Chapter 4
March, 2013
"Finally Rao is heaved off a major responsibility. Beti ki shadi tho pakka ho gayi. See how the situation has changed, it is much easy to find alliances for daughters than sons these days. I think we'll be meeting next in Jodha or Samyuktha's engagement. What say Raghu and Krishna?" Mr.Srinvas kicked off the conversation that late afternoon when the good old friends sat relaxing in the nearly vacant function hall after a palatial lunch. It was Rao's daughter's engagement day; Rao being a friend cum neighbor of Raghuram and an ex-neighbor of Krishna, both the families couldn't give a miss to this function.
Impassive to respond, Raghuram shot a casual smile at his friend. "Come on Raghuram, don't try to flee away with your smiles. Tell me when are you planning for Jodha's marriage? Searching for a good match is a meticulous process, I think you should start soon", unwilling to give up, Srinivas compelled Raghuram for an answer.
"Well, if you insist, I'd say we have ample time for this process Srini. Jodha and Samyu demanded not to bring this topic before them till they cross two years mark in their career. Is'nt it Krishna?"
"Right Raghu!! Both of them have set a road map of their life and they strictly adhere to it. We have no choice except to obey them!!" shrugging his shoulders in feebleness, Krishna smiled at the group.
Having helped the host with packing sweets and gifts to be sent to groom's family as part of shagun, Vasudha and Sasi joined the boisterous group. "What Krishna bhaiyya, map bolke kuch keh rahe ho aap. Conspiring against some one or what?" pulling a chair to settle beside Raghuram, Vasudha questioned Samyu's father with an inquisitive smile.
"Aah!! What else could be the hottest topic with jawan ladki's fathers around Sudha. We are discussing about Jodha and Samyu's marriage plans. And regarding conspiracy, I'm totally innocent, but definitely Srini is up to something." pointing his hand at Srini, Krishna faked innocence.
Banging on Krishna's shoulder, Srini look toward the ladies to justify his stand. "No scheme Vasudha ji, I'm reminding these fathers of their responsibilities. Rao's daughter is one year younger than Jodha and Samyuktha. Now that even she is engaged, I'm suggesting these two to wake up. We should look for suitable profiles, scrutinize, filter and then finally pick a perfect one. Tell me how tedious this task is? But Raghu and Krishna are not so favorable with this idea", he explained as if complaining on the indifferent fathers.
"Makes sense bhai saab, finding a suitable guy is definitely not going to be simple . You don't mind these fathers' statements please, ye log betiyon ke ghulam hai. Hai na Vasudha?", Sasi shook her head in disdain pointing her finger at the fathers sitting relaxed and chilling out as if not bothered with the conversation.
"Ha bhai sahab, you know better about our families, our background and also our daughters. If you come across some real good matches, let us know." Vasudha nodded in approval seconding Sasi's opinion.
"Ah!! Looks like we have sequence of marriages queued up for next year. Even Rao is planning to get his son Kiran married next year. We'll be inundated with functions, but make sure they don't coincide with each other, else we will be in trouble", another jubilant friend jested, while rest of the people erupted into bout of laughter.
"Arre you are right yaar. Kiran is also in the wedding race na. So Rao is also added to dutiful fathers list. But his job is going to be tougher than these two. Aajkal achi ladki dhoondna bahut mushkil ho gaya". While casually retaliating his views, an abrupt idea smacked Srini's mind leaving him all excited. "Raghuu," almost screaming in delight, he spouted "actually, why don't you ask Kiran for Jodha. Rao and you were friends from college and now neighbors too. Why don't you transform your friendship to relationship? Kiran and Jodha should also be happy, as they know each other very well. Why to go for an outside match when we have such a good one in our circle?"
An impulsive lull prevailed for few minutes as that very proposal took every one by surprise. Raghuram, vasudha, Krishna and Sasi stared blankly at each other unable to reciprocate, as Srini's suggestion made them numb. Raghu moved uneasily in his seat not knowing how to react to this unforeseen situation. After a swift thought process, Raghu decided to break the awkwardness and ease the nerves of rest of the group "Mmm!! Your proposal is sensible Srini, but I don't know what to say. We never thought of this before though we've been friends for many years. Gautam, Jodha, Samyu, Kiran all these kids grew up before our eyes. We always viewed them as children of one family, but never anticipated in this way. I'm not sure how Jodha or Kiran would react to this", he sighed heavily putting forth his hesitation.
