The Cardinal Sins

Pradyumna, Swasthee and Jeevitha were sitting idle at the local park on that saturday evening. When one has nothing worth to talk about, he should gossip about the things happening around him. And following that rule, Swasthee broke the silence, "Did you hear about that naughty brat of nine years who lives at the 9th cross, was slapped by a complete stranger at this very park"
Jeevs thought what nonsense is Swats talking. But she added to the entertainment, "Did you hear about the break-in into that teenager Bhawar's house. The thief didn't take anything...He just broke the television..."
Prads wasn't the one to be left behind. He added, "Gosh! This is nothing. My Neighbor, the middle aged lady Mrs Shanthi's heels got broken and she fell and hurt her legs very badly. She is blaming her Mother-in-law"
Girls thought that Prads was definitely much better than them

Just then a weird-looking guy with spectacles who was overhearing the conversation appeared before them and confessed "It was me who is behind all the three incidents.
I am punishing people for the ar-shad vairis. Six villains of mankind" Swats felt as if this guy just walked out of B-Grade hollywood thriller movie, and inquired more about the incidents, "Ar-shad vairis? You mean Kama, Krodha, Moha, lobha, mada, matsara...Right?"
The guy was happy that the young lady knew what he was doing, "Absolutely. And the young boy was guilty of the sin of Kama."
The weirdo's words shocked them as he explained his stand, "Kama... Desire...The boy had a plastic ball... he desired for the rubber ball...he got it... and then he desired for the covering ball... His desires was just increasing. So I gave him a good thrashing and brought it to control..."
Swats couldn't stop laughing, "I thought Kama was what Emraan Hasmi does with his heroines in the movies?"
Jeevs was angry rather and said, "Baccche bhagwaan ke samaan hothe hain(Children are angels sent by God).. unko kaam se kya matlab (How can they be guilty of such a sin like Lust)..."

Swats wanted to know more on the teenager who was their classmate.The crazy guy was loving the attention the girls gave him," Moha... excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures?" Prads questioned him, "And what could be that?"
The man spoke calmly "IPL...Indian Premier League." The crazy guy loved to see the surprised look on the cute faces which was asking him for explanations. He did it like a statesman, "The cricket fever had taken the boy completely over... The boy forgot everything... his studies... his family...his friends... his girlfriend...and sat in front of the television... So It was my duty to save him before it was too late. So I broke the television..."
Jeevs was thrilled and invited him to her college, "Would you come down to our college and take a look at the laptops and mobiles of our college boys and what they do with it..."
Swats added, "Yeah... He would definitely have a field day..."

Prads was more curious of the crime committed by his neighbor, the married lady
The madman answered him without taking his eyes off the girls, "Krodh... She gets very angry at her husband and scolds him all the time...."
Swats didn't digest the explanation, "Woh tho har biwi ka janam sidh hak hain...(It is the birthright of all wives)... and don't they end up together at the end of the day..."
Jeevs remembered something she had read long back, "Do you know the basic difference between war and marriage. In marriage you get a chance to sleep with your enemy"

Jeevs got curious as to if there were any other victims. The crazy guy smiled, "No... But I want to make you my next victim. And let me tell your crime also before you question me. You are guilty of Matsara... Jealousy...You always envy Swats and her closeness with Prads. That brings a lot of negative emotions"
That made Jeevs loose her cool. She answered more aggressively, "Its confirmed that you are a madman. Who wouldn't love to have a great friend like Prads? I don't envy her but do love to be in her place and enjoy that closeness." and Jeevs was sure that it was waste trying to put some sense into the madman who had got all his interpretation of the cardinal sins completely wrong, "Anyway! Tell me How do you intend to punish me?"
The crazy guy took his penknife, "I am gonna disfigure the beautiful face of...." Before he could complete his sentence, Jeevs raised her fist ready to take on her opponent. The crazy guy laughed out loud, "What am I gonna get by attacking you. Will it remove the jealousy from your mind. No! I need to attack the object of jealousy. " And saying so he turned towards Prads.

The minute his back was turned, the girls pounced upon him and brought him down and the knife was now in the safe hands of Jeevs. But she threw it away and spoke for herself and Prads, "Why do we need Knives when we have such long nails?" Prads couldn't see any further and closed his eyes.

Even I cannot describe the assault on the poor guy. The last I heard was that the police had taken the guy into custody and they say he was traumatized by the assault and was sent to some institution and may take months before he completely recovers.

Swats in a dilemma

"Secrets are to be revealed, lies are to be told and promises are to be broken". This was the advice given by Jeevs to her classmate Swats. Swats' elderly friend Prads entered at the correct time and reprimanded her for such a irresponsible act. Jeevs who had the hots for Prads was more than happy to clear the area for Prads, "The arena is yours. I will take the back seat. Lets see how will you help her our..."

Prads began his sermon with some great lines, "Promises should be made from the heart.. And if it is done so, when it is broken, a heart would also break." Swats immediately retorted, "The whole trouble is caused by this silly heart. If the promise is not broken...then my heart would break... So I am in a emotional dilemma" and then she explained her position, "When leaving my hometown, Papa dearest took a promise from me that I wouldn't fall in love until my studies are completed. But... its natural na that what you try to avoid is the thing that ultimately happens to you..." That brought a smile on Prads face, "Congrats! And who is that Lucky Guy!" Swats got angry and shouted at him, "Prads! You are elder to me and you shouldn't be congratulating me. You should talk me out of this.."

Prads got into his role quickly, "Swats!... Its not the age to fall in love!" and pointing at Jeevs he added, "When you are seeing dreams about a guy, someone else would be studying and she would outperform you in academics... "
Jeevs gave a mischievous smile and consoled Swats, "Don't worry... I would be also dreaming... And take a wild guess as to whom would I be wandering with in my dream world"
Swats ignored her and argued, "Prads! I am twenty... If not now, then when should I be falling in love?"

Prads was much elder and knew how to put some sense into her brains , "See..It is not like the earlier days.... Then, If boys didn't study, they would be sent to garage.... if girls didn't study, they would be given in marriage... This is new generation... Love comes later, ambitions and dreams come first."
Jeevs wanted to interrupt him and she did it with full smiles, "If someone is willing, I am ready to enter into a marriage now...One can continue the studies later also. Instead of coming in that public transportation system, you get a guy who will drop you daily to college and also someone to do your records and take care of the laundry too. What do you say Swats?"
Swats still had a serious face, "Prads! It is not just the age to have ambitions and dreams. It is the age when we yearn to have someone close to our hearts who can know our wants even before we can say it.." and she got poetic and continued,"Its the age when we know what is like to be in a relationship. It's the age when we know when to let emotions loose and when to control. It's the age when we respect parents and love them but also tell them when they are wrong"

Prads immediately jumped into action,"You yourself have given the answer! If you have that confidence, then tell your father that you are not doing anything wrong.. Tell him with whom you have fallen in love with... May be he will approve... By the way what is the name of that boy?"
Swats, a bit shy-fully, "Sinchan... Before she cud complete, "Strange name... is he from the north east...?" Swats continues, "Sinchan... and Bob the builder"
Prads expressed with a shock, "What!Two guys?" Jeevs commented, "It is always advisable to have a Stepney na..."
Swats explains the reason, "I am not able to make up my mind..."

Prads thought this was stupid and casually asked, "What do they do? Where are these two guys from?..." Swats replied, "One is a good for nothing who always hits at girls and the other is a mason... " Prads didn't like the answers, "Really... Great choices..." And Jeevs added to Swats answers, "And they are from Toonpur"
Prads shrugged his shoulders with confusion, "Where on the earth is this place...? Let me use google earth on the laptop.." Jeevs answered, "To know that place, you need to have a DTH with Television Set..." Swats laughed, "Bechara! He never watches TV... They are cartoon characters... " and so saying the girls giggled and started running away.

Jeevs turned around and giving a cute smile, commented, "And you too make a nice cartoon character."

Love Vs Friendship

Though Monsoon Season was over, the Rains had not stopped its display of show and force on the coastal city. Trapped in their hostel were the two girls, Jeevs and Swats. Swats wanted to meet her dear friend Pradhyumn cutely called Prads.

Jeevs who had the hots for Prads was able to read this and commented on the friendship which Swats also referred to as a platonic relationship, "You are missing Prads! So am I! So how does it make you different from me." Swats gave a cool retort, " Well! I am not so selfish like you cupid struck girl! You want no one else to miss him and you want him all for yourself..You want him to take you to a different world! Uff!" Jeevs agreed and started singing the romantic single from a Aamir Khan Movie,"O mere sapnon ke saudaagar,Mujhe aisi jagah le jaa, Main chaahti hoo, mere humsafar Mujhe pariyon ki duniyaan dikhaa, Pyaar hi pyaar ho jis jagah,Mujhe aisa jahaan dikhaa"

Jeevs was full of smiles as she continued her argument, "What is love without selfishness! But mine is just a one-sided love. So not worth talking about.I still have some questions to you. Prads is a 32 year old boy! What do you think is important for him in life now? A friendship to see that time is killed or is it some romance to heal a lonely heart."
Swats wanted to prove that love is worse than friendship and came up with a nice quote she read somewhere "I sometimes feel love and death are similar. One takes the heart away and another the beats..." and continued her sermon on friendship "When in love,you always fear of hurting the other and think twice. But in friendship, there is no restrictions on your emotions... Do what you feel you want to, think of the results later. When the mind is set so free, wouldn't the heart heal by itself"

Jeevs was fully prepared with her set of arguments as she continued, "How long do you think you can be her best friend? Once a girl enters his life as a wife, would you think she would allow you to continue as a best friend... Isn't a wife, a husband's best friend?"
Swats gave a angelic smile as she answered gracefully, "Marne ke darr se koi jeena toh nahi chodta na (For the fear of death, No one stops living their life... do they?) Just because of the fear that I might not be as important to him later as I am now, why should I stop being his friend?"

Even the Rain Gods seemed to pleased by her answer and it paused its show of force. Swats was immediately out of her room and on her honda pleasure vehicle. Before departing Swats spoke her heart out on her relationship with Prads, "I don't love him... I don't need him.... I don't want him... But I love the feel I have when I am with him..."

The Blame Game!

