Sister's Beautiful Friend -12 ENGLISH STORIES

 

12  Short Stories by Kuru Aravinthan

kurufanclub@gmail.com 

ENGLISH STORIES

1)    NANGOORI

2)                     Red Skirt

3)                   Jack on the root.

4)                  For my sweetheart Kannan…!

5)                 You have missed the word daddy…!

6)                 Father’s Kannamma

7)                How are you doing, man?

8)               A longing creeper

9)                 The snowy beach

1                   Next - door boy                    

 If        If you touch.. will burn………!

                    A TRUTHLESS TRUTH

       Pulluku Iraitha Neer

 

 

 

Kuru’s English Stories

 

1)   NANGOORI

Kuru Aravinthan

It was in Colombo Harbor…

We were waiting in a line as they let us in one by one.

‘Nangoori’, the name caught my eyes as I climbed the stairs of the ship which was waiting to be boarded. The name was written on the side of the ship in huge block letters in both Hindi and English.

The ship had set sail from India to give aid and safe passage to the affected Thamizh refugees of 1983 July racial conflict.

After a long time, friendly faces welcomed us aboard the ship.

Following a long period of conflict and despair, the warm smile and caring gestures of our host felt comforting. More importantly we were relieved and felt safe.

The thought of being a refugee in our own country made me sad. I turned around to check up on my sister. ‘All I want is to get back home safely’. It was written all over her face.

The racial riots had been intensified during the past week, and my sister was very concerned and had thought that we would be lucky to get out of this alive.

In the lower deck of the ship there were several beds. I made one for her and asked her to get some rest. All those sleepless nights made her fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

At that time, I was in my teenage. Once my sister went to bed, me and my friends made our way to the upper deck. It was filled with familiar and unfamiliar faces sitting all over the place.

Everyone was scarred with disappointment as they were deceived by those who were supposed to stand by them in the first place.

We realized that we can no longer live together with them peacefully and even if we do, they wouldn’t let us.

They have lost their loved ones, their livelihoods, their belongings, their dignity and so much more to this conflict. Although they have lost so much, at least for now they were all relieved to go back to their own land.

Suddenly I heard a woman crying. I turned around and saw a man standing beside her frozen like he had no way to comfort her.

I thought maybe it was her husband. If he was, then he would have hugged her to give her comfort. But in contrast he just stood their felling helpless.

She was wailing in agony like a madwoman. I felt like something was not right and was confused.

I hurried down to the lower decks to my sister and whispered to her what I had seen.

My sister had been a teacher and she was always there to support women in crisis. As soon as she heard about it, she hastily got out of the bed and ran to the upper decks. I followed her.

Now they were both arguing. She was now shouting back at him. But he was in no mood to listen to her.

He then got furious., shoved her away and ran towards the edge of the ship. As he ran past us, my sister stepped in to stop him in case he if tried something foolish.

‘What happened?’

‘Please just let me be’

‘What are you so worked up about? Was she mean to you?’

‘Never mind, just let me go’

‘Why? If I let you go, what are you going to do?’

‘I am so ashamed. I am going to commit suicide. I can’t live anymore’ he shook himself to get free of the grip.

What? Suicide? I was shaken for a moment. Could she have told something so hurtful to him when they were arguing? Could it be the reason for his decision to take his own life? All kinds of thoughts were running through my head.

‘Okay, I will let you be. But first tell me what happened. After that you can do as you wish’ said my sister.

I don’t know what he thought, but all of a sudden, he became silent. All I could hear was the sound of his inability.

Suicide is a decision taken impulsively. If given proper thought into it, people are most likely to change that decision.

Now the woman walked towards my sister with hesitation.

‘And you are…?’ asked my sister.

‘I am his wife’ she replied after a brief pause.

‘No! No! No!’ he shouted with resentment.

‘Isn’t she your wife then?’ my sister asked.

‘No, I don’t want her to be my wife anymore. I am so ashamed of the fact!’ he spat at her with hatred.

She wasn’t expecting this. She was taken aback.

‘I did what I did to save your life. Now you are blaming me?’ she wailed in sorrow as she pounded her head with her hands.

As they started to argue blaming each other for whatever happened, my sister became more concerned about the woman and feared that she might take the wrong decision as her husband did.

She waited for them to pour out their sorrows to each other.

That woman had scratch marks on her cheeks and neck.

The thought of suicide might had occurred to them after they had lost their honor which they hold above all else. Now I started to understand why they took such a decision.

Unable to witness her wailing in sorrow, my sister helped her to have a seat and consoled her.

My sister signaled me to have an eye on her and walked back to her husband ask about what happened.

He complained that during the riot, a group of thugs assaulted her, tore her clothes off and molested her in front of him.

‘You are a man, are you not? Why didn’t you do something about it?’

‘What more could I do?’

‘You should have tried something to save her.’ said my sister.

‘How can I? I was overwhelmed and they had hatchets, guns and chains with them’

‘At least both of you should have tried and run away’

‘It was during the curfew. Military personnel were stationed at the junction. If we had run that way, they would have shot just. So….’

‘So what?’

‘So, we took hold of our little boy and decided to run out the back to hide from them and that is when they caught us. They tied me down and those savages did this to her right in front of me…’ he cried not knowing what to say.

My sister had no intent to hear out the rest of it. She could see the pain and sorrow in his eyes. The thought of him being unable to save his wife from such a horrible fate made him anxious.

‘I did all I could. I yelled for help, I fought them as much as I can. They hit me in the head with the gun. I fell unconscious. I don’t know what happened afterwards!’

‘How did you all escape?’

‘When I came back to my senses, I saw her, my wife crying alone in a corner with scratch marks all over her. There was blood everywhere in her dress. In the morning they lifted the curfew for an hour. We escaped then and got to safety in a refugee camp’

My sister didn’t say anything.

No one is to blame but those savages.

My sister grabbed their boy and helped her down to the lower decks while trying her best to console her.

That bitter journey filled with sorrow, despair and pain continued for two days.

When we made landfall at one of the ancestral places in the history of Tamil people, Kankesanthurai, she also came down with us.

Listening to my sister’s advice had made them to change their decision to commit suicide. At that time my sister’s daughter Rosa was volunteering in the temporary refugee camp. We told everything about them to her and handed them over to her to be looked after.

Every passenger of that ship was severely affected by the racial riots one way or the other. Maybe it was hearing all those sad stories from the refugees, it made Rosa troubled at heart for some time.

Every refugee’s sorrow seemed to be deeply rooted at her heart. She might be raging on the inside with anger and hate, by the fact that we, the rightful citizens of this very own country were made refugees in our own land.

A few days later Rosa told us that she was going to be a freedom fighter. She then enlisted into their ranks. Those troubled times never gave the people the luxury of thinking whether the path they had chosen for themselves was right or wrong.

All the Tamil people who were affected by the racial riots had only one goal in their mind. That was to protect ourselves from such incidents in the future. Decades of being oppressed by the government made them to rise up in the form of armed conflict.

The enemy never understood the meaning of peaceful protests for rights. Every attempt of a peaceful protest against the oppression was in vain.

When my sister received the news of Rosa’s death in a battle for Tamil people’s rights., she didn’t even flinch. She felt pride that her daughter had met a brave death in the battle for freedom rather than losing her honor to the enemy.

The woman who my sister saved from committing suicide is now looking after an elder’s home in Vanni’. Her husband is in a mental institution. His mind has turned on him, blaming and punishing himself for what happened. Her little boy

has now committed himself in the fight against sand smuggling in Mullaitivu riverbeds.

No one else can begin to understand the pain and sorrow they have gone through.

Not only during the racial riots, but also by the actions of some deranged politicians and their agendas, several Tamil families were shattered to their core. Some people want nothing of it and only wants to live in peace. But those in power are not letting them be.

By the action of heartless weapon manufacturers and traffickers seeking profits in an unstable political situation, the armed conflict still ensues as the death toll piles up on both sides. It does not seem to end any time soon. No one knows what is right and what is wrong.

(Vikatan – Deepavali Malar)

 

 

2)  Red Skirt

Kuru Aravinthan

As soon as the cops stopped me, I rolled down my car window realizing that there was something going on.

‘Madam, the bride parade is going on. You can’t go through here right now. Please either turn back or pull your car over and wait’ said the officer as he walked past.

I pulled my car over and killed the engine. Several vehicles were already parked there. People were getting out of their vehicles and mingling with the crowd by the roadside to watch the parade.

I looked at my daughter Mathumitha sitting right next to me. She was staring and poking at her mobile phone. I couldn’t bear to wait inside the car for half an hour. How can I?

‘Mathu, come on let’s go see the parade’ I asked her.

‘What? What is there to see?’ she frowned. Staring at that mobile phone seemed more important to her than watching the parade.

‘Don’t just stay in the car all alone. Come with me. It will be fine’ I practically dragged her with me.

It was a huge parade and the mere size of it alone left me awestricken. It was amazing to look at the people and their costumes.

‘This has been happening for many years now. Earlier they used to call it ‘Gay Parade’. But now they have changed it to ‘Bride Parade’ so that everyone can participate in it freely’ I overheard someone talking in the crowd.

I turned around to look at Mathu. Her eyes were fixed, and she was eagerly watching the parade.

‘Mom they say that our prime minister has also joined this parade’ said Mathu.

There is nothing to hide from her. She was born right here in Canada and she seems to know everything.

‘Back in my village too there were people like this living in shadows afraid to come out. The society just set aside these kinds of people and branded such things as taboo. So, they just remained hidden to our knowledge forever.’ I said.

People from all kinds of disciplines such as Doctors, Nurses, Policemen, Military personnel, Fire Brigadiers, Teacher and IT professionals have joined this parade to show their support and the fact that We too are humans echoed throughout the parade as it went past silently. Many more were standing at the roadside showing up signs and offering their support for the cause.

At that moment I felt that I have unwillingly entered a completely different world. I started to become more defensive about this and I felt like leaving. So, I hurried back to my car dragging Mathu along with me. I was more relieved and felt safe once I got inside the car.

‘My daughter tells me that she is going to see a movie with her friend. But I am worried that she might lie to me and go with her boyfriend instead. By the time she gets back it is usually past 10 at night’ my neighbor Saratha complained me about her daughter.

‘It all depends on how you raise your child. Try to be stricter at least from now on.’ I advised her.

As soon as Saratha got out of the plane and set foot in Canada, she realized that the culture here was diverse and totally different from what she experienced back home. She tried to adapt herself and her family to this new way of life and now she is lost in it. So, I gave her some of my insights.

Now since Saratha’s daughter was all grown up, she couldn’t control her and that is why she was complaining to me about her daughter. I made her understand that blindly following the norms and ideologies that this society has in a country with such a diverse culture is what got her into this mess in the first place.

Everyone usually says to be friendly with your children once they grow up. But not only for this country, even for me also that wouldn’t be suitable. We should be strict towards our children. Or else they wouldn’t respect our words. My Mathu would do exactly as I say. That is how I have raised my children.

But still I was afraid. In this country you shouldn’t punish your children. You shouldn’t scold them. You shouldn’t order them what to do and what not to do. Once your daughter grows up, even her own father shouldn’t kiss her. In the school they teach them to dial 911 and complain if something like this were to happen. I also know some children who have dialed 911 on their parents as they were being strict.

Apart from this one other thing worried me the most. Mathu is growing up and she is becoming a beautiful woman. I can feel the eyes of the boys turning towards her. This is the reason that worried me.

