It was well into the night and my dinner was done. The window was open and a nice cool breeze was bristling through my hair. The lights were dim and I could only see the silhouette about an arm's length from where i lay. The occassional flicker of the tubelight near by revealed that magical golden skin tone, in a teasing-tantalising kind of way. Exactly as described in the tales of yore. In fact even better. The look on my face would have given me away, but the shadyness of the setting saved the day, rather the night. The pod was playing
"Chandan sa badhan"
Chanchal chithu van
dheere se thera ye muskaana...
and I could hold it no more.
I slowly moved my arms and for the first time felt how perfection felt. Full and plump, and a tad juicy, I couldn't but thank god for his creation. And more importantly, for putting me in the right place at the right time. With all the time in the world on my side, I began ruminating on the happenings of that eventful night leading up to that perfect moment.
I was travelling from Chennai to Kerala on a day train. A tiring journey in the hot indian summer, inside a tin can, that doesn't allow the liberty of sleep. The monotonity of it all got to me an hour or so into the journey and I am sure a little delirium set in too. It was Katpadi I guess, where I got down to stretch my legs and grab a cuppa, only to lay eyes on that beautiful little thing. The delirium was gone, giving way to a yearning hugely unbearable. The hours passed and the yearning only grew. My dinner was done but i was staring out of the window, waiting for people nearby to fall asleep and dim the lights. The occasional lone light streaking across the window as the train sped through the dry landscape, only adding to my agony. But the fear of people catching me in the act restrained me, though the proximity was all the more tempting.
Time flew by and pretty much the whole compartment was asleep. But now the freedom to let myself go brought with it the ultimate conundrum. I could do this only once and once I was through nothing would be left of it. So how do I do justice to the beauty. Do I wait for the journey to complete, all the while admiring the interplay with the lights? Or do I dive right in and give my senses the treat of a lifetime?
As I lay contemplating, the soft texture of the skin against my fingers made me take it in my palms...and I slowly sat up. leaning my back against the sil and watching the glow. How do I do justice to thi wonderful creation. And i smelt that sweet scent one last time, as I bit in to the seasons first - Alphonso. And the next 5 minutes was bliss. And all that was left were the fibres struck between my teeth and a licked clean seed which soon found its way out of the window.
Being from a "corporate environment" and a well disciplined family, I have often been instructed that fruits are to be eaten with forks after they are cut. But I chose to ignore all that. Today there was nothing between us - No knife, no peeling, no slicing. My teeth doing the work as tastebuds that were long comatose, sprang forth with life.
I owed that much to god didn't I?
