by BS Murthy
Then turning to Sandhya, Narasamma said affectionately, 'I haven't seen a more beautiful bride 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 have loved your stay in our house, but it is only proper that you spend some time in his ancestral home. You might lodge there but know that your board is here only.'
'Thankyou,' said Sandhya heartily.
'Why have you not asked them to come in?' retorted Thimmaiah.
'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 hearth and home and stay with them, that too in the States,' said Thimmaiah stating their position. 'Though our thoughts are with our children, our desire remains to breathe our last here.'
'Now that you've got married,' Narasamma enquired, 'would you go back to the US?'
'On the other hand,' said Raja Rao playing music to Sandhya's ears, 'I want to come closer to you all. I'm planning to shift to Hyderabad.'
'Come on. I'll show you the place,' Thimmaiah led the couple to their honeymoon house. 'There won't be any end to her enquiries.'
'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,' said Thimmaiah justifying his decision. 'If locked up, it would only dilapidate.'
When Thimmaiah took them to the backyard, finding a flower-bedecked bed on a high-rise double cot, Sandhya felt embarrassed and looked the other way. As though to let her grasp the significance of it all, said Thimmaiah to Raja Rao, 'I appreciate your sentiment in having the family cot here. I thought you would need a table fan as well.' Then he switched it on, as a demonstrator would do in the laboratory.
'Sorry for the bother,' said Raja Rao. 'But I couldn't help it, knowing that we would land up late in the evening.'
'Well, you're like my son though he shuns his native,' said Thimmaiah before he left them all for themselves. 'I'm glad you've chosen it for your honeymoon.'
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 have I longed!' he said, caressing her backasshe molded into his embrace fora 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 ardor of the moment quivered her iips, 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 with a compound wall, the softness of the bed, laid amidst a bed of roses, gladdened their hearts. Leading her up to the nearby well, he proposed that they bathe in the open.
'Why fear?' he said in mock innocence, as she protested in shyness. 'I'll keep guard.'
'That's the threat,' she said, turning coy.
'Let's find a romantic balance,' 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.
'It's half moon now and I would be twenty steps away,' he crooned into her ears endearingly. 'Why don't you let me gloat over your contours that would shape the course of our love life?'
'Gents first,' she suggested, 'in these things.'
'Agreed,' he caught her by her waist and led her to the well, 'If it means courtship manners.'
As he handled the bucket over the overhead pulley, finding some coconuts afloat, she said in wonderment, 'Oh, the village refrigeration!'
When he was down to his underwear, she thought he resembled a well-chiseled sculpture of a Greek warrior, and as he drew water from the well in bucketfuls, she was charmed watching the contractions of his shapely biceps.
'Would you please,' he said invitingly, 'soap my back.'
'Oh, I see, your desires are ever on the raise,' she said mischievously. 'Since you behaved well all the way, I tookyou fora gentleman.'
'In other words,' he said pulling her nearer to him, 'you were afraid that the burden of initiative should've landed in your lap. What with the driver around, I had no go but to steer clear of your curves.'
'I never thought,' she said turning coy, 'that you're such a shameless character.'
'If men were to turn shy at the threshold,' he said in all smiles, 'the burden of shame would fall on women. I'll tell you an interesting anecdote. One of my cousins didn't stir in the nuptial bed as though he was in meditation. Finding him tepid to her eager charms, crossing her fingers, his bride felt him at the right place! As you could guess, that did the trick for the rest of the night and ever after.'
Without further fuss, hitching her sari and tucking it, she obliged him.
'I would like to have,' he said winking, enjoying the sense of her touch in the slippery medium, 'a little more pressure applied later.'
'You seem to be quite experienced,' she said taunting him.
'Can't that be imaged,' he said tentatively, 'even without going through the motions?'
After his bath, he filled the well-side tub for her use, and retreated to the cot as agreed. As he waited in anticipation, she started her bath with her clothes on. Crying
foul, he rushed to the well and pulled at her sari, leaving her In her blouse and the petticoat. When his attack was directed at her midriff to untie the ribbon, she agreed to obey and sent him away.
As she began bathing with her back to him, he goaded her to be more open, and as she relented, seeing her myriad movements In nude, he felt as though some romantic poetry acquired her form. When she stepped out wrapped In her bathrobe, he nestled her from behind eagerly and whispered In her ears endearingly. 'You look sex fresh,'and as she blushed to her roots, he went on showering her shoulders with warm kisses.
By the time they arrived for dinner, he In his white pajamas and kurta and she In her light green cotton sari and a black blouse, Narasamma was ready to serve them some spicy dishes. Being hungry, and egged on by the aroma of the preparations, the eager couple ate well to the visceral satisfaction of the hostess.
After dinner, Narasamma adorned Sandhya's forehead with kumkum and gave her a white voile sari with gold border and said, 'Women should wear white for the nights. Of course sari and not that tent called the nightie, as It falls to move your man. Remember that there Is none like the sari to lend appeal to feminine frame for the male eye, for It symbolizes the seductive dressing at Its very best. Well, It Is the sari that has In It how much to reveal and what to veil off a woman's bearing.'