Still, I was careful. I checked whether she was getting any frequent call from some boy every now and then. My husband told me not to pry on her personal life. But I couldn’t help. He sometimes used to tease me saying that I might have been a watchdog in my previous life.

Nowadays everyone needs a cellphone. It helps a lot to stay in contact with other persons, get to know where they are and what they have been doing. It is kind of like a guard dog that stays with our children. But as their parents it falls on us to teach them when and how to use cellphone especially when they are in their teenage. That is why I still ask my daughter to leave her cellphone at my bedside every night before she goes to bed.

Although she doesn’t like me controlling her and telling her rules to follow, she got used to obeying them with a frown on her face. Just like her cellphone, her laptop is also under my supervision. Every night at ten o clock, it should have been shut down and she also knows to keep the door of her room open until she goes to bed.

When she was doing homework in her computer, I used to peek at what she was up to on that screen every now and then. I have cancelled the subscription of all the unnecessary channels in the television. I was as cautious as possible to prevent any other outside influences that might lead her down a wrong path.

So far Mathu has been living with us under our shadows. But now since she has been accepted for higher studies in the university, she has to leave us.

But even as her parents the thought of leaving her, the thought of missing her innocent smile makes our heart heavy.

But still for her to have a better future, we should bear being separated from her. Since she will be going there day after tomorrow, it is up to us to help her find new accommodations and get settled.

In the morning she woke up and went to say goodbye to friends. But her face was dull. I could not understand why she was anxious.

I thought that she was worried about leaving us to study in the university. I heard a phone ringing in her bedroom. I rushed there thinking that she might have left it in here by mistake.

I could hear the mumbling sound of it from under the pillow. I reached out to it. It was new to me. Where did this come from? This is not my daughter’s. I checked the phone number. It contained calls from Vithura. May she have bought it to her?

I scrolled through the screen and found a text message from Vithura from previous night.

‘Sweety. When you told me that you are going to university, I was happy for you. But you know I can’t bear the thought of not seeing you. We should meet before you go. I will be waiting for you tomorrow in our usual meeting place. I will not leave until I have met you, understand?’

If I leave her to her own way like this, she might end up with coming home with a boyfriend. In a country with such a diverse population that thought alone made me scared.  That is why I tried as much as possible to stop her from seeing Vithura.

Now after reading the text from Vithura, I felt that she was threatening my daughter. Is it really Vithura or is it some other boy in her name?

When Vithura came by the home last time, she told me that she left her phone here. The thought was prying in my mind and I finally asked my daughter about it.

‘Boyfriend? I mean who among our boys is that handsome? I don’t have any such ideas mom’ told Mathu completely denying it.

I know that at this age they do all kinds of stupid stuff. I was afraid that she will get attached to someone in school where there are students from different religious and social background study together.

But I was relieved when she said that she has no boyfriend. If she has one it would be a nightmare to answer to our relatives about this.

At first, I allowed Vithura to get close to Mathu because they were good friends. They studied together and supported each other. Vithura was also sweet and friendly with me.

But once I noticed some changes in my daughter’s behavior, it had me worried that Vithura might be influencing my daughter in a wrong way. I remember that one day when Mathu came home after going to a birthday party with Vithura. I became suspicious when I felt a whiff of alcohol from Mathu.

She told me that she had drunken some red wine that day. She questioned me how she can not to drink wine while all her friends around her were drinking it. That day she had all the excuses in the world. She didn’t have a clue what she was saying, and I understood that she was not herself. So, I didn’t continue the conversation any further. I let myself out of her bedroom banging the door behind me in a furry.

They say that you can judge a person’s character by the people with whom they are friends with. Although Vithura was her classmate, she was more into parties and dances than studies. After that I strictly told Mathu to stay away from Vithura.

Mathu then had told me over the phone that she would focus on the studies and was more interested in going to Universtity.

It was her birthday. I was hoping to give her a surprise. So, I went down to the university hostel with a homemade birthday cake.

The road was wet and slippery because of the snow that day. I had to drive carefully.

I parked my vehicle and called her to inform that I was there. I expected that she would come in a hurry to see me. But to my disappointment she was a little late.

She would not have expected me to be there. It looked as if she was trying to hide something from me when she came up with weird excuses as to why she was late. It had me worried that she might be slipping past my guidance.

I then went up to her room, cut the cake, wished her happy birthday, relaxed a little and departed soon after.

‘As her parents our biggest expectation is for Mathu to complete her higher studies properly. In this country you cannot do nothing without having a proper education. It is detrimental to finish her higher studies if she is to have a good future for herself’ I thought to myself.

When I was in the highway driving back home, the image of the flowered red skirt that I saw in Mathu’s bed suddenly flashed in front of my eyes. I now felt that something was off in the way she picked it up and threw it on to the basket as if she was hiding something.

I didn’t seem to remember Mathu having a skirt like that. But still that skirt was so familiar to me. Then it occurred to me in a flash ‘Oh my god! It was Vithura’s skirt… so does this mean that Vithura was there with her?’

I was shocked for a minute and I didn’t know what to do.

‘So, the two of them are…’

I was not aware of how fast I was going, and I suddenly pushed the brakes down.

As the road was slippery with snow all over the place, as soon as I hit the brakes the car took a swirl and went down a ditch on the other side. I felt a sharp pain on my forehead. I might have hit my head and I could see blood coming out.

Everything around me started to feel foggy as the world around me dimmed. I had all kinds of images flashing in front my eyes like a dream.

‘It is the bride parade. I can make out a familiar face holding up a sign and shouting in the crowd as the parade is slowly moving along. I am trying to have a look at that face. But I cannot see clearly. It looks like it is Vithura and maybe… maybe, is she with Ma..thu..?’

 

 

3)     Jack on the root.

(Kuru Aravinthan)

The house was deserted. Nilani got up in the morning and left for school. When she left, she ran and hugged me as usual and left. She was a child with no mental worries except that she had grown up. There was a small struggle in our family life which was moving like a clear stream. The reason is the fact that last week our daughter came to age. It was the incident that dragged me into the real world from the fantasy world. It happens normally to everyone who born as a girl. Although it was an event to be rejoiced over, for some reason, my mind was agitated.

It is true that so far there has been no concern for my daughter. But due to the impact of the situation here, fear my girl’s future began to come into me. It was the desire of both of us not only to raise my daughter in this country where there is no discrimination between male and female but also to raise her as a good citizen of this country with the knowledge of our cultures and traditions. Memories of her future, have been running through my mind since she was born. Whenever I heard about the day-to-day happenings here, my mind starts to worry. No matter what we care about, the suffering that this country is going to determine for itself, her future and how she is going to live, has always worried me.

I had just gone through situations like this because I was a woman too. I still remember being in solitary confinement for ten days and eating special food and being advised not to be associated with men when I faced this situation at the age of adolescence in the village. The situation there was different when I grew up as a village girl in the village. This new environment was new even to me when I got married and came here across the sea. One side I was scared of how I was going to cope in this western country and the other side I was amazed to see everything here. Here they have written “Community Watch” on a banner in some places. We always had the fear that neighborhood would keep an eye on us without writing anything like this in our village. It was also a reason to stay away from making mistakes for fear of losing family honor. But thinking back now it has been a security fence for us many times. Here we are living in a situation where we do not even know who is in the next door and what they are doing.

My husband works in a high position in a company as an auditor. So, he was in a situation where he had to go out often. He was probably able to come home on the weekends. Sometimes it can even go away without being able to come home. But we had to stay here because of Nilani’s studies. Nilani grew up under my supervision rather than her father. For a few days I could feel that Nilani’s walk, talk and everything is changing slowly. Nilani who had not denied my word so far now began to deny it sometimes. She refused to wear some of the clothes I bought for her and said they were old fashioned. She asked permission to go see the movie with boy friends at night. She went with her boyfriends to her girlfriend’s birthday celebration and came home late at night. The fear that she was moving in the wrong direction suddenly caught me. I know some of the parents here suffer from not being able to reprimand their children. So, my mind was suffering that I could not swallow it and I could not be able to tell my husband about it. When he arrived over the weekend, I told him patiently about it as I could not bear it.

“This is how the children will be here at this age. We have to control them slowly. Never let her mind to suffer. If it happened, then we would all be in trouble. Just take care of who her friends are for now. That would be sufficient enough for now.”, saying that he left without caring about it further.

I could not accept that he had taken it so carelessly which was an important matter for me. I feared that she would go out of control tomorrow if it left unchecked like this. She knows that they have the freedom to go alone after the age of 16 because everything is told here at school. What can be done for this? How can I advise Nilani? My mother’s letter came from the village when my mind was troubled with this thought.

The writing of my mother that she wanted to see her grandchild at least once before she closed her eyes, caused me a kind of distress. We had created the situation where they could not even hug their grandchildren. It was the western passion of many like us that created such an environment. When I told my husband about this, he said that he would make arrangements to go to the village for school holidays and that he could not come now because of the work. There was no denial when I told Nilani about this. But she also did not show much interest in that trip.

The fear of what Nilani was going to do in the village environment welled up inside of me when I was going to home from the airport in the vehicle. I was sweating because the vehicle does not have an AC facility. I looked back at Nilani. She was enjoying the fields, keeping her mobile game with which, she was playing inside her bag. The thought of how she was going to cope in a house with no AC or bathroom facilities raised inside me. What if she does not like our village environment? What if she doesn’t like being here and insist on going back? I was patient enough to just wait and see.

I saw her face when my dad, mom and all hugged her and showered her with love and affection at the door of our house. No denial was visible on her face. She closed her eyes and kissed him on the cheek saying,” grandpa” as if she was enjoying that affection. She did not discriminate in the matter of food. She enjoyed eating everything including idly sambar and sadni saying,” I like spicy.”.  My mother was watching and enjoying her granddaughter’s every move with relief as she was relieved of her thought of what she has to cook for her granddaughter.

She went near the cow that was grazing in the garden and gently rubbed its head. She felt something new when it raised its thin voice saying “m…maa” and shook its head. I could not believe how Nilani’s face became so bright when she gave the straw kindly saying some story to it as if she had some relationship with it and the cow ate it. She childishly told the cow, “shall we take a selfie?”, and took the selfie with the cow. My fear of whether Nilani would adapt to this rural environment vanished at the next moment.

She listens to stories from her grandmother every day. She enjoys listening to old stories told by my mother. She also eagerly listened to the stories like the story of muni and chasing away the devil told by my mother as if they had really happened. I don’t know whether the reason why she is attracted to this village which has no facilities but full of natural environment is the thought of “Mother soil”. I felt sorry for the children who were born and raised in the western country and grew up in luxury for covering up their feelings for so long for the false honor that they don’t like the fragrance of this soil we were born into. Truth to be told we as parents ourselves had created such an unnecessary illusion within ourselves. It was only after coming here, I was able to realize to some extent that the environment in which children grow up is very important if children are to be happy.

When we went to the backyard, one of the jack trees was fruiting at the root. When Nilani saw it she ran and touched the fruit.

“Thorn is hurting grandpa. This is jack fruit, isn’t it?”, she said.

“We call this as palappalam in Tamil.”, said grandpa.

“I saw this in picture grandpa. But we only get canned yellow jack fruit pieces from the country, Thailand. We just eat it.”, she said.

