[Editing on the side, bear with me.]
Nothing had changed in the past two hours, however, her ammamma had grown impatient over the lethargy that had taken reign over the setting. While Dhri continued to lay lax on his ammamma's lap, she had taken the rope cot nearby, while commandeering her nephew, Advait, into doing menial work for her. At the moment, Advait's tender hands gave comfort to her, as he fanned the hot afternoon breeze away from her face.
"Idhi ente avataram? Em aindhi dhiniki? (What has become of this girl?)" Ammamma said, with a sweep of her hand. "Thala duvukodhu. Bottu pettukodhu. Ee rojuemo atlataddhi koodanu (She will not comb her hair, no bindi on her forehead. Moreover its atla taddhi (Karva chauth like) too, not just any other day.)"
"Asalu eppudu petukune gorintaku kooda vadhuane sindhi (Well, she has said no to mehendi too,)" Sunitha athaiya (aunty), said bearing a scowl on her face, although the expression had little to do with her true sentiments towards Kushi. After all, she'd sat all night to stone grind the mehendi leaves for her favorite family member.
"Paiga vratam cheyadhani mondithanam(On top of that, she doesn't want to keep her vrath either,)" Ammamma added on, before targeting her for the incessant complaining that her granddaughter had resorted to. "Aakali aakali ani nannu champukuni thintundhi. (She has been killing me, grumbling over nothing.) Idhigo pilla, inka allari chesavante inka nuvvu nee naana polikane ani chepestha. (See, if you continue being a grouch like your father, then I have no choice but to declare that you have taken to more of your father's side than ours.)"
Twisting around, she slackly pulled herself up to fuss over the only remark that did bother her. "Aan ledhu ledhu. Nenu ammamma polika. (No! no...I have gone on you, ammamma.)"
"Rei nuvvu oopa ra, Advait. Aapavo e roju rathri iPad cancel. (Well, whats keeping you occupied, Mr.Advait? You stop fanning one more time and I'm cancelling tonight's iPad time.)" She fell into the cot again with a latent threat in her voice; her insides hot from the pent-up frustration over the uneventful day.
"iPad? I don't think you packed it," Dhri grew alert hearing about the incentive that allowed her to have the brat by his tails. "It was lying by your bed when I came to fetch your suitcase," he said smiling, as she cried after being ratted out. "Abba!"
Getting up she sniveled. "Kasepu aagi cheparadhu? (Couldn't you wait a bit longer?)"
Advait's petulant sobs followed shortly. "Ammamma. Akka iPad isthanu ani emarinchindhey. (Ammamma, Atha cheated me.)" Dropping the fan, he ran and deposited himself into the other nook of ammamma's hold.
"Sare sare nuvvu edavadhu (Fine, Fine! don't cry now,) she said, wiping down his chubby cheeks and hugging him close to her bosom. "Nenu koni pedatha kadha. iPad, epadu, ani konukondham le. (Will I not buy it for you? iPad, ePad, VuPad. Just about every kind of pad there is.)
"Dhri e iPad enthavuthundhi ente? (Dhri, how much does this iPad thing cost?)" Ammamma nudged Dhri who lay his head back on her lap.
"Yafai Velu ammamma. (50 thousand, ammamma)"
Nearly all sounds annoyed her and so, she thrust her head under the pillow to block them out. The ropes were burning their coiled impressions into her skin and yet, she wouldn't move; the lack of cushions were a strange comfort when they took her mind from all that had her in knots.
Ammamma shook her head, not comprehending the inflation that reminded her, her true age and left her stuck a few generations behind. "Sare ippadiki ee vandha vunchu (Fine! why don't you take this hundred now,)" and she took out a new hundred rupee note from thr pouch tucked into the fringes of her saree and placed it into Advait's tiny palm. "Repu vooru ellagane konipedathan (After we go home day after tomorrow, I will get you the real one.)"
"Ledhu naaku iPade kaavali. (No! I need iPad now.)" Still clutching onto the hundred rupee note, he arms flailed into the air in protest.
"Rei sare. Angry birds laptop lo aduthuvu kaani. (Common now, you can play angry birds on my laptop.)" Dhri sat up on his haunches and pulled Advait into his arms, lifting him like he was only fluffs of cotton.
"Ledhu. Naaku ipude kaavali. (No! I need iPad right now.)" Advait found new tunes to express his displeasure and sang them until she could no longer remain unaffected. "Rei inko saari arisavo, godhathlo thosesthaan. (Abey! If you don't stop with the screaming now, I'm going to throw you into Godavari.)"
"Aadem chesade? (Now what did he do?)"Ammamma reproached her. "Ala mandi padathavu? (Why are you scalding him with your temper?)"
A few seconds later, she took a sulky step towards where Ammamma was and reposed herself onto the elder's shoulder. "Naaku thala noppi. Anthe. (I have a headache. Thats all.)"
"Anthena? Nijame le...(Is that all? Its the truth, all right.)" Dhri drawled on standing up with Advait still folded in his arms, just as Vishwa showed up with a glass of hot filter coffee in his hands. The due leaned against a pole and wiggled their eyebrows at her.
"Are we sure its not something else or someone that's bothering you?" being the taunt from Vishwa, she made a face and tipped her head behind, such that she placed him farther in her line of vision.
"Thanni na tho matladothani choppe ammamma? (I'm not talking to him. Tell him ammamma.)" She said pointing to him and hid her face in the limp cotton saree that ammamma had worn.
