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

go to each other’s erotic roots, seeing their waist-chains sink into each other’s breasts, he said ecstatically,

“What a lesbo love!”

“Voyeured enough, have us now,” sputtered Roopa..

 “I don’t see any entrance,” he said, feigning helplessness.

“Get in here,” said Roopa, raising her head and pushing him into Sandhya’s.

“Deep throat it,” he said to Roopa after a while.

“Lovey, give mine your hand,” said Sandhya in spurting ecstasy.

“What love!” exclaimed Raja Rao in joy.

“Fill her thing,” said Sandhya at length without letting go Roopa.

At length, when nature brought their uninhibited orgy to its fulfilling end, said Sandhya dreamily,

“What a life!”

“What a love?” said Roopa. 

But when Roopa returned from her bath, finding her waist bereft of the chain he gave her, said a disappointed Raja Rao,

“I thought you liked it.”

“I make it a witness only to our lovemaking,” she said, embracing her mates with a feeling of emotional commitment to him.

Having slept for a while, Roopa returned home by the time Sathyam came from the Secretariat, and sometime thereafter she went with to the Raja Raos’ place to proceed to Blue Fox at seven. Among those who made it to the party in the evening were the two Reddys, Wahab, Dr. Wazir Ahmed, and Tara, who held all eyes.

Sitting beside Sathyam, Sandhya said,

“Haven’t you noticed our ear-studs?”

“They suit you both equally well,” he said.

“We wanted to surprise you, as ever,” said Sandhya.

‘I’m glad you care for her, she’s very happy these days,” he said.

“Why don’t you stop with that?” said Roopa to Sathyam in between her conversation with Tara.

“These mixed dinners are for novices, aren’t stags the answer for the regulars? What do you say Sathyam Saab?” said Wahab.

“Three cheers,” laughed Sathyam, lifting his glass

 “I understand the architects are having a pretty good time these days,” said
Dr. Wazir Ahmed to Raja Rao at the other end of the table.

“Can’t you see, doctor sahib, with two pretty directors on board, how could it be otherwise for our romantic architect?” said Subba Reddy in undertone, before Raja Rao could reply.

“Thank God, you’ve stopped at that,” muttered Raja Rao.

‘It’s I who has stopped at that, isn’t it?” laughed Subba Reddy, who was high by then.

Sensing trouble, Ranga Reddy, who was sitting beside his inebriated friend, thought it fit to preempt a scandal in the offing, and announced thereby,

 “I request Dr. Wazir Ahmed to present this miniature Charminar to Raja Rao garu on our behalf with the fond hope that one day; Integral Architects would conceive a modern day symbol of Hyderabad.”

‘Thank you all for a wonderful evening,” said Raja Rao, sounding closure after they had dinner.

“It’s our pleasure no less,” echoed the guests.

Back home, in time, Raja Rao told Sandhya,

“Can’t we look back with satisfaction?”

“I’ve never been happier all my life,” she said, making herself smug in his embrace.  

“Thanks to the favors of fortune,” he said fondling her lovingly.

‘But, I’m worried at times, whether our bliss too good to last for long,” she said in apprehension.

‘Maybe, by the law of averages, Roopa’s unfortunate past may ensure the future stability of our love triangle,” said Raja Rao.

“How I wish it’s true,” said Sandhya sharing her thoughts with him. “But, what can be said about the strangeness of life and the singularity of the relationships? To start with, it was the mutual admiration that ushered in my friendship with Roopa. Then, our growing affection found its true expression in our lesbianism, triggered by, of all the things, by her post-nuptial depression! And our chance meeting in New Delhi brought you into my life to provide substance, as well as sustenance to it. Later, your mutual attraction resulted in your passionate liaison that catered to Roopa’s craving for the male élan, and yours, for your dusky dame. In the end, it was the reality of the relationships that you presented me, helped me colour our love triangle on the canvas of our sexuality. And then providentially at Tirupati, spirituality too insensibly seeped into our threesome affection, enabling us to experience divinity in our lovemaking. And above all, thanks to the innate empathy you have for the fair sex, the idea of woman in liaison loving her husband made you Roopa’s benign flame, to light Sathyam’s life. Oh, that’s life.”

‘What more can we ask?” said Raja Rao contemplatively.

‘A menage a trois with her, oh how we used to jest about it!” Sandhya said dreamily.

‘Find a wife for Sathyam before she divorces him,” he said in jest. “But then, one shouldn’t be too greedy even in daydreaming.”

“So, contentment is the finest quality even in love seeking?” she said, sinking into him.

‘But it goes against the other saying that variety is the spice of life,” he said, winking at her.

‘The beauty of our life is that it covers both the grounds,” she said radiantly.

“Affording us contented variety,” he said reaching for her lips.

“Have your wifely spice,” she said, turning amorous.

The blessed couple, at length, sank into a blissful sleep.

 

Chapter 37

End of an Innings

 

Some six months later, the trio’s destiny made a course correction in Roopa’s life.

After Sathyam had his breakfast that Sunday morning, she herself feeling lazy, Roopa sent him to fetch some vegetables. On his way back from the nearby sabzi mandi, remembering her indent for matchboxes as well, he stopped at a pan shop and chanced to read the headline of the Eenadu on sale there. Though he couldn’t believe his eyes, the caption there shook him to the core. Jeopardized by the news, he picked up a paper in anxiety, and rushed home in fright. Racing up the steps, he sank into the sofa to go through the item with premonition.

