Nonu

A teenager's love story between two different classes of people

The pond side was still quiet as before, except those stairs leading to the water; they were broken in between with green algae carpeted the lowermost steps perfectly. The water didn’t look clean; wild water-plants engulfed more than half portion of the pond.  The surrounding trees grew much bigger and larger than I had first seen them about twenty five years back. Thick unruly bushes in between those shadowing trees made the opposite side of the pond almost inaccessible, which was supposed to house a temple that time.

Twenty five years back Nonu once took me to that temple. There was no one over there other than a solitary effigy of Shiva Lingam (penis of Lord Shiva).

She all on a sudden put a garland around my neck and told me to do the same to her with the same garland.

‘Now onwards we are husband and wife. God witnessed our exchange of garland here. No marriage can  be more genuine than this’ she gave me a sudden strong hug, kissed my nervous lips and murmured in my ears, leaving behind the sixteen year old boy totally speechless, breathless and mesmerized.

After that, she slowly carried me at the back of the temple with a mysterious smile prevailing on her face throughout. There were bushes and shrubs all around, her hand holding my arm tightly and almost dragging me through them.

‘Where are we going Nonu?’

 She fell into an outburst of giggle and gave a reply that escalated my heart beat further, ‘to perform our ‘phoolshajya’ (bed of flowers where husband and wife spend their first night after wedding).

 

‘Baba (father), what are you doing at this pond side alone?’ Bablu’s voice from behind alerted my senses to bring me back down the twenty five years memory line.

‘Lunch is served. Granny is calling everyone. Hurry up Baba’

Bablu will be sixteen next month, of the same age of mine when I came across Nonu.

Isn’t coincidental?

But my visit to Pisimoni’s (father’s sister) residence had remained a planned one after my school leaving examination was over. This lady never treated me differently from her own children.

She is sixty five now, a widow and staying alone in her husband’s countryside palace.

My grandfather got his only daughter married to the family of landlords of the villages.

Most of their lands are gone now, either sold off or forcibly captured by political muscle power.  But the palace is still there along with the huge, grossly unattended garden containing the pond.

Many of my younger days were spent in this place, and the most memorable one was my last visit some twenty five years back when Nonu sneaked into my life.

‘Can you swim?’ those were her first words to catch my ears when I was watching at the crystal clear water of the pond in one of the placid forenoons in Pisimoni’s garden. I still remember that day was sunny and bright and the sky was perfectly blue on the top of our head like today.

A tall, lanky girl, of my age, her head touching almost my forehead, in a shoddy frock, untidy curls of hair in complete disorder, a bright face with twinkling eyes and with the most familiar look as if she knows me for ages.

Sixteen is an age when boys start becoming conscious of the existence of opposite sex around them, triggered by a blend of physical and emotional attraction. Talking for few minutes with a girl makes the day so special.

The girl emerged in front of me from the blue and her casual approach took my speech momentarily away.

She touched my arm and asked again, ‘Hey boy, do you know how to swim?’

I was scared of water from the very beginning of my life and could never overcome the fear.

I timidly said her no.

‘I never saw you before’ she continued, ‘Where are you from?’

Her eyes became perfectly round in astonishment when I told her I reside in Kolkata and come to my aunt’s house for holiday. ‘I have never been in Kolkata. I heard it has underground train. Is it true?’

I said yes this time.

‘Have you ever boarded underground train?’ her excitement was on a rapid rise.

‘Many times’

‘Oh my God, how did you feel like? Tell me the story, now’

Before I answered, a woman’s shrill voice struck our ears from the adjacent servants’ quarters, ‘Nonu, Nonu, where are you? I told you to help me in the kitchen’

‘Ma (mother) is calling me. Come here after lunch and tell me the stories about Kolkata and underground train’ she immediately disappeared behind the bushes towards the servants’ residence of the palace.

Later on I came to know Nonu is the daughter of the gardener of Pisimoni’s garden. She didn’t have to go to the school.

‘Ma says why should you go to school? Schools are made for the boys’ Nonu told me once when we were chatting in the cosy shadow of a large mango tree of the garden, ‘My parents will get me married soon. They are already looking for a boy for me’ she said as if marriage is a just another child’s play.

‘Getting married so early? You are still in your frocks’ I exclaimed.

‘You know what Ma says. I am no more a girl. I am a woman because my periods are already started’ she said casually, ‘Ma says a girl no more remains a girl when she is in her period’

I had vague idea about menstrual period that time. I saw my didi (elder sister) throwing all sorts of tantrums during the particular period of the month like keeping the bathroom engaged for hours, often calling Ma to the bathroom, seldom talking to me. ‘This happens to the women every month for some days’ Ma replied when I asked her once why Didi behaves so erratic. I heard a lot about the monthly bleeding of the girls from my friends in the school when they discussed about the girls and forbidden areas of their bodies. I was glued to their thrilling discussions as a speechless but the most attentive listener. My shyness was too hard to get rid of, so active participation in their juicy talks always remained out of my reach. I never got my ideas clear about women’s menstrual period; even the lessons of our Life Science book didn’t have much impact on my awareness level.