Prads was surprised to find commotion reigning at Swats classroom. The reason was their college project. Only two days were remaining, and there was still a lot of work to do and the team members were blaming each other. Prads did what elders usually enjoy to do at such a time,that is, giving advice, "Stop playing the blame game!. Just someone come forward and take the charge and lead others. Find a solution like Jambavanth the bear did. One of you should lead like Hanuman the monkey-god did. Don't keep on cursing like those silly apes did..." Jeevs, Swats classmate knew that Prads was in a story telling mood and asked everyone to take their seats.

Prads liked telling stories and he began thus, "In Ramayan, Sugreeva had given the difficult project of finding Sita Devi to his Vanar Sena. He also had given them deadline. One such expedition had reached the sea coast searching for Sita and were informed by a bird that Sita was in the Lanka Island. All the monkeys were now racking their brain as to how to cross the sea. When they saw that the task was next to impossible, they remembered their leader's warning of burning them alive if they came back with no results. So the frustrated apes started playing the blame game...."

Prads starting modulating his voice to suit the characters he was going to speak about, "A young monkey whose marriage was to happen in a day or two started crying, 'We are all gonna die... And our leader Sugriva is responsible for our fate... He got united with his wife and now he wants all the husbands in the world to be united with their wives. What about the to-be-husbands? Will he show mercy on me and spare me'" Jeevs who had the hots for Prads, giggled "Yups! I will convince him to spare my dear monkey"

Prads ignored her and continued, "Another young monkey had a different view, 'Its not Sugreeva. Its our dear friend Hanumantha. It was he who brought about the strategic alliance between Monkey-King Sugreeva and Lord Ram. Look where the alliance has landed us... Point of no return!' Another ape put its thinking cap and uttered like a wise old man, 'No re...It was the bird Jatayu. Instead of just dying after being attacked by Raayan, he held on to his breath and then waited for Lord Ram and after telling him how Devi Sita was forced to become the first Indian woman ever to fly overseas, he told Lord Ram in a musical fashion, 'Take my breath away...' Couldn't he just silently pass off... "'

No one was willing to interrupt the story teller. Prads continued, " A Male chauvinist pig... I mean...monkey spoke out, 'Its all because of that lady Kaikeya who used her beauty and took those two harsh boons from her husband Dasharath. MIND YOU! Root cause of all sorrow is WOMAN...' Suddenly a monkey who had a soft corner for ladies interrupted, "Na! Na! Its the old man Dasharath. Even in his old age, when he had four grown up married sons, he was passion filled and fell for the tricks of his wife. He could have simply said, 'Over my dead body!'"

Suddenly one of the listener spoke against the story, "Are you trying to please the girls here with your fun filled story or are you trying to prove something."

Prads smiled and came to the point, "A old bear in the team, Jambavanth instead of finding whom to blame focused on who or what could rescue them at this difficult time and found that only Hanuman had the ability. Only Hanuman could take such a leap and reach Lanka and return within the given time. So he used all his mind in convincing him to cross the sea and bring news of Sita. That's what I wanted to tell all of you. Instead of finding reasons as to who is responsible for the delay, why don't you focus on what needs to be done and how it should be done within the limited time. Find that someone in your team who can take the charge and help you out!"

All eyes in the classroom fell on Swats and Swats looked helplessly at Prads,"Yeh mujhe kaha pasadiya, Prads..." and she said her favorite dialogue, "with friends like you, do I need enemies".

Mock Interview

Prads was a bit off mood. It seemed someone was forcing him to do something. Swats wanted to know what was eating his head.Prads said his parents were forcing him for a ladki dekho program and he hated it as it made him uncomfortable. Swats tried to give some comfort, "Well... Buss itni si baat... lets have a mock ladki dekho program here now... in this classroom..." Prads, "And who would be the girl...? "

Before Swats could open her mouth, her class mate who had hots for Prads and named Jeevitha a.k.a Jeevs volunteered, "Main Hoon Na!" The stage was set.... and Prads entered the room like a boy who has come to see a girl. Jeeves started quite romantically, "I was waiting for the first sixteen years of my life for some Prince Charming to steal my heart. The next three years, I kept guessing who it could be... Now I can't bear anymore... Please take me from here." Like a director, Swats announced, "You are supposed to make the atmosphere uncomfortable so that Prads is prepared to handle a worst case scenario..." Jeevs hated it but still said bitterly but without putting herself completely into the act and started with a quote from her favorite TV character Ally McBeal, "There is no sin in loving men... only pain. I hate boys... since my childhood... Whenever I see boys, I feel like pricking them and killing them with my kitchen knife"
Prads commented with a smile, "Hmm.. Why take such pain. If you smile just once, We boys would die immediately..." Swats was suprized by this statement of Prads and wondered whether he was trying to impress Jeevs.

Jeevitha turning towards Swats, "Mummy! Mujhe yeh ladka bahuth pasand hain...Abhi shaadi karva dona... Please!!!"(I like this guy very much. Get me married immediately na.) Swats got strict, "Stick to the act. Prads! Tell her about your passion and ambitions." Prads like a statesman, "I like watching movies. All languages, Hindi, English, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Korean, French, Bengali...." Jeevs exclaimed with a surprise, "Wow! You know too many languages... Do you understand the language of my heart also?" Swats coughed loudly, but Jeevs was fully focused on Prads. Prads answered her looking directly into her eyes, "I don't know all the languages. I watch the movies with subtitles...But to interpret what your eyes are telling, I definitely don't need subtitles..."

Jeevs was really swept off her feet, but keeping Swats in mind, she furthered another negative view in front of him, "But I hate movies. I feel sleepy while watching them..." Prads was quick to reply, "Well! Elders had truly said, 'Opposites attract'. And what use is my huge shoulders? When I see a movie, You can sleep with your head rested against my shoulders." Jeeves wanted immediately to do so, but she forwarded one more argument, "But I don't watch Television also. I feel its better reading a novel than watching television. Watching television is like spraying black paint on the eyes..." Prads smiled, "Even I don't watch Television..." Jeevs smiled and reminded him, "Then your earlier statement doesn't hold good, 'Opposites attract'... remember..."

Prads didn't so easily give up any argument, "Common things and little differences.. both are important for a relationship.If It's the things in common that make relationships enjoyable, then it's the little differences that make them interesting. Who wants the company of the television, when I have you? Instead of wasting our evening watching those mushy serials and planned reality shows, we can go for a romantic walk..." Jeevs was now really fully in love. She looked at Prads once and then at swats and said "Mujhse aur acting nahi hotha!" (I cant act any more!) and running towards Prads, she landed a kiss on his cheek.

Prads got brains

Prads had three hectic days of work at office and it was culminating the next day with a presentation and he explained the stressful situation to his young friend Swats, "Gosh! My Brain has completely worn out... I need to get a new one for tomorrow's presentation..." Swats like Dhaan-veer Karn offered her brain even without being asked for, "You can take mine.. Anyway it will not be used tomorrow morning... That's for sure." Prads laughed at her offer and was also curious, "And why would your brain remain complete idle tomorrow morning? Are you bunking classes and watching latest bollywood Flick?" Swats shook her head and answered, "Tomorrow we have exams and I always keep my brain in the refrigerator before I leave for the exams. Otherwise I would get too much doubts regarding the answers"

Prads just casually remarked, "Yeah! If it was possible, I would have definitely tried your small brain." But somewhere up in the heavens above, Goddess Lakshmi took it seriously and came down to fulfill her child Prads' wishes and immediately flung into action, "So...Be it!!... ", she announced. Prads tried to interrupt the process, "Wait, Goddess! But, would her small brain fit into this big head...wouldn't it malfunction? " Goddess Laxmi smiled , "Size hardly matters here. Girls brain works more continuously than a men's, even when one sleeps.... "
Prads exclaimed with a shock, "Gosh! Then my head may get heated up. Is there some kind of internal fan like in the computer system to keep the cool ...." Goddess got confused and then came up with a small bottle in her right hand. Prads got it wrong, "I am a teetotaler. Even under the harshest of the conditions, I don't touch...." Laxmi shouted, "This is not some cheap alcohol... Its navarathan thel... thanda thanda cool cool..." For a moment, Prads thought that lady in front of him was not Goddess Laxmi, but someone who has jumped out of a TV commercial.

But he threw his disbelief to the side, "Is there any cons I need to know, before I use a GIRL's brain..." Goddess Laxmi said, "Hmm... Sometimes Girls will do something stupid which the brain nor the logic can explain. So be prepared for such eventuality..." Prads ignored the warning, "Anyway... I hope in a day nothing would happen..." Laxmi smiled, "I can't assure you about it. Even me in my human form Sita who was so dear to her husband Ram, I did something stupid. Remember, in Panchavati I forced him and then dear brother in law to run for miles behind a silly golden dear..." That argument forced him to think against taking the brain of Swats.

Thats when Swats jumped in and requested Lakshmi, "Why don't you show him the positive side also?" Goddess Laxmi put the pros in front of Prads which had him more confused, "Girls make proper decisions after considering all options.. Haven't you seen how they make their choice while shopping?" Prads teased the Goddess herself on this one, "Yeah! They look at all that the shop keeper has to offer and then buy the one they had seen first... Uff... Really quick decision making ability, they have"
That hurt Goddess Laxmi and she prepared to move away from there. Prads quickly fell at her feet and asked for her forgiveness and agreed for the brain transplant, "Anyway... I hope there would be no harm in changing for a day... You can continue the transplant..."

Laxmi laughed, "You know why you were asking so many questions before agreeing for the brain?... " Swats laughed very loudly even before she heard the answer from the Goddess and exclaimed, "Wow! this is very unlike me...Laughing out so loud!" Prads still was not able to comprehend what was going on and just like a silly young girl looked at Goddess Lakshmi as she explained, "You already have the brain of a young girl who questions anything before using it..."

Swats for the president

Swats was sad and her face was down. Prads inquired very gently, "what happened?" She said with tears in eyes, "I want to stand for the College President But some oppose it arguing that I am girl from the himalayas and alien to this coastal culture and so cant stand ..." Prads didn't hear any further, he just took hold of her hand like a typical bollywood hero and went along with her to the college campus and very aggressively demanded an answer from all present, " Kya kammi hain isme? What is she lacking?" One of the girls was immediately attracted by the husky voice. She was already impressed by Prads earlier.

