Life Circle by Kalai Selvi Arivalagan (books to read as a couple txt) 📕

“What if I leave you forever?” With his eyes twinkling, Appu asked her.   

“Nothing would happen.  I will go on my way.”  Kayal’s curt reply made him smile again.

“Any one can live alone here.”  Without waiting for him, Kayal jumped down from the wall and walked away.

But days turned out to be worse after Appu left from there.  The financial crisis brought down the shutters, and the factory stopped working.  The rent from the factory stopped and once again days turned bad at home.

“Mummy, allow me to go for work.”  Kayal would plead her mom.  For some reason, her mother did not allow her go for work.

“Your father has to take care of the family. It is not your fate to earn and run the family.” Her mother grumbled.

“But don’t you feel it to be foolish to go hungry for days. Already we eat only once a day.” Kayal could not control her tears.

“Has Appu taken away my lucky days along with him?  What is happening here at home?  Without nothing to support us, why mom keeps on talking about my marriage only.” 

“Kayal, do you have any old books to be given away? Let me take them to the wastepaper mart and get some money to buy vegetables.” 

“Yes, dad.”  Kayal went to the shelf and started to pull out all the papers there.   While she checked the leaves of her old book,  she found a small note.

Few lines from a poem. With trembling hands, Kayal repeatedly read through the poem. Tears brimmed her eyes. 

The Nowhere Man

 It hurts to say I am sorry. So let us use unfamiliar words.

The summer has gone; the ground's turned cold. The old

road calls me back again. Another time we shall meet again:

as strangers or as friends, or perhaps as lovers once

again. Now turn, turn, to the rain again.

                                                      Pritish Nandy

What has life in store for me?  What if I am not born with so much of property that does not give me a meal at least once a day.  For what karma are we left to suffer like this?

“Kayal” a loud calling brought her to the present.

Wiping away tears, she gave her old books to her father.

“What if”  The question loomed big before her. 

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of all?"

Little girls giggled around Kayal. 

"Kayal, I will be the princess." Kayal's little sister pleaded.

"I will be the witch." Kayal smiled at the innocent face of her immediate sister.

"You look so good to be a witch." Kayal explained.

"I am getting ready with the script.  Once it is done, we will choose."

"Now, you all can go and play."  The little girls reluctantly left the place. 

During annual vacation Kayal enjoyed spending time roaming around the vacant land.  Her curious eyes explored little flowers, plants and other bugs that crawled beneath the bush.  Until noon, she would spend time collecting leaves of plants or flowers. She always loved chasing butterflies and grasshoppers.

Most of the evenings were spent in dancing and practicing for the drama.  Sometimes Kayal faced a tough time with them.  One of her sisters will always pick up fight with her and she will quit the practice.  Kayal will go behind her pleading and promising for one thing or the other.

Kayal needed a mirror for the play. Searching the house, she found an unused mirror in the corner of the shelves.  The small mirror looked handy and small to use.  After the drama rehearsal, Kayal used the mirror.

Kayal will place the mirror on the rim of the window and used it to comb her hair or powder her face.  One day while she was using it, her mother called from the kitchen.

Kayal left the mirror on the window and went out to cut banana leaves for the lunch.  When she returned the mirror was not on the window. 

The breeze knocked it down and it was broken into pieces.  She took the bigger piece and discarded other tiny pieces.

Kayal knew using a broken mirror would bring her ill luck.  Yet, she wanted to take the risk and find if it is true.   Nothing happened till that piece of mirror shattered into pieces.

But, things were not good once she moved out of her teenage years.   The spell of ill luck followed her wherever she went.

Publication Date: 08-24-2014

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
My lonely days of early twenties