Beyond hilly horizon

Chapter 1

Sylvia slowly opened the doors and peeped outside. It was once again a happy morning for she could hear the little birds chirping and the crows cawing. Dawn has set in and she could feel the chilly morning breeze that blew from the nearby Sirumalai hills.

Looking far away at the horizon of the hills that played with the passing clouds was always a treat to her eyes. Sylvia walked slowly toward the garden at the front of their house. She can see one or two squirrels jumping on the guava tree and literally speaking to each other. Fresh dew drops shone on the dark leaves of the kanakambaram or firecracker flowers.

Though the flowers did not smell, their vibrant colors can attract the bees. Rich orange colored buds have started to unfurl their petals and she stood there for a while gazing at them. Whenever she watered the plants, the dry seeds on the plant cracked and spread the seeds on all the directions.

Few days later, she can see little firecracker plants all around the garden. Fresh firecracker flowers beautifully decorate the hair and when strands are worn along with white jasmine flowers, it really added to the beauty of the girl.

Sylvia took the stick broom and started to clean the front yard. She then sprinkled water and drew a beautiful kolam particular for that day. She stood there for a while admiring at her crude art drawn with the white stone powder. After helping her mother with the household chores, she started to get ready for her college.

Every day she walked to the bus stop. The tourist bungalow stood on the way to the bus stop. At that time, it was the only building in her town that stood as an attraction. She remembered how one day her father took her and her sisters to meet the veteran political leader Kamaraj at the tourist bungalow. She can still remember the long hands of the political leader and how he patted every one of them wishing good luck.

Down that road came the railway track. Whenever a train crosses the track, the gates on either side of the track will be closed. People waited on either side of the track and looked at the passing train. Sylvia loved to stand and watch the carriages of the train that moved one by one behind the engine.

People who stood at the entrance of the train gazed at the people who are standing near the track and sometimes little kids waved their hands at the passengers who are looking out of the windows. When the last carriage crossed the track, every one started to move in a hurry. Sylvia crossed the track and reached the bus stop on the other side. Already many of her friends were there waiting for the bus to come.

Chapter 2

Every day, young college going girls gathered in a common place and waited for the bus to come. The college contacted the public transport system and a special bus was provided for the bus in the morning and in the evening. Sylvia always accompanied the female lecturer who spoke to the administrative people at the transport office and arranged for the bus.

Sylvia was now in her second year of her graduation. After the summer holidays, the college had reopened. Young girls clad in colorful half-sarees, the tamilian traditional dress, stood there waiting for the bus. Every day some boys gathered around the near by shops to have a glance of the girls and exchange few smiles at them.

Usually, the girls were always busy in chatting among themselves and hardly had time to exchange those smiles or glances. There were only two colleges at that time one for girls and one for boys. Girls were not allowed to move around independently and the only place they were allowed to go and come will always be their schools or colleges. Very few schools had co-education and girls were always an attractive thing for the boys.

The girls traveling in the bus laugh and make merry of their time. The bus driver and the conductor were the only male persons in the bus. Sometimes they were so scared of the girls and they never spoke a word.

‘Hi, Syl, how are you?’ vibrant voices filled the bus.

‘Fine, what’s up for the day?’ Girls giggled and exchange discreet glances to each other. Once inside the bus, they screamed and shouted at their maximum.

‘Hi, Syl, have you written that poem?’ one of her friends asked her.

‘Yes, but I can share it only in the college.’

‘Show it to me. I will never tell anyone.’

‘No’ Sylvia replied stubbornly.

Every day Sylvia’s friends would ask her to write poems on their favorite. During the leisure period, every one read and enjoyed the poem. Sylvia usually wrote romantic poems which talked about love and nature. Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley were her favorite poets and tried her best to bring a romantic element in her poem.

A Love Poem for my Friend!
Like some young cypress, tall and dark and straight
He stood there gazing, with his lips tight
She hid her blushing face upon him
With her head pressed tightly on his chin
His hand like the twigs on a banyan tree
Entwined itself on her body under the saree
Driven by the passionate emotions of heart
He kissed her on her lips, whispering very fast
For he thought, the ticking time of clock
Is very little, which will close their union
Before he might tell her what he wished
The Dubbing sound of their heart, echoed within their ribs
"Enough To-day" she dissolved from his hands
But he whispered passionately "Hug once. Aay"
She pushed him away from her presence
Pleading tenderly for her defence
"No, No" he cried with his aroused passions
"Once started, never to be stopped without an end"
He drew her toward his mighty chest.
Embraced her, like crushing her person.
Lost in his passionate emotions of Love
She became one with him for ever
Only their lips and hand talked there
Words have gone away searching place somewhere
"Emotions do not need any words
Let us fly away like birds
And rest under the dark woods
To have more and more experience
In the reign of Venus"

‘Well done, Syl. So nice…’

‘Hi, how did you write like that?’ The surrounding trees echoed the laughter of the young girls, and Sylvia too joined their laughter with her heart filled with joy.