One of her classmates and a local answered equally aggressively, "She is not one of us. She is not from the coast. She doesn't have love for our culture... " Even before he could complete, Prads started answering, "Love! Doesn't she have love for this institution. Isn't that enough? She knows everything about this college and its people... " and suddenly his eyes fell upon a old sweeper and with too much confidence continued, "She even knows that sweeper over there?" Swats immediately interrupted him, "Err... To be honest, I don't know her... " The local laughed out loudly. But his joy was short lived as Swats continued, " I don't know her because she joined today. The earlier was Seethamma and she worked for 14 years and later returned to join with her sons Luv and Kush..." Prads tried to make a further impact, "She may be 18 years old but she has the maturity of a 30 year old.... " The girl in the crowd shouted, "Thats why I say, 'She is too old for you and I am just perfect for you.'"

The local was the not the one to be silenced so easily, "But when we have the majority of the students from the local, why do we need an outsider as our college president?" Prads was very preachy that days and continued, "An outsider? Hasn't she already made a place in your hearts?" To Swats embarrassment, she found majority of the boys nodding their head in agreement and saying in unison, a big YES. Prads tried to improvise it, "Hasn't she made a impact on the minds of her teachers. Can they forget her?" One of the lecturers was too quick to react, "No Way! She has got only 60% attendance for my class..."

The local tried to put forward some stronger arguments, "But can she fulfill our dreams. Would our demands be ever met?" Prads was very dramatic and looked very much out of a Karan Johar movie, "Look at that face..." and immediately Swats put on a innocent face. Prads continued, "Doesn't that face look quite aggressive to take on the college council..." Prads immediately changed the facial expression and quickly tried to put up a aggressive expression by hitting hard on the lower lips with her upper teeth. Immediately a artist in the group took of his tools and started drawing as Prads continued his pep talk, "That White teeth over red lips symbols victory of good over bad... of satvik guna over tamasik guna ..." and looked at the young local who was now feeling very tired.

Moving like a television show host, he picked up the picture from the artists hand and holding it high, "Doesn't the picture tell the story...", It was a picture of swats teeth hitting hard on the lower lips and Prads proudly announced, "And this would be her election symbol..."
The amorous girl popped up a question to Prads, "Doesn't my lips tell you anything... Read them for me, please!!!" Prads slowly moved towards the girl and it looked he was making an advance. He came quite close to her and said, "Yes... your sweet lips is telling something... it wants to cry out loud that..." The girl got quite excited. But it all fell flat as Prads completed his sentence, "VOTE FOR SWATS!" and the whole crowd jeered along with him.

A Lesson from Mahabharatha

Every Saturday, Swats would come to meet Prads and make him commit to the contract by taking her to a new place. But this Saturday, she wasn't there. Prads felt her absence and when he inquired her, she told that she was in college working on some news report and invited him to her college. Within a hour, he was there and found Swats addressing her classmates on the news report she was preparing, "In this modern age, even for a small misunderstanding or a small difference, quarrels erupts between brothers, and murders and suicides happen. Why can't men of our times be like Ram and his brothers or like the five Pandavas..."
Prads interrupted her flow, "There is an incident also in Mahabharatha when Arjun killed his elder brother Yudhistr..."Swats loved stories and that too from Prads mouth and she immediately handed over the stage to Prads

A girl in the audience sitting next to Swats immediately got a crush on Prads and Swats sensed it. Prads started his story "On the 17th day of the war, Yudhistr was humiliatingly defeated by Karna and was forced to retreat to his camp, wounded. His mind was full of anger and hatred. Arjun left the battlefield in the middle and came down to see his elder brother along with Lord Krishna. But Yudhistra was under the wrong impression that Arjun had killed Karna and brought his severed head as a token. Yudhistr was not only disappointed but also angered on hearing that Arjun just came to check upon him leaving Bheem Brother to deal with Karna"
The girl told to Swats, "Ask him to tell some romantic story na instead of this war stories. His soft lips and small eyes and round nose will suit such a story..."
Swats reminded her, "He is narrating a story, not enacting one.. Stop your imagination running wild..."

Prads was immersed in the story himself, " Yudhistr started abusing his younger brother and his valor and also his weapon, the mighty bow, the Gandiva, "Just throw away Gandiva and go away from the battlefield. If you cant kill Karna, I will get it done through Bheem... " Arjun had made a secret vow that if anyone insults his war weapon Gandiva, he would separate their head from the body. So he took his sword and rushed towards Yudhistr..."
The cupid struck girl expressed her feelings in a very soft tone that was audible only to Swats, "Like I feel rushing into your arms, now..."

Prads may have welcomed her had he listened to her sweet words. But he continued with the story, "He raised the sword and prepared to severe Yudhistr's head from his shoulders. Lord Krishna came to the rescue of Yudhistr and stopped the sword in mid-flight. Arjun told Krishna of his vow and that he had no other go except to kill his brother." But clever Lord had a way-out, "There is a better way to kill a elder person than by severing his head. That is with words. Harsh words and choicest of expletives. This way you would have kept your vow..." and then Prads described of how Arjun abused his brother using expletives, "Arjuna demolished Yudhistra's character and also said that for him only Bheemsena is his brother"
The girl commented to Swats. "Really sweet guy, Prads! He doesn't know what expletives are. His vocabulary is very poor. He should get some training from me. Or asked the bank executive who tried to sell some of his financial products to me."

Prads conintued the story, "Arjun after completing his outburst and describing his brother as incapable, drew his sword again, this time to kill himself. Lord Krishna asked for explanation. Arjun with tears in his eyes, 'How can I live after abusing my dear elder brother' Krishna reminded him of how suicide was the greatest sin, 'It is not appropriate to punish this body which is a punya kshethra for doing sadhana.. Body is the greatest instrument you will ever own. There is a better way... Self praise is very much equivalent to suicide ' and asked Arjun to praise himself from the bottom of his heart. Arjun does so and boasted of how is the strongest of all the Pandavas and where they would be without him and how he alone killed many warriors. When his suicide was complete, Yudhistr drew his sword.
The girl smiled and commented to Swats, "This seems like a contagious disease. Its like in Facebook, when one changes the profile pic or status message, others follow suit."

Prads came to the last parts of his story," Yudhistr was completely down after his brother showed him his real worth. Lord Krishna signaled Arjuna and Arjuna fell upon Yudhistr's feet and asked for forgiveness. Thus the situation returned to normalcy."
Then Prads ended by saying "In today's society, we commit this murder and suicide on a daily basis. Berating elders and boasting about our self in front of them has become a habit for today's generation...Do we realize the evils of the two....?"
The girl stood up, "You can teach my children good moral values..." Swats was surprised, "But, You are not married!" The girl smiled, "Neither is he... rite?"

Swats Has A Story

Prads took part in this local theater form called Yakshagana on weekends. The stories were usually taken from the mythologies. Somehow Swats had began to like the same and she scripted one such play for Prads and his team. The original director of the play, a man in his sixties was made to sit and enjoy this modern version of Prahlad story scripted by Swats.

The curtain opened and the characters and the settings was introduced in a song. It was Demon Hirayankashapu's palace and he had passed the order that everyone should regard him as almighty and not Lord Vishnu. No person had raised their voice except his own son Prahlad. Prahlad was in Gurukul and the cabinet was called to decide how to finish him if he doesn't stop praying Lord Vishnu.

Each of the ministers voiced their opinions, 'Let a crowd of elephants trample him" , "Let poisonous serpents be allowed to run over his young body", "Throw him down the mountains".
But a girl minister played by swats smilingly said, ""Let a young girl enter his Gurukul and make his head turn...Let him fall in love with the girl truly, madly and deeply. After a year, we will call her back and you will see how slowly but surely he would die a bitter death while he is still alive and even Lord Vishnu can't help him. Then he will lose his faith in the Almighty." The demon found the idea acceptable and he put it into action immediately.

The next scene was after a year and Prahlad played by Prads had returned to the palace and looked completely dejected. The demon inquired him of his state and Prahlad like a true Devdas uttered in a musical fashion, "Dad... My heart is broken to pieces. It wouldn't have been so broken even if a thousand elephants had walked over it. My senses seems to be completely malfunctioning...Even the poisonous snakes wouldn't have had this effect...I feel like I am falling down a deep cliff and no one to catch me below..."

The demon was happy and was sure that now his son would lose his faith in almighty. At this opportune moment, his sister entered and said, "Prahlad.. Would you sit with me in the burning pyre..." Prahlad said, "What is this fire compared to the one that is burning inside me from her separation... " And he volunteered to sit alone in the pyre and the fire was totally powerless in doing any harm to Prahlad.
The demon was surprised and asked him how is that possible. Prahlad said, "That's simple. Its called Love... I am not here... Only my body is here. My soul and mind is somewhere far away.." The actor Prads paused for a moment as if to say his soul and mind wandered into some place far away.

Demon was not happy with this one and demanded, "Love can't be that powerful.. If it is so, she should have been here with you. Why would she leave you?" Like a bollywood feel good movie, the girl made the entry at that time, when it was neither day nor night, that is at dusk. She stood at the doorway neither knowing whether to enter or not to enter.She had come there forgetting the lajja of a girl and yet she didn't had the courage of a boy to say the thing... Prads forgot for a moment about his character and said, "Can this happen in real life also" and then came back into the character.

Demon was confused and remembered his real goal, "I will never understand this thing called Love. Coming to the point! Would you now regard me as God. That's what I want to hear from you..."
Prahlad replied negatively, "No!"
Demon asked him, "Then you still say Vishnu is the God..."
Prahlad laughed, "I strongly believe that LOVE IS GOD"

Renouncing the world

Swats was looking for a change... no... not for a change in the weather or something.She wanted a new crush... She was tired of falling for cricketers and television stars. And she found a real one that Saturday evening in the temple as she saw a handsome young boy walking towards the shrine in a very traditional dress. Prads read her desires and announced, "That's Viran, he is doing his second year intermediate, a year younger to you..." and then he added with a smile on his face, "Age is just a number... Thodi upar ya thodi neeche...kee farak padega... come on, let me introduce this princess to him..."

