A Dreadful Determination! Part-7

A Dreadful Determination!

[Urmila and Sharmila are sisters. The elder one Sharmila was in love with Vinod, her neighbour, even when they passed through the school-age. Father had brought proposals which she resisted tooth and nail, though she knew not the result. She recalled her baby-hood memories in which Vinod always sided with her in all the activities.  A squad of six used to engage themselves in kiddies’ amusements a lot. They played in and with water and sand, dawdled time in group games and funs during their babe-stage. Whenever Urmila tried to retrieve her mind from the memories, it did not obey her. Again it went on a tour to the backyard of mind.]

Now pl.read.

Urmila had bloomed into a matured girl. Nature had applied all her pretty art work on her. She painted Urmila with ample eye-catching hues. Brown silken hair-covered crown beautified her head and two black curved bows adorned the attractive forehead. Two petals of lotus with a brown tint in two sockets ornamented the cheeks. The right figured elevation above the mouth decorated the face and soft red chillies covering the mouth, decked with a winning smile amplified her cuteness.

 Her colour was not so fair though, the beautifully-shaped body with the right curves and flats made her stand out from all others. She was a stunning beauty. The word ‘smart’ well suited to depict her.

  Vinod was burly in his make. He, the six-footer with expanded chest and mighty brawns that earned for him the title ‘handsome’, was very much masculine. He was slightly fairer than Urmila. The friends who were aware of their affair used to comment on them that they were ‘made for each other’. Akhil, Anand and George extended their untainted support and aid.

 The youngsters had earmarked the bullet wood tree’s bottom area on the other side of the mini forest(Kaavu) for their meeting. That was not much discernible as it stood in the extension of other woods. Staying away from her sister Sharmila was truly hard. But some way or other they had the hap to remain unnoticed by her always.

  Enjoying the appeasing aroma of the bullet wood’s blooms they exchanged their hearts. They whispered from mind to mind. They sat speechless for hours looking into each other’s eyes. In accordance with the passage of time, their courtship got garnished with inseparable feelings. Smile sometimes transformed into laughter and words into sentences. The very sight of each other sparked glimmer in their eyes and pleasure in their soul. Each one felt that God had created them for their union.

 Whenever they chose the ground around the tree to pass their yen, Breeze cooled their minds, Birds sang love song for them, Twigs patted and pampered them with tender strokes and even Autumn stopped pouring to smooth the progress of their closeness. The warmth of their togetherness delighted the beings and stimulated the surroundings that facilitated the duo with comforts. Their love was deep from the soul and so it was uncontaminated at that stage.

 They shared their glee and gloom with each other. They planned their future actions. They built castles in minds and solved numerous interrogations that arose in enormity.

“Will your parents favour us, dear?” Vinod

“I don’t know, what about you, Vinu?”

“I can make them agree.”

“My parents also may agree. Achchan is strict, but loving. He will stand by his daughter, I think. ”

“Eh! Let’s see, let’s finish our studies first.”

Quite often they solved that significant question in their own ways.

Urmila’s  achchan, Venugopal  and Vinod’s  achchan  Sreekumar were intimate friends. Both the families held fairly an equal position in pecuniary status. Both had an upper hand in the society’s say. Both were crop-cultivator s, though they were  well-employed . But there was a level-discrepancy with regard to the families’ ethnical grade.

 Urmila’s family had been upholding its middle class repute-form from the preceding four generations at least, whereas Vinod’s grandparents were from the lower class, rather worker category. And more or less his grandfather was a labourer and at the same time he was the caretaker of Urmia’s family’s cultivations. But he aimed at steering his son, Sreekumar to educational qualifications. He saved some money for his son’s studies from whatever he earned.

 Sreekumar, the lone son, fully conversant of his situation did his best for his achchn’s desire to be true. He also dreamt a reasonable rise in life and so his aspirations helped him fulfill his ambitions. Urmila’s grandfather’s philanthropy many a time lifted him from the pits of cash crunches.  Sreekkumar spent a part of his domesticity for tutorials to neighbouring broods and he earned a pretty sum thus also. And eventually he accomplished his mission of obtaining a good job in a public sector concern.

Venugopal had completed his education without much hitch and hindrance and got into a job in a bank. All this know-how the children were ignorant of.

Time waited for none and nothing and so it fluttered and scuttled away flapping its wings. Vinod’s and Urmila’s affair had expanded in volume. And was now Urmila on board of the final P.G and Vinod at the ground of job-hunting after his P.G.course.  

[to be contd.]