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

couple versus the neighbors,” suggested Tara.

“Ma’am, you seem to be a sound strategist; knowing that a man and his wife won’t see eye to eye, you want to pair us for your easy pickings,” retorted Raja Rao.

“Roopa, you better partner him, if I say that we might pair, his tongue would wag yet another way,” said Sandhya amusedly even as Roopa and Tara laughed heartily.

As Roopa turned out to be a novice and Tara being quite adept at the game, not to speak of Sandhya, Raja Rao sensed that there was a drubbing in the offing, and as feared, he and Roopa fared poorly in the first board.

“We’ve lost because of me,” said Roopa apologetically.

“Surely, we’ll make it in the end,” he seemed to assure her in more ways than one.

“I suppose playing caroms is not as easy as wagging the tongue,” Sandhya teased him.

“The proof of the pudding is in the eating, what do you say Roopa?” he said heartily. 

“How I wish I had a better hand to lend you but I know that you’ll make them run for their money all on your own,” said Roopa.

 While the game progressed, as he began to regain his touch, he was seized by a desire to let Roopa savor the thrill of winning, and in the euphoria of her praises, he played like a man possessed.

“I haven’t seen you play half as well at Kothalanka,” said Sandhya, watching him in wonderment as he went on a pocketing spree.

“It’s all about inspiration,” he said and added, “moreover, can I let Roopa down.”

 Roopa got scared for once and looked at her mate in apprehension.

“Man, I don’t fault you on both the counts,” said Sandhya to Roopa’s immense relief

Wrapping up the game in time, when he involuntarily extended his hand to Roopa that she shook in excitation, feeling sorry for Tara, Sandhya shook his hand in admiration. However, when Tara too shook hands with him in congratulation, Roopa watched his demeanor in contemplation. ‘Is he enjoying her touch?’ she looked for signs of his crush on Tara, and seeing none, she felt relieved, but thought nevertheless, ‘Why this possessiveness for a man who’s not mine even! But how could it ever be love unless it is accompanied by jealousy?’

When Sandhya wanted a challenger, Roopa was not a game for it as she preferred to preserve the memory of that triumph lest they should lose the challenger, and instead proposed a round of rummy, Tara talked about the stakes.

“You spell it,” said Raja Rao.

“Ten a count,” stated Tara.

“I feel it’s high,” said Sandhya.

“Not for an architect’s wife,” Tara brushed aside the objection.

As dame luck teamed up with the members of her gender, as if to show where her sympathies lie, Tara said to Raja Rao,

“It seems you’ve no way with the dame luck today.”

“I’m hopeful that she might favour me in time,” he said, steadily picking up his cards and stealthily looking at Roopa.  

Finding Roopa gazing at him, as though expecting some such comment, he knew that she was playing the ball with him, and even as she admired his audacity, nevertheless, she was troubled lest Sandhya should take note of their flirtations, but at the same time, she was thrilled that Raja Rao’s fascination for her was unfolding before Tara’s eyes.

‘She seems to be in love with him to a fault, though she can’t be faulted for that,’ Roopa thought as she scooted the next deal. ‘It’s as though some magnetic force would draw women to him! Isn’t Tara, the veteran of many a fill, coy to him as if she were a virgin? It looks like he appreciates Tara’s undeniable charms but he doesn’t seem to be enamoured of her. Without a roving eye, won’t he make a steady lover? Maybe, had I not stopped him in his tracks, daredevil that he is, he could’ve declared his love for me then and there, oh, how stupid of me. Surely, I won’t miss the next chance as and when it presents itself. What a lover to have, if ever I could have him.’

“Sorry for robbing the hosts,” said Tara, taking leave of them after tea.

“We’ll make it even next time,” said Roopa smilingly.

“I wish you get even,” said Tara to Roopa in undertone.  

After Tara had left, fearing a possible misunderstanding, innovated Roopa,

“She wants me to take up a job.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” said Sandhya.

“What’s the hesitation?” said Raja Rao to Roopa, finding her unresponsive.

“Don’t you know that I’m not even a graduate? I wonder who would employ me, and for what,” said Roopa   

“As I told you, Roopa was our topper before she dropped out,” said Sandhya to Raja Rao.

‘How does that help me now for its all bygones,’ said Roopa.

“Roopa, nothing is really over till the very end,” he said persuasively. “Even after death, there would still be that last journey to the cemetery. I know that you craved to become a doctor to serve the sick but there are other ways for you to do the same. You know besides doctors and the ayahs, health-care needs administrators as well and if only you work for it, who knows, you might run your own clinic one day.”

“Honestly, I haven’t thought on those lines. Thanks for opening up my mind,” said Roopa visibly impressed.

“Who knows, one day you might as well design her clinic,” said Sandhya joyously.

“Won’t I put all my heart into that to make it soulful for her,” he said heartily.

“It’s like you’re rekindling my ambition,” said Roopa extending her hands to them.

“Meanwhile improve your academics through some correspondence course and enlarge your vision by observation. Thus when the opportunity knocks, you would’ve been equipped to acquit yourself well,” he said holding on to her hand.

“I shall,” Roopa said as though in a trance.

“I know you would,” he said animatedly, and she pressed his hand warmly.

“You can always count on us,” said Sandhya, embracing a visibly moved Roopa.