Prads then called the young man by his name and inquired him in his lingo, "So! Whats up, dude?" and a unexpected answer came from young Viran, "I am renouncing this world and becoming a sanyasi..." Prads with a smile continued, "Just when I found a girl who was ready to renounce this world to become your dasi..." Swats didn't like the use of word dasi to describe her. She would have been happy with the word girl friend. But the answer from the young man was not in sync with his age or looks "I am tired of girls. Girls mean worries. If you don't have a girlfriend, You are worried. If you have a girlfriend, you are worried of losing her. If you have a silly girlfriend, you are worried of whether she would end up in making you a laughing stock. If you have a cute girlfriend, you would definitely be worried of someone stealing her from you..."
This angered Swats very much and she shouted, "Girls are not the hub of worries. They are source of inspirations. Any art form has not grown without being inspired by women... Movies, Dance, Plays..." Prads added, "And even Blogs"

Just then a sexy chic in a becoming dress came to the shrine and the head of young Viran swayed in that direction without his knowledge. Swats coughed a little and gave a naughty smile mocking at the young man's behavior. The young man with a divine smile corrected her, "Its not like what you think...I was just appreciating her beauty and not getting attracted by her beauty. I was looking at a God's creation. See... God is present in everything... even in girls. Some separate God from the girls and look at them with lustful eyes... I am not like them..." These words were not going to fool Swats and she sarcastically remarked, "You sure have all the traits of becoming a Godman. Presenting a vice as a virtue!!! Great going."

Then Prads questioned him, "Where do you plan to get your salvation? Some went to himalayas and came back with new thoughts and theories. Some went to Kashi believing that if a person dies there, he never returns back to planet earth. Some went to temple town udupi....Where are you going?" The young man smiled and said, "GOA.." Swats sarcastically commented to Prads, "At least I am meeting one person who knows that there is more to Goa then beaches..." Viran negated her beliefs, "I am going to the beaches itself... " and he added, "If in such a place, one can keep his poise and calm, he is sure to attain salvation.... "

Just then a loud voice reached the trio from far behind, "I will show you the path to salvation, you silly fool!!!" The young man turned in the direction of that loud voice and exclaimed, "Father!!!" The young man's father approached and explained Prads the situation, "This boy is hardly eighteen and he wants a Bajaj Pulsar Bike. Says It is better to lead a life of a ascetic then to have a college life without a bike." And turning to his son Viran, he warned, "I want you back at home by seven in the evening. Otherwise, from tomorrow onwards, I will stop your bus fare reimbursement also and you have to commute to the college in that jam packed auto rickshaw along with those school kids... " That really made tears flow down Viran's cheeks.
Swats felt sorry for the young man and consoled him, "If you wish, I can drop you to college daily...." and after a pause added, "in my Hero Honda pleasure...."

Married Life - A Blissful One ?

That was the end of the weekend and as promised Prads had spent time with his young friend Swats. And wasn't he really tired giving company to a young girl in her shopping. Swats sweetly advised, "Had you married some nice girl, you would have had her welcoming you with a hot cup of coffee and a smile on her lips." Prads laughed at her advice, "Do you really think marriage is just a bed of roses that a husband after office directly goes to his wife's arms"
Then suddenly a car stopped in front of them and a known face waved at Prads and Prads and welcomed him into the car.It was Venkatesh, his old friend and a family man. Though Prads was not much interested to take the ride, Swats forced him in and so they thought they would reach home at the earliest.Aren't they going to be disappointed?

Venkatesh just requested that he needed to stop at a dress renting store for a krishna costume for his son. So they walked in to find a tailoring cum dress renting shop where a male tailor with just a bermuda welcomed them. Whatever variety of dresses he displayed, Venkatesh just had four words for him,'It is too long'. When the tailor asked the age of the baby, Venkatesh proudly said,"One and half years old'
Swats was surprised, "And you want to put him in a fancy dress competition?"
Venkatesh smiled, "Its socializing at the earliest." and he added , "You know lord Krishna killed Putini even before he was a week old!!!" That silenced Swats.
And they were out of there only after a good thirty minutes. Swats just noted down in her diary. When inquired by Prads, she slowly hissed, "First time I am seeing a man taking ample time for selecting a dress and that too for his one and half year old baby. Need to remember this day na!"

She thought the car would move to its destination without any further stops. Swats was proved wrong. The car stopped at a medical store and Venkatesh gave a simple explanation, "In this age, the working married girl has to take a lot of care of her health. And the spouse should be supportive."
Swats really found this husband supportive.He had even forgot the names of the medicines he had to buy for his wife.He gave a call and his supportive wife didn't even pick the call. Swats said, "Must be busy seeing some weekend serial. Wait till the advertisement break comes. She will call you back." As predicted, the return call came after ten minutes and the purchase of medicines and other necessities was made.

Then the vehicle moved at a higher speed and Swats asked a wrong question, "So how are you planning to spend the Sunday?" Venkatesh smiled once and suddenly exclaimed, "Oh God! I have a wedding to attend and I have not yet purchased the gift!!!" and he called his wife and asked him what the next day's bridegroom had presented them on their wedding. This all made Swats laugh, "It doesn't look like gifting. It looks like paying back..." The car had stopped at a gift center and again some more time for gift selection. Venkatesh couldn't just purchase the gift. He had to explain it to his dear wife and get her approval before the purchase is made.

After the purchase was made, and they had travelled some five minutes, Prads spoke, "You had purchased for your child, wife and for tomorrows bridegroom. Aren't you getting something for yourself." Suddenly the car halted not by choice of the driver but by itself and Venkatesh announced to their horror, "I had forgotten to put petrol in the vehicle. It was running on reserve till now...It was continuously warning me but I was occupied by other thoughts" and then he smiled and looking at both Prads and swats, "The petrol pump is just five minutes from here. If you both don't mind, can you?... I mean..."
And then Prads and Swats found them self pushing the car towards the petrol pump.
Prads sarcastically remarked to Swats, "Now say that thing once again about Married Life being blissful!!!"
THE END

More on Prads

Swats seemed to be a bit disturbed. Being a journalism student, she wanted to excel in interviewing people. But her lecturer had ridiculed her saying she can't be a good interviewer, if she keeps giggling and laughing and showing her real emotions at regular intervals while interviewing people. Prads comforted her, "She doesn't know you that well. You are much better than Barkha dutt and others.Come on... go ahead and interview me...let me evaluate your skills"

Swats was on her foot with a imaginary mike and a tape and she shot her first question, "Whats your greatest desire?" Prads replied from his heart and without thinking twice, "To be a father of a child... that too a girl child..."
Swats couldn't control her laughter on hearing this desire.
Prads with a stern face reminded her, "Never ever laugh at others' dreams!"

Swats tried to put up a serious face. But all she could do was to stop the noise of her laughter from being heard. She was still laughing as she put another question, "What makes you want to have a girl child?"
Prads still very serious about his desire continued, "Whenever I see a little girl of age around four to ten, I feel like I am watching Goddess Devi herself.My hands come together by themselves and my mind feels like chanting 'Sarve maangala mangalya shive...'"

Swats laughed again aloud at the innocent replies, "Next time take the Aarthi and the bell also with you. You can offer immediate pooja also na..."
Prads said, "See! You fail again.. You shouldn't mock at someone's emotions"
Swats got serious and threw up another intelligent question, "So how do you feel when you see a young girl of around 23-24 years"

Prads said, "I went to meet a good friend in the big bad city sometime back... Whenever I remember her, I am not drawn back to that time... But some 18 years back... I remember her telling me about her adventures as a 6 year old and I imagine them in my mind whenever she pops up in my memory. She as a small girl running around her grandma's house whistling and inviting the wrath of the elders. She playing with precious stones which is used by her grandpa in his astrology profession and thus angering him. A girl playing in the field with her own set box of games and all alone..."
Swats stopped in the midway,"Oh... Oh... this is something quite different. But do you view every girl like this?"

Prads replied, "Generally the girls I know." Prads then guided her, "Now that you have got my interview, lets see how will you finish it"
Looking at the imaginary camera, Swats put an end to the show, "You have seen a special person today. I wont be surprised, if on the first night, his wife finds a decorated baby cradle rather than a flower spread cushion and her man saying, 'Baby! The cradle is specially for you!'"
This mischievous comment made Prads pick up a stick and chase Swats all around the place.

Kshamaya Dharithri Naari

Prads also has a favorite pass time,taking part in theater plays, a local form called yakshagana where most of the tales are based on mythology. To one such practice session, he had invited his good friend, Swats.

She was thrilled on getting the invitation and was there on time. There were just five persons who were sitting just below the stage and seemed to be musicians. One had a harmonium and another had a drum like instrument. Third one, a old man was without any instrument and so she sat next to him. But as the actors including Prads came on the stage, the old man started singing in a very high pitch that scared the shit out of her. He was explaining the story. The play was based on Sri Rama's adventures in the chitrakoot jungle just before Devi Sita is kidnapped. Swats said, "You can name the play as 'Welcome to the Jungle'"

The story begins with the Old man singing a song explaining how cold it was at Chitrakoot, "It was so cold that Lord Shiva took the Ganges out of his hair locks and threw it to the earth and asked the moon to step out of his hairs and then flung it to the skies above. Then he opened his third eye and took the fire out of it and placed it in front of him and warmed himself." And that's when Lakshman decides to build a small cottage for his Brother and Bhabhi. Swats was unhappy because Prads had no much dialogue to deliver till now.

She was more surprised to find that even Lakshman's dialogue was handled by the old man in a song form, "Brother. Take this small cottage from me. It has a Yajna shala for you and Devi Sita to perform your nitya karmas(Daily homages to Gods). Here is the bhojana shala for you and Devi Sita to serve the ascetics who visit our cottage. Here is the antha pura (bed room) for you and Devi Sita... " The song was long as there seemed to separate rooms for separate purposes. As the old man turned to look at Swats as he finished his song, she asked, "Do you call this cottage. It looks like a penthouse to me... It reminded of the one I had saved as my wallpaper...."

The story moved and Lucky took his brother and Sita Devi and explored the backside of the cottage and the singer again picked up the notes, "And the scene took away Lord Ram's breath... There was a small waterfall and a small pond and the smell of the flowers filled the air everywhere.. And to please the eyes, the pond was filled with ducks and some migrating birds..."
That brought a smile on Swats small face and she said, "Wow! A swimming pool. This way, it seems she is not on vana-vas but on a honeymoon. With a husband all for herself and a brother in law to do all the household chores, what she can ask for more?

