Maryada FF: Vidya-Gaurav (p. 30) - Page 10

Originally posted by: rusha4003

Hi Sridevi .... this is my first post here !

Am Usha ! 😊

Just want to let you know ... I LOVE your writing ... ! 👍🏼

I used to visit this forum fro Aditya and Priya ... cos their romance was so cute ... then things petered out and I lost touch with the story !

But Gaurav-Vidya always had a special place in my heart ... and it was by sheer chance that I stumbled upon your link ... and the rest is ... history

Now ... you've caught me ... hook, line and sinker ! 😆

I love the way you've portrayed both G & V. It's awesomely beautiful ....

Not only is it romantic .... but intellectually stimulating too !

Thank you, my dear .... for this awesome read ..... in the midst so many stale / banal / trite FFs littered all over IF.... your story stands tall .... with a promise of giving the readers something truly special and awe-inspiring !

Keep it up .... and continue doing a great job !

Chapter 23: Salome

The maid had been gone the next morning itself and when the news was discovered at breakfast that the maid's grandmother had suddenly taken ill and she had to leave, her father-in-law had given her a look. She had tried to hold his gaze and not look away to let him that she was not scared, but it had been one of the hardest things that she had ever done. Her chest had been beating hard and suddenly she had felt someone hold her hands. She had looked down and found her husband's hand holding hers in her lap. Without giving away what had occurred behind the shield of the dining table, she had looked back up at her father-in-law. Even though there had been much hustle and bustle around the table and she hadn't thought that anyone had noticed that stare that her father-in-law was aiming her way, she had heard someone call her name. She had turned to find Devyani asking her to pass the rotis. She must have looked confused for a moment, because Devyani had smiled and repeated the question. She had smiled back like an automaton before passing the plate of roti's.

"You haven't touched your food, Vidya." Her mother-in-law had said then.

She had looked down at her plate as if seeing it for the first time and had then looked up at Devyani to nod. When she had raised her hand to eat, she had realized that her husband was still holding onto it. She has looked at their joined hands and then at him. He had pulled his hand back, only then seeming to realize it as well.

That had been a week ago. For a few days after that, she had taken time off from her coaching to spent time with her family. Gaurav had made it a point to come home early from work to take them out somewhere, although most days, they went out during the day and had stayed in during the evenings. Her mother and aunts had insisted on choosing more sarees for her and she had managed to convince them to buy the types of cotton sarees she usually wore. They had teased her openly many times about how handsome her husband was and by the twentieth time, she had learned to tune it out. Her mother, on the other hand, had pulled her aside to ask her if there was some good news to be shared, to which she replied that yes, indeed there was… that she was going for coaching to gain entrance to a Master's program, that she was learning English, that she was just starting to learn how to ride a scooter and that her husband was a patient teacher…' and her mother stopped her then with a stern look and said, "Vidya beti, I know you think you are funny…." She had remained quiet until her mother had asked again if there was any good news to be shared. She hadn't been able to give in that quickly and had said, "You are going to have to be a little bit more specific, Maa…"

"Hai Rabba… I don't know how he puts up with you…" her mother had remarked before walking away and Vidya had felt a genuine smile break through at her mother's agitation with her.

Her family had gone back yesterday. A wave of homesickness hit her now as she thought of them, something that had been coming at regular intervals since their departure. She should have gone to coaching today, but there had a deep wave of despair that had overcome her this morning that she had allowed herself one more day off.

She did not want to remain in the bedroom any longer; it felt a bit like hiding out, although she did not know what she was hiding out from. She made herself get up and walked to the bathroom to shower and change. When she left her room, she had no particular destination in mind, but she soon found herself in Gaurav's parlor. She went through his book collection and saw that many of the books were in English. She wanted to read one of the Hindi ones, but decided that her reading might as well have the additional benefit of improving her English and looked though the titles on the level of the shelf closest to her.

The Prince - Machiavelli

Anarchy, State, and Utopia – Robert Nozick

1984 – George Orwell

The Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx

A Theory of Justice – John Rawls

The Art of War – Sun Tsu

On Liberty – John Stuart Mill

"How about this?" She heard suddenly and looked up to see her husband leaning against the shelf, still dressed in his suit, but now with the tie loosened and the top buttons unbuttoned just the way he always did as soon as he came home.

