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

the hitch is, she is a Tamilian and he, an Andhra like us. They got around her parents in due course and anyway his father too is too broad-minded to mind the match. But it was thought ideal to postpone their wedding till his younger sister got married so as not to spoil her chances in our prejudicial times and since her wedding coincided with ours, Ramu couldn’t come to our marriage. When the dust settles down, Ramu would marry Meera. But, for the present it’s courtship for them,” thus he narrated the story.

 Roopa was startled, only to be relieved.

“Don’t you think they’re smart?” he asked her, throwing her into a dilemma whether to sound him about Chandrika or let events unfold for themselves.

“Is anything wrong with that?” he said before she could make up her mind.

“It’s not a bad idea,” she merely said.

“Sandhya seems to be very close to you,” he changed the topic to interest her.

“We’re childhood pals turned adult mates,” she said mystically, and he didn’t fail to notice the glow in her face.

“No friends like childhood friends,” he said nostalgically.

“Tell me about your childhood days,” she asked.

Then he went on narrating his childhood life and times at Guntur for long, and said,

“If not for my father’s transfer to Kakinada last year, maybe, we wouldn’t have come across your match at all, and that’s destiny.”

As he became engrossed with his childhood escapades, she tried to be an enthusiastic listener, and having heard him speak highly of his friend, she asked him,

“Are you in touch with that Prasad now?”

“Sadly we lost touch but I’ve heard that he’s in Delhi, married to a millionaire’s daughter. Some industrialist seems to have lured him for his plain daughter by dangling a stake in the business empire. Surely he would have turned into a really handsome man. I have no doubt about that,” he said with a sense of loss.

“Was he ambitious?” she enquired as though she were comparing notes.

“Don’t you think it’s difficult to know one’s nature so early on in life? But one of our schoolteachers used to say that the character of a person would be known only after marriage. For all I know, he wasn’t good at studies. It’s I who used to help him with his lessons, maths in particular. However, he was the handsomest in the class and boisterous as well,” he said like someone who didn’t apply his mind from that angle.

When she proposed dinner, he changed into his lungi.

“I may end up being obese in due course,” he said as he helped himself liberally with the food she served him.

“It’s my mother’s preparation,” she said with a morsel in her mouth.

“You would find me doing justice to your recipes too,” he said relishing the food.

“Let’s see what’s in store for you,” she said, managing a smile.

‘If not suave, he’s by no means naive, and what’s more, he’s deeply in love with me,’ she reviewed her situation as she went to wash the plates. 

The conviction that he’s in love with her gave her some consolation. So, she instinctively knew that life wouldn’t be problematic with him, and the thought satisfied her.

“Are you a voracious reader?” he said as she took the Digest again on her return.

“I do read a little here and there,” she said without lifting her head.

“I think you’re being modest,” he said sitting by her side.

“What about you?” she enquired.

“My reading is more of a time-pass, maybe you can read aloud for me,” he said.

When he downed the shutter of that coupe-for-two, and switched on the blue lamp, she found herself culled in his eager embrace, and as the receptivity she inculcated in her mind imparted a sense of reciprocity to her body, her motions in his mount seemed to synchronize with the vibrations of the carriage. While their nocturnal journey progressed, she felt that in due course she could be on course on the beaten track of married bliss.

-----

As day broke out, Roopa awoke to reach for her purse in which she kept the silver anklets that Sathyam goaded her to remove during the night. Not finding the pair therein, she raised an alarm that awoke him.

“See if they fell down by any chance,” he said drowsily.

“No, I’m sure I’ve kept them here, oh, its Sandhya’s present,” she said, unfolding her purse anxiously.

They uncovered their air-pillows and upturned the basket of eatables to no avail but in the end, to her immense relief, he found them underneath the berth.

“You could’ve dropped them without realizing that,” he said, handing the pair to her.

“I’m sure; I’ve put them in my purse. Wonder how they landed on the floor!” she said as she wore them on her wondrous legs.

Looking down again, he found part of the baggage protruding from underneath the berth. Realizing that he pushed back the luggage as he picked up the anklets, he recalled that during the night he pushed in the luggage a couple of times only to find it protrude in time. Preoccupied as he was then, he thought amusedly, ‘The jolts and jerks are at work on the luggage as well.’

Now, seized by curiosity, he crouched on the floor and pulled out a suitcase only to be unnerved at finding a grown-up lad lying behind the rest of the baggage. Though he quickly regained his wits, as the import of the trespass on their privacy began to sink into him fully, he remained speechless.

“Hey, come out,” he shouted, as he recovered at length.

The sight of a well-built lad of around twenty, crawling out from below the berth stunned Roopa out of her wits even before the echoes of Sathyam’s shout could die down in her ears.

“Why are you here?” Sathyam questioned him.

“I’m ticket-less,” he replied by way of justification.

“When did you get in?” Roopa asked him in apprehension.

“Before you came in,” said the lad embarrassedly.

“So, you’re here all night!” Roopa couldn’t help but exclaim.

As he bowed his head in confirmation, her embarrassment insensibly turned into an acute awkwardness.

“When did you remove them from her purse?” Sathyam asked in enquiry.

“I found them lying on the floor,” he pleaded with folded hands.