At last Prads got some lines as Ram and Swats attention was now on the stage as Lord Ram got very emotional, "Brother! When I see you, I feel I am looking at my Dad!..." Swats was disappointed by these words of Prads, "Gosh! He looks more like Ranbir Kapoor to me and you say he reminds you of old man Dasharath... !" Prads laughed a bit and continued, "You have done whatever a father would have done for me if he was alive and if I was in Ayodhya... But... " There was some pause and it was clear Lord Ram didn't want to take this penthouse

The Old man turned to Swats, "I had written all the dialogues and songs. This is the good part in the play. Lord Ram can't take the cottage as he had promised his step mom that he would lead a ascetics life and he also knows How his brother Bharath had taken a vow to lead a ascetics life until Ram returns to Ayodhya..."
There was a surprise waiting for the old man. As Prads got lost in some thoughts and he was transformed to the moment he had hurt his good friend, the girl from the big bad city. It was nearly two weeks since he had last talked to her and he was missing her badly. Everything came rushing to his mind and he forgot the original dialogues, "But I don't want all these luxury...." and then he completely went off the track, "All I want is her back in my life...."
The person playing Lakshman's character got confused and slowly hissed, "Abhe! Your Priye is still not kidnapped....!" Prads immediately corrected him, "No! I don't want her back as a lover! I want her back as my friend." The Lakshman character looked at the singer and master mind of the play. He was clueless. Swats knew what was happening and to divert Prads attention put on a song immediately. The song she selected was Colonial Cousins' Krishna Nee Begane Baro. It failed to bring back Prads to his senses. He just changed the lyrics and started singing, "Come back as my Soul mate and save my life. Come back as my friend and fight with me...Come back as anything you want to be...."

The old man seriously didn't knew what was happening and looked at Swats for answer. She answered him back in a song manner and that too in a high pitched voice
"Does he really have to say sorry.... I heard Kshamaya dharithri Naari**..."


** Rough translation- while forgiving, woman is like mother earth.

Please Forgive Me

Pradyumn or Prads was on to his way to the temple town to see his uncle. Though he said it was a personal visit, Swats or Swasthee, his young friend insisted on accompanying him. Prads face said that something was not right. Swats was good at making people talk and in few minutes, she had Prads talking

Prads was out with the truth which send her to a shock, "A message intended to be sent to you was sent to my good friend in the big bad city. It was about her and her would be in a very very derogatory manner. And in reply she had just two words GET LOST"
Swats said, "Every week you are giving me a shock. Hope I don't end with a heart attack before I complete my teenage"

After a hour, they were at his uncles place and poured his heart out and confessed his mistake. His uncle, an aged man in his early seventies had a simple question on hearing the story, which put Prads' mind into turmoil, "Do you realize it is a mistake because she came to know about it or are you fully aware of the mistake.That you should never have spoken ill well or bad about someone behind his or her back"
Prads explained to his uncle of what he did after he realized his folly, "Well... I feel I have... I couldn't sleep till 3.30 till the next morning..."
His uncle was a bit harsh, "Then you haven't. You shouldn't have got a wink of sleep even..."

Swats didn't knew any comforting words to say to Prads nor did she want to interfere. She decided to remain silent
Seeing tears flow down his cheeks, Prads uncle consoled him, "Now that you have committed a mistake, you shud bow before it with reverence. Its like a God that has taught you a lesson... Lucky you... Most humans do what you have done... But Mother nature has shown to you that it is very bad and how a person could be hurt by it... So be thankful for the mistake."

Prads only wanted forgiveness from the girl, "But will the girl forgive me...?"
Prads uncle was taking a w holistic view, ""Its not important whether she forgives you. Its whether you are really sorry for it. If you are, Mother Nature will forgive you. She is benevolent. Don't restrict it to one person. Expand your soul... If you are really sorry, whatever is good for you will happen."

Prads felt like a heavy burden has been removed from his back.

Let the time freeze

Prads, the 32 year old boy has returned from the big bad city and abiding to the agreement he had signed with the 18 year old woman Swats, he is at the beach with her watching the sun slowly set. But he was not in a talking mood and had his music player on. Swats wanted to know more about his visit to the big bad city and his online friend whom he had gone to see for the first time. Prad's gloomy face was telling some story and Swats expected a sad song on his ipod like, "Tune saathi paaya apna... jag mein is jag mein... Aisi hi sada raho milke... sang mein har rang mein.." But she was surprised as she heard the ramayana tale being told in a prose and poetry fashion (Harikathe).

Swats takes one look at Prads and comments, "Don't tell me she gifted you this?" Prads replies with a smile, "No re.. She has given me a memorable 45 minutes.. I am just thanking God for that one by listening to his tale.. " Swats found this quite strange and was not able to digest it , "Err... There is a better way to celebrate.. Throw me a party... It will earn you more Punya... I don't eat much... I am a simple girl who will be satisfied with Samosa and Veg burger"

Prads was not completely listening. He gets up and slowly walks towards the setting sun, "Don't you feel to catch the sun before it disappears... Don't you want this sun setting scene to remain like that for some more time...?"
Swats found it a little philosophical, "Yeah...I would really love... It will give me more time with you... And I would really love him to come late in the morning also... so that I can complete the assignments"
Prads got more emotional, "That's how i felt when I had those 45 minutes with her.. I asked the God to freeze the time.. I wanted the day to be like that movie Groundhog Day...Repeating itself over and over and over..."

Looking at his face, Swats felt that something was not quite right. There was a mixed emotion on Prad's face. Prads looked at Swats and said, "But all I can be... is her friend... a good friend..."
Swats was shocked on hearing this and didn't knew how to react. Prads had to shake her up, "If you stay glued like that, the waves will come and take you... Yeah! I will be saved the trouble of showing a new place every week as per our contract... But I just don't want to lose a good friend now.. Say something... "
Still swats was speechless. Prads explained further, "The girl seems to be in a relationship and me going there had just attracted troubles for her and some nice warnings from her mother. She had asked her boy to be there. Even he didn't make it. Have I unnecessarily created troubles for her?"

Swats had nothing to say. She was more like Abhimanyu who knew how to enter the chakravyuh but not the exit route. Swats would have found it easy to guide on how to fall in love. But when it came to pulling her dear friend out of the love thing, She found herself not helping him. She just shrugged her shoulders "I just don't know what to say? The problem with love is that you can love whoever you want, but so can they?" But for Prads, it was not easy to forget and he remembered tum bin movie's dialogue, "Yeah... I should have stopped loving her when she first told me about it.. Par Yeh Dil bhi kitna stupid hai na... Logic hi nahian Samjtha"

Swasthee took a deep breath and tried to comfort her friend, "It's not about loving. it's just about knowing..that you never loved her to have her..you just loved her without reasons"
Leaving Swats alone at the beach, Prads walked away hoping to become what his girl wanted him to be... a good friend... Can he be one?
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If you see the post count, It will say this is the 200th Post.

Wake Up, Prads!

A living story is born when living wisdom incarnates in the subtle matter of a human consciousness - Robert Svoboda
One such living story is of Hanuman and Jambavan. When one expedition of Vanar Sena who were searching for Sita came across the wide sea, they got filled with despair and lost hope as to how to cross this sea. Only one man... err... monkey was capable of this task. That was Hanuman. But the great Hanuman though having the capacity lacked the confidence of doing this task. And that confidence was filled by the senior member of the expedition team, a bear... Mr Jambavan..

This was the story that was being narrated by a Grandpa to his Grandson in a Public Transportation System moving from the coastal town to the nearby temple city. The story was also heard by the teen Swasthee or Swats who was seated in the adjacent seat. But her dear friend Pradyumn or Prads who was keeping his promise of showing a new place each week in and around his coastal town to Swats, was lost in some song that was being played on his Ipod. Swats just took the Ipod and listened to the song played of The Smiths, "There's a place for anyone who has the will to chase one...I think I found mine... Yes I do think I have found mine..."

Swats remembered of how her old friend's heart beats for some girl living in a far off big bad city, "Thinking is not enough. You should take the leap to that big bad city where the girl resides and show your heart, like Hanumantha took the leap to Lanka and showed the ring to Sita. Then she will get confidence in you..."
The kid who was listening to his grandpa's story had his head swayed towards Swats. The old man got his attention back, "Jambavan, the wise bear encouraged Hanuman, 'When young, you had swallowed the sun from a distance of 16000 miles considering it to be a sweet fruit'"

Swats took the cue from the old man's words and started her own sermon, "Remember Prads! You may be reaching middle age, but remember the confidence you had as a teenager when it came to opening your heart to a girl. Bring those years back!" A smile landed on Prads face as he recollected his High School days, "In the exam hall that day, I saw this junior of me terrified by the Mathematics question paper. Don't remember what took over me. RAW, the Indian Intelligence Agency would have recruited me had they seen me at work then. Forgetting my Kannada paper, I helped the cute girl pass her maths paper. Though I got just pass marks in my Kannada Paper, its the only exam day I remember till now... "

The young kid whose concentration was on Swats laughed a little and the old man felt that the young man was laughing at his story, "You shouldn't laugh like that. A man should laugh in such a way that he himself shouldn't be able to hear his voice. Learn some nice manners." Boy got confused and advised his grandpa, "I am not a man. I am a small kid. Stick to the story, Grandpa. "
The old man continued with further encouraging words of Jambavanth, "'O Valiant One! You were unhurt even after being hit with the thunderbolt by Lord Indra. All it was capable was damaging your left cheek bone earning you a great name HANUMAN."
Swats got some more material for motivating Prads, "See even in the path of love, there would be some inevitable blows. But it shouldn't break him down from expressing his love. I don't know what's pulling you back from expressing yourself"

Prads put forth his apprehensions, "But I don't know whether she feels in the same way as I feel for her.... How can I..."
Swats had a great line for him, "If that's the case, then with a guitar in your hand, croon to her like elvis presley did 'If You love me, let me know. If not, please gently let me go'"
Seeing that it didn't made much impact, Swats continued with some quote she remembered, "Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life.You must never miss the opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you. What are you waiting for. Wake Up and Arise and Tell her how you feel." That really filled with enthusiasm and he immediately got up from his seat. Swats warned him, "Wow! Now don't try to get down from the moving bus. Wait for the bus to Stop." But nothing can stop him as he took his Cell phone and got a ticket to the big bad city booked.
Swats was really filled with happiness, "Hmm... If that girl sees you now, she would say 'You have the confidence like that of Hanuman' and that would be a victory."

