Benign Flame: Saga of Love by BS Murthy (sci fi books to read TXT) đ
- Author: BS Murthy
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âThen, I wonât marry at all,â she said with such a conviction that startled Ramaiah.
âDonât be silly, the essence of life lies in its wholesomeness. You would realize later on, that nothing is worth in life to the exclusion of all the rest that makes it what it is. Above all, marriage is the key that opens life alike for the boys and the girls,â he said, showing her the reality of life.
âItâs my sole ambition naanna,â she persisted, hoping against hope.
âAmbition is a double-edged sword; possessed by the resourceful, itâs cut out for success and in the hands of the lesser souls, it hurts their peace of mind,â he turned to philosophy to help her depressed soul.
Then he recounted his own disappointment; his inability to become an advocate, and advocated to his daughter to learn to take life as it came, ordained by karma. âIf I were an advocate, perhaps, I would have been rich enough to fulfill your ambition. However, it was not to be, and therein lies our fate - yours and mine as well,â he concluded.
Roopa, though reconciled to her situation, resented her fate. As if she were revenging on her helplessness, she shunned the sciences and opted for commerce. However, as per her inclination, Sandhya went in for the humanities.
âAre you tired of dissecting frogs and all?â said Sandhya in jest as Roopa filled in the admission form.
âLike to have a closer look at the material side of life,â said Roopa mystically.
âJokes apart, tell me whatâs wrong. I know you wanted to study medicine,â said Sandhya as they got into a rickshaw.
Roopa could only manage a deep sigh for an answer.
âThey say a friend is one with whom you can think aloud and you know thatâs what I do with you, but then itâs up to you,â said Sandhya empathically.
âKnow I love you the most and yet somehow I wasnât frank with you; but from now on, Iâll think aloud with you,â said Roopa earnestly, and blurted out.
Moved, Sandhya enlaced Roopa, which brought solace to the latter and induced warmth in the former, making both of them feel loved and wanted by the other.
Chandrika, who graduated that year, didnât think in terms of post graduation as la affair Roopa gave the clue to her fatherâs mind and the familyâs finances, and so, thought of a job for an occupation.
âSit still till we fix a match as it might improve your complexion a bit, besides, I donât want any complications, thatâs all,â Janaki was dismissive.
When Chandrika persisted, Ramaiah, however, relented, and persuaded his wife,
âYouâve to change with the changing times. Moreover, some boys have started preferring employed girls for their brides.â
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, Chandrika got an assistantâs job in an export firm for a salary of two-fifty. Her first take-home pay, however, enabled her mother to appreciate the virtue of having another earning member in the family.
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Hardly a year passed before the âchanging timesâ stared the Ramaiahs in their faces in their complexity as âthe other earning memberâ of the family turned out to be an errant soul of the household.
Chandrika declared that she would like to marry her colleague, though of a lower caste, and Janaki threatened to jump into the well to spare herself, the shame of her daughterâs alliance. Ramaiah though tried to reason it out with Chandrika by saying that if she married out of caste, none would marry Roopa. Besides, it wonât be in her own interest either, to live with someone from a lower caste as adjusting to married life in an alien milieu will be all the more difficult. When the time comes for finding matches for her children, shunned by both the communities, she would realize that she had a cross to bear. Better she gave up the idea, for her own good.
Given her own disappointment, Roopa was empathic to her sisterâs feelings and felt that she could understand the true import of Chandrikaâs predicament.
âWhat to do now?â said Roopa to Chandrika having led her out into the backyard.
âI wish I werenât in love,â said Chandrika stoically.
âThatâs neither here nor there for youâve to act one way or the other,â Roopa was solicitous.
âI may perish like the Buridanâs ass, unable to decide whether to first drink water or eat oats,â Chandrika was melancholic.
âThen why not try and forget him?â said Roopa.
âTime would do that for both of us but life without him is not what I want,â said Chandrika.
Roopa kept quiet as though inviting her sister to give vent to her feelings.
âIâm being pulled apart by the family sentiment on one side and the lure of love on the other; love seems to be the most compelling of human emotions as it combines in it the craving of the soul and the desires of the body,â said Chandrika melancholically.
âOh, how youâre hurt!â said Roopa sympathetically.
âI donât mind hurting myself but Iâm worried about him and concerned about our mother. Moreover, how can I compromise your marriage prospects? Thatâs my dilemma,â said Chandrika dejectedly.
That her sister should think about her welfare, even in her predicament, melted Roopaâs heart.
âIf only I could help her love, what if, I marry out of turn to clear the hurdle?â thought Roopa.
She felt she knew her parents well enough. They were conventional more for the societyâs sake than out of personal conviction. Besides, they loved their children dearly. She was confident that all would welcome her idea. The prospect of her averting an imminent schism in the family appeared heroic to her.
âHow nice it can be,â she thought excitedly, âif my sacrifice serves my sisterâs cause besides solving my parentsâ problem.â
Though she was pleased to perceive herself in the role of a martyr for the family cause, however, on second thoughts, she contemplated the implications of her marriage without a degree as she was just through the first year of what appeared to be a three-year ordeal.