“That one is a mango tree. This one is a banana tree.”. Grandpa introduced her to every fruit that stood in the yard.

“We just have to go to the superstore to buy all this. You get everything in the yard grandpa. You are lucky!”, said Nilani.

“We call Mango, Jack and Banana all three of these as mukkanikal in Tamil. Everything is in our garden. See this jack fruit. Its pieces are so tasty, but its skin is covered like a thorn around them so that it cannot be taken out easily. That is its shield, the gift of nature.”, grandpa explained her.

Nilani liked not only her relations but also the rural environment. She used to play pallankuzhi, thaddaankal, kankaddi, kabaddi, cricket, river, and pool with the children of her age. She went to the temple wearing long skirt and blouse. I was amazed that she had forget that her mother had also come here with her and that she is changing herself wherever she went like a chameleon. I wondered that this might be the glory of the soil of this country.

When she left the house after the holidays, Nilani ran and hugged the cow in the barn and kissed it on the face saying “goodbye”. There must be something understood by it also. The sad look of separation grief was visible in its eyes as it shook its head. Childishly saying “a selfie with you”, she took a selfie with it for the last time with tearful eyes.

At the airport Nilani hugged her grandfather, grandmother and everyone and said goodbye. Even though she was with her grandfather for a few days, the sadness of separation brought tears into his eyes. Nilani’s tearful eyes had dissolved my suspicion that “will she accept this soil?”. We left as if a great deal of stress had lessened in my mind in realizing that Nilani is liking the fragrance of our soil.

“Mom, they are so loving and affectionate with me. Shall we come here for the next vacation?”, said Nilani.

I stared at her in amazement and hugged her in support and touched her head who was sitting nearby me.

The plane was flying to the west. She recorded a text message which was told by her teacher on her cell phone and showed it to me, even though she was sitting next to me. I read it.

“Though our branches grow in different directions, our Roots remain as One.”

Those words of Nilani proved that “though our branches grow in different directions, our Roots remain as One.”. If the relations of this soil are to be maintained and if we want to be traditional with ourselves, we have to come here with the family for the next vacation as Nilani said and enjoy the “fragrance of this soil”. Otherwise, our next generation will be alienated. I decided that I should start making the arrangements now.

xxxxx

 

 

 

4)     For my sweetheart Kannan…!

Kuru Aravinthan

After bathing the baby, the nurse brought the baby to the Niru, who was lying unconscious in the maternity hospital. Staring at the baby’s face, she gently kissed the baby on the cheek and hugged him saying “sweetheart, Kanna” and buried her face on him and began to cry.

“Give the baby madam, I’ll keep him.”, said the nurse who understand the situation.

“No… no… He is his sweet Kannan. I’ll only keep him carefully until he comes.”, she sighed like a psycho. At the next moment, she became silent hugging the baby tightly into her. The nurse knew that some mothers would suffer from this postpartum mental illness, usually after childbirth.

“What happened…?”, the nurse’s supportive question makes her who had been broken by the pain, to tell everything to the nurse.

The cell phone rang early in the morning like never before.

 I looked back lying on the bed. His cell phone was just calling. He was fast asleep. I took the cell phone without disturbing his sleep. The call came from the hospital.

As he had taken two days off, he was sleeping soundly. The struggle over whether or not to wake him up stopped me for a moment. Why they make call at this time? Is it not the duty of the doctor to save the life of someone who is in danger? My conscience told me that it is okay to wake him up from sleep.

I woke him up and gave him the cell phone. He talked for a while saying that “I’m coming” and then looked back at me. I said nothing. I had just persuaded him to take leave because he needed rest as he wandered off to work always. He was in an awkward situation.

“What?”, I asked in a single word.

“They are asking me to come in a hurry. I cannot deny. I told that I’m coming.”, he looked at me miserably.

 I got anger and irritability suddenly. Why this kind of work is needed without being able to rest one day and be with the family? He was waiting for my answer. That made me even more annoyed. Because he was making the decision alone and he is expecting me to shake my head up and down.

“You have told that you are coming. Then why are you looking at me? Just go…”

“Really, shall I go?”, he saw me as if I am a miraculous born without counting my anger. He knew that my anger lasts only for a short period of time.

I leaned my head on his shoulder and sobbed as he came closer due to my desperate situation. For a few days I felt like I was not having interest on anything. This cell phone news also vanished my happiness that he will be with me for two days.

“Sorry…!”, he tapped my head gently.

“For my sweetheart Kannan…!”, saying that he bent down and gave me a kiss on the stomach. I needed this closeness just because I was pregnant. Small wishes like this, that is why I asked him to take rest for two days and stay with us. But I could not even enjoy this pleasure.

 I handed him the coffee when he was ready to go. “See, take pills from time to time, then my sweet Kannan should not blame me that dad did not take care of him. Do not argue with Meenu babe. Children would be like this. It is our responsibility to make them as good citizens. Understand?”, I nodded my head with a smile on my face as usual as I understood what he was saying.

Meenu babe was asleep. He went near and kissed her on the forehead and stood looking at her for a while. He buried his feelings inside himself and left as if he was not showing anything outside.

It has been three years since I married him, doctor Kiritharan. The marriage took place according to the wishes of the parents. First child is a girl, Meenadchi. It has now been confirmed that it is male child who is in the womb. Both of us were thinking severely every day just to select a name for him.

“Couldn’t you stop him by telling him not to go?”, said mom.

They were the ones who selected doctor as their groom stubbornly. They were the ones who repeatedly instilled into her the desire to marry a doctor to rise the family respect. Now they understand the reality and suffer without knowing whom to blame.

“Does this man need this work without even remembering that he has a family?”, she could understand mom’s anger with the sound of her murmuring while she was washing the dishes in the kitchen.

“Now why are you having anger on him?”

“See, how anger is coming when I’m talking about your husband?”, said mom.

“Doctors will be like this. You know this and married me to him.”, said Niru.

“For that why he is leaving you alone like this when you are pregnant?”

“They are doing their duties. Then what to be angry about?”

“This is husband and wife problem. Why the unnecessary work for me?”, said Mom.

I can understand mom’s fear. Labor pain can come at any time. I often have to pacify my mom.

He was unable to come home. I was talking to him along the cell phone for the past one week. I called him along the cell phone with sorrow as I didn’t get any news from him today.

“What happened? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Many people have been infected with this Corona virus unexpectedly. We don’t know what to do. So we have to check all one by one. We two or three doctors only have to manage all…!”

“First you stay safe as it is an infection. Did you eat…?”

“Yes, I ate from the canteen. Did you eat…?”

“Yes, I ate. Can I borrow dinner for you for the night…?”

“No, this corona virus is spreadable. No medicine has been found yet. So that don’t go outside.”

“Will you come by the morning…?”

“I will. You sleep well. You need good sleep at this time. You have to take pills as prescribed. Understand…?”

“I understood…!”

“What Meenu babe is doing?”

“She is looking at the door for you. Won’t you get anger if I ask one thing from you…?”

“What, tell me…?”

“We are desiring to see you once. Can you come here?”

“You are always seeing me in these years. Then why this sudden desire?”

“No, Meenu babe asks where her father is. Please you come and show your face at least for one time.”

Silence prevailed on the other side.

“What, are you thinking of coming home?”

“No… no… I’m coming but…!”

“But what tell…?”

“You know very well about the corona virus. It spread through the air, it spread while touching. So that it would be dangerous if I come close. That too should not be required while you are pregnant. Not only for you but also it would spread to our kids.”

“Meenu is searching for you while going to sleep and while waking up. What can I do alone?”, her sobbing sound affected him.

“Okay, I will come but I will stay at the door. I won’t come inside. You and Meenu should stay inside. You should not come closer to me, understand?”

“What, why are you saying many conditions like this? Don’t you think to see us?”

“Don’t I have the desire to see you? But the situation is like this…!”

Many were stayed indoors following the government’s announcement not to flirt outside the home. The streets were alone as schools, shops and public places were all closed.

Doctor Kiri came at the right time. He parked the vehicle on the road and walked slowly to the outer door.

He talked to them through the cell phone while staying outside the iron gate in the road. His voice was broken. Meenu babe talked eagerly from there. She didn’t understand why her father wear a mask around his nose and mouth.

It has been not even five minutes. Standing there when he shook his head and said goodbye Meenu babe suddenly shouted as dad. I don’t know what she thought but she ran towards him.

Niruja had no choice but to chase her and stubbornly dragged her inside. Meenu babe kept crying all day. The situation has made changes. She suddenly noticed that her husband was not as usual even during that very short period. The loneliness of not being near him worried her badly. She was frozen inside the house in a state of confusion with two kids, one on the hand and the other inside her womb, without knowing what to do.

“No one has expected that a virus infection would come like this. Doctor, this killing Corona has even affected you who came to save the patients. Is there no medicine for this?”, the nurse wept as she saw Doctor Kiri working day and night.

He couldn’t move because his lungs were completely damaged. But he showed the table nearby. She picked up the paper which was on the table. It was written in his handwriting. She read it.

“No medicine has been found for this yet. But we can prevent the spread of this virus which prevent our relations from even getting close at the last minute. It is spreadable in the air. It can be spread by touching the patient or what he has used. Use masks for face and hands. The virus can only survive for two weeks even if it is infected. So, wash your hands often with soap and water to prevent infection. Stay away. Isolate yourself. At least isolate yourself for two weeks just like how you were isolated for measles. Drink plenty of water without getting try throat. Do not gather in public places. Wait until the medicines for this disease arrives.” He mentioned many things like this and shared his experience even at the last moment. At last he had expressed his anger in one line. “The health of the country is in your hands. Save the country…!”

Niruja who was in labor pain was taken to a maternity hospital in ambulance. One of the hearse from the hospital stopped at the side of the street and continued its journey towards the cemetery after the ambulance passed by the side.

xxxxx

 

 

5)     You have missed the word daddy…!

Kuru Aravinthan

Ameera woke up in her sleep screamingly.

“What happened, dreamed something?”, mother lying nearby hugged and comforted her.

“Dad didn’t keep the word he said, mom”, she sobbed saying that. Even though Melody comforted her and put her to sleep, Melody could not sleep. Deceiving not only the daughter but also herself, she shuddered and cried in grief. Everything that happened so fast was shadowed in her eyes like a dream.

19-03-2020 – New York city.

He was coughing when he came to work.

He was unable to tolerate that the person working with him was coughing from yesterday. Today he had a mild fever too.

“See, don’t wander to work. You can paint only if you have a wall, understand...? Take two days leave. I will manage.”, saying that he forced him and send him to home.

Just thinking it was a normal flu fever, he told him to take rest. He forced himself to go to work because his employer had already informed that this work was urgent. He has 25 years of professional experience. For professional reasons, Rolando went from Orange County to the hospital in Manhattan, New York city for a few days to repair telecommunication equipment.

20-03-2020

When Rolando returned home, he felt sick and tired. When he bathed and changed clothes, they ate the food as a family. As he was tired, he said good night to everyone saying he was going to bed and went to bed. He had already taken two of the Advil pills.

“May I make coffee for you? It is good to drink coffee”, said his wife Melody.

“No honey, I’m feeling sleepy. I’m going to sleep”, he said.

“The tenth birthday is coming. Ameera and Olivia desired to celebrate it with their friends. Shall we do that only for this birthday...? “, his wife Melody asked him on the bed.