"Srini bhaiyya, I believe this is not going to work out. Though Jodha address Rao and Lakshmi as Mama/Mami, she always had a brotherly feeling towards Kiran. He is just like Gautam to her. I'm sure she wouldn't agree to this, in fact I expect the same from Kiran too. We better forget this here" Vasudha asserted subsiding the discussion.
"But we can talk..", Srini's trail had to halt abruptly as he saw Jodha and Samyu approaching them. "All good oldies are having great time, haan? Koun sa discussion chal raha hain?" draping her hand around her father's shoulder, Jodha questioned the group.
"Yes dear, very important conversation is going on", Srini paused for a few seconds to anticipate their reaction and then continued with a sly grin "We are talking about your marriage plans".
"Why uncle? Do you envy our freedom?" creasing her brows in an intrusive frown, Jodha pouted.
"Yes Jodhu. These people just can't withstand our independence. This is the only topic for them these days. Maa, Lakshmi aunty is calling you both, she needs some help, chalo. Papa we have a bit of shopping to finish before we reach home. We'll take our car, so you go with Raghu uncle," not giving a chance for further debate, Samyu hurried the ladies intending to escape the irksome discussion.
Glaring affectionately at the receding young ladies, Srini asserted once again, "Why don't you give a second thought to my suggestion Raghu?"
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"Ouffo!! What a heavy lehenga!! I need to get rid of this immediately, to hell with these signals and traffic. ", Samyu sighed in disgust one more time as their car was caught up in Hyderabad's heavy traffic at a congested signal point.
"Samyu, this the third time you are complaining. You can't carry a lehenga for few hours, I don't know how you will be managing work, home, kids in future." Sasi chided her daughter for her impatience.
"Ah you started again mamma!! Like people say, "all roads lead to Rome", you link every single utterance of mine to marriage, kids, blah blah blah. Please spare me maa", clasping her palms loud, Samyu turned back to her mother making a "chod do mujhe" face, while Jodha and Vasudha laughed at their cat-mice fight.
"Waise aunty, in the function hall, what were you discussing when we came to call you? Srini uncle was about to say something, but he stopped on seeing us. What was that?" fixing her gaze on the red signal, Jodha enquired the ladies, recollecting the nervousness on her Mom's face when they interrupted their talk in the hall.
This unforeseen question from Jodha numbed the ladies and they looked to each other in a say-or-not-to-say dilemma. Getting a go-ahead nod from Vasudha, Sasi decided to deal with it right then. "Nothing serious dear, just a casual talk on children's marriages, Srini uncle suggested us to start looking matches for you both too. And he came up with a proposal especially for you Jo," she said exchanging wry glances with Vasudha. "Proposal?? For me?? Srini uncle ko salary nahi mil raha hain kya, that he started matrimony business", Jodha smirked.
"Wo sab chod, ask me about the proposal first. You both will be surprised," Sasi teased them. Intrigued, Samyu immediately turned to her mom questioning, "Whom did he propose and why'd we be surprised?"
Vasudha decided to take this opportunity to apprehend her daughter's intentions, so she calmly announced, "Srini uncle was suggesting Rao uncle's son Kiran for you Jodha".
"What!!" with an evident perplex in their voices, both the young ladies uttered in unison.
"Kiran for Jodha, ridiculous" Samyu nodded her head in disapproval and started laughing while Jodha's reaction was no different from her pal's. "Exactly samyu!! This is highly ridiculous. How can he even think so?" joining her friend in laughter, Jodha shrugged her shoulders in disbelief. "And what did you people say Ma? What was papa's reaction?"
"Mmm, our reaction was likely to yours. It took a few minutes for us to sink in what he was saying. Then your papa and I dismissed it off stating that you both share a sibling kind of relation, Srini uncle didn't look convinced though".