Chapter 3

Sylvia reached home early. After helping her mother with washing the clothes, she started to pluck the night queen flowers, a particular variety of jasmine. Sylvia enjoyed this activity every evening. The climber spread on the pomegranate tree and Sylvia climbed on the compound wall to pluck the flowers. After plucking all the flowers she would make strands of jasmine.

Sometimes she would leave few buds on the climber, so that the flowers bloomed at night and spread their perfume everywhere. Sylvia loved to call the night queen flowers as romantic flowers as it can stir romantic feelings in a person.

Sylvia combed her hair finely and pinned a strand of night queen at the top of the plait. She looked at the mirror and felt wonderful. The strand of flowers went well with her half-saree that was neatly pinned to her matching blouse.

Sylvia loved to do the evening aarathi to her favorite god. She cleaned the place around the Tulasi plant and watered the plant. She drew the kolam and decorated with strands of night queen flowers. She lit the small mud lamp before the Tulasi plant. It was a sight to look at the Tulasi plant surrounded by the light from the mud lamp. As the evening set into dark veils of night, the aura surrounding the lit Tulasi plant made her feel at peace.

Sylvia’s house stood inside a sprawling factory. The door at the compound wall separated her house from the factory. From morning 8 am to evening 6 pm, there would be bustling activity at the factory. More than 50 people worked in the factory. Entire place was filled with the sound of the running machines, workers laughed and talked with each other. But after 8 pm no one will be there except the administrative people.

Sylvia love to ride her cycle at the space in the rear end of the factory. During the weekends, when no one was there in the factory, Sylvia would go for her evening rides. The space was well lit with tube lights, and so she never felt scary to ride at night. The evening breeze from the nearby hills made the setting night cool and pleasant. Mindless, she would go for rounds and rounds till she felt exhausted.

It was a Saturday and Sylvia went for usual bicycle ride after 8 pm. She could feel the strong perfumed smell from the strands of night queen. Sylvia’s heart was filled with joy and she felt being at the top of the world. Enormous satisfaction and joy filled her heart and made her feel romantic. How it would be if I have a romantic partner? It would be fun to enjoy the cool breeze and the calm night along with his company.

New lines for her next poem started to pour from her heart and she mentally recited line by line. While enjoying her mental recitation of the poem, Sylvia suddenly got a feeling that someone is watching her. She looked around. She could see a tall figure hidden in the dark. The person stood there with his hands crossed and locked to his chest, and shamelessly he had been looking at her from head to toe. The flowing hair in the evening breeze looked great in the evening breeze and the strands of flowers on her hair made him stare at her without a break.

Chapter 4

It was a day in the month of November. Semester exams were going on. Sylvia was sitting and reading at the front yard of her house. November nights were chilly. Even the coconut oil froze like solid butter. It was 10 pm and the engulfing silence of the night helped Sylvia to read through the books with deep concentration. Others at home were fast asleep.

Sylvia could hear the audio of the movie songs from the nearby tent theatre. The tent theatre in the neighborhood village had started to play the songs before the screening for the night show. Sylvia had been listening to the same songs for the past ten days. The songs that did not inspire her during the day sounded different at the calm of night and made her yearn for a loving soul near her. Sylvia once again read through the poetry of Wordsworth and felt elated.

‘Sylvee, sylvee’ her mother started to call her. ‘Get inside it is 11 pm’.

Reluctantly Sylvia took her chair and went inside the house. Even though the factory had a watchman and night shift work had already started at the factory, staying out late night was always scary. Sylvia had heard about incidents of thin apparitions walking across the space in front of the factory. The cool breeze told her that late night had set in and her place is safer inside the house. Sylvia woke up early morning around 5 am and started to read her lessons once again.

Sylvia could watch the morning slowly peeping in with the early morning cool sun rays. The silence around her was completely different from what she experienced the night before. Sylvia could hear the beautiful songs of the song birds. The clear blue sky with clouds floating here and there made Sylvia to recite her favorite poem once again.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Sylvia could now realize how great William Wordsworth was in observing nature and brought the beauty of clouds in simple sentences. It is true; nature always helped a person to wish for the best and gave a lending hand whenever help was needed. Sylvia after brushing her teeth had her glass of milk.

