sound of rain drops by sannapureddy &swatee sripada (books for new readers .TXT) 📖

under the shadow of acacia and took her foot in to his hand. She felt a sudden tweak.
Surveyed the surroundings..
Looked in to his face…..
No new feelings on it...
Keeping her sole on his knee, wiped off the mire with fingers, and slowly moving the fore finger went on searching the thorn.
The blood flow in the sole resembled a scene in a mirror very clearly.
Her soles were not harsh as his palms.
When he searched carefully for the thorn as a black spot in the muscle black, but at the left side of the heel a red dot was seen, he understood that as a wound of berry thorn and giggled.
Looked at him questioningly…
“I thought it might be an acacia thorn or something like that ...but only a berry thorn…” said and removing a safety pin from the black strand around the waist, brought her heel close to his face and delicately chiseled her skin.
Meanwhile Govindamma came there again. “Are you going to pull out with your teeth?” said looking at Shiva’s posture.
“Not a big one…just a berry thorn…” said.
“If it’s a big thorn he would have pulled it with teeth” Gowri quivered.
The point of the safety pin was piercing the skin. Though it pained a bit, a kind of delight……
Even if a blood drop flows, a feeling of something was joining her heart.
“That’s why grandma, I asked her not to come down in to the fields” Shiva said.
“Don’t let her down, don’t! you should bring her up delicately” Govindamma said.
Whether she said normally or sarcastically, Gowri couldn’t comprehend.
Everything of this scene was visible to the People in the neighboring fields.
Nobody came there leaving the work but – to go on working without tiredness they had a story. About it --strange stories…. Mocking words …and sarcastic comments…
Totaku Ramaiah, an uncle by his kinship came up to the edge of the field, as if greeting Shiva “have you come here to weed out the fields or to take out thorns in our girl’s sole?” he asked
“What to do uncle? Your daughter is a delicate doll” Shiva said with a laugh.
“You know that already fool, and brought such a sensitive girl to drop her down in the thorny bushes? You should look after carefully!” Ramaiah said.
Looking at Gowri, “born and brought up in a town and an educated girl, you have no sense to bring her down in to the mire” with a laugh he left the place,
Shiva also laughed. Gowri was still feeling the pull of the wound in her sole. Before midday the hunger as a disturbance moved in her belly.
She thought it might be more than one in the afternoon. Looking at the sun Shiva said it’s not even twelve, she felt surprised. It’s strange to feel hungry so early.
Both sat facing each other under the acacia shade.
Opened the carriage and took a vessel each.
“So much rice! Take some Bava!” Gowri said.
He laughed “Not much..”
“Can’t eat…”
“If it remains...I’ll”
Lifted her eyes and stared at him without a wink.
While talking, when she ate the rice completely, is not known to her.
That she thought as so much, now looked less and still emptiness was there in the stomach. Taking out the third vessel, taking the rice fistful, though she refused he fed her. Felt shy, looked around and took it in to her hand.
Next one directly went in to her mouth, not to her hand. Scared she looked around and opened her mouth.
She was shy. if some one from the surroundings looks at them?
They may mock him- she felt worried.
On the other side despondency of missing a sweet experience…
In the midst of so many feelings she caught another fist of rice with her mouth.
“Oh! My finger…finger” when Shiva yelled suddenly she opened her mouth. Both went on laughing.
The pain of a thorn evaporated in the sweet sharing of eating the lunch.
“How much had I eaten Bava!” she expressed her surprise.
“Not alone”
Knotted her forehead and looked…
“When we swallowed food on the banks of the field’ only half counts in our eating and the other half goes to the wind, the sunlight, and the shade of the tree” “and the stomach expands on the field banks” he said.
Might be true –Gowri felt.
That might be the reason for his forcing to bring another box of rice even after her refusal. Spread his towel on the floor Shiva laid down. When she tried to spread her pallo he invited her to his side. Huddled close to his stomach Gowri laid down there.
People of the neighboring fields thought of coming in to the shade but the scene under the tree looked strange to them and felt shy. So they managed at some other place…….
After half an hour Shiva got up.
In front of him with the support of a stick Govindamma was standing. As soon as Shiva looked at her she turned her mouth in a volley of ways, moved her head fast and retreated.
Shiva could understand.
Within the smile he infringed a sigh and looked at Gowri. She was fast asleep comfortably.
Slowly stood up tied his dhoti up and descended in to the field. After working blissfully for an hour he had a doubt. He stared at Gowri steadily.
