Benign Flame: Saga of Love, BS Murthy [rainbow fish read aloud txt] 📗

can make it,” he said as he made up his mind by then to try to win Roopa’s favour.

“Till then, be prepared for my nagging on that score,” she said, looking into his eyes.

“Won’t I love that,” he said kissing her hand.

“Roopa would be thrilled to hear about that,” she said excitedly.

“Don’t tell her till we’re close to that,” he cautioned her.

“How I wish it were now,” she said, closing her eyes as if in prayer.

“But for now, we’re in Draksharama,” he said.

‘So it portends well, let’s seek Lord Bhemeswara’s blessings,”  she said

“Why not, I’ve to thank Him a lot and pray for more,” he said.

Seeing her in reverence before the deity, he could discern the serenity of her beauty and felt beholden for the blessedness that life had bestowed upon him.

“What have you sought from Him?” he asked her as they got back into the car.

“I think, you can guess,’” she said dreamily.

“Why can’t I?” he said lovingly.

 “What about your prayer?” she asked him.

“Let it be my secret,” he said smilingly.

“Then keep it under lock and key,” she said feigning anger.

“It’s all about love,” he said effulgently.

“I love you,” she jibed with him joyously.

Soon they reached the shores of Kotipally to cross the Godavari. Sandhya’s fear of water shored up by his assurances en route, sunk her heart as she saw the mighty river in its lean summer course. While the prospect of boating across it shocked her water- phobic psyche, Raja Rao’s coaxing of her, which bordered on pecking, amused the travelers and the boatmen alike. Caught between the onshore embarrassment and the offshore predicament, as Sandhya stepped into the boat as though she were slipping into the river itself, Raja Rao, having jumped into it earlier like a habitual, tended his perplexed bride tenderly into it, and once in, she reached for a cross plank seemingly considering the center of gravity of that which was afloat. Seeing her predicament then, those who sat on it moved away to enable the newly-weds ensconced in the middle. In time, having adjusted herself in trepidation, Sandhya clasped her man as though he were the mast of the boat itself.

During the voyage, when he ventured to toy with the waters, she pulled him in fear and reprimanded him for his daring. Whenever the boat was rocked in motion, she enlaced him in confusion, inducing him to cuddle her for her comfort. As her primordial beauty pixilated by panic evoked pity in him, he was empathic in addressing her apprehensions. However, having got over her fears in his protective embrace, in time, while she felt that she has grasped the meaning of marriage, seeing her at ease thus, he could visualize the power of love over the fear of the unknown.

After turning her attention to the horizon, lined with coconut trees, and watching it for long in fascination, she interested herself in the vastness of the Godavari, and felt that the wavy currents of its bluish green waters synchronized with the romantic beats of her expectant heart. Then, looking lovingly at her man, she experienced rare warmth in her soul, which made her feel that the sheen of their love matched with the glint of the river.

After voyaging for well over an hour, they reached the banks of Mukteswaram, the gateway of Konaseema, where, courtesy Kamalakar’s clout, an Ambassador awaited them. Looking back at the river they just crossed, she felt relaxed and thought, ‘Haven’t my fears got dissolved mid-course making way for hopes!’ At that, as she got into the car, it crossed her mind that by the next day around, she would be on the other bank of her virginal canal. Amused at the thought, she looked at her man in amorous anticipation.

Soon, entering the hinterland, they found the roadside canal on course, seemingly guiding the visitors to their respective destinations. While the unending rows of coconut trees resembled sentries on duty for the visiting dignitaries, the lush green carpets of paddy seedlings went into ripples, as though stirred by their welcoming instinct. Lending variety to the landscape was many a mango grove apart from the fully-grown banana gardens and as if to avoid the monotony of the greenery, habitats abounded all along with cattle sheds as annexes.

“It looks like life is closer to nature in these tiled houses and thatched huts, with cattle for company!” Sandhya wondered aloud.

“It’s an irony that we fail to fuse the new technology with the old environs in fashioning our modern way of living. It’s sad we’ve to choose between nature’s bounty in the rural settings and the make-believe of our urban environs,” he said ruefully.

As if to demonstrate the difference, the driver brought them to Amalapuram, the commercial hub of Konaseema. After some snacks and coffee in a bustling hotel, they resumed their journey to their destination that was far from Hardy’s madding crowds, and as they saw the back of Amalapuram, they came to face to face with the nature all again.

By the time they approached Bhatnavalli, the sun began to set, and the villagers were seen resting in their courtyards. While some men were seen rolling their cigars with lanka pogaku, others were puffing away at theirs. Women there were found gossiping with their neighbors across the fences as if they were mending fences over past quarrels. As the landlords rode home in their bullock carts, farmhands too started trekking back from the fields with their head loads. Giving a picture of the carefree life to the visitors, the youths were engaged in kabaddi and the children were lost in their marbles. As though symbolizing the surging spirit of the fair sex all over, village belles vied with each other to come up trumps in competitive hops in those eight square courts that were marked in the courtyards. However, the hen in helter-skelter disturbed them in between, making them cautious not to step on them.

