1100. A Request from the Bride

After the traditional 'Seeing the Bride' event was over, the groom's family was about to depart. 

At that time, the bride's mother Gowri came near her husband Pasupathy and whispered something in his ear.

After hesitating for a moment, Pasupathy told Ramaswamy, the groom's father, "If you don't mind, our daughter Kala wants to have a word with the boy, in private!"

"What is this? We have not come across this practice in our tradition!" said Sumathy, the groom's elder sister, conveying her disapproval of this request.

The groom's mother Sundari threw a look of disapproval at her daughter, presumably, for coming out with an opinion, without waiting for the elders to respond, and then looked at her husband Ramaswamy, quizzically.

Ramaswamy signaled to his wife, seeking her approval to accept the request of the bride, and after she conveyed her consent to him, through her facial gesture, turned to the bride's father, and said, "By all means!"

Having noticed that the bride's parents were still feeling embarrassed about the "unusual" request made by the bride, Ramaswamy looked at them, and said, "The present times are not like what they were, when we got married. This is the year 1970. Man has landed on the moon. Nowadays, it is common for the bride and the groom to talk to each other and understand each other, before the marriage is finalized. My daughter Sumathy got married last year. Perhaps, she is feeling that she missed the opportunity of demanding that she talk to the groom, when he had come to see her before the marriage! That may be the reason for her remark that this was not the practice. Don't mind what she said!" 

He then looked at his daughter Sumathy and smiled. Sumathy looked at her father reproachfully, indicating that she didn't appreciate his remarks about her.

Sumathy entered the room adjoining the living room. Sekar followed her into the room. The location of the room ensured that people sitting in the living room could neither see them, nor hear them.

There were no chairs in the room. Kala stood leaning on the wall. Sekar went near her, and stood in front of her.

Kala, who was keeping her face down during the entire 'Seeing the Bride' event, now looked straight into Sekar's eyes. She kept looking at him for several seconds, without blinking her eyes.

Sekar initially felt a little uncomfortable at Kala looking straight into his eyes. Subsequently, overcoming his discomfort, he also looked into her eyes.

After a couple of minutes, Kala told Sekar, "Let us go back to the living room!"

"What is this, Kala? You wanted to speak to me. But after staring at me for a couple of minutes, you want us to go back!" asked Sekar, surprised.

"Earlier, with other people being present, I couldn't look at your face long enough. I requested for a private audience with you, only with the objective of looking at your face, for a fairly long time. Looking directly into your eyes for a few minutes has given me the satisfaction of conversing with you, and understanding you completely!" said Kala.

She then laughed heartily, her laugh conveying the satisfaction she had derived from looking at him, to her heart's content. 

Kala then asked Sekar, "You didn't speak to me anything, either! Don't you want to ask me anything?"

"No. My feelings are similar to yours. When I stepped into this room, I had a desire to speak to you, in private. But, when I kept looking at you, that desire vanished" said Sekar, his broad smile conveying his satisfaction.

The sight of the two coming out of the room together smiling, made their parents rejoice.

.

Thirukkural
Section 3

Love

Chapter 110
Reading the Cues

Verse 1100 (in Tamil):
kaNNodu kaN iNai nOkkokkin vAych choRkaL

enna payanum ila.

Meaning:

When the lovers' eyes meet each other and concur, spoken words will serve no purpose. 

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'avaLum nOkkinaL' by the same author.)

Verse 1101 (Soon)
Verse 1098