Love Scars by Kalai Selvi Arivalagan (100 best novels of all time .TXT) 📖

of time we choose to spend in nature.

 

We spend our time in front of smartphones, computers, and television screens, at least 90 percent of our time indoors at work and at home. Though we know this is an unhealthy way to live, we prefer to live.in this artificial world. High levels of vibration, stress, and anxiety, negatively affect our bodies. But, we rarely make the effort to shift our lifestyles, to connect and recharge with nature.

 

Connecting with nature is one of the best ways to strengthen our bodies – breathing fresh air, receiving vitamins through the warmth of the sunlight, and challenging our muscles with walks on uneven wilderness paths. But more importantly, on a metaphysical level, nature is a wonderful teacher and guide for finding deeper meaning in our lives.

 

Nature has its own rhythm, its own pace, its own seasons. This teaches us to slow down, to be more patient, to know that there is a cycle of life, a right time for everything (instead of always wanting to force things to happen on our schedule.)

 

Nature has its own plan, its own patterns, its own connections. This teaches us to trust in a higher universe, that there are connections forming which we might not see yet today, and that our place within the whole is becoming and will be revealed over time.  Nature has its own harmony. This teaches us to observe life around us, to understand what we resonate with and what we do not, where we find deeper meaning and where we do not.

 

Looking plain didn’t favour her efforts. Unfortunately, she met people who didn’t value her real efficiency but rated her by looking at her flesh and bones.  Appearance counted most than your ability.

Chapter 8

 

When night is almost done,

And sunrise grows so near

That we can touch the spaces,

It ’s time to smooth the hair  Emily Dickinson

 

It is all fun, fun, and fun throughout the day. Life could not be so beautiful. Her heart beamed with overwhelming joy. Saranya’s marriage brought the much needed break in their family. She could see her parents content and smiling. The gloomy look on their faces have now changed and she could see their faces calm and peaceful.

 

Satish wanted to relax and enjoy their initial days of marriage without any stress or pressure. Before he could ask, Saranya’s father reserved a luxurious resort to spend their first two weeks of married life. Those two weeks recorded her happiest moments in life where she basked in the warmth of love and wished to be with him forever.

 

Initially they visited the nearby places for sight-seeing. On the second day, they decided to better stay at the resort than roaming around in the hot, sunny day. The resort served very good food for the breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They even had the option to place order for the food of their choice, especially for the newly married couple who stayed there in their resort. Satish first ordered food items of his choice and then asked Saranya to order her best food. The resort even allowed them to explore their culinary skills at their special kitchen. Both of them tried their hand in preparing the lunch of their choice and enjoyed having it in the lawn. While eating, they could listen to varied bird songs and the chilled breeze that could lull anyone to sleep.   

 

One afternoon, after enjoying their special lunch at the resort, they decided to go for a walk in the spacious garden of the resort.

 

Something suddenly caught Saranya’s attention. She could see something struggling under the leaf of a plant. She peeped in find out what. She could see there a three-spot Grass Yellow butterfly struggling to emerge from the pupa (a process known as eclosing), but faced a crucial situation. Awkwardly, the feet and wings had emerged first, leaving the head, antennae and proboscis still trapped inside the pupal case. The half-born creature could not emerge. This was, indeed, for the butterfly, experiencing something similar to a breech birth. In mammals, sometimes occurs “breech birth”, where the head is not delivered or brought out to the outside world first, and where, consequently, complications develop.

 

Satish gently tried prising the pupal case apart; both the pupa and the butterfly were  detached from the leaf, and fell to the ground. But the head still remained inside the pupal case.

 

“Please do something. I don’t want it to be dead.”

  

Saranya’s eyes brimmed with tears and she desperately wanted to help the butterfly. She watched restlessly.

 

“Don’t panic. Please wait.” Satish relaxed for a while to think of a way to solve this crucial problem. If he used his fingers with force, the butterfly may break into pieces and the wings may come off from its body. The butterfly looked tiny and helpless.

 

“Now, we have two choices”

 

“What?” Saranya queried.

 

“To intervene or to leave it to the Nature.”

 

“But leaving things to Nature means death for the butterfly.”

 

“Yes. If we intervened, we may damage the head or proboscis; but there is a chance of “delivering” the butterfly.”