“This is the famed pilgrimage of Balayogi,” said Raja Rao as they reached Mummidivaram, “the saint who’s said to have been holed up in penance round the year. He was wont to come out of his hibernation only on maha sivarathri for his devotees to have his darshan. It’s believed that he had the power to survive without food or water and lived long for all that.”

“Is it possible!” she asked in surprise.

“Well it’s a matter of faith, while his devotees deify him, his detractors deride him,” he said.

As it was dusk by the time they reached Kothalanka, the Ambassador had a herd of cattle on the homeward stretch to accompany. It seemed the dust raised by the vehicle on the kachcha road matched with the mood of the setting sun. While children ceased playing, watching the spectacle of the four-wheeler in motion, the elders craned their necks to second-guess the destination of the visitors.

-----

When their journey ended at his uncle’s courtyard, said Raja Rao to Sandhya, ‘There’s Thimmaiahgaru for you.’

As they stepped out of the car, the old man came out of the courtyard to receive them, all along blaming the transplantation time for his failure to attend their wedding.

‘The farmhands have become a big nuisance these days,’ grumbled Thimmaiah unceasingly. ‘You’ve to be behind them always or else they would give the slip at every turn. Anyway, I’m glad you’ve come with your wife to your native. I’ve got your house spruced up; let’s see how your wife likes it.’

As he continued to engage them at the gate itself, Narasamma came out of the house, and reprimanded her old man, ‘Why, do you want to send them back from the gate itself?’

Then turning to Sandhya, she said affectionately, ‘I haven’t seen a more beautiful bride in all my life. Our Raja is very lucky. We’ve got excited when we received his letter that you’re coming here. It’s a very sensible thing to do. One shouldn’t forget his roots. We would’ve loved your stay in our home, but it is only proper that you spend some time in his ancestral house. So, you lodge there board here.’

“Thanks for your kindness,” said Sandhya heartily.

“Why haven’t you asked them to come in yet?” said Thimmaiah to his haranguing wife.

“How are Krishna and Krishnaveni?” enquired Raja Rao as he led Sandhya into the verandah.

“They keep writing, asking us to join them, but how could we leave our home and stay with them, that too in the U.S. Though our thoughts are with our children, our desire remains to breathe our last here,” said Thimmaiah stating their position.

“Now that you’ve got married, would you go back to the States?” said Narasamma to Raja Rao.

“Actually, I’m planning to shift to Hyderabad,” said Raja Rao playing music to Sandhya’s ears,

“Let me show you your place, there won’t be any end to her enquiries,” said Thimmaiah leading the newlywed to their honeymoon house.

“Don’t hang around there for long,” said Narasamma as though to get even with her old man.

Led by his uncle, Raja Rao crossed the road with his bride to enter his ancestral house as a prelude.

“I let it be used as our village club for if locked up, it would only dilapidate,” said Thimmaiah justifying his decision.

When Thimmaiah took them to the backyard, with a compound wall, finding a flower-bedecked bed on a high-rise double cot, Sandhya felt embarrassed and looked the other way.

“I appreciate your sentiment in having the family cot here. I thought you would need a table fan as well,” said Thimmaiah to Raja Rao, as though to let Sandhya grasp the significance of it all.

Then he switched it on, as a demonstrator would do in the laboratory.

‘Sorry for the bother but I couldn’t help it, knowing that we would land up late in the evening,” said Raja Rao.

“We’re glad you chose our place for your honeymoon,” said Thimmaiah before he left them all for themselves.

~~~~~

Being all alone for the first time with her man, Sandhya was overwhelmed by the privacy the moment had afforded them. However, as Raja Rao cuddled her in ecstasy, she cajoled him with love.

“How long I’ve been longing for this moment!” he said, caressing her back as she moulded into his embrace for a response.

Then, he raised her head as though to see the essence of her soul but saw her droop her eyelids in anticipation. He showered kisses on them, seemingly to cajole them to sight to make them witness his passion. As the ardour of the moment quivered her lips, he joined his to those for support. Gratified by his gesture, so it seemed, her lips played host to their labial guests. The reciprocity of their explorations that followed enabled them to experience the fondness of their love that permeated their souls. In time, he loosened himself from her enticing grip so as not to cross the threshold before the momentous event.

As they reentered the backyard, as the softness of the bed, lay amidst a bed of roses, has blossomed their anticipation, they reached the nearby well to see their reflections in the moon-lit waters. Having savoured their shadow of closeness, he proposed that they bathe in the open for a real feel of it, and as she protested in shyness, he said in mock innocence,

“Why fear, I’ll keep guard.”

“That’s the threat,” she said, turning coy.

“Let’s find a romantic balance then,” he said persuasively and went up to the cot in measured steps.

He then gestured her to join him and having been amused, she obliged him demurely.

“Its half moon now and I would be twenty steps away; let me gloat over your contours that would shape the course of our love life?” he crooned into her ears endearingly.

“Gents first, in these things,” she suggested.

‘Agreed, if it means courtship manners,” he caught her by her waist and led her to the well.

As he handled the bucket over the overhead pulley, finding some coconuts afloat, she said in wonderment, ‘rural refrigeration!’

Soon, when he was down to his underwear, she thought he resembled a well-chiseled sculpture of a Greek warrior, and as he went