SAMUDI/9
Harshad frequently remember the village pond. Sometime Harshad and Samudi used to sit prior to their return on the hillock to see the sunset. Samudi used to go to wash clothes to the village pond if there was no water supply. Then she would take her bath also there. Samudi used to swim in a very wonderful style! Harshad lived in a village yet he didn’t know swimming. Samudi used to guide him for swimming but Bapuji used to say, ‘Don’t take bath in the dirty water of the village pond.’ ‘But why is it so!’ Harshad used to sit on the bank of the lake and watch her…. Samudi used to bobbing up and down. But if she didn’t come up. Harshad used to be upset a little and he would shoiut… ‘Samu’…..O….Sa….mu. And then she would come up and giggle for a while. Then Harshad realized that even in flood she would never get drown. To be at the bank of lake was all joyous experience. There used to be great variety of birds such as cuckoo, drakes, kites, crows……twittering and cluttering of birds used to be common, tiny ducks used to keep on cluttering, those buffaloes would not come out easily from the lake and that Ramlo! He would come along with his elder brother, to give bath to ox he didn’t know good swimming, therefore he would hold on the ox-tail very tight, he would make some sound while keeping tip of the tongue with the pallet and turn his ox towards shallow water! Harshad had kept his legs in water but on seeing that small Ramla taking a swim. On holding the tail of an ox, he had roaring laughter….at that time he had some sort of tickling in his legs! And he saw…. On God! Something had stuck up on his one of the legs. It was something quite smaller than lizard. On seeing it Harshad shouted, he tried to remove it but….. it began to prolong itself…. but it was not easy to remove….! On hearing, his shouting, though Samudi was at a fairly distance but she could reach very close to Harshad in a few seconds. Oh God! This one is leech.. (a blood sucker). On seeing leech she said: eem ookhade aa lombi nnn lombi thaya ja…. Pan vassatenae (i.e. It could not be removed like that it would go on extending but it won’t, get off… (i.e. Samu said, look up if someone applies spittle (Saliva) to its upper part, it will be alright.) ‘aaa ama thoon lagaine eka fat daiyne vasoot….’ Koonta pas jaleee chonti hoya tyan mootro eka vassut (i.e. Or if one finds sticking up of leech, if you urinate on it, it goes off.) It was quite disgusting for Harshad but Samu had hold leech in her and said: ‘if there is abscess (boil) and does not recover, you may put leech, it would immediately suck up fluid and recovery will be very soon. Then she raised up her petticoat upto knee and touched up the uppermouth of leech on her boil and then quickly she applied her saliva, and removed and threw away leech in water…. And thus Samudi had complete recovery from the boil. It was this place only where he had kissed Nayna behind the trunk of a tree…. Harshad had invented lot of images of Nayna! Nayna praying for something in the Shivtemple covering her head with lightgreenish coloured sari, in the presence of the father-in-law and the mother-in-law, slightly bowing her face be abashed and too courteous but in the silken darkness of theatre effusion of affection love would be new image, but at the parental home she would be in shirt and petticoat running errand Nayna’s image would be very much like impatient jungle queen’s image. Harshad couldn’t makeout how is that Nayna’s shyness disappeared in the passionate darkness of the theatre. Harshad had thought of seeing a picture while keeping Nayna’s hand in hand. But Nayna? Is it fair to have such thing in theatre? But there won’t be any decorum of shyness! Or he couldn’t control effervescence of youth! During newsreel and advertisement dim lights were on. Even during dim light also Nayna did not feel shy at all. Lights were off and then the picture began. It was all dark and then- Harshad also thought as if he were a duffer! and Nayna! Did she learn it from someone! No, no, why should I be suspicious? She might have read it somewhere! Or she might have…. Learnt from any friend! What ever it may be!... Nayna had gradually entrapped Harshad in her passion. It might be the very bottom. They came out from the theatre. Harshad thought for a while that how was the picture! Then one cannot answer promptly. But it could be so in the theatre! Harshad could only remember that slowly he was lost in the darkness. There was something quite mysterious which kept of swinging – romantic – mysterious weight, as sea waves shuffling and lightening in veins. Suddenly there were flash lights of the theatre. It was difficult to see. It was as if it were very foggy everywhere. It seemed as if the sea smell and saltish stuck up too. But Nayna was too happy, she kept on winking for quite some time! She said – ‘Oh! What happy pastime, it went off!’ Truly, Nayna was as smart as deer. Nayna was in the theatre… But if I had taken her to jungle. The whole jungle would be thumping. There was something smell of a female deer. Meanwhile lots of deer were there, and Nayna was surprised to see them steadily. Who is my competitor is there the Goddess of the jungle, due to some fear complex, she ran a little! But then Harshad repented, it was quite unfair to be in that sort of dreamland…. I ought to have kept one of my legs on the earth.