Sylvia's mother asked her to bring some water from the well at the rear end of the factory. As the water level at the well had gone down, they could not pump the water. They had to use the hand pulley to draw water from the well. The water at the well was so chill even during the summer days. Sylvia took the bucket and followed her father to the well. While walking towards the well, she could feel the thin perfume of flowers that enveloped around the place. Breathing in the fresh air, she reached the well. A sudden whiff of air made her feel the fresh scent of sandal wood soap. Someone had taken bath at the well few minutes ago, and her nostrils took the fresh perfume in till it reached her heart.

Chapter 5

Sylvia’s eye brows could feel the heaviness of sleep. With a yawn, she closed the romance novel written by Barbara Cartland, which she took from the library. With a stretch, she finished reading the novel. Her heart brimmed with subtle thoughts on love, and she started to scribble down the lines with ease.

Punch my heart to dream, to dream about your dreaming eyes.
Those eyes of you, reminds me of hazel nuts -
a squirrel carries away
in the woods of fairy tales
and hide in places unknown.
Could you be my Prince of Charms…
and not a Prince of Love.
A Prince of heart felt dreams,
You hold the strings of a silver chariot
that adorns the smile on your face.
Smile! Smile! Smile! Smile!
Let it reflect on your hazel eyes.

Sylvia read the poem during the leisure hour at the college. The girls giggled for a while and started to laugh aloud.

‘Too much, Sylvia, it is too much,’ one of her friends commented with a smile.

‘Ya, you want to have Prince of Charms, but he is not for you.’ Another one joined her.

‘Shut up,’ Sylvia replied back. ‘I don’t want Prince of Charms.’

‘Why, so….’ Every one yelled back. Some of the girls who sat under the nearby trees turned around and looked at them. Every time they sit together under a tree during leisure time, even the crows hesitated to perch on the branches. Their laughter frightened them and chased them away from the trees. Sylvia’s interest for writing poems grew day by day. She started to write with an excuse that she is writing for her friends.

Her love for poetry became intense when she won the first prize in the poetry recitation competition. She chose the poem, ‘The Quest’ written by Sarojini Naidu. She started to recite the poem in a normal tone. But, her longing for Lord Krishna as her eternal lover, reflected in the tone as she recited the last two lines of the poem. Her friends clapped in cheer and appreciated her.

I am of thee as thou of me a part
Look for me in the mirror of thy heart
(The Quest by Sarojini Naidu)

Tears welled up in her eyes and she could feel the presence of Lord Krishna by her side.

Chapter 6

Sylvia loved Sundays. Every Sunday, her mother planned a different breakfast from the usual idlis and dosas. Her mother would pour water to the remaining cooked rice at night. Overnight, the cooked rice will be left to soak in water. In the morning, the rice mixed with curd turned out to be a delicious breakfast. Her mother served this delicious breakfast with fried onions.

Sylvia would cut the small sized sambar onions into small pieces. Two or more green chillies were also cut into pieces. Both the sambar onions and the green chillies were deep fried in little oil with salt to taste and a pinch of turmeric powder. This sambar onion fry along with the curd rice was a perfect combination. Sylvia always looked forward to Sundays to have this delicious breakfast.

After the breakfast, she would go and pluck the leaves from the drumstick tree that grew near the well. Sylvia always helped her mother to separate the leaves from the twigs and prepared the green drumstick leaves simple fry. The tender drumstick leaves were friend with small sambar onions and green chillies. Sylvia always loved to eat this fry hot from the frying pan.

Every Sunday, Sylvia loved to go for her bicycle rides. After two o’ clock in the afternoon, every one will be having their afternoon nap. Sylvia’s siblings will be doing whatever they wanted, and Sylvia would go for her bicycle ride in the main road before her house. The road will be empty without any buses, cars or scooters. Though, it was hot and the sun scorched her skin, Sylvia loved her rides. The big pond on the other side of the road looked beautiful in the afternoon sunlight. Ripples of waves formed on the surface of the water made her feel excited and happy.

One of her friends at the college asked her if she could accompany her to Sirumalai hills. Her friend’s sister was working as a botany teacher in the local school. Along with the students, she was going to Sirumalai hills for a field visit. Field visits were organized for collecting specimens and collect different kinds and species of plants. Sylvia immediately agreed to her request.

Sirumalai hills were 20 km away from her town. Every day she could see the hilly horizons from her house. She could sometimes see forest fires in the hills. It would start as a flicker and spread across for miles. Sylvia was happy when she got the chance to visit the place which she had been longing to see. The bus took them through many hair pin bends.

