Chapter 91

Chariots of victory

She hated the invitation, her anxiety was kicking up, the flat smelled like incense and flowers and his mother was wearing flowers in her hair and a Chandan ka teeka

There was some classical violin playing softly in the background in the sound system

“Aatreya illi baa raja” his mother cooed

He appeared in a few running his fingers through his hair wearing a offwhite kurta and chudidar

Mrunalini was afraid there was some pooja or something

“Aunt.. Auntee I have to go”

“Come on in Mrunalini”

Somesh watched his son carefully

As he walked over to the young lady

“Avalu hogitru nodi” (she is leaving) Pramila tugged

“Amma one second” he muttered

“Banni ma” Pramila decided to put away the fruit and mithai Mrunalini had handed her

“Avaru yaake ishtu tandalu?”(why did she bring so much?)

Come on in” he said firmly

“I have to go” “U have  guests”

“Mrunalini” “Its OK” he held her elbow and squeezed

She turned bright red when she noticed Somesh noticed it and then quickly buried his face in the paper

Pramila brought coffee for her

“My daughter is on her way from the airport”

Mrunal was ready to bolt

“I never had any religious ceremony, after he returned, he is moving to Juhu he says I thought as long as he lives here why not have some chanting?”

Mrunal nodded

Wondered where Dhru was, she heard “wheee” inside she realized he must be on his plane set

The coffee was delicious

“I am happy you are not like some people who wont drink caffeine after 12” she laughed

“If you know Karnataka we have the best coffee” Somesh declared

Mrunal nodded weakly, Somesh had never spoken to her

“Does Jaidrith have Indian clothes?”

“Yes, he does he even has dhoti and…” “I didn’t know” “He didn’t tell me”

“Maybe next time” Pramila was kind

Somesh was wearing a veshti

“Has he worn the south Indian dhoti?” Somesh asked

“No Mr Rao… no.. he hasn’t no”

“U can call me Uncle”

“Sure Uncle” she nodded

“I made the state sweet, Mysore pak” Pramila laughed sheepishly

She went in and came out with a plate of crunchy mixture and mysore pak”

“Aunty I have to go home now, I will eat at home, if u give me a bag”

“I put for u in a dabba” Pramila was proud of herself

Aatreya was nowhere to be seen

“One day we are craving for grandchildren another day we have a 10 year old” Somesh laughed

And tapped his ankle bone of the leg he had up over the other one

Doing the taal for the violin’s accompaniment mridangam

He hummed quite tunefully with eyes closed

“They say only the fortunate have grand children” he opened his eyes to exclaim

Mrunal nodded

“You can stay for dinner, its simple Karnataka meals”

“No I have to go get ready for work it will be very late”

Somesh said something to Pramila in rapidfire Kannada

They chatted back and forth

“He is saying we should have had this on Saturday” “I told him we cannot have religious function on Saturday, he said Sunday”

“That’s OK That’s OK” Mrunalini almost got up

“In our home in Bangalore we plan for weeks we invite pandits, he doesn’t know where we can get one.”

“In the age of internet I don’t believe it” Somesh mocked his son

“Avaru kelsasadalli tumba niratargidaare” (He is so busy with work)

“My son got a SVP promotion soon after interviewing for VP, it’s a very big achievement correct?” Pramila nodded with pride

“Yes I was at a event to pick up Dhru I saw he manages like 500 people” Mrunalini nodded agreeing

“Who is Dhru?” Somesh asked

“Jaidrith” Mrunalini explained

“If you say the full name then he will get the full essence, full power, you know what I mean?” Somesh explained

Somesh went on to describe the meaning the significance of the name

From the Hindu scriptures

This family was at another level she realized

There was no one by her she had picked out a girl name and a boy name, Lochana for a girl and Jaidrith for a boy

“What name you did u choose if it was a girl?” Pramila popped the q

“Lochana”

She immediately looked at her husband appreciatively smiling,

“You have very beautiful eyes” Pramila complimented her

“Do you know the probability of the child getting your eyes vs his?” Somesh quizzed next

And explained everything the next 20 minutes

Pramila made sure she ate her entire snack

She missed Dhru 

This was really a lot

She heard footsteps in the hallway she forgot the Mendy was invited

Ira and Iris rang the door bell 20 times even though the door was quite open

Pramila’s face lit up

She turned to Mrunalini “U have met them no?”

Mrunal got up nervously

Soon to be followed by two other friends of Aatreya’s friends Puneet and Madhur and a guy called “Ro”

Aatreya still did not step out she realized he was on a call

Dhru was delighted to see Ira and Iris the girls gave him all the “female attention” he craved

He pretended to hate it as he continued to provoke them

The house became noisy and loud

Mendy was kind and caring, he stopped by her and chatted for many minutes

Lynn pretended to help Pramila in the kitchen after a brief smile and a nod toward Mrunal

The pandit aka Somesh Rao sat down by a makeshift shrine on the floor

“I really have to go” she told Pramila in the kitchen

“Just stay for the first 30 minutes”

“Oh no” “I can come back some other time”

His friends introed themselves and were pleasant and friendly

She left and ran downstairs and got in her car and hyperventilated

She drove home 30 minutes later

The first text was his

“Why did u leave”

“I came to drop him off”

“I was on a call sorry”

“Oh no don’t apologize Ur Mum is really sweet”

“Thanks”

“The arrangements looked lovely the mogra streamers and such”

“U still have no answer for running away”

“Apparently Dhru’s name is victorious chariot” she said

He sent a smiley

“I did not know”

😊

“Your Dad told me the whole story”

😊

“TTYL”

“Will call”