“Everything is for our kids, let’s do it.”, saying that and tapping her head, he slept soundly with his usual smile. After that he was not listening to anything his wife said. This is what Melody like about him, under any circumstances he will not tell anything intentionally for hurting.

“Honey, even when I’m in love with you, I never thought that my life would be so sweet like now.”. She always remembers what he said emotionally one day holding both her hands and lives still now without hurting him.

Rolando got up in the morning and get ready for the work. He pretended to be strong because everything would fall apart if the head of the family lay down. He was also a coach of basketball club in New Berg. The throat gently rubbed and coughed twice. He bathed rubbing shampoo on his head thinking that it would be a hot cough. While he was leaving, his two girls ran up and hugged him.

“What babes, seeing both of my kids running towards me and hugging me feels like you are going to ask me something big. Am I correct?”

“You are correct daddy…!”, said both Olivia and Ameera at the same time.

“Right, tell me quickly what’s the matter? Daddy has to go to work.”

“Our tenth birthday is coming daddy, don’t deceive us saying you have an urgent work, you have to take leave for us daddy... please…!” , he melted when his twin daughters asked like this.

“Surely, this time I will celebrate your tenth birthday with both of you even resigning my job.”

“And one more condition, you can dad…!”, said both as already planned.

“What’s that…?”, he said.

“You have to dance salsa dance for our friends in the party, grandpa said that you dance very well.”

“Yeah, I will dance but one condition.”

“Tell dad.”, said Olivia.

“My girls also have to dance with me!”

“Deal…!”, Ameera held out her hand.

He promised his girls with both of his hands and went. Both girls being emotional ran to their mom to ask about how to take steps for salsa dance.

21-03-2020

Melody cooks very well. She had taken home science as one of the subjects in her higher studies. She decided to make cake by herself for their children’s birthday party. She has bought the needed things. She thought that it would be nice to write the name the two girls on the same rectangular cake without making two cakes separately.

When Rolando returned from work, he had cough and fever. Melody made some soup and brought it to him. While drinking the soup he said, “My tongue is not feeling the taste.”.

Olivia and Ameera came running.

“Daddy teach us some steps for salsa dance.”, they said.

“Daddy is not well. So tomorrow…!”, said Melody.

“All is for our kids, come”, saying that he taught how to dance for a song. Saying Ameera to watch he danced with Olivia.

“Basic steps are only two. They are how to step front and behind. While dancing you must place three steps front and behind. You must stop at the fourth step. Then another three steps for front and behind and must stop at the eighth step. You must continue like this.”

As he was breathless, “Enough, stop.”, saying that Melody stopped everything. “I don’t know where your fever gone when your girls are asking something. What about teaching for me…?”

“You are not my gene, they have dancing skills…!”, he said with fun. As he was tired, he just fell on the bed.

“Shall we go to the hospital?”, Melody said.

“I’m okay. Everything will be right at the morning. Don’t get panic.”, saying that he comforted her and lay down and went to sleep.

Rolando has never slept like this as fever and cough before. What happened? After Rolando slept soundly, she spoke to her friend in cellphone.

“A new virus, Corona is spreading everywhere, Melo. No drug or vaccine has been found for it. Do not keep watching. It is better to go with emergency.”, said her friend throwing the shock bomb. The information she told scared her. Would it be that virus infection?

She did not think of anything else as her focus so far was on celebrating her children’s birthday. As soon as her friend told the information, she went and searched on the internet. She learned that this virus, which was started in China was spreading rapidly to every country such as Italy, Spain, France, and Iran and that some people in the United States also had been infected. No one seems to have taken this corona virus seriously. Facebook shows that still the parties and games are continuing.

22-03-2020

She took Rolando to the emergency first aid unit. They looked at him and sent him back saying it was a normal fever. He could not sleep all night. He kept on approaching. The throat felt like it was dry. She bought the pill they said at the pharmacy and give it to him. They were instructed not to flirt outside due to the spread of the corona infection and to stay at home. Melody was unable to go out for two days as she was told that no medicine had been found yet for this virus. 

24-03-2020

Deciding that there was no point in waiting longer, she called the ambulance and took him to the emergency unit. They waited for a long time and took him inside. They examined him hurriedly. They sent them home saying that it is just a normal fever, no need to be panic, it is enough to take rest at home. Rolando tried not to let the pain out because his wife and children would be scared away. Melody noticed that he was having difficulties in breathing.

26-03-2020

She took him to the emergency unit again. Many were waiting in line. He was taken inside and treated. Oxygen level was showed as low as 89. If it is below 94, the patient must have given artificial respiration. But hospital did not do that. They were reinstructed to use an inhaler and not to leave the house and were sent to home as there was no place for the patients. They too had no choice, so that they return home.

29-03-2020

They had made all the arrangements for the birthday celebration. As it was tenth birthday celebration, they asked their friends to come at the evening.

 Rolando had difficulties in breathing in the morning. They left thinking that they would get any medicine from the hospital. This time they saw his condition and let him in and gave him artificial respiration. They sent Melody back to home saying that relations are not allowed to stay here as it is an infectious disease.

“Mom, daddy did not come yet. Friends are waiting.”, said Ameera eagerly.

“They asked daddy to stay at the hospital as he was having higher fever. He would return when he is well. They must go home, right? You cut the cake.”, said Melody.

“Mom, without daddy…? He promised me that he would come anyway.”, said Ameera.

“I can understand. Our dad cannot get up and walk now. Later we will take the cake and feed it to the daddy surprisingly, right…?”

Melody contacted the doctor on her cell phone.

“Doctor, can you help me?”

“Tell”

“Today is his girls’ birthday and he promised to join the party but, in this situation he could not come home. At least can you give him the phone?”

They were giving him oxygen as he was unconscious and unable to breathe. The doctor keeps the phone near his ear. When the “happy birthday” song was over, he heard the beginning sound of the song for the salsa dance.

At the very next second, the toes of the Rolando who was unconscious moved slowly. Then his feet began to dance to the music while on the bed. One… two… three… stop, one… two… three… stop. His lip moved slowly. The movements in the eyelids were visible even though the eyes were closed. The doctor and nurses looked on in amazement. The music that went to the climax slowly subsided and rested. At the next moment, the movement of those legs slowly stopped. Silence surrounded him as a sign that everything has subsided.

His death informed something. No one is understanding that a catastrophe is awaiting due to the indifference of humans!

xxxxx

 

 

6)     Father’s Kannamma

Kuru Aravinthan

Mom was pulling a stool and climbing on it, looking for something on the shelf, and I was focusing on my subject as if I hadn't noticed it.

This is what has been happening in this house for the past week. My mother had carefully collected and piled up all the letters and papers dad had written. And today she was looking for something in that. Nowadays it has become her daily task to get a stool, climb on it, read the papers from the pile, and to store them back carefully. 

Father was smiling as always. Though two months have passed since he left us, his picture hanging on the wall brought us a hallucination as he was alive.

One day, he suddenly complained of chest pain. As we rushed him to the hospital, he left us halfway. Every relative who came to see us, left one after the other like water droplets scattering off from lotus leaves. Once again, we were alone. Unexpected loneliness and fear of the future quickly surrounded us. Though the thought of tomorrow stood a question mark in front of us, it was least shocking.  

'He has gone peacefully without leaving us anything behind’ when Mom hugged me and cried, I suddenly felt a fear in our social system, which depended on men. And for a moment I felt to think of women as a burden to society.

When I was born, my father, who was impressed by Bharathi's writings, named me Bharathi. He frequently kept calling me, as he was so pleased by the name. When mom was studying plus 2, Dada who was a young teacher was invited to give a special speech at a Bharathi festival at her school, it seems. There, mom was surprised at dad’s speaking skills. Adding to it, dad also had a clear, strong voice. In the middle of his speech, he had sung a Bharathi’s beautiful song “Chinnan chiru killiye kannamma”, mesmerizing the whole gathering. He had also beautifully explained the meaning of the song.

Mom, who was listening to the song, was so impressed with my dad, thinking of herself as the kannamma dad had mentioned in the song. As she had a kind of attraction towards dad, they started meeting often. After some time, she married dad with the consent of elders of both families. Dad’s smile, magnetic eyes, fascinating voice were all his plus points. And it is not shocking that mom got attracted to him. 

 With time mom understood that imagination and reality were two different things. With the small income, he got from his teaching profession, he was dreaming, thinking, writing, addressing gatherings, and engaging in volunteer activities, without taking any care of the economic status of our family. Mom was afraid of my future and thus always kept scolding dad.

I don’t know whether dad gets egoistic, but instead, he would get angry. So, every time mom begins to scold, dad would shut the door and sit and write something till he calms down. Later mom would go and calm him down and ask him to come and eat. So, scolding and then making peace, was a casual happening in our house. Dad very well knew mom’s weakness.

'Vaalai Kumariadi- Kannamma Maruvak Kaadhal  Kondaen..!’, dad would go just behind mom while she cooks, and softly whisper into her ears. And then mom would freeze like a beetle just after drinking honey. I have so often seen mom forgetting herself as dad sings songs.

 I even thought that mom didn’t know to show her love for dad, like him. But at last, it was always mom who would compromise and be humble.   

'Mama, why do you always scold father?'    

'That's my nature, I scold you every day, but does that mean I don't love you?'

Mom’s innocent reply made me think.

When we go out together, some people have even asked me if mom was my sister. Similar to the saying ‘when children have grown tall above your shoulders, then you treat them as friends’, mom was a friend to me. Mom’s love was deep but was locked on a side of her heart. Like a balloon that suddenly bursts, when her eyes fill with tears, her love flashes in her eyes as a lightening. 

Mom not only had great respect and love for dad but also had a craze towards him. She would behave like a doll who nodded for anything dad told because he was her world. I always call my mama 'Dad's Kannamma'. And sometimes I even wondered whether mom could bear if something happened to my dad.

An unexpected tragedy happened that day.

What would the climber do if the tree that supported it dies off? In the first week, she sat down in front of my father’s picture and mourned unable to bear her sadness. Then after some days, she controlled herself.

Mother may have learned from father, the spiritual philosophy that separation is not for the soul, but just for the body. After that, I don’t know whether she cried to herself or wetted the pillows at night, but never cried aloud, nor did she show her sadness before me. 

As she wandered around me like a little cat, I understood that she wanted me to tell something to me but was also unable to tell at the same time. I had been waiting till she would tell me on herself. But later, unable to wait I asked her.

'Why have you been acting differently these days mom?'

'I feel guilty in my heart, Bharathi!' 

‘Mom, what mistake did you do to worry over like this? You could at least share with me’

'I'm hesitant to tell you that!'

'It's okay, with who else could you share it then?  If you tell me, you will feel a little solace’

Mom hesitated for a while. Perhaps she thought about how to start or share her privacy with her daughter. 

'I made a mistake the night before dad left us!'

‘Mistake? What do you mean mom?’

'Yes...! He lovingly came to sleep with me, but I rudely moved away asking whether it was necessary with a young child at home.

He was disappointed. Then he turned to the other side of the bed and didn’t speak anymore. I thought he would be okay the next day, and I didn’t even try to talk. I didn’t know this was going to happen. I still feel guilty if I think of it.

I have become a sinner who couldn’t even fulfill his last wish’, she told as if she was sharing with her friend her fault and began crying.

‘Mom, did you do this on purpose? Who would think that things would happen this way? It was just a coincidence mom, not your mistake’

'I am a sinner! He asked me, and he asked me with the right as my husband!’, she buried her face like a child on my shoulders and began to weep.

