Beyond Hilly Horizons by Kalai Selvi Arivalagan (snow like ashes .txt) 📕

Chapter 1

Sylvia slowly opened the doors and peeped outside. It was once again a happy morning for she could hear the little birds chirping and the crows cawing. Dawn has set in and she could feel the chilly morning breeze that blew from the nearby Sirumalai hills.

Looking far away at the horizon of the hills that played with the passing clouds was always a treat to her eyes. Sylvia walked slowly toward the garden at the front of their house. She can see one or two squirrels jumping on the guava tree and literally speaking to each other. Fresh dew drops shone on the dark leaves of the kanakambaram or firecracker flowers.

Though the flowers did not smell, their vibrant colors can attract the bees. Rich orange colored buds have started to unfurl their petals and she stood there for a while gazing at them. Whenever she watered the plants, the dry seeds on the plant cracked and spread the seeds on all the directions.

Few days later, she can see little firecracker plants all around the garden. Fresh firecracker flowers beautifully decorate the hair and when strands are worn along with white jasmine flowers, it really added to the beauty of the girl.

Sylvia took the stick broom and started to clean the front yard. She then sprinkled water and drew a beautiful kolam particular for that day. She stood there for a while admiring at her crude art drawn with the white stone powder. After helping her mother with the household chores, she started to get ready for her college.

Every day she walked to the bus stop. The tourist bungalow stood on the way to the bus stop. At that time, it was the only building in her town that stood as an attraction. She remembered how one day her father took her and her sisters to meet the veteran political leader Kamaraj at the tourist bungalow. She can still remember the long hands of the political leader and how he patted every one of them wishing good luck.

Down that road came the railway track. Whenever a train crosses the track, the gates on either side of the track will be closed. People waited on either side of the track and looked at the passing train. Sylvia loved to stand and watch the carriages of the train that moved one by one behind the engine.

People who stood at the entrance of the train gazed at the people who are standing near the track and sometimes little kids waved their hands at the passengers who are looking out of the windows. When the last carriage crossed the track, every one started to move in a hurry. Sylvia crossed the track and reached the bus stop on the other side. Already many of her friends were there waiting for the bus to come.

Chapter 2

Every day, young college going girls gathered in a common place and waited for the bus to come. The college contacted the public transport system and a special bus was provided for the bus in the morning and in the evening. Sylvia always accompanied the female lecturer who spoke to the administrative people at the transport office and arranged for the bus.

Sylvia was now in her second year of her graduation. After the summer holidays, the college had reopened. Young girls clad in colorful half-sarees, the tamilian traditional dress, stood there waiting for the bus. Every day some boys gathered around the near by shops to have a glance of the girls and exchange few smiles at them.

Usually, the girls were always busy in chatting among themselves and hardly had time to exchange those smiles or glances. There were only two colleges at that time one for girls and one for boys. Girls were not allowed to move around independently and the only place they were allowed to go and come will always be their schools or colleges. Very few schools had co-education and girls were always an attractive thing for the boys.

The girls traveling in the bus laugh and make merry of their time. The bus driver and the conductor were the only male persons in the bus. Sometimes they were so scared of the girls and they never spoke a word.

‘Hi, Syl, how are you?’ vibrant voices filled the bus.

‘Fine, what’s up for the day?’ Girls giggled and exchange discreet glances to each other. Once inside the bus, they screamed and shouted at their maximum.

‘Hi, Syl, have you written that poem?’ one of her friends asked her.

‘Yes, but I can share it only in the college.’

‘Show it to me. I will never tell anyone.’

‘No’ Sylvia replied stubbornly.

Every day Sylvia’s friends would ask her to write poems on their favorite. During the leisure period, every one read and enjoyed the poem. Sylvia usually wrote romantic poems which talked about love and nature. Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley were her favorite poets and tried her best to bring a romantic element in her poem.