At the same time, the old man had finished his story and looked at his grandson for his feedback. But his grandson concentration was elsewhere and he was hissing into Swats ears, "I hope she doesn't add, 'and also you look like Hanuman' that would be a tragedy...."

Don't give me a choice.

It was Friendship Day and Goddess Laxmi was enjoying watching a new and a beautiful friendship develop between a 32 year old boy Pradyumn or Prads as Goddess addressed him and the 18 year old woman Swasthee or Swats as she liked to call her. Goddess Laxmi was unhappy with her husband, the creator of all our destinies, Lord Vishnu for not providing the much required life partner for Pradyumn. Pradyumn was strictly following a ek-naari vrath that too for some unseen girl in some distance place.

Goddess Laxmi wanted to do something about it and seeing her husband sleeping comfortably on the shesh-nag, decided to appear before Prads and give him a wish. Gods are never late in putting the decision to action. Next minute Goddess was in front of Prads and Swats and expressed her decision to make Prads life one filled with love. But she had a choice for Prads and that too a tough one, "You will have the love of your life. But you can either have her as a nagging and quarelling wife who will be there with you till the last of your breath. Or you can have her as a loving and caring wife who after a period of two years would breathe her last..."

Swats knew that Prads wouldn't give it much thought and would go for the second option, "You silly boys! Always want girls to be ever smiling and going ga-ga over you. Give the wish some thought! Whatever looks so simple is always complicated! If your girl is nagging and quarelling, yet she is with you till the last of the breath, it means that she has lots of love in her heart though not expressed through words. " Prads opposed the idea, "Come on! I want a life not only filled with love, but also with peace and calmness... Mann ki shanthi! that's what I also want... even if I get it for a small time... I am going for the..."

Swats again interrupted him, "See! For two years you would have love and calmness. But you would also have a child or children. And after two years, to look after them, you would definitely go for another girl!!! Then life can go anyway."
Prats didn't agree with her, "Two years spent in heaven is much better than a lifetime in hell. What would I gain by having a nagging and quarreling wife?"
Swats was remembered of her history classes, "Remember what Aristotle said, 'By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher'"

Swats gave a final blow, "The way you are selecting the wish shows you are very selfish. You want the love of your life to live only another two years so that you can have a love filled and calm life. " That completely put Prads to silence as Swats completed, "Lord Shiva drank that dangerous poison and kept it in his throat for the entire life so that the rest of the world can live peacefully. And you can't do that for even one person and that too for the person you say you love dearly." Prads understood what Swats was implying, "Love means not being selfish and living the life for the other."

Goddess Laxmi was enjoying this little conversation and was smiling the way Swats put forth her arguments. Swats asked Prads to focus on Goddess, "You should read the offer document properly. Whenever a boon or curse is given by the God, it is not for our benefit, it is just to take the life forward as they have planned for us." Goddess Laxmi was really impressed by Swats thoughts, "Wow! Such a wisdom in the young age! Good! With a friend like you, Prads is really blessed! But unfortunately I have to proceed to Vaikunta (Her Husband's abode). So the boon stands cancelled."

Prads looked very confusingly at Swats and Swats explained to him beautifully, "We should never get the love of our life through a wish. We should earn them,"
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Happy Friendship Day to all my readers...

The Begining 1: Let the Gods do the introduction

What do immortal Gods Chat about? They talk about mortals like us just as we do about them. That's what Lord Vishnu and his beloved, Goddess Lakshmi were doing. They were chatting about a mortal. Lord Vishnu described him as "Dejected but not defeated. That's Pradyumn"

And below on the planet earth, the mortal Pradyumn, a young man in his early thirties was looking for something in the local park when everyone were enjoying the rare cool breeze. Lord Vishnu explained, "Even in his life, he is searching hard for a heart to love him... He is thirty two and still without luck..." Laxmi found the statement a bit weird, "Oh Great One! You yourself make hearts meet and don't you know about where that heart is?" and she remembered some romantic hindi lines, "Jab tumne dil kiya, dil ki do tukde kiya. Ek par Radha, Ek par shaam likha. Don't you know where the Radha of this Shyam is?"
Vishnu remembered her, his rules, "Yups... I know. But Waqt se pehle kismat se jyada na kisiko mila hain naa kisiko milega.

Goddess Lakshmi was not to be silenced that easily, "But you must have something planned for him in the immediate future.. Don't you? " Lord Vishnu loved to explain his plans, " I am going to make him taste some platonic relationship." Goddess Lakshmi didn't had the word platonic in her vocabulary and Lord Vishnu continued explaining to her, "Its a a true and pure friendship where one of the mates happens to be from the other sex. No Romance.. No Passion... No Intimacy..." Goddess Lakshmi found it hard to swallow, "A guy and a girl can be just friends... but at one point or another, they'll fall for each other may be temporarily, may be at the wrong time, may be too late or maybe forever" Lord Vishnu couldn't help her to believe it, "All you have to do is wait and watch the platonic relationship this 32 year old boy would have with that 18 year old woman".

Goddess Lakshmi looked at the direction at which her beau's finger was pointed and saw a gorgeous young lady with short hair and long legs making her move towards Pradhyumna. She was interrupted by her husband's sweet voice, "Before the story starts, let me tell you about Pradyumn. I like to call him as Prads. Prads didn't have much success both in his career or in his life though he has reached the pinnacle of young age. But now he is strictly following Ek-Naari-Vrath. The Mortals call it as one-sided love. He is a 32 year old small boy and all innocent."

Devi Lakshmi waited for the girls description, but Lord Vishnu came up with something different, "Do you know what is common between Rahul Dravid, the cricketer, sohee park, a south Asian actor and sinchan, a cartoon character. " Lakshmi Devi was a bit irritated by this sudden diversion, "This is not quiz time!!"
Vishnu gave the answer, "All of these have been the crushes of this young woman. She is studious though she most of the time bunks the classes. She is filled with wisdom though for most of the time she would be cracking silly one liners. She is Swasthee and you can call her Swats..."

At that moment, the sweet voice of Swats filled the heaven as she slowly sneaked from behind and asked in a polite manner, "Can I help you in any manner?" Prads gave a 'mind-your-business' look, but somehow he found himself explaining his loss , "I have lost my most valuable possession." Swats giggled and took a red diary from her behind, "Is this what you are looking for?" Prads just grabbed it from her. Swats continued her questions, "What is it? Bhagavad geetha?" Prads thanked her and said," No! Its my personal dairy...my companion"
Prads wished her goodbye and took her leave. He had hardly kept four steps when Swats called his name and brought him to a standstill. She ran to him and extended her hand "My name is Swasthee. You can call me Swats. I want to your friend..." Prads gave a surprising look and his hand looked like it it was glued to the pocket. With a mischievous smile, Swats said one more time, "I would like to make a friendship with a boy of 32 year old who is strictly following a ek-naari vrath and that too for a girl whom he has not yet meet and who leaves in a far off place..."
Prads was taken aback and said angrily, "You read my diary? and you expect me to be friend with you?"

Swats doesn't know to take a No and the naughty lady continued, "You know I am a journalist student and rite now working with a publication company for my project. I believe your ek-naari-vrath wala story would sell like hotcakes." Prads was being blackmailed and without further raising his voice, he extended his hand of friendship. Prads found her hand grip very hard. The playful Swats didn't release the hand before expressing her another desire, "I am new to this coastal city. I come from a mountainous terrain. I would like to see a new place in your city every week. I hope as a friend, you will fulfill this wish of mine.." She very well knew that there was NO WAY OUT for Prads.

Goddess Laxmi was enjoying every moment and expressed her hearts desire to her hubby, "How I wish to be like that girl Swats."
Thus began a unique relationship between a 32 year old boy and a 18 year old woman

Forever Love 5: Hum rahen na rahe

For Seema, where she kept her foot, there should be a pavement. But Preetham found it hard to say yes to her latest wish. That was visiting the haunted house on the top of the hillock. but he didn't know how to say NO to his dear wife.He found it strange when she said that it had to do with her research in the subject forever love, "It's the house where a girl died of a terminal illness.Her boy remained there till his end not marrying anyone and always was lonely... It is said that even now the ghost of the boy enjoys the moments he had with her in that house"
Seema brought her young baby Prerana along with her. When Preetham looked at her questioning her decision to take their child along, she answered, "Don't you see those horror movies on HBO? Its with the children that the ghosts make the first contact"

They reached the place sometime around the evening. There didn't seem to be visibility of human life anywhere nearby. Environmentalists would be happy to find the rich growth of the greenery over there. Preetham checked his mobile to find if there was signal and to his surprise, he found it was showing good netwrok connectivity.Clever baby Prerana pointed to the top of the ghost house to find a mobile tower there.

As they entered the house, Seema slowly put her child Prerana down.It reminded preetham of movie scenes where the Cops unleash their sniffer dog to catch the thugs. He hated his wife using his kid like that.But the happy girl Prerana moved towards a dark room and after some seconds, Preetham and Seema heard their baby's laughter echo the entire house. When they went inside, they found her with a cute cat with a right mixture of colors on its body. And Seema was full smiles, but it was shortlived when Preetham spoke in a strange tone as if to give a signal that he was possessed. "My dear girl found it full wet one afternoon and asked me whether she can give sharan(Asylum) to it and I never knew how to say NO to her... That's when she named me a SHARANagatvatsal(One of lords names)..." That gave a creepy feeling to the Seema and at that moment itself, she decided to end her research

As she moved out and lifted her baby Prerana, Prerana saw the swing in the garden and pointed towards it and when Seema rejected,Prerana started crying at the top of her lungs forcing her mother's feet move towards the swing. Seema felt as it was outside the house, she had nothing to fear and sat along with her child and asked her dear husband to give them the push.As they were enjoying the swing, Preetham remarked which was very unlike of him and in a very strange and rough tone, "There on the horizon, a rainbow came on the August evening and she asked me to give the swing such a push that she could land on it...For her rainbow is a staircase to the heaven." Though the thought was romantic, Seema felt creepy once again and immediately got down in the fear of the push her 'possessed' husband was talking about.