‘Did you think that things would happen this way, mom? It’s our fate, and what can we do about it?’, I hugged her and consoled.

‘Whenever I see his picture, I hear him saying ‘you didn’t keep to your words kannamma. On my wedding day, I made a promise in front of the fire, to stay by his side on both happiness and sadness. I am stupid. My conscience constantly makes me feel guilty of this mistake I have made which cannot be corrected forever’, as her sobs turned into tears, she cried aloud.

‘Let her cry! May she completely shed the burden from her heart!', I thought as I waited for a while, stroking her head.

I comforted my mother as much as I could. My eyes misted when I thought that my mother's condition had dropped to the point where she could cry and tell her intimacy to her daughter.

I decided to quit studying and go to work, considering the family’s economic condition, and when I told my mother my decision, she refused.

‘What if I go to work?  Why do you prevent me from doing so?’

‘You can go to work later, but you have to finish your studies first. That’s your dad’s wish too’

‘Was its dad’s wish? Did he tell you?’

'No, he has written.'

‘Written? Where?’

'Read this!'

I read the paper she gave me. It was a short story from the shelves, written by my dad. The heroine in it was very educated and had a lot of experiences in the outside world instead of being a frog in the well. Dad insisted that women should be like Bharathi's novel girl.

I then understood why my mother was forcing me not to go to work at the moment but to continue studying.

On another occasion, I realized that my mother was following my father's writings as a mantra. Suddenly one day my mother was wearing a colored saree, a pottu on her forehead, and flowers on her hair. I was surprised to see what had happened to my mom. Looking at her past activities, I even wondered if she was probably suffering from mental illness.

As if reading my mind, she brought me another piece of paper and told me to read it. This too must have been taken from the piles on the shelves. I read it with interest. In one of them, it was written ‘When the wife dies, the husband does not give up anything. Why does the wife give up the flowers and the pottu only when the husband dies? Why is there a discrimination, we don’t need this injustice! '

I was surprised to see fathers’ writings alive in my mother. ‘Perhaps is she changing into the novel girl dad expected her to be?’

I had known my father as a teacher. I never imagined him as a great writer.

It made me shudder to think that dad had so much talents and intelligence. It was only now that I understood why his friends often praised him on stage as a ‘walking university’.

As if everything would ripen when the time comes, the publishers, who had never looked back, began to search for our house after one of the father's novels, received a royal award. They competed for Dad's creations and brought advance payments too. At first, I thought mom was looking for treasures by climbing up the stool, just for these people. But I soon discovered it was only because of her interest and involvement in father's writings that she was reading them. She was uniting herself in each of the monuments left by Dad and thereby mentally satisfying herself.

The urge to somehow make money out of dad’s writings was slowly creeping inside me. As taking advantage of the opportunities, I also started looking for treasures on the shelves climbing the stool when my mother was out. That's when I got the story that my father wrote. In that, dad had written that a young woman who had lost her husband was remarrying and starting a new life.

I read that story and wondered for a while what to do next. Dad’s writings all now seemed as mantras to mom. I also wondered what would happen if this story of Dad got in the hands of my mom, who is confused. ‘No, mom should not read this story of Dad. Her dreams and joys should not be shattered and annihilated under the blanket of a new life’.

‘Mother it may be a sermon to the town, but you don’t need this. Since you have lived so far with a child’s mind thinking dad as your world, and still living with those sweet memories of dad, I cannot imagine anyone else in your life. So, you better be my dad’s kannamma forever!’

From time to time I wonder if the decision I made for my mother was selfish or right. I find myself wondering why I made that decision. Probably subconsciously I wanted her to be a mother only to me!

xxxxx

 

 

7)     How are you doing, man?

 

Kuru Aravinthan

 

I saw him sitting on the other side as the plane took off. As if meditating with eyes closed, he was sitting like a statue. When the plane got above the clouds and began to move in a straight path, the announcement that the seat belt could be loosened came to the notice. Some loosened their seatbelts and headed to the bathroom. He stood up and stretched his arms. Rather than saying so, I have to say that he tortured me a lot by his mere gesture. I may deny it, but my mind stubbornly said, ‘he is cute'. He may be my age. He was tall and handsome with a masculine mustache. He could also be a traveler on summer vacation like me.

 

As we lined up at the airport, I first noticed that he was standing in our line, slightly behind me. I must have had some sort of attraction towards him, from the time I saw him without knowledge because I realized I should look back at him often. He may belong to different ethnicity, speak a different language but the attraction doesn’t care about time, period, religion, language, race, gender, or anything!

 

He was sitting on the other side of the seat where I was traveling on the plane. I pretended to go to the bathroom often in the eager to divert his attention towards me. Every time I passed him I casted my eyes over him, but he never looked back at me. I could see a cute smile and youngness pounding in him.

 

I had too much faith in the secret of my youth. Nowadays, I could observe that the sight of many men, regardless of age, was all over me, everywhere and always. As the seasons change so do the changes in my body, and now it may be a pleasant winter for men.

 

Since it was a long journey, I chose my favorite songs and was listening to them on my MP3. He was sitting with an MP3 too. He was enjoying a song and nodding accordingly. At times, he even looked like a cow ruminating, with his eyes closed and head nodding. I was annoyed that he would not look back and felt I had to do something to divert his attention. And when I tried and could not pick up my handbag I had put in the overhead bin, I looked back to see if anyone could help. With a smile on his face, he was immersed in the song. I leaned in front of him and said, ‘excuse me’. He looked up and understood the situation. He then got up and helped. Not only did I thank with my eyes but spoke aloud too. He accepted it with an indifferent smile.

 

It didn’t seem hard to make him fall for me. But I didn’t wish to do so without knowing who he was and what his background was. But it seemed like something had to be done to have fun as it was a long journey. My mind was racing for the opportunity to have fun with him.

 

I slowly noticed that he was looking at me when I did not see him. I also started to look at him at times when he wasn’t looking at me. I could understand my mind yearning for him to glance at me. I didn’t know if he had the same nostalgia. Once in a while when both of our eyes suddenly met, it seemed to be heaven in the heartbeat of that youthful quest.

 

Will he sync with me? The pleasure of dipping my fingers in his hair and gently sweeping them away, with my left hand hugging him and his face buried in my chest, was beyond imagination. I hoped that he would get closer if I tried, and this was how my pet got attracted and counted to me when it first saw me. On my birthday, my friends took me with them to give me something as a gift. They said it was a place to protect pets. There were so many animals out there, cats, dogs, and rats. While I was staring at them in amazement, one puppy just ran over and came around my leg and looked at me miserably.

 

‘It’s coming behind you as it’s a male puppy’, my friends teased me. I knew that pets had no place in my house, and no one would agree to take him in. But the desire from childhood to growing up with pets did not allow me to leave the puppy. I somehow agreed to take it believing I could somehow persuade my mother. Though my mother was reluctant at first, she got attached to it little by little. She also named it Romeo. In about 7-8 months, Romeo grew up into a chubby dog and it was beautiful to see him jumping and running here and there. We also went to the vet and got him vaccinated. He gave us an appointment and asked to bring Romeo back on a different day. ‘Why?’, I asked. 'To fix' he said. At first, I did not understand. He should have understood from my facial expression, so clearly told me why I should do so. As they are naive, humans modify everything according to their convenience. I could not agree with the fact that Romeo was unknowingly denied the other part of life without being able to enjoy the youthhood. And every time I saw Romeo, I kept feeling guilty.  Whenever I see Romeo, who is denied his natural desires and is unable to express his feelings...

 

Emergency Notification

 

My thoughts were distracted by the sudden announcement saying something was wrong with the plane. The tumultuous commotion of the flight attendants led to great fears in the passengers. Similarly, people had told various stories that recently a French plane had crashed when it crossed the Mediterranean, maybe due to high air pressure or it may have crashed due to a rapid collision with a heavy cloud and after listening to all those everyone was in utmost fear now.

 

Besides, someone had also filmed the broken parts of the plane on the web. The red lights were blinking inside the plane adding to the fear of passengers. When it felt like the plane was crashing down towards the ground, passengers screaming and confused, I closed my eyes and prayed. I have no idea what happened later. I must have fainted by the feeling of going to hell somewhere.

 

I woke up to the noise around me. Is it hell? Even my eyelids refused to flutter in fear. Gigantic figures like those from the Gulliver's Travels story stood around me in the middle of the tall trees, like the ones in the Amazon forest. With long thin fingers and sharp nails, they looked like tall gorillas. It could be the Congo forest too because I recently read that some gorillas are still alive in the Congo forest. But I also remembered that this was not the flight path. They were speaking something in their language. The suspicion that we were their descendants suddenly hit me for a second.

 

Although I can remember what happened, I just could not guess where I was. Occasionally my whole body was aching with blood frozen everywhere. They carried me and tried different medications on me. They spoke to themselves that I had survived. Everyday something came to see me and left. The eyes of some young ones scattered on my chest. Though my mind ached from time to time, I was devastated thinking that this life I was living now was the end of my life.

 

From looking at me and often calling me Jenny, I understood that they have named me Jenny. They would tie a strap around my waist and carefully take me out from time to time so that I would not run away and at those times I would remember the days I took Romeo out like this. One day as they were taking me away, the scene I suddenly saw on the other side overwhelmed me with surprise. For a moment I froze in shock at the sight of him.

 

He was just like me with a strap tied around his waist and the ones with me exchanged pleasantries on the other side. They told something showing me and him and laughed aloud. But he often looked at me and leaped in joy. I also got confused with the overwhelming happiness that arose within me. After that, I had the opportunity to meet him often, so the two of us would be mesmerized whenever we met face to face. For a few days, he would jump in endless joy when he saw me and sometimes try to run to me by cutting his waistband uncontrollably. I could partly guess what they thought of us from the way they gestured. They talked to each other about us saying that we had menstrual disorders and were extremely desperate.

 

For the past week or so I have been longing for Jack to appear and was eagerly searching daily to find him somewhere. In the emptiness, I felt that the pleasant thrill of seeing him was forcibly snatched away from me. The nostalgia of his division haunted me. What's wrong with him? Where did he go lost? Silence awaited the unanswered questions that popped into my mind.

 

One day a surprise awaited me. I saw the man who I thought was lost, swaying in the distance. I even wondered if he had been sick for a long time. As he approached, my heart pounded like a lover waiting for a boyfriend. And I looked at him with nostalgia, but also feared that he wouldn’t take care of me. But when he came near, he pretended to have not even seen me. I was shocked to see that nothing had happened as I wished. ‘What has happened to my guy?’

 

They talked to each other and walked slowly.

 

‘Mom, when he saw Jenny, Jack would usually jump here and there, and even that day he was jumping. Why did he just walk away quietly like a good boy and not even look at Jenny today? ‘, the little gorilla looked at its mother and asked.

 

‘Well, we took him to the hospital last week and neutered him, and that's why he’s calm!’, said mother Gorilla.

(Courtesy: KurCanada)

xxxxxx

 

 

8)     A longing creeper

Kuru Aravinthan

'Nilaa Nilaa...!’, Rathi stood by the gate calling.

Niaa peeped out and saw Rathi, who lived on the next street, standing at the entrance. She had been friendly with Rathi since the two or three times they met in the temple.

‘What’s the matter Rathi sister? Come inside!’

