The  Parcel  Express  which had chug-chugged out  of  the  Egmore Railway  Station,  in Madras City at 10-40 p.m. on  January  12,1934 arrived  at  the unearthly hour of 1-34 am at a  sleepy  deserted station, Karunguzhi  some  fifty  odd miles from  the  city.   Six parcels were delivered from the train at this station. The sixth was  never claimed. Nor was it intended to be! It rested in  the `goods yard' of the station for a while lying unclaimed, and then it began to stink to high heavens and beyond! Inside was  strange cargo. The body of young woman, once a famed lush beauty,  lovely and loveable, seductive and sexy. Now gory and gruesome in death. Once throbbing with life and lilt, now silent and stinking.

The body had been bundled in a mat woven of dried  palm-coir, well and  securely  packed.  The  parcel  was  declared  to   contain "personal  effects".  Personal it surely was, but  not  certainly effects.  Indeed it was the cause of a human  drama, both  before and after!

Who was the young woman? The bundled beauty? Quickly the body was identified as that of Seetha, or Seethammal, as her poor south Indian  Iyengar Brahmin parents had named her, married to a  cook Parthasarathy employed in a temple in Park Town, Madras.   Seetha lived  in  a  tiny  portion of a large  street  house  in  Police Raghavachari  Square, better known as P. R. Square in a  prestigious area  in  the  city where  affluent  and  aristocratic  Brahmins, leading High Court lawyers, top government officials, noted college professors  ,  landed gentry and their likes lived in  the gone over the horizon -old  world style and status.

Barely  twenty-two  Seetha  had a  supple, sumptuous  figure  that exuded  allure, charm,  and  sex appeal from  every  pore  of  her soft, caress-worthy, milk white skin. Passion lurked in her  eyes, and her dewy lips promised rich, secret untold delights.

Her poor clothes, cramped living quarters, dull husband and all did not  succeed in putting out her deep-rooted desire to live  well. She  longed  for rich rustling Kanchipuram silk sarees,  a  large house, and  to  enjoy sipping the aromatic liquors  of  a  charmed cushy life. And men hovered around her, like ants climbing on  an icing  cake, their limbs, and libidos taut at her bare  proximity.

She  was smart to realize that all men were alike, lawyers, or  loin-clothed swamis, executives or eager pen-pushing clerks. Yes, they were all the same, drooling at the lips!

Her  husband  always smelling of rancid cooking oil had filed  a complaint to the Park Town police that his wife had been  missing along  with  some silver articles, and  he  suspected  that  one Ramanujam was behind it all.

Who  was  this man, Ramanujam? A young handsome  Brahmin  from  a village, Balur.   He had a muscular body, and his long hair  rolled in  a thick tuft drew him to women. He had been married but  did not  get on well with his wife. He had legal  problems  connected with some agricultural land in the village, which required him to visit Madras City often to seek the advice of city lawyers he knew. One  of  them was  Chari in whose house Seetha was a tenant. The  lawyer, rich, warm  and  friendly gave free legal advice  to Ramanujam.   Such frequent visits resulted in Seetha and the Balur Brahmin  meeting often.    Quickly  sparks  flew  between  them,  and  a red-hot passionate affair began drenching both in lava of lust.

Soon  Ramanujam's  visits to Madras increased  in  frequency  for obvious  reasons, and as it often happens, the 'horned'  husband came  to  know about it. But Seetha did not seem to care .   She turned  a  deaf ear to her husband's shouts and abuses,  and  one fine  morning she eloped with her hard-limbed lover and  set  up house in another part of the city, George Town. (It was so  named after  the  visit of the King- Emperor George, the Fifth  to  the city.)   That was an age when runaway couples, more so adulterous in  their relationship, especially among Brahmins were  looked down with disfavour. So the lovers lived at many places, shifting house often. They had other reasons too. They wished to  avoid the husband coming in search of Seetha possibly in the company of cops!     In    some houses   co-tenants  stared   at them meaningfully, whispering   behind their   backs, and spreading malicious gossip about Seetha going out dressed in her best, and returning  home late at night at odd hours when respectful  women among  Brahmins  especially were expected to be home  sleeping beside their husbands in their chaste conjugal beds!

Seetha  had  friends  in  high  places  thanks  to  her  lover’s contacts. White-skinned   British   officers out on a spree. Handsome  leading lawyers with fabulous incomes living  in garden houses of the city. Brahmin executives of prosperous  oil companies, all with a yen for fun behind closed doors after office hours, she wowed them all. As a wit put it about a charmer," they saw, she  conquered,  and they came!" Such was Seetha's  stunning, voluptuous curves and seductive halo...

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Where was Ramanujam? He and Seetha had last lived at  No.24, Peddu Naicken  Street,  a rickety street house. When  competent  cops finally reached here, Ramanujam was missing. Where could he have gone? The cops wondered and asked but  even the nosy  neighbours had no idea. The lessee of the house however told the cops that he saw  Seetha on  the evening of January 11th. Ramanujam was seen, all alone  in his  bedroom and gave evasive answers when he was  asked  about Seetha.   A lady tenant corroborated this detail, and so did  the milkman.   He  had delivered milk to Ramanujam  on  12th.   Seetha collected  milk usually but not on that morning. Where  on  earth for heaven's sake been Seetha?

(To be continued)