A Love Poem for my Friend!
Like some young cypress, tall and dark and straight
He stood there gazing, with his lips tight
She hid her blushing face upon him
With her head pressed tightly on his chin
His hand like the twigs on a banyan tree
Entwined itself on her body under the saree
Driven by the passionate emotions of heart
He kissed her on her lips, whispering very fast
For he thought, the ticking time of clock
Is very little, which will close their union
Before he might tell her what he wished
The Dubbing sound of their heart, echoed within their ribs
"Enough To-day" she dissolved from his hands
But he whispered passionately "Hug once. Aay"
She pushed him away from her presence
Pleading tenderly for her defence
"No, No" he cried with his aroused passions
"Once started, never to be stopped without an end"
He drew her toward his mighty chest.
Embraced her, like crushing her person.
Lost in his passionate emotions of Love
She became one with him for ever
Only their lips and hand talked there
Words have gone away searching place somewhere
"Emotions do not need any words
Let us fly away like birds
And rest under the dark woods
To have more and more experience
In the reign of Venus"

‘Well done, Syl. So nice…’

‘Hi, how did you write like that?’ The surrounding trees echoed the laughter of the young girls, and Sylvia too joined their laughter with her heart filled with joy.

Chapter 3

Sylvia reached home early. After helping her mother with washing the clothes, she started to pluck the night queen flowers, a particular variety of jasmine. Sylvia enjoyed this activity every evening. The climber spread on the pomegranate tree and Sylvia climbed on the compound wall to pluck the flowers. After plucking all the flowers she would make strands of jasmine.

Sometimes she would leave few buds on the climber, so that the flowers bloomed at night and spread their perfume everywhere. Sylvia loved to call the night queen flowers as romantic flowers as it can stir romantic feelings in a person.

Sylvia combed her hair finely and pinned a strand of night queen at the top of the plait. She looked at the mirror and felt wonderful. The strand of flowers went well with her half-saree that was neatly pinned to her matching blouse.

Sylvia loved to do the evening aarathi to her favorite god. She cleaned the place around the Tulasi plant and watered the plant. She drew the kolam and decorated with strands of night queen flowers. She lit the small mud lamp before the Tulasi plant. It was a sight to look at the Tulasi plant surrounded by the light from the mud lamp. As the evening set into dark veils of night, the aura surrounding the lit Tulasi plant made her feel at peace.

Sylvia’s house stood inside a sprawling factory. The door at the compound wall separated her house from the factory. From morning 8 am to evening 6 pm, there would be bustling activity at the factory. More than 50 people worked in the factory. Entire place was filled with the sound of the running machines, workers laughed and talked with each other. But after 8 pm no one will be there except the administrative people.

Sylvia love to ride her cycle at the space in the rear end of the factory. During the weekends, when no one was there in the factory, Sylvia would go for her evening rides. The space was well lit with tube lights, and so she never felt scary to ride at night. The evening breeze from the nearby hills made the setting night cool and pleasant. Mindless, she would go for rounds and rounds till she felt exhausted.

It was a Saturday and Sylvia went for usual bicycle ride after 8 pm. She could feel the strong perfumed smell from the strands of night queen. Sylvia’s heart was filled with joy and she felt being at the top of the world. Enormous satisfaction and joy filled her heart and made her feel romantic. How it would be if I have a romantic partner? It would be fun to enjoy the cool breeze and the calm night along with his company.

New lines for her next poem started to pour from her heart and she mentally recited line by line. While enjoying her mental recitation of the poem, Sylvia suddenly got a feeling that someone is watching her. She looked around. She could see a tall figure hidden in the dark. The person stood there with his hands crossed and locked to his chest, and shamelessly he had been looking at her from head to toe. The flowing hair in the evening breeze looked great in the evening breeze and the strands of flowers on her hair made him stare at her without a break.

Chapter 4

It was a day in the month of November. Semester exams were going on. Sylvia was sitting and reading at the front yard of her house. November nights were chilly. Even the coconut oil froze like solid butter. It was 10 pm and the engulfing silence of the night helped Sylvia to read through the books with deep concentration. Others at home were fast asleep.

Sylvia could hear the audio of the movie songs from the nearby tent theatre. The tent theatre in the neighborhood village had started to play the songs before the screening for the night show. Sylvia had been listening to the same songs for the past ten days. The songs that did not inspire her during the day sounded different at the calm of night and made her yearn for a loving soul near her. Sylvia once again read through the poetry of Wordsworth and felt elated.

‘Sylvee, sylvee’ her mother started to call her. ‘Get inside it is 11 pm’.

Reluctantly Sylvia took her chair and went inside the house. Even though the factory had a watchman and night shift work had already started at the factory, staying out late night was always scary. Sylvia had heard about incidents