Stories / Novel – The Halo Dreams     
Writing a Novel
by TA Ramesh

What a pleasure it gives me to see that the job of writing the novel has been completed as naturally as it has occurred to my mind! They say that “eat for your self and dress for others.” In writing, the written things should satisfy the writer and the readers. The only way to do that is to achieve perfection in writing.

Writing novel is a long process thing more than anything else. It requires persistent work, consistent thoughts and diligent writings so that the thread of expression, continuity and narration would not be lost into hotchpotch meal rather than a wholesome feast both for the writer and the readers. It, therefore, requires full attention to this type of work just like a devotee who worships the deity with full devotion and love.       

Business and Writing

The writing of this novel though started in the year 1973 had a big pause between 1974 and 1981 was resumed and completed in 1982; then corrected with necessary addition and edited in 1987. Actually as I was very busy with my business trips through out the length and breadth of the Southern part of India I was able to write with much promise and inspiration three chapters only and nothing more in 1973. From 1974 to 1981 I was very much engaged with the business and industrial activities in such a way that I could not get time to devote myself fully to this kind of work though I cherished it most and had great zeal to indulge in it. But in the meantime what I was able to write was nothing but a few pieces of poems and one or two essays only.

Comments and Helplessness

There were a lot of comments and criticisms about my writings from my friends. One such criticism was that I had sunk into the quagmire of literature from where there was no point of return at all, I was very much perturbed by the comments of the people who had no knowledge about the creative power of human spirit and was rather indignant about my helplessness to write anything in accordance to my zeal, enthusiasm, interests and dreams. I even felt why I should not have been a blind man or a lame person so that I would have been relieved from my business and family obligations and would have been pleasantly bedridden in some remote corner with a care taker to assist me in my writing adventures and nothing to care about in my life. But the crescendo of mental tension due to the business and the family increased on and on without any respite.

Fulfillment of Literary Learning and Writing

The little relief I got somehow was from my fast reading of a collection of literary books from the 16th century to the Modern period and due to that I was successful enough to write and to secure a postgraduate degree in literature not due to my masterly knowledge of the subject which is a big and deep ocean requiring elaborate preparations and time to explore many precious things in it but perhaps due to my ability to write something originally of my own in the exams. Then like a bolt from the blue our business had a big lull between 1981 and 82, when I wrote all the chapters of the novel, The Halo Dreams starting once again afresh from the very beginning in the course of nearly eight months.

Criticisms

Just after writing the full novel when I informed of this joyful thing to some people I met, they expressed their opinions in different notes about writing in general. Some said that writing was a gift that came naturally to the chosen few and not to everyone. Some expressed the opinion that if anyone said that one had written a poem or an essay or a novel it would be simply the expression of fascination and not facts of lasting value. And some said the persons like me and they could become only amateur writers and not professionals if anyone started writing after crossing the age of three decades. All those views might be true or false, but that does not mean that the natural urge to write by anyone comes up late or early ought to be stopped in the bud itself.

Practice Makes Perfect

Indeed all cannot become gifted writers, writers of facts and professional writers. But that does not mean that if one practices writing constantly even, one cannot become a worthy writer one day. Nobody can become the expert one in the beginning itself which is a rare thing in the world. All cannot be born writers or geniuses. Writing is an art which needs hard labor and regular practice. In the beginning every writer will be only an amateur full of promises, but through one’s regular and successful performances only one can achieve the position of a professional or a great artist.

Only Humanity to Decide

Whatever it is, a true artist never bothers about criticisms or comments and rewards or awards, but goes on with one’s natural work of art freely, frankly and fearlessly like a yogi non-attached to anything or anyone, non-aligned, impartial and balanced on one’s on ward journey exposing the mean, the false and the cruel and honoring the lovely, the truthful and the excellent in the world. Therefore it is not you and I, a handful of persons but the people representing the whole of humanity have to judge and decide about matter to give the final verdict to the world, wherein lies the truth which will reveal the genuine worth of the creative power of the artist.

Solomon’s Wisdom

According to King Solomon wisdom lies in learning by doing. It is not wise to promise more and perform less. So, it is better to learn the techniques while performing a work of art and achieve things according to one’s promise. Though greatness lies in promise, only when the promise is kept up in actual practice, greatness can really be achieved in the world. Promise and performance are very important for everyone’s life and the honor of a person lies in keeping up the promise by performance. So, I chose promise and performance as the theme of my novel, The Halo Dreams. If we look at the world we can see that human life is nothing but promise and performance.

