1107. I Can't Do That!

"I am perturbed."

"What are you perturbed about?" 

"I am worried whether our being so intimate before the marriage is right!"

"Thank, God! I thought you might have been worried about something else!"

"What other thing you thought I might be worried about?"

"I don't want to say it. You may get annoyed."

"But I have guessed what was in your mind. And I am annoyed!"

There was silence for a few minutes.

"You don't seem to appreciate my apprehension. We have been so intimate. What if our parents do not consent to our getting married?"

"If they give their consent, it is fine. Even if your parents or my parents don't give their consent, you and I are going to become husband and wife, that is to say, you would be the wife and I, the husband!"

"You are being frivolous!"

"No, I am serious. When I said 'you and I would be husband and wife,' as per the rules of syntax, the sentence would convey the meaning that the former, that is you, would be the husband and the latter, that is me, the wife. That is why I thought that the clarification was required."

"Enough of your grammar class! How do you say that even if our parents were not to consent to our marriage, we would become husband and wife?"

He closed his eyes for a moment and then said, "My parents don't know that I smoke. If see my father or mother at a distance, when I am smoking, I will put down the cigarette immediately. My being in love with you is also a stealthy act, I have been hiding from my parents. When I smoke, I always have the fear that someone might see me smoking. But when I am with you, I don't have the fear of someone noticing it."

"Why is it so?"

"Because, when I spend time with you, talking to you and touching you, I have a feeling similar to the one I have, when I eat at home, in the company of other members of my family. So, how can I have a fear of someone noticing my being with you?"

"What you say is not clear to me, but one thing is clear to me."

"What is it?"

"If my parents decide to get me married to someone else, you will kidnap me and marry me!"

"That's something I would never be able to do!"

"Why not? Just now you said you would marry me whether our parents consent to our marriage or not!"

"How can I lift such a bulky body and carry it away? Impossible!"

She raised her hand, in mock anger, pretending to hit him. 

"Don't hit me. Your arms are meant to hug me, not hit me. If you are going to bring down the weight of your hand on my back, my back won't be able to withstand that weight!"

So saying, he held her hand in his.

Thirukkural
Section 3

Love

Chapter 111
The Joy of Being Together in Love

Verse 1106 (in Tamil):
thammil irundhu thamadhu pAththu uNdaRRAl
ammA arivai muyakku.

Meaning:

Embracing my golden-coloured love gives me the same kind of joy as sharing the food acquired from my earnings, with people in my household.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'adhu mattum mudiyAdhu' by the same author.)

 Verse 1108
Verse 1106