When the fresh pair left, soon after, the old couple began to reminisce their own sweet times, and as It dawned on them that they forgot to place 'milk and sweets' near the nuptial bed for rejuvenation of the just weds, they sent them post-haste with a farmhand.
Soon, laid on the high-rise cot In the courtyard. Raja Rao was Impatient for his bride's arrival and as Sandhya stepped out Into the moonlight, he felt as though she were an angel that had descended from the heavens. However, as she neared him, her pace slowed down while his pulse Increased, and finding her coy to climb up the cot, he clenched her waist to catapult her onto the bed. While she landed herself In his ardent embrace, even as her sari went askance, exposing her legs and baring her blouse, her pulse Increased anticipating an ambush. What with her breasts heaving alluringly, as If to Invite him to steady her Impulse, as she felt the pressure of his hand on her bosom, she realized she was In
the realms of masculinity. As he began feeling the softness of her belly, she felt fascinated by the firmness of his touch and as his hands probed the contours of her bottom, she found herself rollicking In anticipation.
Soon, as he turned her naked, she dropped her eyes, as she felt shy to espy herself In his presence but when she sensed he was nude as well, she stole a glance to gauge the measure of his manhood. When he held her firmly against his hairy chest, her breasts had their first brush with maleness, and as he sought for her lips eagerly, she provided them readily. After stooping to her feet In passion, having conquered her heart with love, he found his way back on her silken slopes with the labial support, and rested his head on the slab of her midriff. However, as though signaled by Its spasms, while he tended his lips to her labium, she moaned with his labial nuances before guiding him to enter her arena with his passion for her possession. As his manhood reached the threshold of her maidenhood, her womanhood connived with him to contrive Its crossing. On their way to orgasm, they experienced the ecstasy of union brought about by the feeling of lovemaking.
Then fondling his back, as he lay on her In exhaustion, she felt life was worth living If only for that moment. Seeing he was fulfilled as well, she felt gratified for being the source of his fulfillment and as her own enjoyment, occasioned by him, made him even more endearing to her loving heart. Holding hands In satiation, wondering about nature's Ingenuity In conceiving sexual gratification as a means of human fulfillment.
they looked at the skies, as though to thank the stars for their union. Soon, Sandhya couldn't help but think about her intimacy with Roopa and felt, 'while lesbianism with Roopa entails our bodies delight our minds, in coition with Raja, oh, how our bodies and souls come to fuse.'
Before exhaustion overpowered their youthful exuberance in their nuptial bed and sleep overtook their adoring gaze, the moon was on its westward descent, and as though it got inkling from its fairer partner on the horizon, the sun lay in wait to catch a glimpse of the nuptial bride in sleep. As if influenced by his possessive instinct. Raja Rao woke up at dawn to catch the peeping tom at the act. Turning then to Sandhya who slept spread-eagled, he felt she looked splendid. It seemed as though she resembled the bedside roses, having herself flowered overnight after being deflowered. Seeing his bride thus in the nascent sunlight, he surged to have more of her fresh youth and as he pressed against her ardently, she woke up to his ardor to match him amorously.
When it was time for breakfast. Raja Rao and Sandhya went hand in hand to Thimmaiah's place to be greeted by Narasamma's steamy idlis and spicy chutneys, and having savored those, they set out for sight-seeing.
Thy sauntered in the paddy fields and roamed about the mango groves until Sandhya became sore footed to go any farther, and ignoring her coy protests, he carried her in his arms, inducing her to cling on to him comfortably. But once they reached their coconut plantation, she jumped to the ground as though to view the setting in its proper shape. Their kapu, so as to sweeten their palates and fill their bellies, fetched a couple of ganga bondaalu, and a rejuvenated Sandhya then accompanied Raja Rao to pray at the nearby darga of the legendary Vali Baba, who, it was said, walked on the rivers and wasn't wetted by rainwater.
Returning to the Thimmaiahs for lunch, they stayed back for gossip lest their hosts should feel that they were treated as mere innkeepers. Thimmaiah poured out the problems agriculture posed, and was pleased at having a person for an audience who didn't have ideas to differ with his own. Narasamma, however, tried to interest Sandhya with a game of dice and shells. After drubbing the bride in half a dozen games, Narasamma switched over to the sport of tamarind seeds. She spread a few score of them at random on the floor at arm length. Then she tossed one up and picked up another from the spread before catching the former mid air. As the play progressed, she increased the number of pickings from the spread and yet didn't let the tossed-up one slip through her guard. Sandhya, who watched in wonderment, made a mess of it when it was her turn to try her hand.
When it was time for tea, Sandhya offered to serve them and savoring her sweetened preparation, Thimmaiah complimented Sandhya, 'You seem to be one up on my old woman.'
'To be honest,' said Sandhya earnestly, 'I want to be her apprentice.'
