He felt the fever in every muscle of his body, he just wanted
to lie down and not do anything. Except that the mind didn’t want to listen and
wandered around, as it has done everytime he had a fever. It took him back to
that sultry afternoon many year ago, he was sweating it out in the parade
ground as the young NCC cadet wanting to be part of the hallowed RD parade. That’s
when he saw her alighting from the van that brought the women cadets from another
college, she was dressed in a traditional Tamilian outfit ( half saree) and it
looked as if she absorbed the entire sunlight of the day. She radiated energy,
happiness and appeared to be a true bundle of joy ( she was slightly on the healthier side).
“I want to marry her” was the first thing that came to his
mind, he infact said it aloud, so much so, that his friend caught him saying
that. It was a classical love at first sight, no more and no less. It didn’t matter
that she was an orthodox Christian and he was a traditional iyyengar, it didn’t
bother that she belonged to the upper middle class and he had to scourge for
money to come of college. Nobody gave the love affair a chance, including him. That’s
why he didn’t pursue, though his heart weighed heavy whenever she recited the
classical song, tapping her tender fingers on her lap.
Through this love, he found the poet in him. He wrote lyrics
so that it could be sung by her. Overnight he became a star in writing and
reciting poetry, surprising his friend and shocking some. Well, did some say,
true love prises out the art in us and it did in his case. His poetry gained
ascendancy through her mellifluous voice. All this and more, and yet she didn’t
know the volcanic emotion in him.
Many a weeks passed by, they talked about poetry, music,
religion ( gaining from each other) and both became better together. She introduced
him to many books, till then he hardly read his own text books meant for his
course but now he was reading books on all possible topics. He was evolving as
person and a gentleman.
It happened when none anticipated, as they were talking to
each other like any other day, she grabbed his hand kissed it gently and told
him, “ lets get married”. His head swirled, mouth went dry and mind blanked,
that was the first and last time he had love fever. Everytime he had fever, he
only thought about it, and for some reason he liked it when he had one. It had
been nearly two decades since that happened, it still brought back happiness
and air of magic.
Opening of the door, shut his nostalgic journey abruptly,
his iyyengar wife came with some homemade concoction, he looked at her and
realized despite being happy, contented and loved he still missed the magic and
how he wished the fever lingered for a little more than it usually does. He gulped
the concoction and prayed it didn’t work, strange is the reality of life. So, powerful
is first love it can uplift any situation, it did it for him.