‘SCANDALOUS WORLD BANK TENDERS’ the headline stared him in the face all again, making him numb. However, goaded by the fear of his future, he started reading the copy – In a late night press note, Divakar Reddy, the leader of the opposition, alleged that the contracts of the World Bank Projects were fraudulently awarded to the benami firms of the Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister, Rajanna Choudhary, and demanded that the matter be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation…..’

What with his eyes welled up by then, Sathyam could go no farther.

Meanwhile having goaded herself into the kitchen, Roopa wondered why he was taking so long to come to her, and so, in time, she herself went into the hall.

 Seeing him as white as a sheet in the sofa, she asked him anxiously,

“What’s wrong with you?”

Still in a trance, he looked at her vacuously.

“Tell me, what happened?” she shook him.  

He gave her the newspaper for a reply.

“Tell me, please,” she said, flinging the paper on the teapoy.

“Read the headline,” he mumbled.

“I can’t make head or tail of it,” she said, having read it.

“That headline might cost me my head,” he said nervously.

“What!” she said in shock.

“I’m involved in all that,” he said with mixed feelings.

“I just can’t believe it!’ she said, and read the news in detail.

‘I was the mastermind of that scam,” he said, looking at her confounded.

“Maybe you’re imagining things,” she said, as she gathered her wits.

“Believe it or not, I scripted that plot to the last detail,” he said seemingly lost.

“Oh, really, but why didn’t you tell me before?” she said in exasperation.

Then he narrated the contours of the conspiracy and the details of its execution with a sense of excitement, and added,

“I wonder how anyone could’ve smelled a rat as that was foolproof,” he said ruefully.

“No denying that it’s brilliant though wicked. If only you had put your brains for better use,” she said, making no effort to hide her admiration for his brainchild.

“Do you know what my idea is worth?” he said mysteriously.

“The crumbs of the corrupt cake,” she said feeling sad.

“Hold your breath; now you’re a millionairess without your knowing it. I’ve made two millions from that single deal and another half a million for the assorted favours done over the time. All the money is there for you, safely tucked away in the attic,” he said proudly.

“Who cares for your millions, I’m worried about this mess,” she said, unmoved.

‘More than the loss of my face, I’m worried about its confiscation, making you poor all over again,” he said dejectedly.

“You know that I don’t care even if it were a billion. I’m only worried about you,” she said, trying to calm him.

“I never imagined things would come to this pass, I only thought that money might make you feel secure, and would earn me your love. It looks like, now I’m ruined in every way,” he said morosely.

“It’s my fault for being cold to you then but now you know I love you,” she said with a sense of remorse.

“I know that but do you still love me?” he said with his heart in his mouth.

“Now I love you even more for the way you feel for me,” she said, taking his hand.

“Roopa, you don’t seem to understand the value of money and the humiliation the lack of it could cause,” he said, pushing the import of the calamity onto the back burner, as the sentiment of his love came to the fore. “Though it hurt me deeply, it was Prasad’s ogling of you that had opened my eyes. If only I were a man of status, he wouldn’t have dared even to daydream about you, leave alone wooing you. From then on, I strived to prepare a sheath of wealth for you to ward off the lecherous folks.”

“Oh, how you love me!” she embraced him.

“More than you could ever imagine,” he said holding her.

“I feel blessed; but why this mess?” she said, overwhelmed by love for him.

“It’s a consolation that you love me still, but how can I show my face to my father?” he said ashamedly.

‘Don’t worry, he would understand,” she said trying to cheer him up.

‘You don’t know him, for him, our surname is paramount; he would die of shame for my misdeed,” he said in all remorse.

“Why not plead guilty and be done with it?” she thought it was a way out.

“Maybe, the court could be considerate but Choudhary’s mafia won’t take kindly to that, oh, how hopelessly I’ve compromised myself!” he lamented.

“We all make mistakes, yet, we deserve to be sympathized for the motive behind our moves. After all, it’s for love that we both erred on the sly,” she said to him as much to herself.

Having said that, she realized that she got carried away to blurt out her secret and looked at him horrified. But overwhelmed by his own predicament, Sathyam failed to note the oddity of her averment, and so didn’t press her for any clarification on that count, and merely said,

“Your sentiment gives me hope.”  

“We better talk to Raja Rao,” she suggested in relief, having recovered in the meantime.

“We’ll think about it later, but I want to be alone now. Now, solitude seems to be my best company,” he said, as he got up to go into the bedroom.

“I understand,” she said.  

“Why not I have a little drink to lighten my burden?” he thought aloud.

“As you please,” she said going to fetch him some ice and water.

Drinking out of a bottle of Chivas Regal, of the three sent by Nagaraju the other day, thought Sathyam,

“What a paradox it is that the grief and the relief should come from the same source!”

‘Am I not responsible for all this?’ felt Roopa, all alone in the hall. ‘Of course, having made him feel insecure all through, haven’t I caused his eventual fall? If only I had made him feel wanted from the beginning, would things have come to such a pass? Well, wittingly or unwittingly, I brought him to this ugly stage but he won’t even have one harsh word for me! Why have I devalued him and his love all along? Oh God, how I have come to wrong him!’

Overwhelmed by his new found virtues, and ashamed of her own insensitivity, Roopa resolved to stand by him through thick and through thin.

‘Even if the world belittles him, I’ll value him more than