'It's good to know that you realize that cooking is an art,' Narasamma said as though to begin the lessons for Sandhya, 'though nowadays it's being treated as a machine craft. Pressures of the times have brought in pressure cookers, and it's lost on the housewife that as nature takes its own time to deliver, cooking needs time to impart taste to the food. And if you pressure it to deliver, either way, it's going to be a premature issue. It has become fashionable to talk in terms of the recipes these days, though they're no more than the same garam masala with different brand names. Won't one lose the unique taste of the vegetables, the gravy being the same in every curry? Cooking seems to have fallen into the hands of barbarians, and the family
members too don't seem to mind any more. Anyway, I'll give you some useful tips before you leave.'
'I would be grateful for that,' said Sandhya eagerly.
'What about visiting a few temples?' Narasamma said as an afterthought.
'Why forget they're here honeymooning,' said the old man jokingly, 'and are not on a pilgrimage?'
'Jokes apart,'said Sandhya, 'I'm keen praying at a couple of temples.'
'Raja you spend a night or two in a houseboat on Vasishta,' suggested Thimmaiah. 'That would be like icing on your honey.'
'That's when Sandhya gets over her phobia for water,' said Raja Rao.
'Then take her to Vodalarevu where the Gowthami makes a 'T' with the Bay of Bengal,' said Thimmaiah. 'It's a sight to see.'
'I would love to witness that,' said Sandhya in excitement. 'Who knows, in time I might be a game for the houseboat even.'
'I feel Ryali is a must visit,' said Raja Rao to Narasamma's delight, 'if only to envision the sculptured fusion of Vishnu's front with Mohini'sbackin saligrama.'
'God bless you people,' said Narasamma, seemingly blessing them herself. 'It helps to place trust in God.'
'The days have changed,' said Thimmaiah. 'Nowadays, it's as though men are guided merely by religiosity and not by any religiousness. Naro narayana, man is God, that's what our sastras preach, implying that you only reach Him through the service to humanity. Nevertheless, man today seems to believe he no longer needs to serve man to please the Gods. In this jet age of non-stop flights, it's as though man thinks he can hop to heaven by merely visiting temples. One no longer prays to God for peace of mind; it's his prosperity that's at the back of his mind. Boon seeking has become the bane of the religious spirit. The more one is moved by his motive, all the more the fervency in his prayer increases. All the while, it's as though the fellow-beings count for nothing.'
'In my opinion,' commented Raja Rao, 'there is more to religion than meets the eye. It is the most effective means devised by man to hold human beings from cracking at the threshold of their anxieties. If you see, when a man is gravely ill, his wife fears that she's on the verge of widowhood and all that goes with it. Unable to bear the anxiety about her future without him, won't she turn to God via her religion to transfer her burden? God, please save him, she would pray for His mercy while waiting for his recovery in hopeful anticipation. As a result, in the mean time, her own anxiety lies in suspension of belief, making it easy on her mind. In the end, if he comes out true and kicking, its God's grace, but were he to kick the bucket, then it's God's will. However, life takes over where her man would have left it, and soon she gets adjusted in the altered situation. The feature of faith is it rescues us from going insane by helping us to face the vicissitudes of life with religious hope.'
Thimmaiah nodded in approval as Narasamma scowled her disagreement, 'What you say might be true but it could be too sensitive for your wife.'
'I would like to see life with maturity and not approach it with sentimentality,' said Sandhya. 'I'm glad that I've found the r
ight guide in my husband.'
'That's the benefit of woman's education,' said Thimmaiah greatly impressed.
'But the real tragedy of man lies not in death but in life itself,' said Raja Rao characteristically. 'Man would nurse animosity lacking perceptivity, burdens himself with sentimentality, courts trouble thoughtlessly and then turns to god-men for deliverance. It's a pity that man meditates for peace of mind having purchased headaches at a discount.'
Seeing the nuptial couple yawn at length, Narasamma suggested that it was time they caught up with lost sleep under the mango tree in the backyard. After siesta, however, at Sandhya's behest, the aged couple accompanied the newly weds in the evening to the Sathyanarayana Swamy temple on the banks of the village tank.
After the parikrama, they had the Lord's darshan and sitting by the lake, Narasamma narrated the temple's legend thus:
When Lega Sathyanarayana of the village went to Annavaram, the Lord visited him in his dream and directed him to begin building a temple for Him at this very spot. Once Lega returned, everything fell into place by the blessings of the Lord and the benevolence of the villagers and the others. It was thus at Godspeed the temple for the Lord was built.
On their return, as the nuptial-couple headed home to have their way, the elderly, while preparing to receive them for dinner, reminisced about the finest day they had in years.
'Let me repay my debt,' said Raja Rao picking the soap, as they went into the backyard for bath.
'Wait for my call,' she said smiling.
'Don't keep me waiting,' he said ardently.
When they reached the Thimmaiahs place for dinner, seeing Sandhya in an off-white voile sari with maroon border, Narasamma was truly impressed. Though Sandhya returned upbeat after dinner, nevertheless. Raja Rao found Sandhya morose in his embrace.
'Why darling,' he said in jest, 'did the honey turn bitter just after seven spoonfuls.'
'Don't be cruel,' she said. 'Somehow, I'm missing Roopa, that's all.'