Young girls who accompanied them were excited and shouted with joy. While they were climbing up the hill, Sylvia could see wild goats that roamed around and crossed the road. It was not too cold and the warm sun shine helped them to start their trekking with a cheer. One of the persons who lived there volunteered to accompany them to the areas where the students can collect botanical specimens. They walked through paths of red soil. Wild rose plants bloomed all the way. Each plant grew more that five feet and was fully covered with different colored wild roses.

Sylvia could see tall trees full of gooseberries. Sirumalai hills are always famous for their bananas. They went around coffee plantations and people there warned them not to go to certain places where wild dogs roamed and it was dangerous to escape from a wild dog. After collecting the botanical specimens, they sat in a place and had their packed lunch. The water at Sirumalai hills tasted sweet and Sylvia longed to be there forever. 

 

Chapter 7

The days went on. After graduation, Sylvia stayed at home. Her mother allowed her to continue her post graduation by distance education. Sylvia had plenty of time at hand and she started to enjoy her stay at home. After helping her mother in household work, she spent the afternoon writing poems.

Sylvia loved to sit in the cool shade of the pomegranate tree and scribble away whatever that came to her mind. Sometimes little honey birds which measured less than the height of her thumb would sit in the thin branches of pomegranate tree and chirped loudly. Little sparrows flew here and there twittering sweet nothings. It was always a fun to watch pairs of mynahs hopping around the guava tree and search for insects.

Where are those thoughts which would link you with me!
Where are those dreams which would link you with me!
Where is the link which would link you with me!
where are those twilight rays far above the bright horizon which would link you with me!
The link which linked you with me
Has it lost its identity?
Every hour dies that link and resurrects itself in another -
A link with the nature's link
may strengthen your link with me
for that link lingers for ever.

One night while Sylvia sat reading through a novel, she heard owls screeching loudly. Sylvia felt some sort of nervousness in the screech of the owls. Sylvia could hear the flutter of the wings of the owls.
Putting down the book on the chair, Sylvia walked and stood near the outer entrance of her house. Sylvia’s cousin brother was riding his cycle. There were no one at the factory and darkness engulfed everywhere. It was even scary to look at the tree tops.

‘Come here’ she called her cousin brother. Her cousin brother came fast in his cycle and stopped near her. Sylvia with her two hands clutched the hand bar of the cycle. Yet, the front tire of the cycle hit her right toe. Sylvia did not feel anything at that time. The next day morning Sylvia felt something odd on her right toe. The right toe nail was dead and she could feel the pain on the right toe.

Chapter 8

Next day Sylvia’s father took her to their family doctor. After examining her right toe, the doctor told her that the nail got jammed under the bike tire and it was dead. He also told her that it would be a risk to remove the nail as it could affect the nerves and would also bleed heavily. He prescribed some pain killers along with the antibiotics. For the next ten days, Sylvia could not walk properly and she had to give up cycling also. She would sit in the chair under the shades of the tree and watched people working in the factory. The wound started to heal and there was no pain on the right toe. Yet, she could not move normal. She could not keep her right leg down.

The doctor prescribed her one more course of antibiotics. After taking the second course of antibiotics, the nail which was dead got separated from the toe and fell down. New nail started to grow. The next problem started for her. The second course of antibiotics had affected the tender lining walls of her stomach, and she started to feel a sort of restlessness and pain in her upper stomach. Sylvia started to experience the pangs of peptic ulcer. The next four years were a night mare for her. Her entire life changed during these four years.

Sylvia could not eat anything other than plain idlis with sugar or rice with curd. When every one was having varieties of food, she could not eat other than the bland food. She had to give up her favorite pickle also. Even after having bland food, one day, she started to have stools with mucus and pain in the stomach. When the doctor asked her if she had anything unknowingly, she could not suppress her tears. Sylvia felt she had lost her physical strength and could not think about anything.

Sylvia even tried the method that Gandhi had written in his autobiography, ‘My Experiments with truth’. She took some red soil and mixed with the water to form a thick paste. She placed the red soil paste inside a thin cloth and wrapped it like a bundle. She would place the little bundle of red soil paste on her stomach and tried to take away the heat from the stomach. Her entire body would be cool but her stomach would be so hot to touch. She placed the bundle on her stomach and waited for the pain to subside. To her surprise, the pain started to decrease and there was no heat on her stomach.

Sylvia’s brain also felt tired and she could not concentrate and write. Lying on the bed, Sylvia thought about the relation between the soul and the body. Before she was down with ulcer, she used to do yoga and meditation every day in the morning. Meditation helped her to build up her concentration level and it also helped her to feel the presence of sub-conscious mind. Sylvia was only eighteen years old, when she started to feel the pangs of ulcer.