âHow I nursed the dream of being a doctor,â she thought melancholically. âHavenât I come to love myself in that role? Now that the bubble has burst, I couldnât care less. Hasnât life become humdrum, anyway?â
As she recalled her own disappointment, she remembered her fatherâs words - your earnings would be your husbandâs â and saw a ray of hope in the situation.
âWhat if my husband helps my ambition to further the family income?â she thought hopefully. âWho knows I may as well get an understanding husband. What a happy life I would lead then! Wonât I love him even more for that? Let me take a chance and see what lies in store for me. Anyway, Iâve nothing to lose, do I?â
It seems the feature of life that while darkness deprives man of his shadow; his hope lingers on in spite of the foreboding.
As Chandrika wept inconsolably, it seemed Roopaâs fear of the unknown was washed away in her sisterâs tears. Thus having made up her mind, Roopa unveiled the contours of her plan of action, however, hiding the hope behind her apparent sacrifice and that about had the same effect on Chandrika, as sighting a boat in the high seas would have on a shipwreck; it raised her spirits. While Chandrika was profuse in articulating her gratitude, and as if to convey her indebtedness bodily as well, she hugged her sister, Roopa felt embarrassed as her own streak of selfish motive jarred with the purity of her sisterâs outpouring.
It seems the attributes our hypocrisy induces others to adduce to us would bring no value addition to our own conscience.
However, as the sisters were confabulating without, Ramaiah had a tough time with his bitter half within.
âWhat went wrong with her brought-up? Nothing like this ever happened to anyone, even remotely related to us!â Janaki said puzzled.
âYou know, women of the upper castes were insulated from men of the lower classes earlier,â he tried to explain the situation to her. âSocial intercourse between caste groups was limited to the persons of the same sex. But all that has changed now. The society is truly open to both sexes from all sections. The pull of man woman attraction being what it is love has long since crossed the caste barrier causing marital trespasses. However, donât get worried. For all that, her passion could be a passing phase, that canât get past the first hurdle.â
Janaki prayed fervently for her daughterâs deliverance from that wretched affair. Just the same, when Roopa showed the silver lining, Ramaiah remained unenthusiastic.
âInter-caste marriages would only lead to divorce as the couples tend to wind up the show at the first hitch; even otherwise, the inferior union would be ruinous in the end as they would be ostracized by the society for sure,â he articulated.
âThough upper caste men would have no qualms having a fling with low caste women, they seek to shield their women from the men of that very stock,â thought Chandrika, but said,
âIâm prepared for any eventuality.â
âAfter all, itâs her life; why not let her decide for herself?â said Raju, who was particularly fond of Chandrika and Roopa.
âDonât oversimplify matters. What are the parents for if not to prevent their childrenâs follies?â retorted Ramaiah.
âYou say everything in life is ordained by karma, so why not take this as her destiny?â interjected Roopa.
Ramaiah didnât respond but remained unrelenting.
The sisters pressed the issue, and went on a hunger strike. The motherâs heart melted soon enough, and the fatherâs resolve dissolved, in due course. It was thus, Ramaiah wanted to have âa look at the fellowâ and see for himself, âWhat heâs worth?â
Soon the word went around that Ramaiah was on the lookout for a suitable boy for Roopa.
Chapter 3
Hapless Hope
It was a two-storied building in a by-lane of Chikkadapally, a rather congested locality in Hyderabad. Its owner, Padmavathi, was a widow in her early fifties. She let out much of the space to bachelors âto augment her pensionâ as she was wont to maintain.
âBeing elsewhere all the while, bachelors are a better bet for they cause much little wear and tear,â she would aver.
Her tenants, for their part, showed an unmistakable preference for her dwelling. With both her daughters married off, and with no one at home, she rarely left the reclining chair in the portico.
âThe rent includes watch and ward for the lady doubles up for a watchdog,â the lodgers joked amongst themselves.
And for her part, Padmavathi made it clear to them all that she would suffer none of any nonsense. Though she used to aver that all boys were equally dear to her, she was partial towards Sathyam, her tenant for well over six years. While believing that Sathyam was sincere by nature she felt that others were only behaving not to risk eviction.
Having been held up at his desk in the Sate Secretariat that evening, Sathyam was late in coming to his lodging. Not finding Padmavathi in the portico, he was a little surprised. As he went up, he found an inland letter in the door latch. Realizing that it was from his father, he hastened into his room, and even as he started reading it again, he heard footsteps on the stairs.
âOh, sheâs coming up; how she craves for news and gathers it as a rag picker would collect rubbish from all corners!â he thought indignantly.
âWhat writes Pathrudugaru?â she said panting slightly.
âUsual stuff; weâre Ok, are you Ok?â he replied dryly.
âItâs time you got married,â she said zeroing on the subject matter of his fatherâs letter, as if on cue.
âHe says thereâs a match,â he replied reflexively.
âOne should get married when still young,â she said, and added as though to justify her plain features. âBut do remember the old adage; a lovely wife brings in anxiety for she attracts all and sundry.â
Having given him a bit of her mind, as she left abruptly, as though she were already late for airing the news, Sathyam read the appetizing portion of his fatherâs letter once again:
âWe all feel there is a
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