Fact and Fiction

I felt that it would be better to deal with such a theme in my novel and paid full justice to it by making use of my own observations, experience, thoughts, knowledge and imagination on the way of life of the young people of the locality I have been familiar with since the years between 1971 and 1976. The beach, the park, the lake and the hotels are the places wherein take place the vital episodes of the novel developed by me based on the impressions I had in such places on my business tours to Madras, Mangalore, Quilon, Bangalore, Mysore, Otty and so on. Even today we can see in such places many people are making promises and drawing plans of future course of action about men and matters like the politicians. But how many of these men are fulfilling the promises, or rather how many of them are taking pain to learn the technologies of the trade and using them effectively in their works to fulfill their promises? Indeed it is a big question which anyone can see and understand in one’s own experience in life better. The Halo Dreams is one such example of the many promise makers of the world whose promises are just like the drunkard’s talk which vanishes at the day break.

Experimental Novel

The Halo Dreams is not a conventional type of novel having hero, heroine, villain, perfect plot with a beginning, climax and an end. It can be called as a modern, realistic and experimental type of novel. So, the characters in this novel are not the types we commonly come across as in the usual type of novels. They are all individuals becoming prominent in the modern society today. They are all fed up with the moral orthodoxy, social conventions, family tradition, out-of-date educational system, corrupt political system and economic disparity prevailing in the developing countries of the present day world. Against all these odds could the individuals with all their limitations achieve anything worthwhile in their respective fields according to their aspirations?

Promise Makers, Promise Keepers and Promise Breakers

In fact this is the realistic crisis today which every individual youth has to face in the modern society. The question is whether they fight against the crisis in order to maintain their high ideals or principles or self-respect, or simply succumb to the crisis relinquishing their self-respect and fall in line with the common rut in order to live the life like the orthodox ancestors did. No person of good conscience, sensitive heart, intellectual mind and highly humanistic spirit would like to be the people of the latter position. In one respect this experimental novel is also an indicator of the identities in juxtaposition of the promise makers, the promise keepers and the promise breakers among the new people who are emerging in the modern society of today to the sincere individuals aspiring for excellence in the modern world. The most important things here is it is an effort to help one to distinguish between the promise keeper and the promise breaker so that the occurrence of shocking disillusionment later on in life can be prevented in a good manner before it is too late.

Characters

The protagonists of the novel Kannan and Balu belong to the list of promise keepers, whose culture is in support of a noble man’s motto that “we are born for a nobler cause.” Kannan and Balu choose to fight against the social crisis in their own way. Kannan takes intelligent efforts to surmount the crisis and achieves his aspiration in his chosen field. Balu develops himself gradually by taking sincere efforts in opposition to the crisis and settles himself in life according to his wish. The enigmatic character is Gopal who neither fights against the crisis nor succumbs to it but manages himself somehow through thick and thin. But the characters like Selvam and Vaithianathan who begin their careers with sparks of revolution surreptitiously join the common rut creating a boisterous blemish to the noble cause of the circle to which they join first vigorously and vanish soon without any sense of guilt or responsibility. The characters I have shaped in this novel are not the exact replica of the ones we can see anywhere in the society. They are merely the development of my imagination based on my observations, thoughts and knowledge in order to find a meaningful solution for the problems of the individuals in interaction with one another in my literary experiment.

Confidence of my Friend Fulfilled

As I presume that I have come to the fag end of this note I would like to thank the one friend, B. Pugazhendhi for his deep faith in me in spite of all the adverse criticisms from almost everyone against my writing ability, for his concern on my not losing that noble desire like the waste paper carried away by the wind on the passage of time and his firm belief that I would not loosen my grip over that goal as he said encouragingly that he had found in me the confidence, courage, endurance and perseverance necessary to accomplish that noble desire, that goal of becoming a full-fledged writer one day or other. After many years I have really accomplished that goal and renewed his deep faith in me by making it a reality now as I have finished this novel writing work well. Therefore I would like to say to all that I have not sunk into the quagmire but rather dived deep into the ocean of literature to explore the invaluable and priceless things like beauty, truth, love, joy and peace for the pleasure and the benefit of humanity in the world. So, by dedicating this novel to my dear friend B. Pugazhendhi I depart from my readers for the time being. 

– Continued

September 2, 2007

The Halo Dreams : A Novel 
Writing a Novel | The Park | Philosophy | The Confusion | The Conversation
The Appointment | The Journey | The First Publication | The Change
The Secret | The Painted Veil | The Halo Magazine | The Debts | The Break
A Letter | A Surprise Letter | The Literary Muse | The Souvenir | The Questionnaire
The Reconciliation | The Lake | The Final Meets | The Surprise | The Settlements
The Result 

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