After few days of our first meet, when Nonu was no more a stranger to me, I asked her with all my boldness, ‘Why you girls have bleeding periods? Do you bleed too much?’

‘I also don’t know much. Ma told me it happens to every woman. As long as you continue with your bleeding, you can give birth to babies. When you are older your period is stopped, you can no more become a mother.’

I was not sure about how these bleeding periods are related to giving birth. Even Nonu was not confident.

‘I will ask my mother and tell you tomorrow, ok’

‘What you do whole day if you don’t go to school?’ I was keen to know. The girl must be so lucky not to break her head on the boring episodes of studies.

‘I move around the garden, swim in the pond, climb on  those trees, and sometimes steal fruits…..’ she giggled, ‘Now Ma keeps me busy in the kitchen to help her in cooking. She often tells me a woman must be an expert of cooking to make her husband happy. She also tells one more thing…..hi hi hi hi’ she suddenly burst into her usual giggling.

‘What’s that?’

‘I can’t tell you’ she suddenly covered her face with both of her hands and never stopped her giggling behind them.

‘Tell me, tell me’ I insisted, forcing to remove her hands off her face, ‘or I will twist your hand’

‘It’s bad……..’She resisted.

I started twisted her hand. I got the smell of those forbidden things that I often heard from my friends. I wanted to hear them from a girl now, at least for once.

‘You need to be good in bed too to satisfy your husband in the night, otherwise….’ She couldn’t finish, covered her face once again with continuous giggling, leaving my ears reddened and my heart pumping faster.

 

‘Baba, Baba, come first. I am feeling already so hungry’ Bablu warned me again by putting a sudden break on the stream of my past memories.

‘Go and start having your food. I am coming’ I wanted him to leave me alone for some time at the pond side.

 

‘Why you have become so friendly with the Mali’s (gardener) daughter?’ Pisimoni told me one day. ‘They are servants, low class people. Keep yourself away from that girl’

I didn’t listen to her. Nonu’s attraction was irresistible to me.

We met almost every day after lunch, when Pisimoni relaxed in her room, Pisemosai (husband of Pisimoni) remained busy in his office and the activities of the palace were at a temporary standstill.

Sometimes she brought me food from her house, pickle, vegetable curry, occasionally chapatti. ‘I cooked them for you. Eat and tell me how you like them’

‘Why you cook for me?’

She giggled without saying the answer.

‘If you don’t tell me why you cook all these stuff for me, I am not going to put them inside my mouth’ I became adamant,

She continued her stupid giggling, once again, by covering her face with her hands in the usual manner.

A stupid girl with a big bee in her bonnet, I thought.

But I loved each and every moment of mine I was with her; a untidy, disorderly girl of the gardener who was growing up under sheer negligence and inattention of everyone, including her own parents.

I saw several snakes in the garden when moving around in the garden with Nonu that scared the hell out of me. Nonu tightly held my hand to assure me, ‘Don’t worry. They won’t do anything to you’

‘Why?’ I hardly believed in her

‘Because you are with me’

‘Are those snakes familiar with you?’ my surprise knew no bounds

‘They are my friends’ she declared with a big sense of pride,

‘What if they bite someone? Are they venomous?’

‘He won’t take much time to die. Why are you so scared? Let’s swim?’

That’s one thing I was not interested to do at all and turned down Nonu’s proposals every time.

‘You just hold my frock lightly in the water and float. I will swim. It will be a big fun. Believe me. You will never drown. I will protect you inside the water’ she kept on telling me but in vain.

‘Foolish coward boy, just keep on standing at the pond side like a ghost and see me swim’ she made a big desperate dive into the pond and remained vanished completely below the water for some time to suddenly surface after a considerable distance with a waving hand to me. I waved her back and watched her paddling smoothly through the water from the one side of the pond to the other.

After about half an hour she came out of the pond with water profusely dribbling down her hair and body, and eyes stark red.

‘You need to change your frock, now. You are completely wet and can catch cold easily’ I tried to warn her but she ignored me completely, grasped my hand and started running making me run too with her.

‘Where are we running for?’

‘To the temple’ she answered

‘Shiva temple?’

‘Yes’

‘Why’

‘To show you something’ 

She brought me straightway to the back side of the temple. The place was absolutely calm and quiet and surrounded by thick bushes and trees all around. There was no sound except those of monotonous cricket.

She was panting with a mystic smile playing around her face and bubbles of sweat appearing fast in her forehead. I was feeling suddenly very nervous.

She didn’t release my hand for a second and suddenly raised my hand to press it against her chest.