She wanted to reach the car at the earliest and had put her research in the back of her brain. But as they were climbing down the hillock, Prerana's eyes fell on the small pound and the in minutes she was crying wanting to play in the water. Seema had to oblige and when they reached the pond, she asked her husband to hold her baby's one hand while she holds the another as the baby puts her legs in the water.As Prerana touched the cool water and giggled,Preetham started again, "This pond attracted some migrating birds and she always wished to fly along with those migrating birds to know where they came from... And one day she did fly away from my life to the place where she came from... the Heavens above..."

Seema had enough and lifted her baby and just pushed her husband into the pond. The coldness of the water seemed to have done the trick and the husband asked his wife to give him a hand. She rejected asking him for his identification. The husband or someone else trespassing into his soul uttered, "You wanted to know about forever love and I wanted to tell you. Look around you... The cat... the pond... the swing... all tell tales of our forever love... We never thought we were making memories... we thought we were having fun. But as time passed together, the bond became stronger and so you have your forever love...." The possessed husband looked at the kid and slowly started moving towards Prerana singing "Hum hain iss pal yahan, Jaane ho kal kahan...Hum miley na miley, Hum rahey na rahey...Rahegi sadaa yahan, Pyar ki ye dastan..Sunenge sadaa jise,Yeh Zameen asmaan.**" Seema forwarded her hand and the contact of the hand seemed to have did the trick and hubby immediately came to his normal self

But while returning to home, the atmosphere in the car was very silent. Slowly, Preetham who was at the wheels whistled that Rehmaan tune slowly, "Hum hain iss pal yahan, Jaane ho kal kahan, Hum miley na miley, Hum rahey na rahey..." and then looking at the surprised face of Seema, laughed out loudly and his daughter joined him in the laughter. A moment of forever love was made.
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Authors Note
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Yes, love is forever, but not other things in life,like this blog which has to end. I would like to end the Preetham-Seema Series here itself and by the way this was the 50th episode in the series. I hope my readers have liked it.

(** Translation of the song for non hindi readers
We are here at this moment, who knows where we will be tomorrow...
Whether we meet or not, Whether we live or not...
This love story will live on forever....
and will be heard forever on earth and in heaven)

Forever Love 4: With or Without You

"Dear Son, Do as I say. Get some young nubile girls aged between 4 and 10 and offer them your honors... Goddess Durga will be pleased and you will get a Kanya soon!", said Surendar's Mother. For Surendar, these words resembled lines from some B-Grade thriller where the villain is advised to do sacrifice of young girls to obtain long life. But his mother removed his ignorance, "This is Kannika Pooja. You don't kill young girls and drink their blood. Rather you see Goddess in them and respect them and fall on their feet. This will help you to get a good girl" Surendar didn't want to speak about ill-well about the customs his mother believed and just said okay.

And on the given day that is Friday, the three girls were waiting in the temple to be respected and for him to be fallen at their feet. But the temple priest told Surendar that he had to do it one by one and so the roll call started. Also present in the temple to witness this special occasion was Manya, his colleague, Seema his boss's wife and Riya, twelve year old neighbor of Seema.

First on the stage came a four year old girl with chubby cheeks and radiant smile. Surendar followed the priests instructions without questioning and applied kumkum to the baby girl's forehead, presented her new dress and fell at her feet. The Baby Girl smiled and slowly kept her left hand over his head. Seeing this, the priest asked this young goddess to bless the young man with a lovely wife who wouldn't spin him around like a top. The girl got shy and came running down the dias.
Thats when Young Riya got the idea and she folded her small umbrella and made it her play microphone and asked Manya to start the camera in her mobile. And like a reporter, she stopped the baby girl and questioned, "Dear Goddess Number 1, why did you get shy when you heard the word Wife? What is that you understand about marriage?" The girl said in her own silly half baked language, "Marriage means a chance to wear brand new sari with lots of bangles and necklaces and a man standing right to you as a bodyguard"

While Riya was interviewing, the second girl had already taken her seat and without pandit's guidance, Surendar had completed the formalities. The girl looked more like a young kali to Surendar with a straight face and he didn't want to joke with her and ask for her blessings. He prostrated and heard the Pandit say, "Girl! Bless him so that he gets a nice girl and a lot of babies in the coming years" Suddenly a curve appeared on the straight face and even this girl got shy and came down the dias.
Riya was ready and put a hard hitting question to the young girl which even Barkha Dutt wouldn't have asked, "What went into your mind when the pandit said babies. Do you know how to make the babies?"
The girl's face glowed with more smiles as she answered, "Sure! Its easy! Our English Sir had taught us this trick. Take the Y from BABy and add IES to make BABies."

Surendar was not giving attention to what was happening in the intervew. In front of him sat the third girl, aged around 10 and who looked quite intellectual. Even Pandit studied it from her face and when it came to take blessings, he asked her to repeat after him, "Sheegrameya Kalyana Prapthi Rasthu..." The girl got furious and refused and got down immediately.
Riya holding her prop mike questioned the girl, "Why are you angry? Did you get what the priest was saying..."
The girl said with a straight face, "Aham Samskritam Jaanami.. I know sanskrit. The priest asked me to tell him, 'he will get kalyani at the earliest'. Kalyani is my elder sister. I don't want her to be snatched away from me by a man. If he wants a sister, let him ask his mother!"

The whole episode had left Surendar a very tired man. But still he stopped to be questioned by the young reporter, "Do you believe the pooja will give you the desired results?"
Surendar explained his postion, "Desired results? I have not begged the God to throw some girl in my arms. Nor even for some girl making me coffee filled with sweetness and love for every day in the rest of my life. I just want that girl whom I can love forever whether she is by my side or invisible. All I want is to have some nice memories that will never make me forget her till the last of my breath...."
Manya found this behaviour of Surendar strange where he wanted to give his love irrespective of whether it is reciprocated or not and so interrupted the interview program with a quote she remembered, "Although memories with someone will bring you smile, remember Mr Surendar, it hurts too much from inside"

Riya like a true professional didn't like Manya interfering in her interview program and looking at the camera, closed her interview program, "So You have met a person who wants love all his life with or without her presence. Camera-woman Manya ke saath, this is ace reporter Riya from Mangaladevi Temple..."

Forever Love 3: Selfless Love

When does a human gives his brain some work in the modern days.. ? When the telephone lines are down and the power is blacked out. Thats what seema was doing in the balcony that day. She was giving the concept of forever love a thought. She thought,'Would it be possible for a spouse to love his wife even if the other partner is not ready to or not in a position to reciprocate.' Then suddenly she heard a ashiraravani, "Why not! There r lots of examples'" Seema looked puzzled and like basanthi from sholay remarked , 'Yun ki! yeh kaun bola'
Then a pushpak viman appeared on the sky with the heavenly sage Narad in it...Seema rubbed her eyes in disbelief and asked Narad, "Wow! Earlier You used to travel through the clouds on foot, rite?. Now a aerial car!!... You got promoted?"
Narad directly came to the point, "I am here to show you a living example. Take my hand and come into the chariot' Seema hesitated and Narad commented, "Don't worry, I am a pucca bachelor.Not like the sages on the ground... And I am definitely not ravan in disguise"

Seema stepped into the aerial car and within minutes she was in the US of A and in front of a research scientist Acharya's house. Seema observed the activities from the comforts of the plane. At the ground level, the sun had dawned and the husband was on his toes.He picked up the newspapers and also switched on the geysers. Within minutes the porch and the lawn was cleanly swept and also coffee was prepared. And the wife was enjoying her sleep or so it looked to Seema. Seema immediately cried out, "This is not selfless love!!! He is just another joru ka ghulam!!"
Lord Narad calmed her down, "Shanthi! ... Shanthi!" Seema looked confused, "You should cry Narayan! Narayan! rite... so now who is this shanthi?" But suddenly her focus turned to the earth where the wife slowly pointed her finger at something... It was a bowl... The next deeds by Mr Acharya brought tears to Seema's eyes... She realised that Acharya's wife was completely paralysed and she couldn't do any work of hers by herself
Narad then explained her, "Theirs was a love marriage. They were not just life partners but also research partners trying to come with some kind of artificial blood. But fate had other plans and one fine morning the wife never got up to wish him good morning and from that day she remained in the bed, completely paralyzed.
So it is all up to the husband now to take care of her...." Seema saw the husband taking assent of his wife for the donation he wanted to make for a cancer fund.
Narad read the expression on Seema's face and explained why it was happening "There are reasons.. As a human being, he believes in doing his karma without expecting fruits... And As a husband, she is his source and inspiration even now.... that's why he consults her on every matter" Seema remembers a kannada Song, 'NINNA NOVVU NANAGIRALLI... NEMMADI SAVI NINAGIRALLI... SADA KAYUVE" (Let all your pain be mine... let peace and happiness be your... I wil always be there for you...forever and ever"

Before Seema gets too emotional, Narad announces "Lets go to a place near your hometown and zoom they are in the coastal town where a lady Sowjanya, 40 plus something is looking after a business while her husband is idle sitting at home reading sum philosophical books and getting mad at some caller. When she comes home, he starts cursing her and finds faults with all her actions. She silently digests the same and cooks food and serves food and goes to sleep without even raising a voice."
Seema is irritated,"This is not selfless love... this is exploitation" Narad didn't made the mistake of saying shanthi again, "Narayan! If you knew the past, you wouldn't say this. When she got married, she was only gaun ki unpadh ladki. But the good husband gave her the education and the nuances of the trade. One day some misfortune fell upon the business and the husband broke down completely and never recovered. The dutiful wife picked up the broken parts and built the empire back with whatever her husband had taught her. But the husband never came back to his earlier stage. He was filled with venom against everyone and most of the time took it out against his wife. Now the wife knew what her duty was and she stuck to it and gave her family all she can"
When seema saw sowjanya looking innocently at her husband, she thought as if sowjanya was saying, "Tujhse naaraz nahin hairaan hoon' but she heard sowjanya say softly to her husband, "You told me you didn't want me to change... but you have changed so much..." and tears flowed from her eyes

Before Seema could get emotionally involved, Narad turned his small plane towards the home when Seema asked, "Why does your Lord does this to such lovely couples? If he has love and affection for his creation, then is he inflicting pain upon them."
Narad got a bid angry, "You are pointing fingers at my Lord Narayan!!!Concentrate and understand this truth: There is no purpose or meaning in God's play. Keep mum and endure your life as it comes and give selfless love; This is the way to peace.**"
(**The last four lines are from a kannada poem collection by DVG)

Forever Love 2: Defining forever....