The sunlight, as expected by him, was creeping on to her face. As the sun turned west the shade of the tree slowly moved away from her. He washed his feet and climbed up.
She was laid there on the young grass forgetting herself completely. The shades of Night’s sleeplessness and tiredness were not yet melted on her face.
He felt shy and pitied her. He went up to the river broke four branches of the bushes, removed the leaves and turned them in to poles. In the wet mud around her he positioned the poles. Untied his dhoti and tethered the four corners to the ends of four poles. Now she had a shelter on her giving shade.
Looked at her contentedly and went to his work.
After an hour later Gowri woke up.
As she heard words in a low din she opened her eyes. As she saw a mosquito net type thing on her, she felt puzzled for a moment, as she could not recall where she was.
“This…. take this blanket my son”
“Why?”
“Tie a swing on the branches of the tree. Keep that girl in that and bring a long rope tie it to your waist and to the swing. As you work whenever you bend and stand, it moves” as she heard Gowri realized what was constructed on her.
She got up and sat.
The neighboring farmers were teasing Shiva.
As he was working in the field with only banyan and drawer they mocked at him throwing satirical arrows. As she was the center point of them she too felt shy. As soon as the farmers went into their fields she went and sat on the edge staring at Shiva.
In the evening as soon as he was seen in the street Subbareddy came on to him for fighting. “Is the tree your fathers? You have not allowed any one there…”
“Me? Why should I? “Shiva looked puzzled. “How can they come? In the midday in broad day light, when you both husband and wife sleep huddled together. How can they come? You have no shame. But they had it to come..”
He understood the matter. Diminishing with bashfulness he laid his head down.
As SubbaReddy went on rising with the same speed neighboring people laughed. Then a relative of Shiva came to his rescue – paternal uncle…Reggayala duggayya.
“A city girl and in a good fitness, when she went and fell on him how can he deny… is he not a husband?”
“See uncle. If you say anything her a word ….she is our girl we won’t accept... Have we not seen her in Kadapa? Never used to come out from home…… .A good traditional girl…. You don’t know this fools intricate ways. So you say,. He deceives others…”
For sometime both argued. Its main purpose is to make fun of Shiva. All the people laughed and enjoyed.
*************

Gowri had great respect for Shiva who went on working without even lifting his head and without even tiredness. As sweat drops on his muscles reflected tiny glistens in sunlight, she stared at him without a wink. As the work increased his gnarled muscles reached the perfection and she felt of touching them to feel the ultimate joy.
Evening when he takes bath, with a pretext of applying soap on his back when she crept her palms on to his chest and played with the muscles, he used to turn straight looking into her eyes teasing lifting his two hands up as if giving his body, she came out and felt shy and ran away inside. Why did I behave that way—when she thought the swollen muscles with sweat drops shining on them moved in her eyes…. .And she developed an obsession for them…without her knowledge she developed a blind love for them …his swollen muscular body made a strong impression on her mind.
Without even a bit of unwanted fat any where on the body, the muscles swell up where they have to and shrank where it needed glued to the bones-- his body as a Greek statue attracted her and created a desire in her to look at it. ‘That might be the male beauty” she thought.
Shiva was not allowing her to step in to the mire and marshy lands. Not permitting her to work.
As soon as he comes out from the marshy fields he enters the water tank and washes and swims a short distance too. Sitting on the bank she watches him without even winking, watching the movements of his body when swimming, when climbing up giving her hand for support , giving a towel, if no body was around, wiping his body-she started doing all these.
Second day he invited her too to enter the water.
“I don’t know swimming”
“I’ll teach you”
She felt shy.
A fear of someone from the fields’ may enter the bank of the reservoir; on the contrary the whim of learning swimming from him …Shiva noticed her thoughts.
“Let us go where no body comes”
Along with her he went to the edge of the reservoir where it was overflowing. Still it was brimming.
Water was shallow. When she entered the water with him he stopped.
“No body can learn swimming wearing a sari” he said.
“Then…need a swim suit…” expressed her surprise.
“Sari would roll on to legs”
“How then...”
“Take out the sari”
She felt shocked and looked on either side.
He himself keeping his hand at her belly button pulled out the pleats. Kept the removed sari as a heap a side……… Fixed the petticoat as a tight fitting from under her thighs….
Except handling over her body to him she could not do any thing. She was enraptured and inclined in to his hands.
“Come on” he took her into water.