Kama: Liberation (Vol-I)

Chapter 13: Connections

Flapping their bloodied wings, a pair of lovers soar high,

They know no god, no land or domain, their home is the whole sky.

****

Ishvara could have lost a major part of her memories. But the bland existence didn't steal from her the sharpness of mind.

Aryamna– a peculiar man of duality and conundrums.

Dusk had invited new doubts. Each clue that life presented posed another ten questions. Everything seemed dubious.

The cattle was returning back, leaving behind a veil of dust which the hooves weaved out of earth. Half naked children with sticks and dolls ran for their homes, calling out to random strangers in glee of a great morning spent playing.

Ishvara had always loved the beguiling charm of children. They were the most shrewd and sweet creation of God. "Maybe mine is somewhere too."

Or maybe not.

Thus, Ishvara was pushed in a man-made mayhem with the fact that she didn't know her truth.

"But I have a new one. I am Ishvara, wife of Senapati Aryamna."

A man who definitely hid a lot from her. She did the same, never telling him about her rare misfortune of a severe amnesia.

But what had he concealed from her?

"That he has a earring."

Too funny and suspicious.

"Can it be a replica of the one I have? But why does he not have a pair?"

Too much of a coincidence.

"Ishvara!"

The man will have a long life. She gathered herself and opened the door.
He stood with a little red box and a bunch of figs. "Come in."

It felt both safe and fearsome to know that she had possibly married a man who already knew about her. The nightmares made the discovery more frightful. Obnoxious were her secrets.

"Look, Maa forced into my hands these gifts for you. I knew it. She was inviting me not to shop for indigo but to select gifts." His smile shrouded a dreary reminder of her history. The dire dreams she had till now only narrated a parlous past. To conclude that this benevolent, kind man can be a part of it...

"Want to try some on now?" he asked.

But indeed, he has colours.

"Ishvara?"

"Huh?"

"What are you thinking?"

She sighed. "You don't take care of your clothes."

A smooth escape.

Aryamna was amused. "Ah, so that's what you discovered in my absence? Yes, I don't take care of my clothes."
He walked towards her slowly. The rigid cold wall against her back made her shiver.

Tousled hair fell in pretty waves over his forehead. A golden glint scintillating in the lapis orbs dazzled Ishvara.

And again, she was still, unmoving under his spell.

"But I take care of my wife."

Ishvara wanted to speak but her lips were sealed by an invisible wax.
Her eyes were cursed to be a statue in the moment; some trickery of Medusa that Ishvara's faint knowledge of magic could not discern.