Short stories - 'Modern Day Mariamma' on page 8 - Page 2

Superb One 👍🏼
Gud Narration Giri👏👏

U can try to do some gud novels , as u are intellectual to do so😊

Originally posted by: falconssB

Superb One 👍🏼
Gud Narration Giri👏👏

U can try to do some gud novels , as u are intellectual to do so😊

Originally posted by: .scarlet.

Nice one !!

I should come back and comment Giri akka.

reserved😳

Rainbows of Spring

Pavithra wiped the sweat dripping from her face with the sleeve of her blouse. She had lost count of the number of times she had walked between the kitchen and the dining room from the time she got up in the morning. She felt as if her knee joints would come out loose. Is it just today? It had been the same routine from the day she had stepped into the house as a daughter-in-law.

The morning activities would go on non stop for Pavithra from four to at least nine in the morning... coffee, tea, health drinks, packing lunch for those going out ...breakfast... the high light of all this was that no two family members with the same preference would come at the same time... she would have to prepare the same thing multiple times. Actually she must be thankful for there were only eight people in the house these days... not as earlier when the house would be swarming with people, each with a different character, a different taste, a different need...

Did it make any difference now if the children were grown up? She still had to ensure that they finish their drink or food, otherwise one of the two would definitely happen - they would forget it completely or spill it in the name of some play. In between her cooking she would also have to make many trips to the cupboards to get the children their 'untraceable' clothes or books which would actually be lying visible to the rest of the world. In the meantime, food would have burnt or over flown the vessel and put off the stove fire. What then? Clean the stove once again and continue as if nothing happened..

After all this, lunch... dinner ... but did it all end with just cooking? Didn't she have other household work? If Pavithra were to fill up her thoughts and feelings, a 400 page would not suffice. What ever the situation may be, she never hated her family or found fault with its members. In fact her entire world revolved around her family, her home. But was she turning into a machine? Wasn't there a limit for everything? Nowadays she felt disconnected... her duties lacked her earlier involvement... a feeling of tiredness engulfed her often... a situation of loneliness where she found no one to share her feelings when in fact the house was filled with so many people... a state of confusion... what was her purpose in life?

With a sigh she turned the dosa on the tawa. Her cellphone beeped indicating a message. She gave a quick glance. An unknown number ...it began with a 'dear' and continued with 'restaurant' and 'movie'. What a message in the early morning? She deleted it in disgust and turned her attention back to the tawa.

Finally it was temporarily over... husband Balaji seen off to Mangalore, younger son Sriram packed off to school, daughter Ramya sent to college, brother-in-law Keethivasan, a doctorate student accompanied his father to the bank... the house seemed a bit calmer. Pavithra sat on the couch, stretched her legs and pressed them wanting to utilize every second of her brief rest. She waited for her mother - in -law, Rukmani to finish her pooja. Then the two of them would have their breakfast before Pavithra can resume her work. Rukmani's eighty five year old mother also lived with them. Grandma would finish her prayers but would eat later.

As Pavithra browsed through the newspaper, her cell phone beeped again. Same number... a repeat of the morning message. Some Romeo must have sent. She smiled imagining the sender's expression if he were to learn her age. With a sudden interest she started reading the message attentively.

"I will be happy if you can join me tomorrow for lunch followed by a movie. Awaiting your acceptance eagerly. Sodhappal Rani! Don't disappoint me. Love, JuJi"

She stared unbelievingly at 'Love, JuJi'. Him? After nearly eighteen years? Is he in town tomorrow afternoon?' She read and reread ... still unable to believe.

"Pavithra, shall we eat?" Rukmani called out. Pavithra got up with a deep sigh.

"When is Balaji returning from Mangalore?"

"Tomorrow night", a slight guilt rapped her conscience.

Pavithra always looked forward to her half hour break before tea. That was her rejuvenating time. But today, even that small nap evaded her. The message had been read many times. 'Sodhappal Rani... an apt nickname for me', she smiled.

The fastest traveler in the universe is the mind. Pavithra's thoughts flew twenty years back in a second. At that time, she was in her B.Sc final year. It was campus selection time and though many companies had come for recruitment, there was just one company which was interested in Pavithra's course. She had stood first in the aptitude test. During group discussion round, the room suddenly burst into heavy laughter while she was speaking. Only when the company's HR person gently corrected her, did she realize she had said 'wall on the cat' instead of 'cat on the wall'. What then? She didn't get the job, but earned a nickname from her classmates.. 'Sodhappal Rani', which roughly translated to clumsy queen.

Soon after her studies, her father got a transfer to Bhopal, so her family shifted. Although she found a decent job in Bhopal, she had to quit within two years as her marriage was fixed with Balasundaram aka Balaji. She settled in Chennai with a new role.. a new responsibility.. a new life. Balaji had four sisters after him and the last in the list was Keerthivasan who was six years old when Pavithra entered the house as the eldest daughter-in-law. Having grown up as a single child in her house, Pavithra found the new environment and the experience, noisy, interesting and novel.

Time seemed to fly... marriages of the sister-in-laws, their confinements, functions of the children... after all these years, Juji' had suddenly remembered his 'Sodhappal Rani'.

She received the same message couple of times before the night, only if she knew what or whether to reply as she had no prior experience in such matters.

The next morning brought the issue to a fine conclusion. When her third sister- in- law wanted to take Sriram for a birthday party and her in-laws had to go for a sudden religious function everything fell in place. Keerthivasan was so unpredictable, at times he would display a maturity more than his twenty six years, but other times he would go down even a level lower than Sriram. But didn't Pavithra know how to manage him? She made Ramya to babysit the grandma and with the pretext of visiting a friend at the hospital, she left the house with apprehension.

