Neeli's love

         She sat on the steps of the pond with the blue water. Monsoon had just ended and the pond waters magically turned blue after the monsoons. There were no lilies and there was not a movement in the waters. The moon shone bright and sat staring at her form the bluish hues of the placid waters. The shrill crickets sang to their hearts content without worries about some predator being drawn to their shrieking. The male frogs were croaking their hearts out to attract their mates.

         Neeli sat with her hands under her chin staring at the big ball of white in the pond. It was a calm and serene scene that soothed her and gave some reprieve from the turmoil within. Her thick kohl lined eyes shown bright competing with the moon. Her hair braided and half wet after her bath in the pond. She had worn her best mundu and blouse. Her fair skin glowing in the moonlight and the melancholy look on her face would have had its impact on any man that walked that path.

         Their eyes met. He couldnt take his eyes away. She was shy and looked away and he was further drawn by it. He stood on the side allocated for men while she stood on the women's side. The "pooram" function was an affair celebrated with pomp and affair in this part of the state. Men and women from all adjacent villages were there. It was an event that brought about a lot of events that otherwise was completely absent in the lives of these people. There was drinking, there was women to be had, there were things to be bought and shows and events to be seen  Madhavan was there primarily for the drinking and to see all the beautiful women gathered there. But he had forgotten drink and women as he looked at the wonder that stood before his eyes.

          The dark kohl lined large eyes that said a hundred different things as it looked at him at intervals, the innocence of those eyes stood in his memory forever. The dark cascade of hair that tumbled all the way down to her navel. The fair skin on her arms and neck disturbed by only the small dark mole on her neck. Her nose stud shined with the reflection of the procession lights as if calling out to him for attention. He was lost in the moment, he had to have this woman in his life, he decided this was the woman of his life.

         He followed her to her village, stayed day and night and used every opportunity to see her, sometimes on the sly and sometimes a little boldly out in the open. After 6 months of dreaming of communicating with her manage to speak with her. He held out the biggest brightest water Lily she had ever seen and mumbled about how much he liked her. She took the flower, giggled showing him a smile that took his breath away. "You took six months to speak with me, how will you manage to live with me all you life?" she asked naughtily and ran away.

        And so they were together, for better or for worse, they were together. As days and months went by in the bliss of each others company fate decided to intervene. Neeli's parents decided to bundle her off to someones home as a bride. She cried, he cursed. They decided that  no one or nothing was more important to them as each other and decided to elope.He asked her to come to the pond. The pond where they often stole to when he said he was going to go fishing and she went to when she said she was going to collect herbs. The same pond where they swam and discovered the intimacies of their bodies, the pond which was their own place.

         As they fled the town, the towns folk chased them with torches, logs and make shift weapons in hand. Their cries curdled the blood in Neeli as she ran hand in hand with her beloved. She looked and wondered how would she survive if something happened to him. She saw his eyes, which always showed a nature of generousness and piousness in them, it was now intent on some thought - maybe he was thinking why je got into this trouble, or maybe he was thinking about the best possible escape. A rock hit him square at the back of his head and as he slowly dropped to the ground, Neeli's stomach tied up in a knot of fear. Fear of his death, fear of the separation. She cried.

         She was shaken violently, and she for moment was lost. Madhavan sat beside her and as he planted a kiss on her forehead, teased her "So this is how a wife awaits her husband on a romantic getaway night? By being asleep?"

          She smiled and the innocence of her eyes made him fall in love with her all over again.