Kamala got relieved of her unpleasant feeling that she was experiencing since she had heard that they are going home, when she heard that they were going 'west'. The word "West" conjures up to stay-at-home folk !-sacred shrines, invigorating air, new places, new sights, the past splendours of kings and emperors, wonderfully wrought temples, fables of eld, and legends of the heroic age !
"What places are we going to ?" asked Kamala in a flutter of delight.
"I haven't decided yet. We pass Monghyr, Patna, Dinapore, Buxar, Ghazipur, and Benares, and we'll get off at one of these places." Some of these names were familiar to Kamala and some were not, but her imagination took fire as he reeled them off.
"What fun it'll be !" and she clapped her hands.
"The fun will come later, but we must first see abut feeding ourselves. You don't want meals from the crew's gally, I suppose !"
"Heaven help us ! I should think not ! I'll do cooking."
When Ramesh asked her whether she knew cooking, she burst in to laughter :" I don't know what you take me for ? What a little noodle you must think me ! Why, I did all the cooking at my uncle's."
He went off soon and returned with an iron-stove ;nor was that all. There was a lad called Umesh on board engaged by Ramesh as Kamala's assistant in the kitchen in return for his fare to Benares and a daily wage. In accordance with Kamala's directions Ramesh brought what all necessary for the preparation of the food. With the help of Umesh Kamala finished cooking, but they didn't have plates to serve the food. She could find a flat lid of the cooking-pot, cleaned it thoroughly, and laid it down in front of Ramesh. "You must use this to-day ; we'll get something better when we can."
Ramesh fetched water, washed down a portion of the deck, and sat down to his meal, satisfied that he had compiled with his ceremonial obligations..
He had taken only one or two mouthfuls when he exclaimed, "I say, how splendidly you cook !"
"You needn't try to be funny !" protested Kamal in confusion.
"I'm not being funny ; you'll see for yourself when your turn comes," and he very soon polished off his plateful and asked for more. Kamala gave him a much larger helping this time.
"What are you doing ?" he exclaimed ; "have you left enough for yourself ?"
"Oh, that's all right ! there's plenty left." She was delighted to see Ramesh enjoying his food.
"What are you going to eat off ?" he asked next.
"Why, the lid, of course,"she replied, serene in her belief that as his wife she might use his plate.
"Oh no, you mustn't do that," cried Ramesh in horror.
"Why not ?" asked Kamala surprised.
"It would never do at all."
"Of course it would ; I know what I'm about. What are you going to eat off, Umesh ?"
"I'll get some sal leaves from the confectioner below deck," said Umesh.
Ramesh's reflections, however, were profoundly disturbing. "How on earth am I to get this idea that we're man and wife out of her head ?" he asked himself.
Kamala's neatness, dexterity, her cooking and nursing abilities, and cheerful alacrity with which she went about her duties enchanted Ramesh, but simultaneously he was assailed by tormentng questions : What were their future relations to be ? To keep her with him and to run her away were alike unthinkable. Where was he to draw the line in his daily intercourse with her ? If only Hemamalini had been one of the party everything would be simple ! But that was impossible, and he could think of no other solution to his present entanglement except telling the whole truth to Kamala.
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