What every karma(work) one performs in their previous birth will see the results in the present and in future too if not fulfilled. As such life's got a past and future but no end. Live your life according to this very spiritual thought. - DVG (A kannada poet)

Seema was there under the constructing flyover taking some shelter from the relentless rain. At the same time her thoughts were on her new obsession - the forever love thing. 'Now how to defne forever... Is it for this lifetime... or even for the past and future lives...'- that was her doubt. Thats when a tangewala (the horse ridden carriage) came near asking her if she wanted a ride. She just popped in and the old man who had the controls asked him, "where does the lady want to go?" Seema laughed, "I would have loved to go to my future lives... but you can't do that... so take me to my home at..." Before she could complete, the old man gave a divine smile and said, "Let lady's wishes be fulfilled" and like a lightning, the carriage moved and suddenly the rains made way for sunshine. After some minutes, the old man announced, "your destination is reached"

She looked out.It was not her home. Rather it looked like a princely town of some 16th century. She looked at him with confusion. He replied,"This is your next life... 16th century chola kingdom... one of its provinces... You r the daughter of a governor.... and there you are" Seema was filled with pride, "I look just as beautiful as Aishwarya did in Jodha Akbar.."
And as they watched, The daughter of the governor was being saved from some bandits by a man on a black horse. The man on the horse looked like her husband. Seema couldn't control her laughter "He cant hold the handles of the bike properly nor can he cut the carrots with the knife without trembling... and here he is riding the horse and also fighting with a sword'. In the fight, the warrior fought with his life for the pride of the heroine. The bollywood movies have taught the girls that they must fall in love with the man who saves their life and pride. But here, nothing of that sort happened. The eyes meet and the hearts seemed to talk. But then the pair turned and moved away as if nothing had happened at all.
Seema had two confusing thoughts, "If this is my next life, how am I in 16th century and not 22nd or 23rd century? and why didn't romance blossom between the pair?"
The old man answered the first question, "Whoever said to you, time is linear? You will placed in the life and the time as per your Karma. As for your next question, the answer lies within you. I will give you one more chance"

Saying so, the old man took her to one more of her future lives announcing, "This time it would be in the 22nd century".Seema expected nice gadgets, extravagant cars and skyscrapers touching the sky and so on. But to her complete surprise, she found a picturesque village on a river side with the sound of a steam engine filling the air. She looked at the old man for an explanation and he said," In this time, God decided to take some pages out of the literature and bring it to reality... So we have a Gotham city in America, Hogwarts school in England and Malgudi in India"
So Seema had landed in Malgudi. In this life, she was a young girl roaming in Langa-Dhaavani and a intermediate dropout who for most of the time helped her mother with the day to day household chores. Her romance was with a postman and whenever she heard the cycle bell sound, she came running like Gopikas come running on hearing Shri Krishna's flute. But she was not unable to convey her heart to him or to her parents who were looking for a better alliance for her.Seema was totally confused, "what the hell is happening in my future lives.. Why I m not getting the love''

The old man thought it was the time to clarify her doubts, "You have a great love in your present life... the one that will be with you for eternity... But you instead of having respect for the same, doubted whether it would last for the lifetime..."
Seema received the clarification, "And it is disturbing my future lives and so I am not able to be with the one I should be in future lives." She still had a doubt, "You are saying all these lives run parallel... this is more complex"
The old man said, "Take it anyway you think... but if you sow a bad thought, the results would be bad... never doubt your love is temporary... always feel that it is for eternity. Make your love so strong that it is like a tree whose roots are deep in the earth but whose branches extend into heaven"

Forever Love 1: The Fountain of Love

Seema was pondering over what the sales girl had told her. When the sales girl declared lifetime warranty for the washing machine she was selling, Seema put a question with intention of teasing the sales girl, "Mine or the machines's. "
The sales girl's answer was still ringing in her ears, "You can't have lifetime warranty for anything.. not even your dear husband's love for you nor even your love for him'

Sitting alone in the garden, she was lost in these thoughts, when she heard the voices of children. It was Riya her young neighbor of twelve years old and Deepak, a thirteen year old boy. They were playing sum treasure hunt game. Seema caught the words like treasure, search and map and some fountain and that excited her. The kids revealed that they were searching for a fountain from where if one drinks, he would know the secret of forever love.
She decided to make herself a party in the search and the kids didn't refuse it when she saw her take out her Maruthi Alto. She spread the long sheet over the steering wheel only to find that it was not a map but clues for whereabouts of the fountain.
The map had some clues that need to be solved to reach the destination.

First clue was simple which Seema read out, "A place where you can see Pooja, Tulasi and Deepa'...". Even before she could completely read it out, Deepak cried out in excitement,"Turn left at the next corner.. We are going to our colony... All these pretty gals stay there..." Riya wanted to smash his head for not getting such a simple clue, "It is referring to the temple... And there is a temple straight ahead on that hillock. We need to move straight" They reached the destination, it was not just a temple. It was a temple complex with many deities being worshiped...

Seema opened the map and read out the next clue, "Go to the area where it is very dark and the water flows continously." Deepak couldn't remain silent and had to open his stupid mouth, "Must be that toilet at the south of this temple... I heard people say Electricity doesn't work there and the flush is always broken." Riya wanted to kick his butt, but when she saw the sanctum sanctorum, she remained silent. Seema closed her eyes for prayers, but Riya had her eyes open and saw the second answer.
In the dark sanctum sanctorum there stood a huge Ganesha Statue and the architecture was such that the Statue stood just beneath a small water fall with water falling on Ganesha's head continuously. They had their second answer

Seema opened the map and read the third clue, "Picture the scene before you with your real eyes and you will have the answers." Deepak read the clues again and removed his sunglasses trying to see if he could find the answer.Riya looked at Deepak wanting to know whether he had the answer. Deepak spoke like he was enlightened, "I feel like sitting under that fall and singing 'Thande Thande Paani se nahana chahiye... Gaana aaye ya na aaya gaana chahiye'" Riya got furious but she remained silent as she saw Seema focusing on the answer. Thats when they heard a guide explain the tourists, "The water has never stopped or reduced its force. It has flowed continuously since years and will do so for years"
And then the priest came out and explained the significance to them all, "Like that water stream, we all should be... we should pour all our love unconditionally.... a mother to her children, a brother to his sister and a wife to her husband... never looking for anything in return... that is forever love"
And Seema says to the kids "And this itself is the fountain of love" and so saying they took the theertham from the priest and drank it.

A Manly Manya

After his girl ditched him or so, Surender was singing depressing songs like My love is gone and so on. But the security guard at the office informed his colleague Manya that he was into more worse things. The guard talked about the occult cult that surendar had joined which met at the Mukhyaprana temple. That made Manya want to check out the cult. But security guard informed that the organisation was a taliban-like and entry was restricted to men.So Manya said with a smile, "MAKE ME A MAN"
The dresser and make up artist in the guard suddenly came to life and in minutes Manya looked like a beautiful man but guard was not satisfied as he looked at her from head to toe, "There doesn't seem to be a balance" And with a pillow upon which he rested during his nite duties, woh kami bhi poori hogayi. Now she looked like a big stomach wala marwadi businessMAN
Then as she entered she found the speaker addressing the crowd, "Its better to die at the hands of a cruel murderer than to be in the dreams of a lustful woman" Manya looked at the speaker and commented to the Guard, "With that goats beard and wild hair where birds can nest and those shabby clothes, he can't be in any girl's dreams" The speaker went on to introduce new members and came to Surendar and asked him how women had ruined his life. Manya quickly understood what the cult stood for and what was its objectives.

Surender, "I am deeply madly truly in love with this girl.. But she is not expressing herself..."
The Speaker spoke to the entire audience with bitterness against the girls, "That's the problem with girls.. All that we do in our life is for girls. Young boys iron their clothes so that girls can fall into their traps. But girls never even by mistake speak their hearts out...they just play around as if our heart is a toy for them..."
Manya had to speak her heart out and she did but with a modulated voice, "Arre yaar.. See the logic... Girls don't first speak their heart out. Boys need to express strongly and confidently... Have you done it... Mr Surender"

Surendar failed to recognize his colleague Manya, "I have already spoken my heart out... Laid my proposal before her...She has not yet come with a Yes or No..."
The speaker intervened and gave the message to the whole crowd, "If she says Yes, you will die from happiness.. If she says No, you will die from heartbreak.. It will not make a difference... does it?"
Manya felt like throwing her sandal at the speaker, but tried to impress upon her colleague in a manly voice, "All the problems in the world can be traced to saying YES too quickly or NO too late... She needs time and she needs to have trust..."

Surender was liking more of Manya's thoughts, "But she has put me through so many tests and tribulations. Cant I know the results now?"
The speaker filled in, "Even The CAT or CET exams has less rounds of test... She may test you before marriage... After marriage she will put you to more tests... Mind you, All Boys! This is gonna be a never ending saga with the girls"
Manya explained a girls thoughts, "She is putting her entire life in your trust. She is leaving her home to become one with you. She wants to know what level you love her and bear with her. Tomorrow if something goes wrong after she comes to you, she has no where to go.. Think... Boy! If you love her truly, madly and deeply as you declared earlier, you will be able to think from her angle...":

Now that really made Surendar think. This was a threatening move for the cult and suddenly the speaker asked his new members to raise their right hand and take their vows. Surendar didn't raise his hand as he found more weight in Manya's words than the speaker's, "I prefer to follow in the path shown by that young boy..."
Manya decided to put an end to the drama as she took the pillow and gave it to the security guard, "This looks best when your head is rested on it" and removed the false mustache and also dropped her hair down though they were not so long. As the crowd looked at her, she declared, "It may take hundred men to make a camp, but it takes one woman to make a happy home. All the good boys, here. Give it a thought!"
When a girl speaks, boys listen. So as Manya walked out along with the security guard and Surendar, she had a small crowd of boys following her.