Though teenage dreams accompanied her to make her feel happy and cheerful, she could not enjoy life. She dreaded to think about the stomach pain and felt that she was nearing the end of her life. Sometimes she felt her soul was watching the sufferings of the body and it was desperately waiting to get relieved from her body of flesh and bones. With a shudder she closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep.

Chapter 9

Lying on the bed, Sylvia looked at the tiles on the roof. No one was there at home. Her mother was busy in the kitchen as usual. Sylvia counted the number of days she was ill like that. It was more than three weeks. For the past three weeks, she was on liquid diet. Her mother mixed her a thin mixture of Horlicks in water. She was drinking that diluted mixture for more than three times a day. If she ate few mouthful of plain rice with curd, her stomach immediately churned them out with pain. The mere thought of eating solid food and rushing to the toilet made her shudder with pain. The thin mixture of Horlicks only stayed inside her bowels and she had to be satisfied with that.

Sylvia lost weight and now she looked skinny and pale. She could not even stand out and brush her teeth. She had to sit on the steps at the front door and brush her teeth. Sylvia sometimes thought about Toru Dutt who died at a young age of 21. Now she could realize how painful it would be to die when one was young. But the pain and strain that she felt at every twist of the stomach muscles made her feel that death would not be so painful.

While all these were going on, there was one more story track in line. Sylvia’s parents started to look for a bride groom and get her married soon. Her sister who was only one and half years younger was there standing closely to her and waiting for the track to be cleared for her chance. People who were impressed with her good looks in the photo and her educational qualifications, turned away after seeing her in person.

In a traditional tamilian family, when a prospective bride groom visits the house of his bride-to-be, it meant a lot not only to the bride to be, but to her entire family. The whole family waited in suspense till they get back the word from the bridegroom’s family. Every time when someone came to their house to see Sylvia, her mother would ask her sister not come in front of the guests.

One night after one such visit, Sylvia’s sister started to yell at her.

‘Till you are here, I will not get married. Why do you stand in my way?’

Sylvia could not suppress her tears. Streams of tears started to flow from her eyes and she stood there without speaking a word. Before leaving the house, the boy who had come there to see Sylvia told her father that he wanted to marry Sylvia’s sister. Her father was quite upset with this and asked the boy to get lost. Her parents started to worry about Sylvia’s future.

‘I don’t want to marry anyone. Leave me alone.’ Sylvia replied with a sob.

‘Ma, let me study. I don’t want to get married now.’ Sylvia’s heart was heavy with pain. Yet, her parents were stubborn to see her get married first, and then think about her sister.

Chapter 10

Sylvia looked into the dark night. It was raining heavily for the last three days and it was too cold. There was no electricity and there was only moon light. The full moon sailed across the sky and peeped out of the clouds in the sky. Sylvia and her siblings sat at the steps at the front door and were watching at the tiny glow worms or tiny flies that flew near the banana trees.

The green lights flickered in the dark and Sylvia’s brother tried to catch one or two fire flies. He was lucky to catch one and brought it to Sylvia. Sylvia placed the glow worm on her left palm and watched it with wonder. When her brother asked her to put it in an empty bottle, she let the glow worm fly into the dark.

Just like the sudden climax in a story, a turning point came into Sylvia’s life also. Sylvia got married within a matter of four weeks. She met her bridegroom only at the wedding hall where their marriage was solemnized. Sylvia told her consent for marriage with a wish that everything would turn out well. But, life had in store, a different challenge for her to face. With hopes, she proceeded to live her life.

Cold nights of the rainy seasons shiver and curl me up inside.
Dark seems to soothe me - my body, my mind, everything
I keep myself warm near the fire with lapsing thoughts on my mind
Is it suitable to have a passionate lover by my side on a cold night like this!
No, No. it's absurd to think so!
Emotions vanish away like clouds which always change its shape.
Chilled winds of the west pricks me,
I am shifted to-wards another thought
A real companion near my seat shall be suitable to discuss something!
Cheer up my heart for a while! Still my thoughts wander far away
In the dim light of a melting candle it's really wonderful to meditate
Meditate in the name of God.
I feel to be inside a maze,
I know the way to go out, still I can't come out.
Peeping rays of moon and stars chuckles louder at my puzzled mind
Now I realize – Meditation – let peace rule me by sleep
My mind shuts away the puzzles.
Now, nothing can enter my heart for I have become one, beyond everything
A daring lover or a silent companion or the real beauty of nature
Nothing can make me feel at rest to enjoy an eternal peace of mind
Calmness seem to enclose around me, around the whole world,
Believing dawn to be near, I lay down saying my prayers.

End

Impressum

Texte: Kalai Selvi Arivalagan
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 18.11.2009

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