 

Satish took the little creature in his hands, and moved his index finger nail very, very gently to pry the pupal case apart.

 

It was a lucky moment for the head, the antennae, and the proboscis emerged, unhurt. But, the wings were still crinkled inside the pupa; the butterfly could not spread the wings.

 

The butterfly rested still on the inner palm of Satish. Now, Saranya lifted the little creature from his palm and placed it on the broad leaf of a nearby plant. They stood there for another ten minutes. People who were strolling nearby looked at them wondering what made them stand there.

 

The warm breeze dried the wings of the butterfly and it slowly fluttered its wing and landed on the grass. In two seconds, it flew above and sat on the petals of a fragrant rose on the side-walk. Saranya held tight to his hands and expressed her joy with a broad smile.

 

Nowadays, animal rescue is common with birds and mammals. It is an importunity to to assist in a difficult birth of a butterfly, and saved its life which would have otherwise ended.

Chapter 9

 

Because I could not stop for Death,

He kindly stopped for me;

The carriage held but just ourselves

And Immortality.  Emily Dickinson

 

Satish was reluctant to leave Saranya at their native town. He had just returned for work after taking a month long leave to celebrate their wedding. Important audit work at the office needed his presence, and this made him rush to their native to be a part of the annual festival. Initially, he thought of travelling to Madurai by flight and go to their native town by car. Unfortunately, he could not get them tickets for the morning flight, and so decided to go by their own car.

 

Saranya asked him to hire a driver so that there will be no strain for him to travel all through the way. Luckily, he could hire a driver who could drive them all the way till their home at the native. The driver could not accompany Satish in the return journey for he decided to stay back and enjoy the week long festival. But Satish could not stay for more than a day, so, he decided to drive till Chennai on his own. His father asked him to leave the car and take the flight to Chennai. As he didn’t want to travel by bus or train till Madurai to take the flight, he decided to drive on his own. Moreover, he preferred to go for work in his own car, and leaving the car at the native may make his daily routine difficult. The National Highway made his drive smooth and he decided to reach Chennai in the early hours of Wednesday.

 

The first half of the journey went on smoothly. He could even take a ten minutes break and enjoy his evening tiffin. This was the first time, he was away from Saranya, after their marriage.

 

Sipping his cup of tea, he went for a stroll on the lawn. The thick grown hedges covered with buds have started to flower in the evening twilight. The fragrance of those evening flowers spread through the air. Behind the jasmine bushes, fire cracker flower plants waved in the evening breeze with their bright orange flowers. That reminded him of the thick coil of jasmine and orange flowers that decorated Saranya’s plaits with a mesmerizing charm.

 

Traditionally dressed young girls looked pleasant when they adore their plaited hair with strings of jasmines and orange colored fire cracker flowers. When you compare a bride who is traditionally dressed, adorned with gold jewelry, glass-bangles that filled till the hand till the elbow, bundles of flowers that sat beautifully on the plaits to a bride dressed in a sprawling gown, the traditional bride scored more and won the hearts of well wishers and friends around them.

 

 South Indian girls love wearing strings of flowers in their hair, when they dress in their traditional sarees. It they braided their hair, the string of flowers is pinned on top and they let the flowers flow down with the braid. If the hair is in a chignon bun, the flower string is artistically positioned around the bun or under it. The most commonly used flower to adorn the hair is the jasmine. The heavenly smell of those small, beautiful jasmine flowers is always an unforgettable experience.

 

Satish always helped his mother to pick flowers from the jasmine creepers on their terrace. Within minutes, she will beautifully strew strings of jasmine flowers. She will then cut them into four equal strings of jasmine. After adorning the pooja room with the first string, she will give the second one to his sister, the third one she will pin it on her hair and the fourth one she will always give to any girl she meets at the temple. She always followed this routine even on rainy days. The shrubs of jasmine and other creepers that lined their terrance never stopped blooming with fragrant flowers. Satish loved watching his mother making strings of flowers during festival days. She made those strings of flowers colorful on special days. She chose different colour combination every day. If she used fire cracker flowers on the first day, she will make strings with the combination of jasmine, rose, marikolundu or marugu. A combination of white, green, red, rose flowers looked distinct and catchy.

 

One day, his mother asked Saranya to make strings of flowers with the mullai that bloomed plenty in the creepers at