I hate replying to my old threads, but there is a reason why I am compelled to make an exception here. Writing is the only pure thing I do—and yes, I am passionate about it. So, when people tell me you are better than this and that, ‘falaano’ and ‘dhiskaano’, it really hurts me. I am here to share, not to win. You can only be creative when your competition is you; because you can only be better than you. I have always felt, best compliments come as arguments in RE: to the content of what I write. Now I am already here, let me thank those whom I have not thanked … Cerine, You said you found the story funny. You must have been watching a funny sitcom while reading this. What were you watching? There is nothing funny on TV these days. Captain Saaheb, I can’t help myself but be mesmerized by the elegance of your words even when I involuntarily twitch from a minor disagreement. Though sometimes too politically correct, I always find you polished and deferential. I don’t want to sound like Peter Parker’s uncle Ben, but listen to me: With talent comes responsibility. You need to take your writings beyond commentaries, seriously. Where I don’t agree with you is … in my hearts of heart, I believe this is a purely act-driven story. Dwelling on one character, who utters just eight words in the entire story (“I go with the flow, I had fun”), might not do justice to the rest of the real world who got the news from the LA TIMES. You are smart enough to decipher what I mean. By the way, I usually click on the login ID of people who are kind to me and see how else they moonlight in Sajha. Your homepage impressed me. (Actually, I had written, “I was impressed by your homepage.” The stupid MS-WORD kept on complaining—passive voice vayo re ke.) If anyone is interested, click on Captain’s login ID. When you flow to his homepage, click on the tab that reads “Top 10 Posters”. When I saw how frequently some people contribute in Sajha, I could not help but ask myself: Who are these people borrowing time from? SunnyDev – I have never given you the compliments you deserve. You are fair to every writer in Sajha. You never make it personal; you always talk about the content. When you are a critic, even if you are the best one judging the work of the worst there is; you are still not bigger than the work itself. You seem to know that. It drives me nuts when people ask me who my favorite actor is. Because I only have favorite performances, I don’t have a favorite actor. If you have a favorite actor, you are not going to be neutral when you watch him perform. Your neutrality and sincerity as a reader makes you important. And I have no doubt in my mind that your comments here mirror your personality. You said: “Toward the end you made Suman saintly guarding Nirmal from more painful truth. I thought, it was not human trait to live with false indictment. Later I realised that; satisfaction of being pivotal in bending the truth is human.” Correct. But, why did he confide that to his wife? Maybe he was not confiding the truth to his wife, maybe he was just telling her: “I am a great man.” IMI, Ke chha vaai haalkhabar? I thought you abandoned me. I was not in LA. The only ANA I have attended is the one that took place in my backyard in 2002. Foolsparadise, Whenever I am stressed out at or by work, or by other stuff in life, I read your comments that you posted in my ‘Kaavre to Thimi’ final part. I have gotten compliments in life, but I don’t know why those 13 lines always cheer me up. I must have read it about eight times already. Every time I feel susceptible to my vulnerabilities, I click on your comments and go: “Someone believes in me.” I cannot thank you enough for those words. It boosts my morale so quickly and so emphatically. I am going to be very busy next couple of weeks, but when I write, I promise I will write about one great woman. But, did you not feel like Mangala Devi was way too conflicted to be a villain? And, Pratibha Dhungana was way too non-present to be the same? Thank you so much for reading. [In the end, we all live of natural causes. It’s all relative. Four hundred years ago, people thought they were living in the present.] You all have a GREAT WEEKEND!!!