A friend(hereafter referred to as P) asked me to write a story for a cause. "Maaaaaan", she said in that southie-displaced-in-the-north-cluelessly accent, "for once do something good". She has given up a lucrative career in the Philips-Siemens-LG-etc-world to further the cause of eradicating child labour. They do this by helping young children get adopted by humane families who give them a good education and three meals a day. And loads of parental love(Of course there was this family who "adopted" a young girl and then made her do all the menial chores. The organization intervened in time, the girl has since been rescued and lives with a loving NRI family, and the earlier couple safely locked up as the government's guests). Their work is so hard, so tough and so noble that it commands respect and admiration from the rest of us. They are assured of a centrally air-conditioned duplex flat in heaven. I told her so in as many words, but she growled over the phone. "Stop joking, Sree. You make fun of everything under the sun!!" Now why does everybody think I'm trying to be funny! After a barrage of indignant protests, she agreed to calm down(agreed to calm down. She was not yet calm), but in return for some help to the organization. "Anything", I said, mentally beseeching Lord Vighneshwara to raise some obstacle in her thought process, and Lord Anjaneya to give me strength to carry out her commands(just in case Lord Vighneshwara decided to ignore me). "Write a story", she suggested, "in support of the child adoption cause. That way the cause will get some publicity". "Ok", said I, "the theme is child adoption, so can you give me some adoption stories or experiences that I could build up on?" "No", she rejoined most helpfully, "I cannot reveal such information to outsiders".
So in the middle of final exams weeks, in the midst of a raging flu(I will keep mentioning my flu until I get enough sympathy from readers), I went to my creativity corner(the corner I go to, to type out my blog posts), put on my thinking cap(figuratively) and sat down to write a story. Somebody very very close to me is adopted, so with his(Hahaha. You thought it was a girl, right? Hey no no no, I'm not that either!!) permission, I set out to base the story on his experiences. I had to cut out the truthful parts of the story in order to introduce drama and suspense. And voila, the story was ready. Here was the story that would propel me to writers' fame and glory, make readers cry and wail, and ensure that every homeless child is adopted and child labour existed only in history.
Just one small problem. I sent the story across to P and waited with bated breath for her to come online and read it. She came, dutifully said hello, and said "Hey I'm reading the story now. Wait". She called me in a few minutes. "Sree Sree", she said. Deathly silence followed. Tension was palpable(Like when one has applied to American universities for a Masters and awaiting decisions. All those who can relate, raise your hands. Yes, I see a few hands). More silence(stop worrying about the phone bill, folks. She uses a VoIP phone). And then she broke the silence. "Sree, you better go back to writing about tsunamis and typhoons and earthquakes. I will find somebody else to do this". "Hey tell me na what's wrong, we can fix this up". "No Sree, tumse yeh nahin hoga". "Come on, P. Tell me what's wrong. Just to know".
And then came the torrent of words. What do I know about child adoption? Do I think it's all dramatic and filled with action? Do I think child adoption happens only after earthquakes and tsunamis? And did I even think of writing about child labour, even though she harped on it thousand and one times(in her southie-displaced-in-the-north-cluelessly accent)? She knew that "You were stupid, but not to this level". And all that.
:(
I have since re-written the story and sent it across to her. Cut down on theatrics. No sentiments and gruesome situations. Hope and love springs up from every paragraph. Let's see what P has to so say about this one. If she clears this one, I'll post it soon enough. And then let's further the cause.
On the sidelines, a faithful reader(sensible_girl@*****.com) wants to know why most of my friends(and doctor!!) are female. There's no reason why. It just happens to be so. More importantly, I don't write about my guy friends, so how would you know. This question reminds me of a particularly harrowing two months last year. There was this friend of mine who went and told my parents that I was in love with a girl, and was planning to elope with her soon(which, I don't have to tell you, was a lie. A girl loving me? Oh please). Dad and Mom went ballistic. Dad asked me the same question then - "Why are most of your friends female?" What do I say!! The two months until I left for the US were hell. Things got so bad that I ultimately had to beg Dad to screen my calls. Dad tried his utmost to keep me safe. He questioned every female caller(he already knew the ones who called on the home phone) meticulously(The credit-card-seller girls were questioned so thoroughly that they started wondering whether Dad was in the sell-credit-cards-over-the-phone-to-random-people business himself). Mom was so worried that she was even planning to get me married off("so that he would settle down with one girl", but the plan, as you know, never took off). So, sensible_girl, the answer is - I have friends of both kinds. Ok? That's all for now.
Stay cool, hot summer month ahead. Ciao.
4 comments:
Heyyy sreee... How are you doing now? Is ur health better... Take rest... Don't over work... Che heege flu aagbardittu ninge... He he heheha ha thts sympathy + a lil care for you!!!! :D now read d same again with a serious tone :)
I was wondering what would happen if you were married by now considering the fact that ur pareents took the words of ur frnd a lil too seriously!!! Guess you would hav named your blog as "The Kids Factory" ha ha hahahah just kidding ok... ;)
@Divya: ROTFL.. now I can't mention my flu episode anymore!!
Whoo I can't even imagine what I would have done!! No no, the blog's name wouldn't have to be changed.. got it? ;P
Now that your 2nd sem is over, i'd expect more posts :)
@Divya: Sure, I'll post whatever comes my way.. :) No more "no time" excuses :)
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