1086. Arched Brows? They can be Dangerous!

 "You are going to the beauty parlour? What for? Are you going to lend your beauty to someone there?" asked Kumaran. 

"Flattery has a limit!" said Kanchana, even while feeling flattered.

"No, Kanchana. I mean it. Why do you need to go to the beauty parlour? You are overflowing with beauty already!"

"A lot of things have changed in the world. But the habit of men trying to fool women by flattering them hasn't!"

"Women keep proclaiming that they are not objects of beauty. But they have not given up the habit of making up their appearance, in an attempt to look more beautiful than they really are!"

"How does my going to the beauty parlour affect you?" asked Kanchana, feeling annoyed by Kumaran's remarks.

"My friends have been saying that enchanted by your beauty, I have lost my ability to think. If you are going to enhance your beauty still further by going to the beauty parlour, I don't know what will happen to me!" said Kumaran.

"Can you say that my appearance is perfect and that I don't need any improvement?" asked Kanchana, in a challenging tone.

"How can I say so? Your front teeth are crooked. Your nose is a bit too long. Your lower lip looks swollen..."

Kanchana raised her hand in mock anger, as if she was going to hit him. 

"Just now, you said that I looked beautiful already and that there was no need for me to go to the beauty parlour and get a make-up. You even said that according to your friends, you were so enchanted by my beauty that you lost your ability to think. Now you are listing the imperfections in my appearance!"

"I said that I have been enchanted even by the way you look now, Miss Beauty! Of course, there are some imperfections in you, but those can't be fixed by your getting a make-up in a beauty parlour! That's why I said that there was no need for you to go to a beauty parlour."

"I will deal with you after coming back from the beauty parlour!" said Kanchana, pointing her forefinger at him in a gesture of warning!

"So, you are determined to go to the beauty parlour!"

"Yes, I am."

"In that case, will you get one change in your appearance, for my sake?"

"What change? You want me to get a new face, in place of the one I have?"

"That will be wonderful, of course, if only it could be done! No, what I want is something simpler. Your eyebrows are curved like an arch. Will you get them straightened?"

"Why? Aren't arched eyebrows considered one of the features of beauty?"

"They are. But that beauty poses a danger to me!"

"Danger! What do you mean?"

"I feel nervous when I look at your eyes. The curvature of your eyebrows sharpens the focus of your eyes and makes your gaze strike me like a dart. If your eyebrows are straight, they will cover your eyes at least partially and save me from the intensity of your sight! That's why I want you to get your eyebrows straightened."

Kanchana stared at Kumaran, as if she was enacting the scenario narrated by him. Kumaran shifted his eyes, unable to withstand the intensity of her stare.

Thirukkural
Section 3

Love

Chapter 109
Beauty that Torments

Verse 1086 (in Tamil):
kodum puruvam kOda maRaippin nadungajnar
seyyala man ivaL kaN.

Meaning:

If only her cruel brows had not been curved like an arch, they would have hidden her eyes and her eyes wouldn't have been able to shoot so much misery as to make me quiver.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'kaNNE kAnchanA' by the same author.)

Verse 1087 (Soon)

Verse 1085