Drenching moonlight

By Prof. A. Subbarao

I did not ask her name or any other detail, she did not ask any of mine either. I was in a stupefied trance. I went into the rest room and casually looked into the mirror. A wicked, crooked and disgusting image of mine stared at me and I closed my eyes with self contempt. I have never hated myself more than what I did at that moment and I wanted to kill myself”.
Rao stopped the narrative. The room was engulfed in pregnant silence.
“There is something not right here, you are not telling the whole truth. Why did she help you? Impossible! You must have spent money on her and had a nice time. You have modified the event, lest we should misunderstand you. I do not believe it”, said Amir challenging Rao.
“That is what I also said” said Raju supporting Amir.
“If it happened the way you are imagining why would I narrate this incident to all of you?”, asked Rao.
“Tell us then your guess why she took such a great interest in you?
“If something happens contradictory to our inner etched beliefs, even though we know it is true we do not accept it. Late night, and French lady drives our imagination wild. Even though we do not know any details about their attitudes and behavior we take a high moral ground. Every lady, we assume has only dubious moral values. We are so habituated to do things with ulterior and selfish motives, you are not able to comprehend and accept the fact that she helped an unknown totally strange person selflessly. I am a tourist visiting France and she is a French citizen. She wanted me to carry and hold pleasant experiences of France for a long time. That is all,” replied Rao.
“Tell me Rao, what sort of feeling did you get when she pulled you on to the pavement?”
“The same feeling which you get when somebody saves you from near death. If at that instant, had I misbehaved I would have fallen in her eyes and so will be my country”, Rao replied sadly.
The card game continued, two rubbers were completed and the group dispersed. Rao and Das started walking home together.
It was a full moon day, and the moon was glittering with a soothing coolness. Rao looked at the sky, took a deep breath and asked Das,” Das, you did not speak at all. What is your view?”
“Was the moonlight on that day is like what we have tonight?. I believe you sir. We do not teach our children about faith and belief. On the other hand we condition them with,”Be careful, there are all these cheaters…”..Those are planting bad seeds in the minds which will germinate with time and develop mistrust in people. It is a pity”, replied Das.
The moonlight continued to drench the night.