Samyu and Jodha stared at each other on hearing that. Communicating through their eyes, they decided to reveal a long-hidden secret so as to clear the air. "Aunty, mamma! We're going to share you something which none of you are aware of. Kiran is in love with a girl from his college. He hid it from his parents as he suspected Rao uncle wouldn't approve of this relation. He'll break the news after his sister's marriage. Till then don't slip your tongues before Rao uncle or Lakshmi aunty, okay?" Samyu disclosed the news with a statutory warning.
"Is it? How come you people knew it? And why didn't you tell us before. When did you start hiding things from us, huh?" Vasudha and Sasi darted skeptical glares at their daughters.
"Stop stop, please don't get hyper now! Don't ask us how we know. We are youth darling, we have our ways. We didn't tell you because this is Kiran's secret and he should be the one to reveal it. We had to divulge this now to you because Jodha is pulled into this matter", Samyu explained with a pleasing smile trying to pacify them.
Banging with her fist on Samyu's head, Vasudha said, "Idiot, you have an explanation for everything. Ok, you are excused for hiding this from us, but never do this again, especially if the matter belongs to you. We don't want to know about you from a third person, understand? We know you'll not put us into that situation, but just a motherly caution, okay?"
"Chill Maa, you know that we can't hide from you even if we try", Jodha winked at her mom looking through the rear view mirror.
"What ever, finally we have a solid reason to dismiss this proposal. But Sudha, didn't it look strange to you that Srini ji came up with this idea all of a sudden. Somehow I felt like he deliberately started the topic of marriages, just to put in this proposal before us. Don't you think so?" recollecting their earlier conversation, Sasi put forward her doubts before Vasudha. "No clue Sasi, may be it just struck him then. Let's leave it now, jo ho gaya so gaya", Vasudha sighed in relief and leaned back on the seat contended.
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September 6, 2013
"Currently real estate transactions have slowed down Bhaiyya due to state bifurcation issue. But this hasn't affected our site value I suppose, I'm still presented with alluring deals". It was one of those tepid Septembers' late evenings; Raghuram, Vasudha and another elderly man were sitting leisurely in the plush chairs arranged in the middle of the lawn. The empty teacups and nearly empty pakoda plates indicated that they've been chatting for quite a long. AP state separation, it's impact on real estate was the most buzzing topic all over the state; and it is no different with this group either.
"Right Raghu, real estate is pretty unstable now. It would take a year or two to stabilize depending on the bifurcation announcement. Anyways, you shouldn't be concerned with these highs and lows as you have a different plan altogether for that site. Waise..", the elderly man paused glancing at the scooty that just made it's entry through the main gate.
"Hey bade papa! What a pleasant surprise? When did you come? Did peddamma (badi ammi) also come with you?" bewildered by the sudden appearance of her bade papa on an unexpected day; Jodha parked her scooty swiftly and rushed to them. Reposing herself on the hand rest of her father's chair, she continued with her enquiry, "I called mamma in the afternoon, she didn't inform me even then?"
"Rapid fire questions, huh?" fondly glancing at his brother's daughter, Mr Pardha Saradhi replied with an endearing smile. "I came to Hyderabad this morning along with a client dear. There was an important hearing in the court today, so I was engaged all the day. Even Ma and papa were not aware of my arrival till I directly thrashed into home at five. Badi ammi didn't come with me as I'm here on official visit, but surely she had sent her love for you in form of a new sweet she prepared. We haven't dared tasting it yet, but you have no escape as she'll be awaiting your feed back".
"Hahaha", while Raghu and Sudha chuckled at his remarks, Jodha delivered a light punch on the elderly man's tummy. "Too much haan! Your tummy proves how good a chef my badi ammi is".
"Argh! This is because I eat out escaping her experiments darling." Mr Saradhi exhaled deep to pull his tummy in and continued, "By the way, how is your work? Is it still as exciting as it was a year ago?"
