‘You haven’t completed the stanza, I suppose,’ said Raja Rao. ‘Why not tell me whom you love, so that I can fetch him now.’
‘It’s all well for poetic imagination. But how can it be a practical proposition?’ said Sathyam dismissively. ‘And to be fair to my wife, she is a faithful one.’
‘In some hearts like Sandhya’s, love would reach such poetic proportions,’ thought Raja Rao, and at that, he was gripped by an urge to be with her,
‘They may be expecting us,’ said Raja Rao, goading Sathyam to rise, ‘So better we call it a day.’
‘Tell me frankly,’ said Sathyam, as they came out, ‘what do you make of me?’
‘Honestly,’ said Raja Rao, hugging Sathyam, ‘I wish I had your capacity to love.’
‘I’ll cherish your words all my life,’ said Sathyam, as Raja Rao released him.
‘How come Roopa inspires so much love and passion in men?’ wondered Raja Rao as he headed home. ‘And devotion in women as well. Isn’t Tara too an obvious fan of hers?’
Buoyed by sentiment, Sathyam reached home excited, and in all pride, made Roopa privy to Raja Rao’s praises. At that, she reflected how her lover’s empathy for her, gave rise to sympathy for her husband in his heart. It was thus, the glare of her paramour’s goodwill blinded her man’s vision to gaze at her liaison.