At that, infected more by their euphoric love than his carnal desire, Raja Rao was impelled to fold them together in his arms for a fleeting moment that seemed eternity to Roopa.

 

Chapter 18

Fetishes of Fantasy

 

After siesta that evening, Sandhya proposed a stroll on the nearby Tank Bund and as they came out, Roopa suggested that they might as well walk all the way. Soon, when they ascended the adjacent staircase of Kattamaisamma temple and reached the top of the age-old structure, Raja Rao’s eyes caught the line of new age statues on granite pedestals. Wanting to see them all at close quarters, they walked past the row of life-size bronzes of renowned Andhras, and having read the inspiring inscriptions in gold on them, he marveled, ‘A great idea’.

“It’s NTR’s,” said Sandhya.

“That became controversial” said Roopa

“How come?” he said seemingly surprised.

“There was a minor row raked up in the local press about the advisability of spending millions on them, bringing the schemes for the needy to a grinding halt,” explained Roopa.

“It could be the mischief of the out-of-power politicos itching for political spoils. Even if one kid, who sees them, were to be inspired by the deeds of any one of these greats, then the value of that life for the humanity would countervail the cost of all these statues put together. But whither gone Srinatha,” articulated Raja Rao.

“It’s odd that kavisarvabhowma is absent,” said Roopa.

“When Thyagaiah is rightly accorded the pride of place, ignoring the most romantic Telugu poet is indeed puzzling,” said Sandhya in agreement.

However, in time, as they reached the statue of Sir Arthur Cotton, Raja Rao commented,

“It’s very thoughtful to treat this Englishman as our own.”

After a go around, as they relaxed on the lawns near the Nannaya’s, the topic turned to culture and literature.

“The hallmark of greatness is the ability to appreciate the virtues of other peoples and their cultures. You may know that Appaiah Dikshitar, the Tamil poet-saint said that to be born an Andhra and to be able to speak Telugu is a boon, which cannot be achieved without much penance. But normally bigotry makes people imagine that they are superior to the rest of the peoples put together,” articulated Raja Rao.

As it started drizzling by then, they thought of leaving.

“I love getting drenched,” said Roopa

“Me too,” said Sandhya.

“I’ll fall in line,” said Raja Rao, looking at Roopa.

Halfway through, having got caught in the pouring rain, in no time, they got wet to their roots, and falling behind them on purpose, Raja Rao went on devouring Roopa’s flowing figure at its back.

In her wet sari that tightly hugged her body, as though to squeeze itself dry, her provocative frame evoked passion in his groins. Her splendid back of tan exposed by the seeming dissolution of her brownish blouse induced in him a craving for showering it with his kisses. Her narrow waist, left part-bare by her sari, enabled him to envision the carnal character of her luscious form. The slit of her seat, discernible at every step, stepped up his urge for a ‘novel’ possession of her exquisite body. As if to feast his eyes with her wondrous legs, when she artfully hitched her sari to bare them, their enticing shape enveloped his vision. In that rainy setting, whenever she turned at street corners, the sight of her heavy boobs wetted by the Act of God whetted his appetite. 

At length, as he instinctively turned his gaze towards his wife for an unintended comparison, he found her talking animatedly to her mate. Her exquisite demeanour made him envision the evocative charm of a bunch of grapes in the midst of the season. He felt that the smooth contours of her delectable form imparted waviness to the sari she wore. Then, as the skies were brightened by lightning, he visualised that his wife’s rosy face glowed even more by the radiance of her amiable nature.

‘Individually they picture contrasting charms but together they symbolize beauty itself,’ he thought as he went on analyzing his state of mind stormed by Roopa. ‘What a marvel of a woman! Imagine she’s infatuated with me! How sweet love is in its tentativeness! That’s the charm of it, isn’t it? But as the urge surges, so would the pain for possession in the pangs of passion. Only her soothing embrace can bring solace to my perturbed soul. Surely she’s enamoured of me but would she be inclined to bestow her final favor upon me? Regardless of her proclivities, still a liaison with her friend’s husband remains a big hurdle for her to cross, isn’t it? Whatever it is, my cup of life would be half empty till I have her as well.’

‘Why am I allowing myself to be distracted by her charms when my bride herself is so fresh?’ he thought in wonderment. ‘Why to start with its love at first sight, for both of us and then hadn’t Zola averred that love increases in proportion to the possibility of possession. That way, Tara is no mean a charmer either; any man would gladly put his soul on the line to win her favours. Yet, there’s no way I can possess her, but for which who knows, I might have been eying her as well. Thankfully, it’s all different with Roopa for her friendship with Sandhya might usher in our liaison, sooner or later.’

Even as he felt hopeful of having Roopa someday, her enamored eyes and suggestive glances that he reminisced, had only fuelled his passion for her possession.

‘Possession, to be meaningful, should be timely,’ he reasoned, as he increased his pace to come closer to the women. ‘When we would meet next time, who knows, she could be carrying, and shortly thereafter, holding her child in my lap, won’t I be left wondering as to what it would have been like had I possessed her before? Then, won’t it turn out to be a life-long regimen of seeing a bloated Roopa belatedly? Thus, with nothing left to inspire possession, and having gained to make it difficult, won’t she leave me pondering over her