The Night When Moonlight Downpoured
By Akkinapalli Subbarao
“Forget about everything, Rao, tell me how beautiful that white girl was”, asked Raju.
“Is that all you have to say? Don’t you believe what I told you?” said Rao.
Amir and Das entered the room and were setting the table for a round of Contract Bridge game which they play every evening. ”Of course I do not believe it”, replied Raju and looked at Das and Amir.
“What is it that you do not believe Raju?”, queried. Amir joining the discussion.
Raju looked at Rao through the corner of his eye for a cue whether to divulge the previous conversation or not. Rao opened a deck of playing cards and started shuffling them silently.
“Rao narrated an interesting old incident and wanted me to believe it”, Raju replied, and picked up the cards dealt for him. Rao peeked into his set of cards and said, ”No bid”.
“No bid”, said Raju.
“No bid”, said Amir.
“I am also no bid”, said Das. All four of them dropped their cards on the table. Collecting the cards laid on the table and while shuffling them, Das turned towards Rao and implored,” Please tell us all about it again sir, we will hear it”.
Das has come into the friends fold recently and is also the youngest person in the group. Rao has a special affection for him.
“Well my dear, now it is unavoidable. Go ahead and repeat the unbelievable concocted story”, Raju teased. Rao began the narrative.
“Sometime back, I had to attend a conference in Greece and on my way I stopped in Paris for two days.I chose to travel by train from Paris to Milan, Brindisi, and from there to Greece by an Ocean liner. As you know, there is a super fast wonderful train from Paris to Lyon. It starts at 4.00 pm in Paris and arrives in Lyon at 10.00 pm. While I was traveling on this train, a French lady was occupying a seat next to that of mine”, paused Rao for a second.
“What is her age approximately? Is she beautiful? Of course she would be beautiful. Was she wearing a low cut dress?, Amar asked excitedly.
“If you allow me to narrate, you will know all the details. Her age, mm.. may be around thirty-thirty two years. European white skin color, and she wore a black dress suit. Was she beautiful or not? It is a matter of judgment, but I think she was beautiful. As soon as the train rolled out of Paris train station, she opened her bag and took out a manuscript and started correcting it. It appeared like a thesis to me. I was looking at the outside world and fellow passengers alternately. Two hours have elapsed since the train started from Paris and slowly darkness has descended on to the earth. There was nothing on the outside to look at. So, I was paying more attention to the corrections she was making in the thesis. A bearer came and enquired about our dinner requirements. I ordered for a so called vegetarian dinner but she ordered for wine only. She took out a sandwich from her bag and ate it with the wine which the bearer brought. I could not eat much but I completed the formality. It was almost eight o’clock, and she continued her correction at a feverish pace. I wanted to open a dialogue with her, but she did not give me any such opportunity. Finally, at eight thirty she closed the book and safely tucked it in her hand bag”.
Rao took a deep breath, got up,went into the kitchen to drink water.
“Interesting!. We never knew or thought that Rao had this type of wild romantic streak. He never told us about this in the past”, commented Amir.
“Without listening to the complete anecdote you are passing derogatory remarks”, said Rao sharply.
“O.k, O.k, Don't get angry, please continue”, said Amir trying to pacify Rao.
Rao continued, ”I slowly engaged her in conversation. After obtaining her M.S. degree from Canada, she is working as an engineer in Lyon and as I guessed, it was a thesis that she was correcting. She explained to me about French Culture, wage structure for different workers, engineers and general attitudes of people in France. Then she turned to me and enquired me about my travel. I told her about the conference in Greece and my plan to reach Milan by train.
“This train reaches Lyon at 10.00 pm and your train to Nice is only at 2.00 am”, she said.
“Yes”
“There are lot of interesting places, and monuments to see in Lyon. Since you are already here, stay for a day in Lyon and catch the evening train to Nice”, she suggested.
“It is not possible. If I stay here a day, I will be late and I will not be able to present my paper at the conference”, I explained to her.
“Oh! What a pity!”, she uttered it couple of times and when the train is about to enter Lyon train station,” If you have no objection, I can take you around the city and show you important places in Lyon in two hours time. I see that you do not have any heavy baggage”, she offered.
Rao stopped the narrative and looked at the others.
“You must have become ecstatic inside and would have said, ’Yes’”, said Amir.
“You are totally wrong. At that moment, several questions cropped up in my mind. Why is she showing so much interest to show me Lyon?. Under the pretext of showing the city, will she take me to a secluded, and dark place known to her and using thugs rob me? However, I maintained a dignified stoic posture.
“This is an unnecessary burden for you, please do not bother”, is all I could say with mustered courage.
“You are a spineless chicken hearted fellow Rao. If not, will anybody think like that?, commented Raju.
“You tell me how else anybody will think”.
“Can any woman be more suggestive and forthcoming than that? and that too she is a French woman!. Without exploiting the situation why did you entertain such cowardly imaginations?”, said Raju.
Rao resumed the narrative again.
“It is not a burden at all”, she said and she brought the car parked in the train station garage. I offered to pay for the gasoline but she would not hear any of it. She was driving the car adroitly and pointing to me places of interest. After a while, she parked the car in a narrow street and said,” here after the roads are very narrow and parking the car is a cumbersome proposition. Let us walk”.
I thought that my worst fears are going to come true and I followed her rather hesitatingly. We were walking on narrow streets and she was regularly drawing my attention to churches, castles and other spots. People were walking on roads, couples holding hands sometimes stopped and were kissing. Neon lit,”Cabaret” boards are spreading different colors of light. The pavements were crowded and we were walking on the edge of road. Suddenly she pulled me hurriedly on to the pavement and a speeding car whizzed past me closely.
“Thanks”, I said with an awkward shyness.
It was a full moon day and there are no clouds on the horizon. The moon is in full cry. She was shining brilliantly and her vanilla cream color skin radiated beauty in the moon light. She laughed like a flower, which blossomed all of a sudden. Staring at her my heart skipped a beat but I controlled my animal instincts and suggested, ”Shall we drink a cup of coffee?”.
“Sure”, she said and I ordered coffee for both of us and as I was about to pay the bill she put her hand on mine and did not allow me to open my wallet.
“You are my guest”, she said and paid the bill. We walked for another hour, and before dropping me at the train station, shook my hand warmly, and saying, ”I hope your trip will be successful and pleasant”, she went away.