Novel- New Beginning

- Recently, I had got two manuscripts of the same novel and I am occupied with reading them in the lock down days. In fact as an editor of the venture, I myself have told the second narrator, who is a reverent member of the group to compose the story from another angle, as the first narrator had left certain insights about the plot and it is quite informative to the project.He is a man who is well versed in other subjects other than novel writing and I thought of keeping him with the project for a novel look into the whole state of affairs.And he agreed to that. By the by this great human being is the second son of my mentor, who did not accept a foreign education, even if his father was willing to offer that to him. Instead , his elder brother accepted that seemingly lucky course and over the span of life, wedded a a well placed lady from a wealthy family.When I saw him in a recent meeting, I spotted that excessive weight around his tummy and I thought immediately, that Mother Nature has an unusual way of revenging her 1 wayward children. In any case, I didn't permit the idea to wait for long in the threshold of my mind,for I imagined that it will harrass the holy memory of my dead mentor.

• Then it happened that the original editor pulled back from the project of baffling reasons and it was passed to me, though I was slightly disinclined and in a way not qualified enough for the work. And this lock down period has affected me in another unusual manner.I was reading a bit those old books of my early youth, and also,Conan Doyle, especially those works after Sherlock Holmes came out from the alleged death, and started solving new mysteries. Also the writer's relationship with Houdini, whom I admired personally because of his unusual grit that he showed throughout life's ups and crescendos ...

• Then the manuscript arrived one morning. I was doing regular exercises, trying to improve some aspects of my life which, I had not hitherto given much consideration, and that was essential for my sounder existence in the planet. In the job front, my wife had to leave for another city, where the southern office of her establishment existed and all on a sudden, my eating routine also changed. The new cook was also a relative of the family, but less proficient and quite unaware of my culinary embraces(tastes).

2- The protagonist of the story is a niece from my mother's side who stayed in our house for some time . Some time means two years. And it is such a lengthy time in our early youth when we think that we can do so much with our life. And V.C. Achamma Jacob as her official name testifies is from my mother's side stayed with us. She was called Achey for short. In fact I was not much elder to her,may be older by three or four years because my mother was the youngest of her family and her elder sister married when she was just born and so between many of her own nephews and her there was not much age difference.The protagonist of our story is belongs to that sister's lineage.

• And we had many parties together as my father was a dilettante and culinary master preferring Mughlai restaurants and those items, such as Mughlai Poratta. And my mother liked to eat at home and whenever she ate she favoured her country item. 'Puttu and Kadala,' that was quite a nutritious item with good carbs and proteins..

And we went to such restaurants, mostly after exhibitions and Circus which came to our town in festival seasons when we all had long holidays. Life was fantastic then, with a lot of mirth and sprightliness.

• Then Achamma went to her hometown and soon she was married. She was married to a gentleman from our extended family who was working in Canada. And many educated people used to go to Canada in those days because job opportunities were higher there than in our place . And I practically lost touch with her. One fine day I got a letter, a registered envelope, to the university address where I worked as a part-time teacher , and the letter started like this - 'I hate men'... This was strange to me, because we all knew that her husband was a kind gentleman and myself had seen him in a few marriage functions and had a word or two with him. I always am an admirer of strong emotions, whether it is love, diadain or even envy, because these people are true to their emotions and my encounters with them in further period of time only confirmed that they were never hypocrites. On the other hand people who are neither hot or cold, but just lukewarm are mostly, I found ( at least my experience)are those who travel in two boats and are not trustworthy as friends. These ones can change colours easily and all they aim in life is worldly ascent and spiritually corrupt folk. But her they have no chance of any fundamental change in life, because, they pretend the ground they are standing. Of course, it is another topic.

• Coming to our protagonist, she wrote to three or four letters to that address , because she by one way or another discovered me deserving of sharing her musings and however she didn't reveal to her full story, I came to comprehend that the foe of the story is another honorable man or men in the workplace. In the end our heroine was in the long run, our champion was to leave the career and travel for a long time at a stretch in the landmass and was later conceded into an asylum and had a troublesome demise after she left the spot, or one can say, a strange vanishing. . Truth be told the story was chosen by me since it had a solid individual importance undoubtedly and two journalists at different stages passed on their availability to expound on it . That was the start.

• 3 - First I thought of giving extracts from the actual writing these two noble souls these writers have come to the progress of the narrative.tnis was mainly to keep the reader help the reader, know the actual source, of the story,line from the point of view of two different writers so that the readers could themselves know the actual events.but on second thoughts, I decided to to relegate this attempt to a later part soon,after and apprise the reader of the character of a major soul whose relevance will become clearer on the further sections of the narrative,. This character is none other than my classmate and friend in the university days, Mr. Lister. Ironically this friend of mine also presented me the autobiography of James Thurber ,My Life and Hard Times , a chapter of it is called University Days..Our houses were separated by a mile or two and separated by a stream that is an artificial stream, coming from a sluice of water coming from the dam overlooking the mountain ranges that separated two states of the country.which he liked very much..

Our houses were just distant from each other from one other, by a mile or two and is separated by a small stream. This was an artificial stream .This friend was particular close to me in the college days. He was my classmates and . Even after the college days I had contact with him.he grew into a later direction than me, still we had contacts. And he gave me suggestions from an entirely different angle in my early months of marriage, quoting an Indian saint who wrote a classic on intimacy.The credit or discredit partially goes to him.

My wife was also a keen student of relationships and in a way a Freudian who connected every human act to the fundamental energies and the subconscious part of that story.Once my friend sent me his photograph in short costumes.. We were travelling after the congregation in the car of an old friend( I did not know driving)..And he looked like a statue,and my wife commented jestingly on his libido....My friend had but another weakness which in public gathering put the company ill at ease. He could not differentiate between the jokes that we as civilized people should tell in mixed company, for which we had got good coaching from our families in early youth. Our town as small, and our company of friends at college were like a family and we knew each, directly or indirectly, as my friend's father may have connection with our morning milk routine, or another fellow's uncle will be our postmaster or my father might have built a wall for one of my friend relatives. This is such a strange scene that the city dwellers may not easily understand. It had its advantages, and disadvantages, as when our life starts and we have a lot of ambition, it is more like a disadvantage but in medical emergencies , it is quite a an advantage. That is another topic. Yes my friend because of his different attitude, upset female company, in mixed gatherings. You see, sometimes my elder sister will be present, and she will give a wrong picture to mother about my company of friends...When later in life, we met once in two or three years, he did not change his nature and upset Mrs. J. by a blunt jovial comment which we, men only could relish.And this Mrs. J- was the wife of a senior politician , and unlike her husband was sincerely interested in humanitarian ventures, and another friend of mine practically scolded him after the meeting.Then a tear or two appeared in the eyes of my friend.....

-(To continue)