A Leaf in the Storm--Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE: STRANGE FLUTTERINGS

Strange fairies of excitement seemed to flock the little village of Haritala that summer's day. The old men of the village sat in huge groups in front of their farms, talking in low voices in tones that suggested urgency. The women of the village called out to each other over sounds of waliing children and mooing cattle in tones that suggested excitement. The young girls scuttled about with their sari pallus drawn tight over their faces, their lips quivering like disturbed lakes, in tones that suggested nervousness.



Parul looked out of the window of her little hut. For once, Haritala had not let her in on it's secret. The usually silent and lazy Haritala had suddenly awakened, as if from a disturbing dream. The blinding sunlight lit up everyone's faces. She smiled in curious amusement as she watched Menaka and Falguni, the teenage daughters of the village accountant, scurry past her house, the trinkets on their feet tinkling, almost giggling, like they themselves were. She called out to Menaka, the older one.



"Menu shona, where are you hurrying off to?"



Menaka stopped in her tracks and looked at Parul as though she was mad.



"Parul bibi haven't you heard? The village headman's son, Arjun babu, is coming home today!" she said.



"Arjun babu....the one who'd been sent to America for studies?"



"Yes yes that one! I hear he's a big doctor now..."



Falguni giggled. "Everyone's going to see him arrive....they say he's a really fine man. Aren't you coming?"



Parul smiled. Malo would be home from the village school any minute, and immediately demand that she be taken out to stroll.



"Yes, I might. I say, how old will he be now? The last time I saw him he was a scrawny brat of seven."



"Sixteen years have passed, isn't it? So...sixteen and  seven...he would be about twenty-three years old now"



Falguni giggled again.



"Go now, then, and await his arrival. I expect the entire village's going, isn't it? I say, what a proud moment for our little Haritala. That boy has brought it glory, he has," said Parul.  Menaka and Falguni resumed their scurrying, and Parul went back inside the hut. She had a lot of work to do. Her six year old imp of a daughter, Malo, would be home anytime. Her husband, Rahim, the trader of spices, would also be arriving shortly.



Her heart warmed as she thought of him. She had married him when she was seventeen years old. He was twenty-one then. He had just started his business of manufacturing spices, and her father, who was a landlord, had met him when he came to their house for permission to use the priceless elaichi plant that grew in a corner of their farm. Since then, Rahim's visits to the house were frequent, sometimes for business purposes, sometimes just cordial.



Parul, who had been apprehensive of him at first, gradually took a liking to this intellectual and hard-working man. She was known as the babu of the house. She was fierce, and admired anyone who knew how to stand on their own two feet. She always stood first in her class at the village school. She hoped that Rahim's hard work in the business would pay off. She was never shy in front of him. On the few rare occasions that he had spoken to her, she had looked him in the eye and spoken back confidently. The women of the village took her self-assuredness to be an evil effect of going to school and learning the ways of the children of the richer famiiles of the village. They detested her for her bold manner, for the respect she commanded of the people around her, and her beauty. For Parul had the kind of silent beauty that burned the hearts of men.



After a number of business dealings with Rahim, her father decided that he would be the best choice for a husband for his youngest daughter Parul. So with great pomp and clamor, the wedding of the apple of Haritala’s eye, Parul, and Rahim the spice merchant was celebrated. The festivities had continued for more than two weeks, until the excitement eventually died out and Haritala assumed its restive pose again.



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