I felt a solid globular apple trapped inside my hand. My whole body was quivering. There was a fire below my skin and eruption like feeling in between my thighs.

‘The moment a boy grabs a girl’s breast he owns her completely. I am yours and will remain yours forever. Promise me you will never touch a girl like this? Promise in the name of Lord Shiva?’ She came closer to me, mumbled softly and hurriedly, her fast breathing touched my face; a queer fishy muddy smell was emitting from her body that made me totally perplexed.

‘I promise, I promise by the name of God’ I uttered like someone who is drugged, ‘You are only mine and I am only yours’ my heart stopped the moment I told her.

Moments after I found her in my arms, her two apples beneath the wet, body hugging shabby frock were pressed tightly against my chest, I could feel her fast beating heart below mine, her moist cold lips touching my boiling lips, her arms clung across my neck and becoming tighter enough to held my breath, we were becoming one body and soul and the sun and the sky and those mammoth surrounding trees of the garden were witnessing our divine, innocent union at the shelter of God.

She suddenly released herself, pushed me a little behind and started giggling like before.

‘What happens?’ I tried to embrace her like before to break her completely under my strong arms. I was feeling like a true man.

‘No, not any more. We should remain sacred’ she was giggling and receding backwards, ‘otherwise God will punish us’

‘But, but’ I tried to bring her back to me. The love-struck lover in me made me absolutely crazy, mad for her.

‘Come tomorrow this time to the temple. I will be waiting for you’ She gave me a deep thorough look, turned back and ran to vanish in between those trees within a second.

I couldn’t close my eyes a bit that night. Nonu had occupied each and every corner of my body, mind and soul. I couldn’t think my life without her existence.

Pisismoni continued her suspicion on my behaviour.

‘Why are you looking so dry and down? Are you alright?’

‘Yeah, I am perfectly fine’ I tried to hide my face from her. I was scared. I didn’t want to be caught.

‘Don’t move out in the garden at noon. Stay at home. This is an order’

‘Sorry Pisimoni. I just can’t follow your instruction. I have to go to the temple. Nonu will be waiting for me’ I received the immediate response from my soul.

And it turned into the soul of a rebel.

 

 

‘Baba, don’t be late. Granny will get angry’ Bablu left with the words of little warning. He sensed very well by this short period of time (We reached Pisimoni’s place only in the morning) that his Baba’s Pisimoni is an authoritative lady and doesn’t like to see her orders disobeyed.

 

I put myself behind twenty five years on the day I disobeyed Pisimoni once more and sneaked out of her palace to move to the temple in the sun-burnt afternoon where my Nonu was waiting for me.

She started her usual giggling the moment she saw me coming without saying a word.

‘Why are you laughing like a baboon? Am I a joker or what?’ I said angrily with the growing desire to give her my tightest hug like yesterday.

‘Close your eyes’ she told concealing both her hands in her back

‘Why?’

‘Don’t ask any more questions. Keep your eyes closed’ She put one her hand on my eyes to close them.

I felt something suddenly lodged around my neck and immediately opened my eyes to see a thin garland made of white and yellow flowers and Nonu giggling like before

‘What’s this?’

‘Now remove the garland from your neck and put it around my neck’ she said coming closer to me.

‘Why?’

‘Otherwise how can we become husband and wife?’

I did exactly what she said with a queer feeling that instantly immobilized my mind.

Is it a real marriage or child’s play?

We garlanded each other thrice in front of Lord Shiva. We got married. We became husband and wife.

The whole world around me suddenly looked so different.

Was it just another early morning dream of mine?

I could feel Nonu was dragging me through the thick bushes. Her hand was warm, her face was red and those two apples heaving fast beneath her flying frock.

It was our journey to celebrate our ‘phoolsajya’.

She stopped beneath a big peepal tree, looked at me straight for minutes and almost jumped into my chest to make me almost breathless. Her fuming lips choked my throat and blinded my sight within seconds. My wild hand pressed and squeezed those of her ‘apples’ tight to make her moan. I felt like tearing each and every part of her apart but didn’t know how to do it irrespective of my strong perceived desire swelling massively in between my thighs.

Minutes after we were lying on the ground; her apples spontaneously drew my hungry mouth to suck them over her frock crazily. She laid under me with a her eyes closed and discharging constantly a soft weird sound. The smell of her cheap hair oil blended with her fishy body odour paralyzed all my senses.

‘Tell me, tell me how to do phoolsajya’ I pulled her up forcibly

‘I don’t know’ she giggled mysteriously, ‘but…..’ she continued her giggle by covering her faces as usual.

‘What but……?’ I immediately removed her hand from her face.

‘I saw my elder sister and her husband at night in the bed…….hi hi hi hi’ she didn’t stop her giggle, ‘when they came to our house after their marriage’

‘What were they doing in the bed?’