'The dog is barking. Will it bite?’

 'No sister, it’s tied. It barks at strangers. That’s it’

Rathi pushed the gate and went inside.

'A barking dog will not bite, they say '

‘You say so, but last week when my husband came back home from a trip, it started barking at him thinking he was a stranger’

The large brick house built in the middle of the big land was beautiful to see. On either side of the house was a garden of fruits, like banana, mango, jack, and on the front were beautiful roses, red scarlets, and jasmines. The water tank of the tube well also seemed tall.

As the dog was tied up, the squirrels were fearlessly playing around. The bees were buzzing, looking for suitable flowers, and the birds were leaping into the branches. It looked like a deserted house even with people.

A boy of ten or twelve years wearing a pair of shorts was watering the flowers.

Some educated people in the area had named it 'Dubai House', and the poor people called it 'the money-lending lady’s home’. Even Rathi came to pawn her jewelry as she urgently needed some money. 

Rathi gave the jewelry and got her money. She carefully put it in her handbag. 

'Sister, don’t forget to pay the interest every month’, reminded Nilaa.

Even-though the people called her the ‘money lending lady’, she had only been married for three years and was young and beautiful. The churidar she wore added to her beauty.

Her husband, who was always in search of money was working in Dubai. He had gone to Dubai just after their marriage and did not want to leave the work as he wanted to make much out of the opportunity at his hands. Three years had passed since. Though she had all the luxuries, she also had some grievances that she couldn’t share with anyone else.

As Rathi was talking like a friend to Nilaa, in the middle of the rapport Rathi asked, ‘How do you pass time Nilaa?’.

‘Why, what would I lack? My husband was here for ten days on his vacation and just left last week. He also bought me a big color television to keep myself entertained. Aren’t these sufficient?’. In her speech, it seemed as she was desperate for something she had lost.

‘Isn’t it boring to stay in this big house with no one to even talk?’, asked Rathi.

'What could I do? I already told him that the money we have now is enough and there is no need to keep working hard like this. I even asked him to come back saying it’s hard for me to live alone’.

'What did he say?

He admitted it would be a little difficult to be alone and brought this little boy who was poor and had no mother to work here.

'You are such a lucky person Nilaa. Not everyone gets these luxuries. You are lucky,' said Rathi.

'Lucky? Me? What do you mean? He only comes here twice a year. He’d bring everything from clothes to jewelry and ask me if I am satisfied. In another ten days, he would go back again saying some lame excuses'

'Are you not satisfied even with this many luxuries?’

‘Am I a ….?’, she thought to herself. But out of respect, she remained silent for a while. Yet her face betrayed the untold struggles that were in her mind.

‘I am so happy when he’s here and I always long for that happiness to last. But now I am hopeless. The house is deserted once he leaves. What can I do alone? How many more years will I have to wait just seeing these squirrels and birds?’, she poured her grievance away without even looking at who was in front of her.

It was so pathetic to see Nilaa’s plight. Nilaa seemed to Rathi as a beautiful young bird with wings broken and prisoned under social control.

‘What’s the use of money if a husband who gives due respect to the money, doesn’t respect his wife’s feelings or needs? How can he be a good husband?  She couldn't get the happiness we get even if we eat porridge and live in a hut’, thought Rathi, and she left soon.

When the guy who married her couldn’t understand the longing behind her smile, the emotional love behind her anger, the reason behind her silence, who would understand her?

The sky was overcast and gloomy at dusk and it began to rain as it got darker. It gradually increased and became a torrential outpour with thunder and wind. Suddenly a light sparked, and following it, the sky thundered as if falling on the roof of the house.

She suddenly woke up in a startle. Her heartbeat raced. From her young age, she was afraid of lightning and thunder. And if it were her home, she would run away and hug her mother. What could she do here? With her nightdress, she woke up from her bed half-awake as she heard someone crying aloud.

She listened carefully and heard the crying sound coming from the boy lying in the doorway. She went near and looked at him. She woke up the crying boy who had wrapped himself in a blanket.

‘What happened?’

'I am frightened,' he said.

‘Did you dream?’

‘No..! ’

‘Then what... ? ’

Lightning struck again and thunder rumbled.

'I am afraid mama,' he cried, clasping his hands across his chest, and trembling like a child, craving for affection. 

She was heartbroken as she remembered her childhood. She then brought a glass of water, sat down beside him, and said, ‘Here, drink some water’.

Unable to believe that his mistress sitting by his side and unsure whether it was a dream, he drank some water staring at her in amazement.

Nila looked at him lovingly, as she saw him eagerly drinking the water.

'Alright, get up!’ She took his hand and led him to her bedroom. She slammed the door and put him to bed with her.

Lightning and thunder continued. When a thunder bolted aloud, in half-sleep, forgetting herself in the fear, Nilaa hugged him tightly. As a deep motherly love swept across her, she pulled him into her arms hugging tightly and fell asleep. The boy also felt the warmth of a mother in his sleep.

When he woke up in the morning, the mistress was sleeping peacefully nearby. Without disturbing her sleep, he slowly got up and left the room. The sky was gloomy even after it stopped raining. When he opened the door and came out, the sight of a fallen rose creeper fell on his eyes.

One of the rose creepers which had flourished and blossomed beautifully had fallen in the wind that blew throughout the night. He knew it was his mistress’s favorite rose. So, he took a stick, planted it near the rose, carefully raised the rose, and tied it to it. With support to hold on, the rose bloomed again.

After a long time, Nila felt the joy of mind and the excitement of motherhood on her face.

She returned from deep thoughts, as she heard a voice calling, 'Mother…Coffee...!’. The boy stood opposite her with coffee. She felt an unprecedented affection be heard in the boy’s voice.

The sky, which had rested all day, began to cry again at night. Though many shows were going on the television, her mind refused to watch them. Nilaa stopped it and came to her bedroom. She looked slowly at the boy who was lying on the doorstep of the bedroom, as usual. Although he pretended to be asleep, she knew he was not asleep.

She came into the bedroom, turned off the bedroom light, and leaned back on the bed. She left the door wide open. As she couldn’t fall asleep, she turned and slept. Both of them wished it would light and thunder like last night.

xxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

9)     The snowy beach

Kuru Aravinthan - Canada

 

Many tourists and schoolchildren used to come to the village to see the skeleton of the blue whale. Marilyn stood by the windowsill of the restaurant and looked outside. Marilyn's eyes glazed over as she saw the crowd standing around the whale's skeleton having fun. The crowd could not know the value of the price she paid for this skeleton that has brought so many people to this village!

 

‘I couldn’t go near and see’, said a customer as he pushed open the door, frowning, and Marilyn understood.

 

‘Why? What happened?’, she asked skeptically.

 

His words warned her that the problem was starting as she had feared.

 

The customer came in while Marilyn was waiting anxiously for someone to come. Her mind was troubled to think that if the sea breeze of the village, which was a tourist's delight, began to blow this way, her business would fall apart.

 

Her restaurant was just off the coast of the fishing village of ‘Rod river’ in Newfoundland. Her gaze was fixed on the crowd on the beach opposite, as she stood on the porch inside the inn. As she stared, she noticed a few people standing with their noses covered with their hands. What will it be? Maybe the stench has started to blow? Will customers stop coming here to dine if the situation worsens? Uncontrollably her thought scattered.

 

She has a lot to be proud of as the owner of that seafood restaurant known for its seafood. There will be singing and dancing until midnight in that restaurant that begins to get crowded in the evening. Her ancestors came and settled in this village in the 1800s. It was her father, Parsons, who started and ran the restaurant with a modest income. One day when she was in her twenties, he suffered a heart attack and died suddenly, leaving her alone. The restaurant remained locked for a few days following the tragedy. There were no other good restaurants in the village. So not only tourists but also locals were affected.

 

‘How many days will you be crying like this? Why don’t you take your father’s business and run it?’ Marilyn thought as her friend suggested.

 

In the beginning, she was involved in it to just make a living without any desire. But when that was all that would determine her future, she began to pay her attention to that restaurant on her each breath. Her immense beauty with a youthful vibe added to the beauty of her business. Her smiling face and blue eyes in particular indeed were what excited many of the customers who came there. She also started to prepare dishes suitable for her customers through her hard work. Cooked dishes such as baked fish and chips, lobster thermidor were the favorites of the restaurant's customers.

 

She had a kind of charm in her careless demeanor, spinning like a top and listening to her clients, talking. Customers began to flock there not only for the food but also for nighttime dancing and the music of the band playing there. From time to time a crowd will come only to witness the music performance of Anitro and Jeff. The people around the city were generally more inclined towards entertainment.

 

The revenue for the restaurant has been overwhelming for the past three days. Not only her but no one expected this at all. Because three days ago, news spread that a blue whale got washed away a short distance from her restaurant. The old man Nicholas was the first to see it. He had no family. His daily chores were to work in the hotel every day and to sleep by the coast with one or two pegs at night on the available money.

 

It got caught in the eyes of Nicholas who got up in the morning and went to the beach. He was the first to knock on the door of Marilyn, who was fast asleep because she went to bed late at night, and first told her the news. The old man softened his gaze as she came out of the room on her nightclothes. She put on a jumper and walked towards the beach without noticing anything. Already twelve people were there.

 

She suspected it was one of those blue whales. Many tourists who came to see them jumping and playing in the deep sea in front of the restaurant, sat down at the restaurant and bragged about it as they ate something. She has enjoyed a lot listening to them. From the small port there, it was customary for tourists to take a boat trip to the deep sea to see the whales. But she never got a chance to go to the deep sea and see those whales. She was satisfied with the pictures they brought and never thought about watching them herself as she was busy with her business. The coastal village is also known for its marine life.

 

Now she was surprised when she saw the blue whale. ‘My God, I can’t believe it, what a great beast ...!’ She spread her arms wide and wondered to herself. It may have been over seventy feet long, and its body swayed, rising and slipping into the waves at its speed as if immersed in the lullaby of the waves. Its body was inflated like a balloon.

 

Some of these blue whales, dolphins have recently died and got washed away on the beach. Locals said a whale was also isolated in the Rocky Harbor area. There was speculation that it might have been strangled to death by tangled icebergs within large glaciers. All this was just news to them so far, but today they couldn’t truly believe when a blue whale came ashore on their shores.

 

Unexpectedly, people started crowding in front of the hotel during the day. The visitors were all dressed in cold jackets but from time to time they would go inside the inn and have something to warm and enjoy themselves. The crowd began to grow with tourists, press, and tv people. Many people like this started arriving there via Highway 431 from Deerlake Airport.

 

It is customary for the old man Nicholas to get something extra from time to time if the occasional business grew like this. The old man suddenly had an idea when he saw a crowd coming from the neighboring towns to see the whale. That's when he hung a board on the street corner with the caption 'Free parking'. He put an arrow at the bottom of the board and pointed to the restaurant. People from urban areas were skeptical about where to park, so they parked in the free parking lot in front of the restaurant. So, it is a great pleasure for the old man Nicholas to increase the income of the restaurant. ‘How cool is my idea?’, he would often remind Marilyn.

 

The death of the blue whale was a tragedy for the villagers. For so long, without expecting any return the whale had been entertaining many tourists through its circus. The people of the village had been greatly benefited from the tourists who came there to see this whale in the deep sea. Everyone who even did a small business somehow benefited from it. The old man Nicholas’s eyes misted over as he thought of all this. No one went into the deep sea to see it when it was alive, and it was only at its loss that its awesomeness began to be realized.