Grabbing a pakoda from her father's plate, she plainly said, "Probably not bade papa. It's getting monotonous with time. Actually my expectations were different when I chose NCC. I anticipated more practical exposure, a gratifying learning experience. But here I seldom get a chance of site visits. The problem in these bigger firms is with more number of people working on a task. If 5 people work on a module in a small company, it'd be 15 people working on the same in a larger company. You know what, my classmates working in relatively smaller firms are technically more potent than me now. So I'm looking for a change, probably after completing 2 years with NCC. Next time I'll prefer a smaller organization, what do you say bade papa?" with an evident discontent in her tone, Jodha elucidated her not-so-excited one and a half year career in NCC.
Nodding in agreement to her points, the scholarly man affirmed her decision. "Of course Jodha. There is no point in lingering over a job that hinders your professional growth, that too when your priority is a better learning curve over a better pay scale. None of us would suggest you to compromise or to adjust. And regarding your next job search, you may not worry about it. One of my clients is into same business, you can easily get in there". Noticing the growing infuriation on her face at his last comment, Mr Saradhi continued with a persuading smile, "Wait, let me finish before you fire on me. What I mean by my last statement is, I'll help you only with the entry step i.e forwarding your CV to them. You have to go through the normal interview process there after and I promise I'll not let my name out in this deal at any point of time, okay? You see, even I can't withstand people calling my capable child a recommendation candidate."
Letting a hearty smile out at her bade papa's explanation, Jodha playfully winked at her father. "Papa! Look at the benefits of having a famous advocate in our coterie. He came up with a solution in minutes."
"That's not all Jodhu. Your papa and bade papa have planned a surprise for you on your birthday. Be prepared for it!" Vasudha spouted with a conniving smile.
"Surprise? What sort of mamma?" came an impulsive question from her, though she very well knew that she wouldn't get a hint of it. "What ever it is, I wish it wouldn't be a devilish one like a marriage proposal or so. Anyways, I have one and a half month in store. Let me be on my own mission of cracking your surprise" blinking her eyes at the group she got up to leave saying, "I'll change and come".
"Wait Jodha", bade papa stopped her there as her remarks aroused his curiosity, "What do you mean by "devilish marriage proposal"? You'll be turning 25 this year, are you still not interested in marriage or have you found one?" raising his brows, he questioned with an apparent curiosity.
"Aw! Time and again you prove that you are a lawyer papa. I neither found my guy nor am I disinterested in marriage, so just relax. I'm not a feminist or a nun to do so", tossing an assuring smile she continued, "But I'm tired of these filthy discussions. This has become a crux wherever I go. Instead I want you all to decide and come up with one final proposal to which I assure I'll abide by, come what may".
"Aise kaise Jodha, don't you have any preferences for your man?" amazed by her reply, bade papa couldn't stop asking so, but the response came from Raghuram this time. "Bhaiyya, we had this debate much earlier and this was the outcome of it. "You'll obviously pick a good-looking, educated and well-mannered guy. You will also do enough of back ground check on his family. But to be frank, how far can you judge a person based on his qualifications or on his family background? I believe we hardly get to know a person's character until we live with them. So what sort of preferences do you except me to put forth papa?" This stance of her left me with no option other than conceding to her conviction bhaiyya, after all, we can propose a good match but can't guarantee a blissful marriage."
"Hmm! It's not easy to comprehend girls these days Raghu. They speak sense", yielding up to Jodha's outlook, badepapa sighed and retorted, "You are safely escaping throwing this responsibility on our head Jodhu. Had you loved someone, we would have been saved from this painstaking process. Ab na jaane kaha kaha dhoondna padega, humare Jodha ke Akbar ko". This witty remark left all the three smiling.
"Akbar!!" continuing with her laugh, she spouted "Akbar or Babar who ever!! It is now your headache. But papa, make sure your Akbar doesn't have 5000 women in his life, I prefer to be the only woman in my man's life, I can't accept polygamy, ok", darting a warning gaze at them, she progressed to her room leaving the amusing trio behind.
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October 19, 2013
"Arre you are not yet ready? You ordered me to be ready by 2:00, now it is almost 3:00 and you are still sitting relaxed, heights!!" adjusting her peacock blue Uppada silk saree pleats, Vasudha yelled at Raghuram in detestation.