"Enduke? Ippudu vishwa yen chesadani? (Why? Now what did Vishwa do?)" Ammamma prompted her to speak on.
"Vutti abadhalu. Anthe. Nenu edho chinna papa ainattu. (He only lies to me. As if I'm a child to not figure them out.)" She spoke with the veil still over her face, for the facade helped her face them without a tickle in her stomach.
However, it was only after her Sunitha athaiya spoke, she realized that she'd invoked the wrong arguments to make her case. "Nuvvu chinna papa kaavu le. Kaani Intha edigina kooda vaadu chinnodu ani artham kaale? (You aren't a child, we get that. But do you not realize that Advait is one.)"
Sunitha athaiya grumbled on, unable to move ahead from the unintentional comments Kushi had made at her son. "Naa kodukuni godhatlo thosesthaanu ani antundha? (And here she is talking about throwing my son into Godhavari.)"
"Ammamma!" She wailed, pocketing herself deeper into the comforts that ammamma offered.
"Abba malli alingindhe. Yavaraina dhani naemmathiga vundanisthara? (Lord! She's upset again. Won't you people let her be?)" Ammamma said to no one in particular, while she soothed her by rubbing her back.
Advait jumped down to the floor from Dhri's arms. Nestling into his amma's lap, Advait started to suck on his thumb - a dear sight that made Kushi smile and guilt over what she'd said to the little one. "Haan meeru dhani eppudu esuku vasthavule? (Will you ever stop taking her side?)" The daughter-in-law found reason to complaint about her ever supportive mother-in-law.
A jerk and a squeak from the rotors below announced that they were pulling ashore again. Venkaana, their ammamma's trustworthy help, for as long Kushi can remember, appeared at the scene. "Venkanna laanchi malli enduku agindho choodu. Gorintaku konesamu kadha. (Venkanna find out why we are stopping again? We did buy the mehendi leaves already, didn't we?)"
"Abaigaru valla friend vacharandi. Anduke agindhi ammagaru. (Dhrisaab's friend is joining us, memsaab. That's why we are going to the shore.)" Venkaana, replied.
"Malli frienda? Yevarenti? (A friend? Again? Who is it?)" Ammamma sounded curious, but Kushi felt her throat go dry all at once. Without giving away the restlessness, she got up and went around ammamma to hug her from behind.
"Yavaro Arnav garanta ammagaru (Someone by the name Arnavji, memsaab,)" Venkanna said, collecting the snack plates that they had heaped in one corner. Her throat convulsed from the parching and she dropped her gaze from Dhri to the floor. "Abbaigaruki line dhoraka ledhu ani ayyagaru ki phone chesaru andi. (Apparently, he couldn't reach Dhri saab, so he called bade saab.)"
A slow easing came into her muscles and she began to swing back and forth while continuing to hold her ammamma.
"Shit! my phone is switched off," Dhri cussed, tapping his pockets for his phone.
"Dhri! Ammamma mundhu aa matalenti. (Dhri! Mind your language in front of ammamma.)" Sunitha athaiya warned him.
"Mee naanaku panemi ledhu ra. Voorantha pilavadam thappa. (You father has no work, but show you off to the world.)" Now it was ammamma's turn to sulk.
"What has she got to complaint about me, now?" Her papa arrived there too.
"Abbe...emi ledhandi. vuthine...(No...really nothing. well, really...)" Caught mumbling, her ammamma evaded.
"Dhri, check if Arnav needs some help downstairs," Her papa placed a hand over Dhri's shoulder and that unconscious gesture brought a smile to her face for no reason at all. "And keep him there, until I handle the others here. Do you understand?" Quietly the smile disappeared and she replaced it with a slight frown.
"Avunu aa suyodh gadini kooda pilavadam antha avasarama? (Was it necessary to invite Suyodh?)" Dhri addressed his father, shaking his head. Oddly, Vishwa only wanted to sit in as an observant and sipped on his coffee, at occasion turning her gaze to her.
"Nenekkada pilichanu ra? Vaade vasthenu. (You think I called him? He came on his own.)" His father attempted to explain, only to be cut-off by his son. "Right! Nammesaan. (Right! Like I would ever believe that.)"
With Dhri and her father's dispersal, ammamma, turned her attention to her grand daughter. "Amma, naa thalli kadha. (Aren't you my doll?) Podhu pothundhe (We are losing light.) Thala dhuvvi poo petukovachu kadha? (Why don't you let me comb your hair and put flowers on them?)"
She eyed Vishwa a moment before giving her assent. "Sare.(Fine!)" Tossing her white gossamer silk skirt around, she came to the front and seated herself down, as comely a granddaughter than she could ever be.
"Ammamma, she might just be ok with the mehendi too. Ask her," Vishwa goaded the topic that was Sunitha athaiya's sore spot that afternoon.
"Dhaani adagadam enti? Chethulu pattukodam, pettadam. Anthe. (What's the need to ask her? Tie up her hands and we shall do as we wish. That's it.)" Sunitha athaiya declared, nodding at Vishwa and with that Advait was up in no time, stumbling on his small feet. "Chinnoda, nuvvu attani pattu. (Chottu! hold your aunt here, will you?)"
"Pattesaan! (I have got her, amma!)" Advait's pleasure knew no bounds when he thought that his binding act was punishment to his atha(aunt) at some level.
"Ammamma!" she cried again humoring Advait, not meaning one smidgen of her whining at all.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
41