“You want us to believe that they dropped down from my purse just like that. You can explain all about that to the police at the next station,” said Roopa still feeling embarrassed.

“Spare me ma’am; I took them from your handbag after you slept off. I thought you would look for them only after going home. When I realized that you found them missing, I kept them in your view so that you won’t be searching behind the luggage. Please let me go,” frightened, the lad begged for mercy.

“Let’s leave him; after all, he hasn’t harmed us. Moreover, he might fail at the hands of the police. These days, isn’t the air thick with the news of lock-up deaths?” she said overwhelmed by pity for him.

As the chap went out of the coupe relieved, the couple looked at each other embarrassed. However, the very thought that they were at lovemaking when that lad lay below embarrassed Roopa no end.

‘What would have happened had he strangled Sathyam and raped me as well?’ she thought at length and found the very idea spine-chilling. ‘The guy is well built and would’ve got into mood for that, what with our doings around him. Why, he even came out of his hiding to steal the anklets! God knows, in what shape he might’ve seen me, and for how long!’

She couldn’t believe that unknown to her, she passed through that ordeal unscathed, but soon the horror and the embarrassment of the moment have combined to embody   her mind with a sense of adventure. And slowly, the queer episode came to appeal to her with an associated aura of romance attached to it.

However, Sathyam was upset about the whole thing,

‘Could it be a bad omen for my married life? In a way, hasn’t Padmavathi prophesied just that?’

It’s thus he was nagged for long by many a doubt about his married life in the offing.

“Let’s forget about it,” he said at length as though to ward off the impediment by dismissing the incident itself.

“You handled it well,” she complimented him.

When the train approached the signal post, off the Secunderabad Railway Station, Roopa seemed to be in the right spirits to head towards his sweet home.

 

Chapter 6

World within the world

 

‘7Up Godavari Express coming from Visakhapatnam will be arriving in a few minutes on No.2 platform’, the Secunderabad Railway Station echoed to the ill-modulated voice of a male announcer.  

“Just late by two hours,” said Meera sarcastically, after checking with her watch.

“God speed the railways,” said Ramu, who by then had finished four cups of coffee.

Relieving them of their weariness, soon the train came into view. When in time, it decelerated into the station; their spirits soared to the skies. Spotting Sathyam standing at the exit, they waved at him furiously to be noticed and when the train came to a halt, they paced up to welcome the Sathyams.

“Couple in the making welcome the ‘made for each other’ couple,” said Ramu as he embraced Sathyam.

Soon, they moved out following the porters carrying the luggage, Sathyam and Ramu hand in hand and Roopa and Meera side by side, and once out of the railway station, they got into the waiting Fiat arranged by Ramu for the occasion.

“Sad we’ve missed your marriage,” Ramu addressed Roopa.

“It’s our loss,” Roopa replied.

“We’ll make up for all that,” said Meera chirpily.

“What if she locks Sathyam in their wedlock,” said Ramu in jest.

“You’ve said it,” jibed Meera with her beau.

“Let me see if you don’t tie him to your pallu,” retorted Sathyam on Roopa’s behalf.

As the Fiat stopped at the wicket-gate, propelled more by womanly instinct than any welcoming intent, Lalitha stepped out from the main one.

“We never had a more beautiful tenant, don’t hesitate to ask for anything from me,” said Lalitha sounding helpful.

Often, in human relations, one’s latent nature to help exudes in the face of a prospective friendship but when the acquaintance fails to cross the threshold of intimacy, inevitably the inclinations too go into hibernation.

Though Roopa stepped into the sparsely furnished penthouse, yet she felt readily at home.

“I can’t thank you enough,” said Sathyam in gratitude as Ramu and Meera had by then arranged the furniture and positioned the luggage.

“I think, to start with, the bridal couple should handle better things than household articles; moreover, it was not such a hassle thanks to your landlady’s prattle, it turned out to be great fun even. I wonder how women won’t get tired of talking! Isn’t it the irony of man-woman equation that the least exposed to the world should have a better say in life?” said Ramu heartily.

Ramu ran for cover as Meera advanced towards him menacingly and when she caught him by the collar, he said theatrically,

“Excuse me for snatching your privilege.”

As Meera cuddled him, pretending as though she were crushing him, Roopa couldn’t suppress her smile. The mirth around, though gladdened her heart, nevertheless, cast a shadow on her soul.

“What about lunch?” Sathyam wondered aloud.

“Meera will prepare some avial for us, but why we haven’t thought of coffee yet?” said Ramu.

“You know Sathyam won’t have coffee, and you’re busy abusing women,” said Meera, still smarting from his tease.

“What a coffee-like coffee!” said Ramu, as Roopa served them filter coffee.

“Where from you got the coffee powder?” said Roopa.

“The Coffee Shoppe is just up your lane; hope Sathyam too falls in line,” said Ramu.

“Let me see how marriage changes me,” Sathyam looking at Roopa.

 “Looks like your fiancé is quite enthusiastic,” said Roopa to Meera as they went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

“He’s good at heart but is obstinate like a child,” said Meera.

“May I know how it all began?” Roopa tried to sound casual though curious.

“He was my rude boss once, but later I realized he’s a committed and hard working disciplinarian. When I realized how soft he’s at heart, I developed a soft-centre for him in my heart. In time, he