The Queen of Jasmine Country by Sharanya Manivannan

Author:Sharanya Manivannan [Manivannan, Sharanya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General
ISBN: 9789353023850
Google: fu1tDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B07H8VB2K1
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-10-24T23:00:00+00:00

9

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ilk and ghee are also forbidden through this holy month. Supplication requires abstinence. I eat a separate diet from my family. I cook my own meals, coaxing flame and firewood in the kitchen when I come home after my early morning prayer. And again when I eat as evening sets. Through the day, I consume only water and sometimes fruit, relishing the ice apples of the palm tree and the sharpness of raw mango out of season. I am purifying my body and clarifying my mind. I have chosen to isolate myself from the material world by these gestures, to ever remain conscious of my vow, to not think of it only when I wake in the hour of secrets, only to then return unscathed with rheumy eyes into the ordinary.

When I look into the mirror, wearing the lord’s garland, I rue how my eyes are less beautiful without their collyrium.

But when the vow has been completed, we will lengthen our eyes like spears. We will kiss beetroots and berries so they stain our lips plush. We will weigh our braids down with crowns of flowers. And a night will come when we ourselves will stain our bridal mats, pierced and pinned by a man’s weight. And maybe that night will feel to me like the scratch of rice grain felt when I pressed the first letter of the alphabet into existence. A little pain – and then, the universe.

There is nothing in these rituals that says we cannot dream, for it is desire that makes the world.

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