 

As the incident did not take place in the deep sea, the Central Government employees said that the incident did not take place within their borders and therefore they did not have the authority to deal with it. The provincial government has not yet faced such an incident and was not able to decide what to do. The villagers had hoped to at least leave the traces of the blue whale with them there, so they requested the authorities who came there. 

 

‘Officer John, this whale made a lot of money for us as long as it was alive, and now that it is dead, no tourists will come here anymore. Our businesses would collapse. But if you wish, you can help us’, said Nicholas.

 

'Who? Me? What is there left for me to do about this?’, the officer replied.

 

‘An elephant alive or thousand gold coins dead, they say it’s worth a thousand gold coins. This whale is similar to that. Our future lies in your hands, sir’

 

“Well, what should I do?”

 

‘Please don’t burn this whale. By whatever means, leave the whale’s skeleton to us. Here we would put a set and put it on display. If we label that it is the skeleton of the ancestor of the blue whales, the largest animal that rarely lives in the world today, tourists will be forced to travel to see it. So, we would also have some income, and thus drive our life with that’.

 

He did not consider the old man’s idea. He flatly rejected the old man’s proposal because of the legal problems associated with it. Since he was careful of his duty as if he were a subordinate to the law, it seemed that he wouldn’t comply even for some ransom.

 

‘Our Marilyn madam is the one who asked for this’, said the man trying out his final weapon.

 

Compared to the taste of the fish and chips he ate at the restaurant, the blue eyes of the young woman who served it, shaded his eyes. Blue-eyed beauty angel! The very thought of the blue-eyed beauty’s curves made him ecstatic.

 

'Sir John, you must come to our hotel. Marilyn madam will specially cook delicious foods for you, please come’, the old man persuaded him and left.

 

It was too late in the night. All the people who had come to dine had left. John felt he could take one more peg. 'Enough,' she said, and took the glass from his hand and put it on the table. And when he tried to stand up, she held him up.

 

‘What is this? How would you go home now? Come in!’, with a slight giggle she hugged him gently.

 

The blanket kept the warmth inside. John got up in the morning and stretched his hands when he heard the early morning commotion outside. Though the heavenly time he enjoyed made him hesitate a bit, he put on his clothes and pushed the door open thinking to leave the place before dawn.

 

The old man, who was half asleep at the door, closed his eyes tightly and pretended to be sleeping when John passed across him.

 

With the satisfaction that she had achieved her task, the old man whispered closing his eyes.

 

'She's a baby whale too!'

 

(Nandavanam - Chennai August 2016)

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

10)                                                     Next - door boy

Kuru Aravinthan

            I heard the doorbell. As I opened the door and looked out, I saw an eight-year-old boy standing at the entrance. There was vibrancy in his face. “Nikki T-shirt”, Naikki shoes, Nikki cap, everything was Nikki. He was wearing his cap with the front side back.

            “Yes, may I help you?” I said.

            “Hai! I am Christopher. We are going to be your neighbours”, he showed the house by hand. When I peeped out, I saw household goods being unloaded from a vehicle. “Hai! I am Siva.  Glad to meet you !!”

“Dad!” from my entrance itself he shouted. A person roughly 35 years of age came up. “Meet my Dad. Dad, he is Mr. Siva said” Christopher. I said “Hai” and shook hands.          “I am Mike. We are your new neighbours. So, pleased to meet you. Shall meet you later.” The way they introduced themselves, touched my heart. If you do not get good neighbours, daily, there will be problems.

As my son and Christopher were in the same class in school, they chummed up and every evening they used to play in our front garden.

Winter was approaching. To save the rose plants from the winter I was pruning them. “Hai! Siva!! How are you?” These words made my head turn back and I saw Mike, “Oh, I am fine! How are you Mike?”

“I am keeping well Siva. Unlike in our village, we have more privacy here and we are happy”.

I thought that I had problems in my village, but to see they too seem to have problems in their village.

I wanted to ask him what the problems was, when Mike himself started the story. “Siva, was your marriage an arranged marriage?” “No Mike, it was a love marriage,” I said “Love marriage? Then your relatives would have raised objections?” “Yes, yes, always there are objections to love marriages. People in the villages are very conservative and they will not even dream of love marriages.”

“True, they will always object.” “We must explain the correct situation to them and bring them to our way of thinking. Failing, we have to fight them.

“Fight them? How?”

“First, we have to have the confidence of loading a successful married life we had that confidence. Therefore, we did not worry about their objections.

“Like you, we too had objections to our love marriage. We too fought, but failed” “Is that so? You too fought?” “Yes, the result was that I was to get out of my ancestral home. We were, however, determined that we will be together. Comparing ourselves to various monarchs who gave up their Kingdoms for their love we did not consider this as very serious.

“Truly, love must be like that. You have taken the correct decision. So, when your child was born didn’t your parents come to see their grandchild?

Suddenly I saw a change in Mike’s countenance. I felt that he was hesitating to say something. “No Siva, we have no children. That worry has always been gnawing our hearts. That is why we have adopted Christopher.

“Christopher is an adopted son?” “Yes, He is very smart. We like him a lot. We are looking after him as if he is our own.”

“Thank lord! He has blessed us. Don’t worry Mike, God will never abandon you”, I consoled him.

Despite advances in medical science, still there are unsolved problems for people.

They are still a young couple with many more years of life before them. Only time can answer their problem. Perhaps it is those who do not have who realise the full significance of not having.

It had been showing from morning and the driveway was full of snow. To remove the car from the driveway, I was shovelling the snow. My neighbour’s entire family was engaged in the same operation at their driveway.

“Hai Siva!” said Mike

“Hai!” I said in response.

Like Eskimos, fully covered except for the face the three of them were playing in the snow. Christopher was rolling, catching the snowballs being thrown by his parents. A happy family, I thought to myself.

            That night, there was a snowstorm and my telephone connection got disrupted. As I had to contact a friend on an urgent matter, I went to Mike’s house. Mike was the one who opened the door and I told him the purpose of my visit.

“What Siva, why are you hesitant? You are most welcome, and he showed me where the telephone was. After finishing my call, as I was trying to leave after thanking him, he insisted that I have a coffee. Unable to resist his loving invitation, I sat down.

“Come here!! See our next-door neighbour Siva is here!!!”

“Jani, nice, beautiful name. Like the name, would she be beautiful. I was wondering.

I heard footsteps coming down the stairs I was excited Mike’s lower. Till the last, who stood by him, forsaking all her relatives and binding herself to Mike. How would she look? I early looked towards the stair way.

First, I saw her exposed feet with were fair and lean. Looking up I saw her wearing jeans, and a light blue flowered Naikki shirt, unbuttoned at the top.

            She came near me, bowed and said, “Hai Mr. Siva”, I am Jone! Glade to meet you!! While she shook hands, I could observe the curly hair on her chest and ring in one ear. “What, would you like to have? Coffee or some juice?”

I do not remember what I replied but I must have replied juice, because I remember drinking juice.

I left after thanking them and pressed my doorbell and my wife answered. “Dad, did you see Christopher’s Mum? Is she nice?” He asked anxiously. I went inside without answering him. “Christopher’s mother...?”, what reply can I give him?

 

11)                        If you touch.. will burn………!

Kuru Aravinthan

There was a flutter of activity at the entrance to the Skydome in Toronto. The music recital of A.R.Rahman was about to begin. Like termite flies hovering around bright lights fans from all over were pouring into the entrance of the Skydome.

Sinduja had circled the Skydome twice looking out from her friend Ramani who had promised to be at the entrance with the tickets for the two of them. As the Skydome had many entrances, Sinduja who normally is lazy to circumambulate the temple when she goes to worship, went round the Skydome twice as she was so very keen to listen to A.R.Rahman.

There was no sign of Ramani and there was no possibility of buying a ticket either because the “Sold out” board had been prominently displayed.

Sinduja did not want to miss this opportunity. Wondering whether she could get a ticket in the “Black” she peered over the crowd at the entrance. A young man with two tickets in his hand was seen looking around for someone. Mustering courage she decided to approach the young man and enquire.

Boldly approaching him she said, “Excuse me”. He turned around. Fair, with wavy hair and of average height, he asked “What?”. “Are you going to sell tickets?” “Why do want a ticket?” “Do you have? Can I have one?” “I have only one, I a m waiting for my friend and he is not to be seen. The program is about to begin and that’s why I am thinking”

“Then please give that to me,” Sinduja pleaded. “I shall give, but the price is a little too high.” “High means, how much?”

“Sixty”

Sinthuja’s face fell with disappointment. She had come all this way to enjoy this show. So, she opened her handbag and started counting the money. She bit her lips and her face, and her face showed grave signs of disappointment.

“Why, don’t you have money?”

“I have only fifty!”

“No problem gives me that now and the balance later”, the young man enticed her.

“Later means when am I to give?”

“Payable when able”, the young man replied. After giving the money and getting the ticket, Sinduja rushed to her seat because the program had already begun. She was soon engrossed with the performance that she did not notice the young man taking the seat next to her.

Like a cobra being mesmerized by the charmer’s flute, she was fully immersed in A.R.Rahman’s recital. She was humming the tunes that were being sung on stage, oblivious to the surroundings. During the interval the young man went out and came with a packet of MacDonalds fries. When he gave, he the packet, she said, “No, thanks”. “That’s all right, I bought it for you”, he said. “I am already indebted to you”, she replied. “I know that you do not have any more money, that’s why I bought it for you. Hold it”, he said. While she was hesitating whether to accept it or not, he thrust the packet into her hands. She said, “Thanks”.

“You sing very well”, the young man said.

“Do I?” she exclaimed shyly.

“Yes, I did not hear what they were singing on stage”, he said.

“Why” she asked.

“Without my knowledge I was enjoying your voice”, he said.

“Then, have I disturbed you?” she enquired. “No, I have become your fan”, he replied.

“Sorry, I love music”, she said. “Is that so?” You love only music?” he asked.

Sinduja must have understood with what meaning he had asked that question. Without answering she blushed. Kindly give me your address, I shall somehow or other give back the balance money to you”, she said.

He laughed loudly.

“Why are you laughing?” Is what I asked wrong?” she asked.

“No, you are the one who is indebted to me. So, it is you who should give me your address or phone number” he said.

She hesitated for a moment and said, “No problem, I can give you my phone number, but will you not phone me daily and disturb me?” she replied. “Disturbing! You!! What for?” he enquired.

“You will phone me for the balance money, later gibing excuses you will come to my room” she replied.

“Oh! Oh! You’re a very cautious person” he said. “Yes, we have to be that when dealing with males” she replied.

“Please be as you are. Why should I bother you if you settle the debt?” he replied. “Is that so? That’s good. Here’s my phone number, please note it”, she answered. He took down the number and met her face to face but refused to accept the balance money, despite Sinduja’s insistence.

“This is why I said, we should not get indebted to males”, feigning anger. After this incident both of them spoke several times over the phone.

Determined to meet her personally once again, he asked her whether they could meet today. She too in her heart of hearts was keen to meet him. She was unable to get his face out of her mind and realised that she was being slowly drawn towards him.

After dressing attractively, while applying lip stick in front of the mirror she observed that her roommate Ramani from her bed was closely watching her.

