(Author: Ki. Rajanarayanan Translation: Radha Soundar & R.S. Saha )
Sreeni Nayakkar continued his meal.
Yengachi sat next to him and served him the food as needed. She loved watching him enjoy her cooking and piling on more food as he finished. She was like this in everything she did.
Yengachi’s dark skin made her insecure. Despite it seeming that way when compared to the Kottaiyar women, her skin wasn’t that dark. Her skin was a normal, common shade of brown.
She would swoon at Sreeni Nayakkar’s fair skin. She would often put her arm next to his and ask him to give her his color.
Fair skin came in many tones: seductive, frightening, aggressive, combative, etc.
Yengachi never grew bored of loving his complexion, often running her hands over his skin. Skin untouched by the sun was lighter and softer. She would graze his skin with her lips and cheek. Sometimes, she would murmur endearments.
Sreeni Nayakkar would put her on his left shoulder, holding her feet with his left hand, and walk with his free hand swinging proudly. Whenever he put her on his shoulder, she would laugh in a specific way. He lifted her just to hear it.
“I’m going to hop on one foot with you on my shoulder.” He’d joke. She would laugh again and slide off him to get down, pleasuring them both with the feeling of rubbing bodies.
It was at this hour of pleasure, just after breakfast, that the sky darkened.
Chickens pecking at the ground returned to their coops.
Yengachi’s parrot shrieked from its cage.
The couple ran out to the porch as a result.