Naked

I was born in a remote village of kerala. when i was in third grade my father had left for a posting in army and never came back, he wrote a letter once declaring that he had married another women in punjab. And he didnt intend to come back. When i had completed matriculation, i decided to go to some other place, a friend of mine joined me and we went to bombay as every body in those days did.

we looked for jobs together, but didnt find any we didnt had any intention to do any manual labour as in those days having done matriculation was not a bad deal. We slept in foot paths and ate less to save money, finally my find had given up and he decided to go back, but i stayed put. After 2 weeks i was running out of money, so i took up manual work. I worked at a construction site, and from there to a place where they were laying new rails. The railways needed casual labour then and slowly i managed to become a permanent employee. I now learned the language, got a hut in the slums. Then i was shifted to the parcel dept where i kept records of the incoming and out going parcels. I now earned 100 rs per month and was alloted a flat by the railways in the railway quarters. Which i shared with two other people taking 20 rupees each from them every month.

I used to frequently write letters to my mother but hadnt visited my village for all these years. I was now 30 and mother was worried about my getting married. So i had visited my village finally to find a bride for myself. I went to my friends house for a visit and there i saw his sister sumitra. I remembered her as a young girl she used to be a small kid when i was in 10th grade. To be frank i had fallen in love the moment i saw her.  I chatted with her father as i drank the watery tea offer by sumitra. It was impossible to drink the tea it tasted like boiled water with sugar in it. Her father asked if i were a station master, i said no i work at the parcel office. They had 8 daugters in their family. Sumitra behaved like a child and stood at the door listening to all the bombay stories that i was telling them, about multistoryed building, about the railways the airports and plane. As i was explaining to them the size of the aeroplane. Anil her brother entered. Uncle asked if he could find a job for him. It was easier for me, being in parcle dept i had contacts with companies and i could easily find job for anyone and had done so for many of the people i knew.

That night i dreamt about sumitra, her milky white skin, her big eyes, and thick black hair that touched her hips. She was a thin girl but had lucious lips and normal boobs. The next morning we had to go searching for a match for me, i and anil went looking for girls, we had to walk a lot. Most areas were not serviced by busses those days, had walked for a whole day, swam across rivers and walked thru jungles. We were in kind of a backward area in kerala. Electricity was not there, nobody had seen a tv, and a lucky few had seen cinemas in a big jhopadi made from dried coconot leaves. For the next few weeks saw different girls, nobody said no to me because i was in railway , a centeral government employee. But my heart was somewhere else, all the time i was thinking of sumitra.

Only two weeks had been left for my leave, so i had to decide now. I told to my mom and mama that i wanted to marry sumitra. They disagreed to my suggestion, they had said sumitra's father is in deep debt, he wont be able to give any dowry. You could easily find rich girls with good dowry. You will regret it whole your life. But i had persisted i stayed unmoved by their logic becaues i was thinking with my heart. Finally they gave up when i said i wont be marrying atall if not with sumitra. Sumitras parents were apprehencive because two of her older sisters are yet to be married. And sumitra had failed in her 10th exam and she had to give the exams again. But they couldnt have afforded to loose me, they couldnt have found a better match for her.

to be continued...