I was disappointed that Ravi, my husband, could not go with me for my niece's marriage. It was to be held in a village which was an overnight journey by train from Mumbai. But Ravi got stuck and I had to go alone. My daughter, who was 5 years old, also stayed back since her school was open. As the train crossed Mumbai and left back the brown and grey coloured houses and the shanties and the incessant rains formed a shifting net on the villages, I again found myself a happy person.
When I reached, the festivities were on. There were a large number of relatives and friends. I didn't know half of them and was glad to find Shweta. Shweta was my cousin sister, 15 years older to me. She was 45. She was a brilliant student, had moved to Paris, got married and divorced. She had brought along her son, Pierre, who was 20, along with her.
Pierre was a handsome boy, 5 ft 9 inches tall, somewhat studious looking, lean, with a charming smile, a cleft on the chin and a distant look. I was seeing him for the first time and Pierre hugged me and touched his cheek with mine. I was not special, he did it with every lady present, irrespective of their age.
Then there were the usual rituals. Pierre was just moving around, taking photos with his mobile phone for a while. After that he went out to the courtyard. I went to him and asked him "are you bored?"
"Yes. Can you suggest something?" he asked.
"We can go out for a stroll. There are some beautiful spots here and a spring." I said.
"Let's go then - you and I" Pierre was happy at the suggestion.
I told Shweta and others that we were leaving. We passed the village. The crowd was curious to see an Indian lady accompanying a foreign boy. Pierre was full of questions. He asked the names of the trees, the birds, the insects and I didn't know most of them.
"You seem to be rather unaware of your surroundings". He said.
"But I do not belong here. I live in a huge, humungous city which is full of people. I know nothing of nature." I said.
"What do you do?"
"I am a fashion designer, I cook and look after my husband."
"Do you love your husband?"
"I guess so."
"That's not a very clear answer."
"I am supposed to love my husband and take care of the family. My husband, in turn, is supposed to earn. I think we are doing our duties. Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Yes I do. We love each other a lot."
"Will you marry each other?"
Pierre laughed. He said "we haven't decided yet."
As we are talking, we approached the stream cascading down the small hill and meandering into a bush. There were butterflies and grasshoppers and bees flying. Pierre was elated. I hitched up my sari to my knees. We waded through the stream, splashed water on each other and laughed a lot. Suddenly I lost balance and was falling down when Pierre caught me. He steadied me but didn't let go. We were looking at each other. And then he brought his mouth close to mine just lingering an inch in front, his breath on my breath but doing nothing. I just could not resist any more. I pressed my lips against his. I held him tight. Our lips ventured each other's lips, cheek, nose, chin, neck, forehead and ears. Pierre stuck out his tongue and pushed it into my mouth. He smelt of the afternoon lunch. His tongue was salty. We rolled our tongues in each other's mouth. After some time we parted. I was panting and Pierre was smiling. I was not. I was a little ashamed and immensely excited. But it was time to go back.
"You liked it?" Pierre asked.
"You know, I am not supposed to do this. It's not correct" I said.
"That's not my answer. I asked you whether you liked it?"
"Did you like it?" I asked.
"Yes. Very much. You are a pretty and supple woman. You have got luscious lips. There are a thousand of reasons to like it." He said.
"But I am your aunt!"
"And a very pretty woman."
"You know, this is not done. I have never done it. I don't know what got into me."
"The problem is that most of us deny our pleasures. While it is particularly true for this country, it is partially true in our country also. You are trying to deny that you had pleasure since your social custom and norms tell you that it is wrong."
I kept quite and then said "what would your girlfriend say if she knew this?"
Pierre didn't say anything. He took out his mobile phone and keyed in something. I espied that it was in French to a girl called Adele. There was some reply in French which I couldn't understand with a smileys of a middle finger, a broken heart, a kiss and a big smile.
"You know what I wrote to my girlfriend?" Pierre asked.
"What?"