Sabari Parinayam

18

"A custard apple for the beautiful lady?" The bearded man offered.

Sabari walked right past him.

"Beautiful lady?" The man persisted.

Sabari kept walking.

"Sabari!" he called out.

She stopped in her tracks "Oh? I am the beautiful lady?" she turned around to enquiry after the man who complimented her.

"Not my voice?" the man asked.

"What?" Sabari frowned at the tall man, with a face full of hair. He walked rather arrogantly towards her.

"I thought you would recognize my voice. Instead you stopped because I complimented you?"

Sabari squinted against the rising sun. She walked closer to the man and straightened his beard down "Is that you under all that hair?" Having always seen Partha with a clean-shaven head and face, all this hair on the man's face made him unrecognizable. "What happened to your voice?" she asked.

Partha pushed her hand away from his beard "Nothing happened to my voice" he cleared his throat.

Sabari flashed all her teeth in a happy smile. "When did you come back?"

Partha was happy too. "Yesterday evening. It was very late. I came home in the morning and you were not there." Partha wanted to hug Sabari. It was more than 6 months since he had last seen her. And all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms. And the woman was not even at home. "Where are you off to so early in the morning?"

"Oh. I was just feeling very restless and wanted to walk for a bit." As usual Sabari had no qualms about showing her affection. She held onto his arm and walked with him.

"Where were you going too?"

"To the palace. Thought I will help out in the stables."

'Hmm. Shall we go somewhere else?" he asked very sincerely. 

'Where do you want to go' 

'Come.' is all he said. 

After about 3 quarters of an hour, Sabari watched as Partha rose up from the waters of the temple pond and made his salutations to the sun. The amber light of the  sun created a silhouette of him, against the temple dome. A  warm feeling settled into Sabari's heart. She sighed. Not at the sight of him. But for how he made her feel. She watched as he walked up the steps, coming towards her. He came to her. HE was hers. A tingling in the stomach  made her toes curl. She handed him his dry clothes and watched him disappear around a corner. 

'Is that your morning meal?" Partha asked, seeing Sabari spread some fruits and nuts onto her lap. 

'It was. But you have them. I am not hungry.' she had her fill of him. 

'I am not hungry too. I wanted to cook for you.' 

'You still can. We can meet for dinner and...'

Partha frowned 'Why won't we have lunch together?' 

'Because you will be busy with the king.'

'He does not know I am back.' At Sabari's confused expression, he explained 'I am supposed to return tomorrow, as per plan. But I came a day earlier.'

'Why?'

Surely she cannot be that dense? "To attend Sambaiah's wedding.' he immediately covered Sabari's mouth with his hand. The morning fog seemed to be clouding his woman's brain, today.  'I am not in town today. And even you are not going to work, today. Did you understand?' Sabari nodded. 'If you have any other unnecessary questions or queries, don't ask them. Understood?' Sabari nodded.  He slowly released his hand. Sabari raised her finger, as if having a question. Partha took a deep breath and asked 'What?'