#ps-2

The small smile that plays on Arunmozhi’s lips as he takes the letter from Vandhiyathevan does not go unnoticed. There is a hint of surprise and curiosity in it. "She sent a letter?" he asks, his voice gentler and quieter than before, when he was discussing his father's health and the danger looming over the Chola kingdom. 

"Yes, Ilavarase. She requested for me to present this to Ponniyin Selvar in private." Arunmozhi glances up at his brother's friend once before opening up the olai suvadi to read its contents. 

He can't stop the way his heart fills up with an inexplicable feeling of lightness and comfort when he sees the gentle curves of her handwriting. The Tamil words seem to have rolled off her fingertips like honey from a flower, he thinks, and begins to read her words.

“Thodudaiya seviyan vidaiyeriyor thooven madhisoodi Kaadudaiya sudalaip podi poosi en ullam kavar kalvan”

(”He - the majestic Lord Shiva adorned with earrings and seated on a bull with a crescent moon atop his locks - Has thieved my heart by smearing holy ash across his body.”)

The Thevaram verses come flowing back into his memory like waves of the Ponni nadhi - verses he'd learnt as a child from his grandma Sembian Madevi in Pazhaiyarai and Thanjavur. Ah, how long it's been since he'd heard those exquisite Tamil verses! It reminds him of home, of his childhood, of his siblings, of the beautiful river Ponni, and of a woman whose moonlike face he could never forget even in his months away from Chola Nadu.

His eyes go over her gentle script again, unable to help the way his heart skips a beat when he realizes the message she has stored within this devotional prayer - a gentle reminder for him to return home soon, for he holds with him her heart and her thoughts.

Arunmozhi smiles and nods at Vandhiyathevan, who is observant enough to pick up on the prince's softened eyes that he’s had his thoughts occupied with not just the welfare of the kingdom and the conspiracies surrounding it, but also a certain princess of Kodumbalur.

"If you have a reply you would like me to send back to her, I am always here to be your messenger, Ilavarase,” Vandhiyathevan adds, a teasing lilt to his voice. Arunmozhi simply smiles, busying himself with tucking the olai into his waistband before his newfound friend can say anything more.

Later that night, when he removes his angavastram and remembers the olai he kept with him, he takes it out and reads it again, fingers going over the words. Sleep evades him as he gazes at the full moon and sees her reflection in it. 

I would never download movies. That is completely illegal. How dare you ask me this.

was happy to be able to see the movie in the cinema, but that is also a good thing because I can easily watch it at home from now on. Despite the alterations from the original, the movie was a movie and I enjoyed it very much.