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"Oh Krishna, see how lovely the newly bloomed water lilies are."
"They're indeed lovely, but they are helpless before their rivals." He took Radha's hands and kissed her knuckles. "These hands defeat the water lilies in beauty and softness." Radha blushed prettily and lowered her gaze.
Her beloved had a way with words, he was always paying her all kinds of compliments. He would compare her lips to soft rose petals, her skin to the silver moonlight, her hair to midnight waves; always to the detriment of nature. And she was flattered, of course, but she never knew what to answer.
Love was still such a new thing for her, she was still unsure of how to behave with him sometimes. Did he expect her to return his praises? No doubt he did. And It wasn't that she couldn't find anything about him to praise – on the contrary, she could spend hours thinking of his beauty – but the right words eluded her.
In the stories she read, the nayikas were demure for sure, but at the appropriate time they could string garlands of verses extolling their lovers. She'd never read about a heroine who could only blush and giggle nervously like she did. It was so frustrating having so much passion in her heart and not being able to express it. She became nervous, as time went on, that Krishna would think her aloof and unfeeling if she didn’t speak her feelings out loud.
She decided she needed to think of an eloquent compliment, or a witty one-liner, to flatter him. Maybe she could praise his eyes, they were dark like a moonless night but they could shine in such a way as to dazzle her. She always found herself hypnotized by the myriad of emotions they displayed, when they crinkle with amusement, or softened with tenderness, or burnt with passion.
One afternoon, she was waiting for Krishna in a secluded kuñja; a forest grove filled with fresh flowers and a canopy of vines, and a big boulder covered with moss at the entrance. She paced back and forth in front of it, trying to come up with a good compliment for her beloved's eyes.
"'Krishna, your eyes are as dark as an unlit room.' —No, that's silly.— 'Krishna, your eyes shine like a burnished copper pot.' — No, that's not good either. — 'Krishna, your eyeballs are really outstanding.' — God, no. I cannot tell him that"
"Tell me what?"
Radha let out a yelp when she heard his voice and turned to see Krishna behind her. "How much of that did you hear?" She asked, mortified.
Krishna raised an eyebrow. "Not much, just you saying you couldn't tell me something. You know you can tell me anything. What is it, priye?"
“Nothing, it’s silly.”
“Then why not tell me?”
“It’s embarrassing, you will laugh at me.”
“Even better, I like a good laugh.” She glared at him. “If I promise not to laugh, will you tell me?"
“No, just forget it.”
“Well, I won’t be able to forget it now after you made such a fuss about it!”
“Well, bad luck because I won’t tell you!”
"You realize I'll keep nagging you until I make you say it?"
"I'm realizing now, yes."
"Come on, say it."
"Please, don't make me—"
"For God's sake, Radha. Just say it!"
"FINE!" She took a deep breath and blurted out, "KrishnaIreallylikeyoureyesIthinktheyareverypretty."
Wow, so much for eloquence. How she wanted the earth to split open and swallow her up then. Alas, it did not, and she had to stand there – face turned crimson – waiting for his reaction.
There wasn't much of a reaction at first. Krishna clearly hadn't expected that, because he stayed still, blinking a couple of times, trying to process it. Then he laughed. Not mockingly as she'd fear, but a bashful kind of laugh, with his eyes casted down and – Oh my, is he blushing?
"Aww, thank you," he said.
"You're welcome." Radha's tummy fluttered. I made him blush!
"I like your eyes too, you know." He took a step towards her, and raised her chin gently to look into the objects of his admiration. "They're such a rich brown. Like the way the soil gets after the rains. I could stare into them for hours."
Radha let out a groan. "Why do you have to be better than me at this?"
His brow furrowed. "Better at what?"
"At saying sweet things about me and how I make you feel.”
"Wait, you're upset because I'm better at giving compliments? It's not a competition, priye."
"I know that. But why is it that you can beautify me with your words so easily, while I can only stammer some half-baked, witless compliment?" She pouted. "It's not fair."
He drew a long breath. "All right, come here." He sat upon the big boulder and made her sit on his lap like a father who is about to explain some important things to his child. "First," he began, "I find your stammering of half-baked, witless compliments to be utterly adorable, so I don't think you should be embarrassed about it. And second, as much as I like hearing you sing my praises, you don't actually need to do it."
"I feared you would think me indifferent if I didn't," she admitted.
He snorted. “Right, as if I were so blind.” Seeing her confusion he explained: “There are other ways to express love than to say it out loud, and those little eyes of yours speak more than your mouth does.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean those side-long glances you’re always throwing in my direction, like you don’t dare meet my eyes, but you can’t help taking a look either.”
She scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Yes, you do. Or like the other day, when you came for breakfast at my house. You sat there, all modest, but don't think I didn't notice how you kept giving me that look whenever the others were distracted."
"What look?"
"The look that says 'Oh, Krishna, if there weren't any people around I'd throw you on top of the table and have my way with you." He wiggled his eyebrows.
"I wasn't giving you any look. I looked at you the same way I always do."
"My point exactly."
“Oh, you’re speaking nonsense.”
“I speak the truth. And when there’s no one else around, you stay staring at me like I’m an oasis in the middle of a desert.” He rolled his eyes. “Honestly Radha, you’re so obvious, it’s embarrassing.”
How dare you say that? I mean, I know it’s true, but how dare you point that out?
"Oh, you want to talk about staring? Who was it that almost got run over by a bullock cart last week because he was ogling at me from across the street?"
"Well, in my defense, your pallu had slipped off your shoulder and that was quite... revealing. Even the holiest of munis would have ogled." He narrowed his eyes at her. "And you did that on purpose."
Maybe. "Don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't do that."
"Yes you would. You might look as innocent as a little calf but I know you have a few tricks up your sleeve to entice me."
Radha smiled despite herself. All right, maybe she wasn't as artless in love as she thought herself to be.
“Now I want to know…” Krishna took one of her hands and began to idly caress her palm. “Is there another part of my anatomy that you feel compelled to praise?”
She looked at him from under her eyelashes. “Perhaps…”
"Will you tell me?” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her palm.
“Maybe tomorrow,” she slipped her hand from his grasp and laughed. “I think I stoked your ego enough for a day.”