Right after he set up the bathing enclosure, Kumaresan carried a pot to the well and brought back some water. Since the well was quite a distance away, it took a long time to fetch even one pot of water. He then placed a large pitcher inside the makeshift bathroom. The pitcher had a small mouth that led to a large belly. She kept bending down to look into it. ‘Be careful, don’t get your head caught in it,’ he teased. When she set out to fetch some water, he stopped her: ‘Soon you will have to do it yourself. But not yet.’

She could understand why he wanted to keep busy and dissolve his energy into work.

One of the visiting women gossiped, ‘As soon as he got a wife, he made an enclosure for her to bathe in. All these days he had a mother. She never got a private spot like this.’

‘Can a mother and wife ever be equal?’ retorted another woman.

The women laughed scornfully. Kumaresan did not respond to any of this. But another man spoke on his behalf: ‘The girl has come from the city. Do you think she will disrobe and bathe in the wide open like you all do? Doesn’t she need some privacy?’

A woman mocked him: ‘Yes, all our bodies are withered, exposed to the elements. But hers is still golden. Why don’t you wrap her around your neck!’

During a brief reprieve from the influx of visitors, Saroja took her first wash in the bathing enclosure made of thatched screens. When she looked up, she could see the sky through the palm trees that leaned over and peered inside. As they swayed in the wind, it appeared as though they were bending and craning their necks to look at her. Two little sparrows observed her for some time and then flew away. She felt shy to even take off her clothes. Still, she somehow washed herself hurriedly and got out. When she returned to the hut, she realized that it was made of thatched palm leaves as well. Something rustled. Every sudden swish frightened her.

How am I going to live here? Will I ever get used to the rock? Will I make friends with the palm trees? Those birds that flew away after looking at me bathing, what must they have thought about me? If I ask Kumaresan about it, he’ll probably say something like, ‘They must have gone all over the village and said to everyone, “Mohini, the enchantress, is bathing there.”’ Is that true? Am I truly a celestial Mohini? Is that why they think I’ve enchanted him?

But she had no time to indulge in such flights of fancy; visitors kept coming.

The same people who laughed and joked outside with Kumaresan changed their demeanour when speaking to Marayi. Once they entered the hut where she was lying down, they spoke as though expressing their condolences. In turn, Marayi talked to the visitors in a low, laboured voice, like someone who had been sick and bedridden for a long time.