“Hey! Why are you looking like that?” she asked. “Nothing”, Ramani replied trying to escape from the situation. “No, you are hiding something from me. You have been acting strangely these few days”, Sinduja replied.

“No, I am my usual self”, Ramani said. “You want me to believe that? Don’t I know you? Please what happened to you?” asked Sinduja.

“I shall tell you. Now, are you going out?” asked Ramani.

“Yes! I told you that I met a fellow at the musical program at the Skydome, I am going to see him now”, said Sinduja. “I thought as much. Have you gone to see him, without fail?” asked Ramani.

He asked me whether we could meet up today, and I could not refuse. You know something? It appears that he has begun to love me”, said Sinduja. “Keep his loving you aside. Do you love him?” asked Ramani.

“I do not know. I am unable to say anything. But I have the feeling that I should meet him often” replied Sinduja.

“That means more than me, more than our friendship you like that fellow who came into the scene yesterday?” blurted out Ramani about to break down in tears. “Hey, what is this? Will I ever forget you? Whoever comes between us cannot break our friendship” said Sinduja. She then went closer to Ramani, wiped her tears and consoled Ramani. Sinduja’s words pleased Ramani.

“Are you telling the truth? Some fellows have come between us and divided us”, said Ramani. “What is between us is friendship, what that fellow has on me is romantic love” said Sinduja.

“I am not confusing you. Friendship when it passes a certain limit turns to romantic love” said Ramani. “What are you saying Ramani” asked Sinduja.

“Yes, at the beginning I moved with you as a friend. But after associating with you closely, I got attracted towards you. Do you remember the time you were down with the virus? While nursing you, touching you, lifting you and serving you, I felt a pleasing sensation. I began to romantically love you from that time. It came to a point where I could not be separated from you even for a minute. Do not abandon me and go away, please!” Ramani said clasping Sinduja’s hands emotionally.

“What are you saying?” Sinduja asked perplexed.

“You did not understand what I told you? How can I express to you my feelings?” Ramani sighed. “Right, right, tell me without crying” replied Sinduja.

“I romantically love you dear!” said Ramani. “I romantically love you, Sindu, don’t leave me and go away”, Ramani pleaded falling at Sinduja’s feet.

Her whole-body perspiring, Sinduja stood wondering what type of romantic love this was, because she had never experienced this before.

 

 

12)                        A TRUTHLESS TRUTH

                                                                          Kuru Aravinthan

           The phone was ringing.  Nowadays, the telephone seems to be working endlessly.  The past few days, somebody or the other calls to convey their condolences.  Professor Sivaraman gets up to answer these phone calls without any interest. 

 

            Who can it be?  What news is it going to be?

 

            The telephone rang the same way the other day.  The death of his son in an accident was reported to him over the telephone.  He hasn’t gotten over the incident yet.  His relatives had come to mourn the death of his son.  Some talked over the phone.  He could not take the separation any more.  He felt like, this was all a dream. 

 

            “Hello!”

 

            “May I speak to Professor Sivaraman?”

 

            “Speaking.”

 

            “Sir, it’s me Ramesh.”

 

            “Ramesh?  Which Ramesh?”

 

            “I was your student.  Don’t you remember?”

 

            “Which one?”

 

            “I was in the cricket team too.”

 

            “Yes, I remember now.  Fast bowler Ramesh, isn’t it?”

 

            “Yes, Sir.  The son of the station master.”

 

            “Now I understand.  Sivashankar’s son, isn’t it?”

 

            “Yes sir.  It is the same Ramesh.  I heard about the sad incident.  That is the reason I called.  Your son Suresh was my classmate.  He was a real good boy.  He shouldn’t have faced such a death.  Who can win destiny?  Please accept my hearty condolences.  

 

            “What can we do?  Whom can we blame?  Everything was over in a second.”

 

            “I am sorry.  This is one of the irreparable incidents.”

 

            “He is gone anyway.  What is the use of talking about him now?  Okay, how are you and what are you doing?”

            “I am fine, Sir.  I am working as a computer engineer for a big company.”

 

            “Are you married?”

 

            “No, Sir.  I have a problem with that.”

 

            “Problem.  Are you in love?  Don’t your parents like the girl?”

 

            “No, Sir.  It is an arranged marriage[.1] .  I have seen the girl and we are compatible.  Everybody liked the girl in my house.”

 

            “Then what is the delay?  Don’t you also like the girl?”

 

            “I like her, Sir.  She is fair, beautiful and suitable to my personality.”

 

            “Then what is the delay?  Proceed with the marriage.”

 

            “That is where I have a small problem.”

 

            “What problem?”

 

            “You are in great grief already.  How can I talk about this now?”

 

            “It’s okay.  Let it out.  Who is the girl?  Do I know her?”

 

            “Yes, you know her very well.  I don’t want to beat around the bush.  The girl was to be your daughter-in-law.”

 

            “What, is it the girl we had seen for Suresh?  Is it Sumathi?  Are you going to marry that girl?”

 

            “Yes, Sir.  That’s why I wanted to talk to you about her.  I wanted to get your opinion and then say ‘yes’ to her parents.”

 

            “She is a very good girl.  She is also from a good family, well mannered and suitable for a family-oriented life.  What can I do?  I could not get her as my daughter-in-law.”  He sighed briefly.

 

            “She was to light the lamp of my home.  We had many dreams about her.  But everything is over.”  He was to cry literally.

 

            “Ya, you said about a problem.  Is it the horoscope [.2] etc., that is wrong?”

 

            “Can you tell something personally about her?  How is she to mingle with?”

 

            “She is very forward and brave.  She doesn’t hide anything in her heart.  She is very frank.”

 

            “Does she come to your house often?”

 

            “Yes, she comes.  The engagement was over and a date was fixed for their marriage too.  We all went to the temple on New Year’s Day.  Then, she came to our house, lighted the lamp[.3] , boiled milk and served coffee.  She also came for Suresh’s birthday party.  Not even two months…everything is just ruined like a dream.”

 

            “So, she came to your house often.”  Ramesh asked with all curiosity. 

 

            “No, no, she just came here thrice.  But she mixed with us as if she knew all of us for thirty years.”

 

            “Leave the way she socialized with you, sir.  How did she mingle with your son?  Was she very close to him?  Do both of them go on dates?”

 

            He suddenly realized what Ramesh was getting to.

 

            Ramesh wanted to ask if they had slept together.

 

            Oh, no.  He is such a suspicious person.  If he is so before marriage, how will he treat her after marriage?”

 

            Poor Sumathi.  Should she marry such a crook?

 

            No.  That wonderful girl can get herself a much better man. 

 

            “I understand what you are asking, Ramesh.  The answer is ‘Yes’, is that enough?”

 

            Then Professor Sivaraman slammed the receiver down.

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13)  Pulluku Iraitha Neer

Kuru Aravinthan

Out of the blue I was fated to meet with him face to face.

When people were forced to face each other by chance in such a predicament, some of them used pretend like they never saw the other and subtly manage to walk away without turning an eye. Some others reluctantly ask ‘Sir, how are you? Are you in good health?’, just for the sake of appearances. There is a separate category of people who are usually so rare who inquire others caringly and are genuinely interested in that person when they are fated to meet.

When the latter happens, people usually exclaim replying ‘How sir? After all these years, you still remember me!’

‘I should probably visit you home with my family sir. I used to talk about you every day with my family. This life, it was given by you sir’ said Dr.Sunthar holding onto my hands. It made my eyes water.

Whenever I come out of my house, I meet many of my past students.

So nowadays wherever I go, people like doctors, engineers and many others in a higher post in their respective field come to me and genuinely ask how I am doing. This makes me feel pride in the service that I have done to this society in guiding its young talents to have a better future for themselves. I am generally delighted to say and introduce them as my students. I have never been prouder.

But he seemed different from the others. As soon as we met each other, he took the cigarette off his mouth and hid it behind himself as if he was trying to give me some respect. I could see that he was struggling to keep the inhaled smoke inside and it looked like as if he was trying swallow it. He could have turned away pretending not to have seen me. But he looked at me anyway trapping himself in such a predicament not knowing what to respond.

To get him out of that distressing situation, I started the conversation asking, ‘How are you?’

He was one of many students who I had come across throughout my career as a teacher. He used to be well dressed. Apart from a little change in his appearance he still had that care-free attitude in his eyes. He still wore his glasses and was holding a pile of books. It seemed to me that he hadn’t slept for days.

‘Sir how are you doing, are you fine?’ he could have asked me at least that just for courtesy, but he didn’t.

I never understood why I expected to hear it from him. As I went closer, I could notice that he was in no position to be aware about the things happening around him. Maybe it was my old age expectation that yearned for some recognition from my student.

In order to fill the awkward silence, I asked ‘What brings you to this part of the town?’

‘Just….to the library!’ he never said a word more than that.

I couldn’t assess what was going on with him with such a short reply.

As the wind blew over, the cigarette smoke rose above his head in a spiral and vanished. I believe that the cigarette he was holding in between his fingers behind him should have burned him. He let go of it in a second. Without even looking at it he subtly crushed it with his foot.

Trapped between the earth and his foot, it got smothered as a strange smell spread through the air. Without taking his eyes off me, he did all of that in a minute.

For reasons unknown, could he have had his life crushed just like this in the past? Could it be the reason for the bitterness in his look?

I remember the first time I laid my eyes on him. He came in asking for admission with his mother.

He only nodded his head for whatever I asked. His mother did all the talking and filled out the form.

As she was leaving she said ‘I want to see him become a doctor. I trust you with it’. I could sense her determination to see her son as a doctor in her words and actions.

He was performing quite good at Mathematics. But science, he was always puzzled by it. He didn’t have the passion toward biology as he did for engineering. But still he got good at pretending to study it, always carrying the books around with him.

I soon realized that his mother’s dreams are going to go up in smoke. I tried to tell his mother to let him follow whatever field he likes as much as I could. But she never listened.

She had only one goal in her mind. That is to see her to become a doctor. She was not ready to listen to anything else I tried to say.

At last fate has decided for them. When his mother’s dream faded away, he couldn’t find his place in this competitive world.

‘What about your mother?’ I asked as the thought crossed my mind.

‘What about her? She has left me all alone and has gone peacefully’ he raised his hand towards the sky.

‘I am sorry…!’ I offered my condolences.

His mother was obsessed in dreams and got deceived by it in the end. Seeing what has become of his son, how could she have passed away peacefully. She would have had that disappointment even in her last minute. I thought this when he gave his reply.

In my career as a teacher I have seen a lot of young talents being wasted because of the stubbornness of their parents. In the end all of them go down a wrong path. He is not so different from the rest of them in that regard.

For sometimes I blamed myself for his present state. I felt that as his teacher I should have done more.

‘When you are free, try coming by my house’ I said.

‘Where do you live? tell me your address’ he said.

I told him my address. He gently noted it down on a piece of paper and looked up at me.

‘You should come. Okay?’ I said.

‘Yes of course, but you never said who you are’ he replied.

As I heard it, the image of the cigarette at the bottom of his foot came into my mind. I couldn’t explain why but I felt the stink of that cigarette all over me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 [.1]In India parents pick the bride or the groom for their child and this is called an arranged marriage. 

 [.2]Indian marriages are performed according to the horoscopes.  The horoscopes of the bride and the groom should perfectly match.  Only then will the marriage take place. 

 [.3]According to the Indian tradition, lamps are lighted in front of God’s idols.  

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1) Sister's Beautiful Friend