She reached for the book that he had extended to her and read, "Animal Farm" and looked up at him in confusion.

He smiled and nodded to the titles that she had been reading out loud just before. "Similar concept to these. Much simpler language and very clever. I think you will like it."

She smiled then and asked, "And it has nothing to do with the fact that you think I am a Gaon Waali?"

He laughed at this question and shook his head in mirth. "Vidya, I have never met a Gaon Waali quite like you. But then again, I haven't met many gaon waali's, so I don't know what they are like."

"Just the same as the city… we have the same human strengths and foibles… it is just expressed differently."

He nodded in agreement.

She held the book to her chest and a moment of silence ensued. Before it stretched unnaturally, she asked, "What is that painting about?" pointing to the large painting of a woman holding the decapitated head of a man, which had drawn her curiosity before too.

He followed her gaze and she noticed that he was quiet for a moment.

Then, while still looking at the picture, he said, "That is Salome."

---------------------------------

Chapter 24: Salome – Part 2

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhZBVmoE7Q8] – This is a Malayalam song, but there is something haunting about this tune that goes with this chapter.

"Salome" she repeated, the name somehow absorbing her even more into the painting, and she walked up closer to it.

"It's an old painting of an ancient story from the Christian Bible." Her husband started and she listened intently as she took in the woman in the painting.

"Salome was the daughter of Herodias who was the granddaughter of Herod the Great, King of Judea. Herodias fell in love with her husband's half-brother, Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee. Herod Antipas later divorced his wife and married Herodias. John the Baptist, a prophet of sorts at the time, and one of Herod Antipas' subjects, openly criticized this marriage, which angered Herodias. Antipas imprisoned John, refusing to take a harsher step, but Herodias wanted blood. Her opportunity for vengeance came when her daughter Salome was asked to dance for Antipas at a banquet. Salome danced so beautifully that Antipas promised to give her anything that she wished for. When Herodias heard of this, she advised her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist. And he was executed."

She heard his voice almost turn melodious half-way through as a strange haunting tune materialized as she stood transfixed by the woman in the painting. She thought that she could see this woman preparing herself excitedly, eagerly… not knowing yet that her gift of dance would forever be tainted with the blood of a man.

"There have been many many illustrations of Salome with John the Baptist's head over the last 2000 years. Many of them show her with a slight smile, some of them with a blank expression, yet others with submission, and still others with the lure of a wicked harlot. Yet, this one by Luini* is one of the very few that shows this reluctance in her. That maybe she was just a very beautiful pawn in her mother's cunning display of vengeance… who didn't realize her part in the tragedy until it was too late…"

She reached out a hand to the touch the edge of the painting and finally said, "Yet her life has been immortalized in this one moment…"

"What is this? An art history lesson? I have told you, Gaurav, how much I hate that abominable hideousness that someone mistakenly thought was art!" She pulled her hand back and looked towards the doorway at this sudden intrusion and found that Gaurav was right by her side. His father was now standing in the doorway looking up at the painting in anger.

"It is not in your rooms." She heard her husband say and looked over at him surprised at the controlled anger that she heard in his voice.

"It's an eyesore! And it is too graphic. It is bound the scare the women in this household." Brahmanand replied, still agitated.

"There are worse things in this house that the women fear." Gaurav replied coldly and she tried to consciously even out her breathing so that she would not make a sound or give an inkling of how disturbed she was by this open show of animosity between father and son.

She saw Brahmanand's eyes brighten and his nostrils flare with rage at this insinuation. After several minutes of waging their silent war, her father-in-law suddenly walked off and away from them.

Sometime later, she saw Gaurav's shoulders ease slightly. He turned to her then and said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes,

"For all that he is SSP Brahmanand Jhaakar, my father is afraid of Salome."

*The Luini painting copy that is hanging in Gaurav's parlor (viewer-beware: this may be too disturbing for some):

https://www.oceansbridge.com/paintings/artists/recently-added/march-2006/museum-fine-arts-boston/europe/big/Bernardino-Luini-xx-Salome-with-the-Head-of-Saint-John-the-Baptist.jpg

Originally posted by: rusha4003

That was hauntingly awesome Sridevi ..... 👍🏼

@ Jaya .... Remember me ??? Usha from the Coffee table in Geet !

Nice to meet you here !