"Oh, you are ready, itni jaldi kaise? I mean it was just 45 minutes since you locked up in dressing room, I thought you'd take 30 more minutes. Meenu, tujhe nahi lagta ki aaj mamma bahut jaldi tayyar ho gayi?" hiding his smirk from Sudha, Raghuram put forth a grave face to his daughter lying on the opposite couch.
"Mmm, you are right papa. She is pretty fast this time", flapping the novel she was engulfed in, Jodha restored to sitting posture all the while scanning her mom; she then leaned forward as if to share a secret and whispered to her father, "The last time when she got ready for Rao uncles' daughter engagement, I surely remember she took 1 hour, 25 minutes and 50 seconds. That was all time record", murmuring loud enough to ignite her mom's temper, the father-daughter duo hi-fied in glee.
"You jealous folks, what matters ultimately is I'm ready on time and your papa is'nt. You better accept it".
"Mamma, why do you waste so much time when you know Papa takes just 10 minutes to put all your efforts in vain? In his cool formals, he always dominates you with his smashing looks. My papa's smile is enough to grab every one's attention, you too better accept it", smirking at her mom, Jodha willingly praised her father enjoying the irritation on her mom's face.
"Argh!! What else can I expect from a papa ki chamchi, leave it, it's obvious that you both are jealous of me", turning to her still chilling husband, she yelled in vexation, "You've heard what you were yearning to hear na. Go and change now atleast, we are getting late!!"
"God! Toofan started, I better leave now. Be right back in 10 minutes dear", winking at his enraged wife, he rushed to their bedroom to fresh up.
Reposing herself beside her daughter, Sudha asked, "Jodhu, by what time will Samyu and Priya come? Ask them to stay back as we might get late in the night. We will try to return as early as possible, but I don't think we can start from the venue before 10:00pm, aunty should allow me to leave na. If we start at 10, we can be at home by 1:00am at the best. I am sure she'll screw me for your absence; I told her we three are coming. Now I have to face her all alone!!"
"Kya kare mamma, you know how uncomfortable I feel on first day of periods. It's too weary to sit for hours in those heavy costumes. Thoda sa back pain bhi hain. Don't worry aunty will understand, I'll call and apologize her later!!"
"I'm ready, all set to go Vasu? Touch up wachup koyi baki nahi hain na?" buttoning his handcuffs, Raghu approached them darting a teasing smirk at vasudha.
"Wow!! Super papa, you look dashing in that snuff shirt and cream white pants." Getting up from sofa, Jodha side hugged her father and deliberately passed that compliment looking at her mom through the corner of her eyes.
"Ouffo! It's not your fathers' marriage, his friend's son's marriage. No one would be interested in UNCLE jis there. If you both are done with your nautanki, can we go?" sighing in exhaustion, Vasudha too got up from the couch. Chuckling at her mom's expressions, Jodha wrapped hand around Vasudha's waist and pulled her closer. "Don't be so pissed off mamma," she whispered to her mom, "You know what, you look smoking hot in this peacock blue saree. Don't know many hearts would skip beating today."
"Idiot", grinning in embarrassment, Vasudha patted her cheeks while Raghuram laughed out heartily; meantime Jodha quickly grabbed her mobile from the couch and clicked a selfie with them capturing the moments forever.
1:00am
A sumptuous dinner at Paradise followed by unlimited gossiping in Jodha's bedroom, the three friends succumbed to profound slumber after the clock struck twelve.
"Mein pareshan pareshan pareshan", Jodha's ringtone buzzed for second time forcing her to wake up. Stretching her arm reaching out to mobile, she blinked her eyes hard trying to focus on the screen that was flashing "Daddy".
"Haa Papa kahiye, kaha tak pahunch gaye aap?" her voice sounded heavy in sleep.
"Madam, who is speaking there? This is Dornakal station constable calling. Kya AP 28 CG 2556 aapki gaadi hain?"
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Edited by hemakeerti - 10 years ago
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