operation, and they had little interest in a great national network of hamburger stands bearing their name.

But their milkshake2 salesman, a gentleman by the name of Ray Kroc, did have aspirations to build an empire. After witnessing their operation firsthand, Kroc immediately saw the potential for expansion to take the McDonald’s assembly line nationwide. Kroc was a high school dropout with a chip on his shoulder who was always looking for an idea or invention that would make him a fortune.

Kroc understood the brothers wanted no part of the constant travel, sales pitches and operational headaches involved in the expansion process so he convinced them to let him take over as their franchising agent.

At age 52, Kroc finally had an opportunity to make a fortune and a name for himself. McDonald’s was a wonderful idea at the perfect time. He wanted to bring that idea to every suburb in the country. By the1960s, Ray Kroc was rolling out 100 new restaurants a year.

By 1961, Kroc’s name was more synonymous with McDonald’s than the brothers whose name was on the sign.

Eventually, they all butted heads because each had different aspirations and Kroc decided to buy them out. The brothers asked $1million each after taxes.

Kroc had to go into debt to do it but the price tag turned out to be a steal. They let him keep the name and Kroc went on to turn McDonald’s into one of the biggest brands on the planet. Before he died in1984, his net worth was estimated at well over half a billion dollars.

Kroc’s story is more revered in American hustle culture these days but I’m more impressed with the actions of the McDonald brothers in this story. They figured out how much was enough for them and didn’t worry about the opportunity cost of their decision to sell.

They were in a good place financially but even those who have a lot of money have a difficult time being content with what they have.

Walt Disney’s granddaughter, Abigail Disney, discussed the problem with using money as a primary measure of value in life in an interview last year:

They did a study at the Chronicle of Philanthropyyears ago where they asked people who inherited money, “What amount of money would you need to feel totally secure?” And every single one of them, no matter what they had, named a number that was roughly twice what they inherited. So, that’s what you need to know about money, right? If that is your primary measure of success or value in life, then good luck with that, because it will never feel good.

When confronted with the question of how much is enough money for you, the answer is likely to be “more” no matter how much you have.

The McDonald brothers obviously left a bunch of money on the table. Kroc likely would have pushed them out anyway but they certainly could have held out for a higher price. Imagine how much they would have been worth had they received shares in the equity of the company?

But how much money does any one person need?

A million dollars was real money in the 1960s. The McDonald brothers already had the life they desired and weren’t looking to work as hard as Kroc to turn McDonald’s into the behemoth we know and love today.

Years later Dick McDonald was asked if he had any regrets about selling out for far less than he could have made had he just held onto his ownership stake. No regrets, he said, “I would have wound up in some skyscraper somewhere with about four ulcers and eight tax attorneys trying to figure out how to pay all my income tax.”

Entrepreneurs and business books will always prefer someone like Kroc who sees the world as limitless.

I tend to side with Dick and Mac McDonald who knew their limits and figured out what their personal level of “enough” was.

Vaanathai pola 210

More than anything in life, words full of meaning, conversations full of pondering and revealing, verbal exchanges with souls that you trust and care and moments full of poems and prose that take shape and escape your soul as questions and a voyage.

That few minutes that you sat next to a friend, spending time sharing a cup of coffee, a bajji or a bonda, and sharing and comparing notes about dreams and destinies, are permanently seared as a beautiful memory, scar in your soul and you hold that dear as long as you are here and even if they are not near and have passed through the veil, the membrane that separates all that lives and all that does not live.

Nearly five years have passed since I introduced the character of Azhagan and his blind mother Avini and their lives set in the early 13th century and with the Pandya-Chola war ravaging the land of Sanga Tamil.

I don't know why I titled the story " The boy who went into the dark and came back with light " for it just came to me at that time and maybe it came because I was the writer and long ago I too had gone into the dark and had come back with light.

The story starts with a retired IIT Professor Sadshivam who visits the Murray auction house one Sunday as requested by his daughter who works with an auction house in New York and purchases some sketches that appeared to have been done many years ago.

The sketches are of a Blind woman who is fully pregnant and in the backdrop, the artist has placed a solitary mountain and with some strange lights hanging over it.

The sketches are delivered to his home and the story starts with them and the warrior who appears in his dreams and whispers the names of Avini and Azhagan.

Azhagan is part human and part alien and is the guardian angel of the village called Perumalvaram. He is part of an alien race who call themselves "The Ancients" who are farmers and are called thus because they travel around the Universe in their space ships, seeding suitable planets with life and helping them kickstart their voyage but take no part in how they do it or why they do it.

But, they intervene in the matter of the blind Pandyan girl Avini and place in her womb the seed of their kind and only later realize that a great king and leader has taken hold in the womb of the human and begin to watch and guard both mother and child.

Avini sat by the small but eternal flowing river called Sivatheertham bathing herself and also enjoying her four old son's fingers scrubbing and cleaning her feet.

She reached out slowly and touched his head and then bent and kissed his head and said, ' Azhaga, I should be doing what you are doing. Please forgive this poor blind woman who became your mother for you are a prince, an angel that deserves better, much better than what I and this village have to offer.'

Azhagan slowly placed her right foot on his lap and letting her toes rest on his chest, looked up at her and asked, ' Mother, why did you name me Azhagan?'

Avini smiled, ' because, the word Azhagu and all that it stands for suits you very well. But, more than that, you make me feel beautiful with your presence and my life has been transformed from the time that you came into my womb.'

Telling her to be still and wait for him, Azhagan left the stream and quickly gathered many sweet-smelling flowers that had bloomed on the plants on the banks and using a green vine began to make a colourful garland for his mother.

The plants sensing his alien presence slowly bent to him and took turns brushing his face and body and secretly absorbed his energy that only they could sense and suddenly all the buds on the plants erupted in full bloom and unripe fruits began to change colour and ripen.

Avini sat in full bloom and said nothing as her son placed the garland around her neck and yet her soul sensed the energy of her child radiating from the flowers and looked at him without seeing him but sensing him and said,' And you ask me why I named you, Azhagan?'

Renuka looked at her son as he suddenly ran towards the window and stood with his eyes wide open and she asked with concern, ' Baby, what is it? what do you see? please share it with me too?'

Nikhil turned and looked at his mother and smiling like an angel, said, ' Mother, I am you and you are me. I am beautiful because you are beautiful and even if you cannot see or sense all that I do, all you have to do is touch me and it will be revealed like the way it was revealed to Mother Avini by the God and Lord of the mountain.'

He returned his gaze to the world outside and said, " It is time for new life and it is also time for death."

Renuka ran to him and falling to her knees asked him with fear in her eyes and in her voice, ' Nikhi, what are you saying?'

Nikhil cupped Renuka's face in both his hands and said, " Vijay and Suja are going to be born, mother and it is their time now for they have begun their voyage from the darkness of the womb into the world of light that lies waiting for them."

Then pointing south, ' But, it is death and eternal darkness for all those who have trespassed into the forest of our Lord for Babaji is going to unleash hell from the heavens."