Not Our Culture
Nimi Kurian
28 June 2008, 04:29Kalavathy watched the movie with interest. That it was not for kids didn’t seem to bother either her or her parents. The scenes were explicit and vivid. She was excited watching the hero wooing the heroine – the touching, the kissing and the intimate scenes created a turmoil of emotions in her 14 year old body. She could not understand the sensations she felt but they were surely pleasurable.
It was almost five when the movie was over and the television set switched off. Her mother ambled off to prepare dinner, while her father went out – probably for a booze up with his friends. Left to her own devices Kalavathy wandered around the house. She didn’t want to begin doing her homework, she didn’t feel like studying for tomorrow’s English test, nor did she feel like helping her mother with the dinner. Still excited after the movie she was rather restless.
“Shall I go to go to Gayathri’s house?” she thought. Gayathri was her classmate and best friend. They could spend hours together just talking and giggling.
“Ma! I am going to Gayathri’s house!” she shouted, as she ran out of the house, not waiting for her mother’s answer.
Two blocks down, she knocked on Gayathri’s door. Her father opened the door.
“Uncle is Gayathri here?” asked Kalavathy.
“No, she has gone for tuition,” he said.
Disappointed, Kalavathy walked away. She was at a loose end. Not wanting to return home she walked on. Further down the road was Madhavan, the carpenter. He was hard at work. Dressed only in a lungi, his bare chest glistened with perspiration. His muscles rippled as he sawed wood.
“What are you working on?” asked Kalavathy, from the entrance of the shed.
“Oh! It’s you,” he said, rather startled. “You surprised me. I was so engrossed in my work that I did not see you…”
Kalavathy smiled. She was excited just watching him. He looked up at her and smiled.
“Why are you standing there? Come inside.”
Kalavathy went in and sat on a stool and continued to watch. She watched his hands, his body, the way he touched the wood. Madhavan grew conscious under her scrutiny. He could sense her excitement, he understood her body language. He put down his tools.
“I am going to make some tea. Would you like some?”
She nodded. He had a stove at the back of the shed. As the stove lit up it send dancing shadows on the now darkening walls of the shed.
“I better close the door,” he said.
He closed the door and switched on the light. The bare bulb dimly lit the darkened space. To Kalavathy it seemed almost romantic.
He gave her the tea in a glass and sat on the ground sipping his. Occasionally, he glanced up and smiled at her. She smiled back. The sexual tension was almost palpable.
Then he put down his unfinished tea and taking the glass from her hand, he kissed her. She didn’t resist. Soon she was responding. She felt like she had never felt before. Her body did not seem to be her own. She did not know what she was doing. It seemed to be that every time he touched her she responded eagerly…
It was late when she left the shed. The street lights were on. Sweating and panting she ran home. She prayed her father would not be home.
Opening the door, she shouted once again to her mother who was in the kitchen. Her father was no where in sight.
“Ma, I am going for a bath.”
Calmer now, she sat down for dinner.
“What did Gayathri say?” asked her mother.
“Gayathri?” said a puzzled Kalavathy. It seemed such a long time ago that she had told her mother she was going to meet Gayathri.
“Yes, she is fine. I have homework to finish…” she said as she got up and went to wash her hands.
The next few evenings, as soon as she came back from school, she had her tea and ran to the carpenter’s shed.
One day at school, Gayathri said, “How come I don’t see you after school these days? What are you doing?”
Kalavathy blushed. She didn’t know what to tell her friend. Gayathri immediately knew there was a secret and she began to ferret it out. When she heard the story, she asked, “So is it nice?”
“Mmmm…yes, quite!” said Kalavathy.
“Strange! My grandmother says it’s horrible. She says it’s just one of those things that wives have to suffer…”
Gayathri was silent the rest of the day. Then in the evening she asked Kalavathy, “Can I also come with you?”
Kalavathy was surprised but she agreed.
Many months later, Kalavathy fell ill. It began as a common cold and then became a fever. When her temperature began to rise dangerously, her parents rushed her to hospital. She was diagnosed with pneumonia.
Soon after, Gayathri was also admitted into hospital. She had similar symptoms.
Strangely, both the girls did not respond to any medication. Finally, the doctors tested them for AIDS. When the results came they were both HIV positive. Soon, the whole story spilled out.
“We never knew that it was dangerous. It just seemed such fun…” they said.
While the parents of both girls were shocked at the turn of events, the debate still raged in Parliament whether it was necessary to introduce sex education in the school curriculum.
One Member of Parliament made a speech in the assembly saying, “In America, they have sex education in school. Also, in America you find the most number of unmarried teenage mothers…” He was greeted with cheers and a standing ovation. “It is not our culture to introduce such subjects to young children thus corrupting their minds…” he continued.
The Member who had mentioned that it was important to introduce sex education and awareness about the spread of HIV/AIDS in the school curriculum was booed out of the assembly.
i did not expect the AIDS bit! nicely written and hugely thought provoking
— sridhar · Jun 28, 15:02 · #