706. Dressing Room

The tourist guide, who was showing the tourists the various spots inside the ancient palace building, on entering a particular room, turned to the tourists who were following him and asked them, "Can you guess what this room could have been?" 

The tourists, who were walking with their gazes down, to avoid getting tripped by an uneven part of the floor of the dilapidated palace, looked up and turned their gazes around the room.

'The whole structure is dilapidated. We are unable to make out whether a particular place is a hall or a room. How can we guess what this room was used for, several hundred years back?' Kamalanathan asked himself.

He turned to his wife Satyabama, who had been walking beside him and asked her, "Are you able to guess?" and laughed, as if he had uttered a joke. 

Satyabama didn't answer him. 

"Could it have been a bathroom? There is a hole on the roof. Are you going to tell us that the rain water that fell through the hole served as the shower, for the person taking a bath?" asked one of the tourists, jokingly. 

"You are not quite off the mark. This was not a bathroom, but the dressing room. The dressing room would be the next destination for a lady who had taken her bath, won't it be?" asked the guide, smiling at the ladies in the group.

"How do you say this was a dressing room?" asked another tourist. 

"That is the right question. Do you see this stone slab?"

"It is broken. But, it is glittering" said one tourist and went near the stone slab, to examine it closely. "I am able to see the reflection of my face here. Oh, is this a stone or a mirror?" he said, with astonishment.

"It is a stone. A marble stone that can reflect light like a mirror. They had fixed it on the wall, like a tall mirror that could show the reflection of the person standing in front of it. One can stand in front of the mirror and powder one's nose! The slab has been damaged over the years and only a small part of it is intact now.  One can notice this 'mirror,' only after coming near it" said the Guide, somewhat proudly. 

Several tourists went near the stone and checked whether they could see their reflection on it. 

Kamalanathan, after going near the stone and looking at it, said, "Bama! Come and see this" and turned to look at his wife.

But, Satyabama was not there. She was walking away from the place at a fast pace. A perplexed Kamalanathan, began to walk fast, trying to catch up with his wife.

The guide who was walking behind the tourists, whispered into the ears of his assistant who was walking beside him, "That lady seems to have been upset, for some reason. Her face was reflecting the anger that had arisen in her mind. But, he husband was talking to her about something, without realizing that she had been upset. It has made her even more angry and she has walked away, without even showing any interest in finding out what is interesting about this place. Her husband is trying to catch up with her, without realizing what has upset his wife."

The two men chuckled, hiding their laughter, by placing their palm over their mouth.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 71
Divining the Mind

Verse 706 (in Tamil):
aduththadhu kAttum paLingu pOl nenjam
kaduththadhu kAttum mugam.

Meaning:

Like a mirror showing he hues of the objects near it, the face betrays the mood of the mind. 

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'enna vEgam nillu bAmA?' by the same author.) 

Verse 707 (Soon)
Verse 705