‘Perhaps it’s God’s wish to bless our Amorous Triangle in His Shrine itself,’ Roopa thought joyously, joining the queue for appearances sake. ‘Let this be the ticket for our orgies, in the bogie to begin with. Won’t we manage the TTE to keep that extra berth of privacy for us? Once he’s through with his checking business and all, we could lock the cabin for the night. Can’t this be the Lord’s very own blessing for our lovemaking? While I wanted thanksgiving at Tirupati for that night of my life, the Lord seems to grant us orgies in His precincts no less. Does that mean our love has the sanction of the heavens? Who knows that anyway, but how is our affair taken on this earth?’
‘Oh, how people wear moral blinkers, of the well-worn kind,’ she felt, as her thought process had brought her face-to-face with the reality of life. ‘The irony of it all is that, in spite of censure by the moralists, life tends to evolve in tandem with the ever changing human condition. Of course, they all start on the sly only to set the trend in the end. Once it comes into vogue, the new pattern becomes the value of the times, picked up by the world as the moral mantra of the era. That’s all about the across the board morals, which fail to take into account the individual compulsions in the changing times. Thus, it makes sense for one to draw one’s own boundary of ethics, of course, aided by a compass of reason, with the needle of equity that is.’
Buoyed by that new found feeling, Roopa left the booking counter and rejoined the Raja Raos and Sathyam. In time, they moved their luggage into the first class coupe for four. As though the driver was pushed by their urge for orgies, he blew the horn unceasingly, forcing the guard to show the green light. Thus, as that Rayalaseema Express began to move, waving off his wife and friends, Sathyam stepped out of the railway station, and stepped into the Royal Hotel across the road.
‘Sorry Sathyamgaru,’ Nagaraju greeted Sathyam apologetically, ‘for not fixing our meeting in a star hotel. But you know we might get noticed in any.’
‘That suits me fine,’ said Sathyam. ‘Why, my boss hasn’t come yet? Won’t old habits die hard?’
At that, as the buzzer sounded, Nagaraju reached for the latch.
‘Oh, you’ll live a hundred years,’ Nagaraju welcomed Rami Reddy. ‘We were just talking about you only.’
‘Sorry Sathyam,’ said Rami Reddy, ‘for spoiling your party.’