‘They were…….hi hi hi hi…..without any clothes’

My heart was almost stopped.

‘And what after that?’ I asked breathlessly

‘Her man was on her top, pushing his waist inside her’

‘And your sister?’

‘She clung to her husband and crying in pleasure with each of his movement’

I still couldn’t make myself clear how the man thrusts his waist against the woman to enjoy mutual pleasure. Nonu understood my hopeless situation and whispered to my ear, ‘My Ma told me the rod that the husband carries between his leg is pushed inside the bleeding place of the wife. Can you do that to me?’

She slowly pulled her short pant inside her frock out. I took out my trouser and underwear. She looked at my thing and placed two of the hands over her face. I tried to uncover her face but she kept her hands tight.

After several failed attempts, I was able to enter slightly inside her to hear her groaning in unaccustomed pain. The area was so tight that it was hurting me too. I pushed myself more and more with all my energy to finally penetrate her fully. I looked at her face. She was silently crying, tears rolling down her check constantly.

‘Is it very painful?’ I asked her in a timid guilty voice.

‘Yes’ she replied with lot of difficulties

‘Then I must pull me out’

‘No, no, no……I will instill poison inside your ear if you ever try to get out of me’ she tightened her grip to me with her legs and hands. ‘Push your waist up and down on me now’ she giggled once again, ‘like my sister’s husband’

After the whole thing was over, we were lying side by side with our faced turned on and eyes fixed at each other, her hand grasping my hand and a very pleasing smile spread all over her face.

Suddenly I noticed streak of blood slowly trickling along her exposed thigh and dropping along her knee on the ground.

‘Oh God, you are bleeding’

‘It happens to the girls when they do it for the first time’

‘How do you know that? Your mother told you?’

‘No, my sister’ she said casually.

I didn’t know what to say or what to do. I could never believe that I can make someone bleed. I sank in a deep guilt feeling.

The next moment Nonu placed my hand on her thigh, my hand became wet with her blood.

‘Now put your hand on my forehead and rub it’ she instructed me.

‘Why?’

‘You need to put vermilion on my forehead. This is the vermilion’ she pointed out her oozing blood.

I did what she said. Then locked her in my arms with all my strength as firmly as I can, showered my kisses on her face, forehead and hair, ‘I will never ever leave you Nonu. You are mine. We will always stay together’.  She surrendered to me completely with her eyes closed and thoroughly satisfied face.

Our attention was suddenly diverted by someone’s shrill voice coming from the side of the temple.

‘The landlady is calling you’ Nonu’s happy face was suddenly clouded with worries.

Pisimoni? Pisimoni herself has come down to the garden to search me out?

‘Let’s hide otherwise she will catch me’ I pulled her up from the ground.

We ran deep inside the bushes.

 

 

 

 

‘I told you so many times not to mix with the gardener’s daughter. You paid a deaf ear to me. Where have you been in the garden in the whole of the afternoon with her? You are no more a kid. You never thought about our reputation? We are not common people, we are landlord. The people of the village carry the highest level of regards for us. And you tainted our every bit of honour like this? I have never expected such irresponsible and irrational behaviour from my own brother’s son. I have already rung up your father to take you back to Calcutta. You can no more stay here, with us’

These were Pisimoni’s last words to me twenty five years back.

Next day morning, hour before leaving for Calcutta I visited the servant’s quarter of the palace to at least have a glimpse of her with a good bye message.

I wanted to tell her, I will be back soon and she must wait for my return.

But I couldn’t find Nonu or any of her family members. I was told the gardener left last night with his family for his village. The landlady fired him from his job.

‘Can anyone tell me the name and location of his village?’ I asked every one present there. Nobody opened their mouth, nobody could give me any clue.

They did never have the guts to go against their landlady.

 

 

 I was standing absolutely alone at the pond side after a long gap of twenty five years with bushes, shrubs and those mammoth trees surrounding me and the Shiva temple hidden under their veil. Each one of them was conveying Nonu’s memories so fresh and lively that it looked like time didn’t move a second here after the auspicious day of our clandestine union.

I wanted to touch that time with my soul, with every particle of my existence to establish my forbidden communication once again; with my Nonu.

From my latest short story e-book 'It's my life' published in Amazon Kindle. The link of the book: http://www.amazon.com/Its-my-life-ebook/dp/B009YK1IGM/ref=la_B008LTZM6O_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1353907585&sr=1-5

Reviews

[Leslie Philibert]

This is magnificent - I love the background, the colour, the food, the religion -
all of this fits - great.

[Manpreet]

Nice piece! Intricate and interesting!!!

[Coyote Poetry]

The story is sad and beautiful. I love to read about other parts of our world. Each with different rules and laws of life. I like the trip back to a good memory. Some people leave stamps upon us we cannot forget. Thank you for the excellent poem.
Coyote