They met near Adyar Telephone exchange as agreed earlier. It had been during the first few months of her marriage, Pavithra and Balaji had gone to Madurai for a friend's wedding... followed by a visit to Meenakshi amman temple, dinner in Aryaas... and a late night show of Aamir and Juhi Chawla starrer 'kayamat se kayamat thak' with Balaji's snoring as background score. During their short trip, he had learnt her college nickname and teased her nonstop and in turn she had pulled his legs calling him 'Juji'.. was that all a dream or something thing real? After that trip to Madurai, the couple of eighteen years was having their outing alone only today. It is not that they never had a chance earlier, but only that such thoughts never crossed their minds so far.

Balaji took her to a naturopathy restaurant. Concentrating on the oily brinjal curry and the spicy tamarind kuzhambu she had prepared at home for others, Pavithra pushed the green salad, half cooked veggies and steamed large red rice through her throat. As they had some time before the matinee movie show, they walked into the nearby planetarium where they fulfilled their long time dream of sleeping under the twinkling stars. The programme organiser's narration of how he struggled to wake up the two is unnecessary for this story. Next they watched 'English - Vinglish' movie at Thiruvanmiyur Jayanthi theatre. Neither Sridevi nor the French man impressed, but somehow the the movie seemed to affect them in some way.

"As Sridevi tells her niece, there is no need for romance... forget even the respect part... it is more than enough to have good sleep and little privacy now and then", Pavithra was surprised to hear her husband voicing her exact thoughts.

"I was so allergic to even think about going out... always escorting a huge group and my wallet invariably ended empty", as Balaji continued, Pavithra smiled understandingly. Butterflies did not fly in stomachs and hearts didn't flutter, but both of them felt a bit lighter as though a small burden had been lifted off their chests. They reached home separately.

Two days passed as usual.

"What is this?" When Sriram brought her cell phone, Pavithra stood clueless. But when she saw 'Juji's' message, she perspired. Words failed her and she simply stood helpless staring at her son.

"How can you go for a movie and restaurant without us?" Sriram demanded.

"Movie? When?" Grandma wanted to know.

"Wednesday, periya paati."

"Which movie amma?" Ramya was very curious.

"English Vinglish", Pavithra responded without thinking and then bit her tongue.

"Oh, Sridevi's movie. I wanted to watch that. But Pavithra, didn't you say you were going to the hospital?" Rukmani also arrived to increase Pavithra's blood pressure.

"Yes athai... doctor came... no, he was already there... then she went to theatre..."

"I cannot make out head or tail of what you are saying", Rukmani was looking at her intently.

'Neither can I', Pavithra thought to herself and glanced at her husband for support, but he was dutifully counting the number of mustard seeds in his plate. Help came unexpectedly from Keerthivasan.

"Amma, I will tell you. Poor anni, she is already tensed up about her friend, don't give her more stress with your inquiry."

"How can a hospitalized patient go to a movie theatre?" Rukmani had to know.

"Amma, it is not movie theatre... that is operation theatre."

"How do you know all this, Keerthi?"

"Pavithra anni went to visit her friend, right? I brought her home from the hospital."

"But your anni mentioned about Sridevi movie?" Pavithra worried as her mother in law was not willing to let go.

"Amma, I went for that movie with my friends and narrated the story to anni when we were coming back." Pavithra was both scared and surprised. 'How on earth is Keerthi able to concoct a lie so convincingly? Why is he doing this?'

"Anni, please get ready fast. You have to accompany anna and me to the bank for some witness signatures", Keerthivasan hurried her and saved her temporarily.

The alto car carrying a pale faced Pavithra in the front passenger seat, Keerthivasan in the back and driven by Balaji stopped in the next street.

"Pavi, I want to confess something", as Balaji began, Pavithra signaled him to stop pointing Keerthi at the back.

"Relax, Pavithra. Keerthi was the reason for our outing", Balaji smiled.

"What!!"

"Inspite of a love marriage, I am very sad to see the state of your relationship now. That is why I coerced anna into this", Keerthi joined in.

"Love marriage? How did you know?" Balaji was so shocked that he failed to see Pavithra's 'I myself donot know' expression.

Keerthi's mobile phone rang. He left the car with a "Don't go, I will be back in a few minutes."

Pavithra turned towards her husband, "What am I missing here that Keerthi knows?"

"Pavi, when you crushed the poor cat during the group discussion, did you know I was there as my company's representative?"

"Were you there? I was so tensed that I cannot recall what or who of that day", Pavithra confessed.

"I actually came back after few months, but by then you had shifted out. I struggled but then eventually tracked you down to Bhopal. I then had to fix this marriage as if arranged by elders. You know how conservative our families are. They would never have agreed to this alliance if they had known otherwise."

With four unmarried younger sisters at home, Balaji's approach was justifiable, but she felt betrayed having been kept out of his secret all these years. Did her eighteen years of marriage have any value or meaning?

"You could have at least told me", her voice carried all her hurt.

"When you couldn't even recognize me when we came to your house in Bhopal, I did not feel there was any point in telling you that."

"No, you have made a big mistake. If only I had known earlier I could have given more love and involvement instead of nurturing a sense of fear and duty in all my activities", she paused and stared outside.

"On the other hand, I think it is better you did not tell me. I might have involuntarily let out the truth and our families would have thought bad about us."

Keerthivasan returned back.

"Anna, you asked me how I knew, right? How old was I during your marriage? Five or six? I was in your room and clearly remember all that your friends were saying. I did not understand anything then, but later on I began to understand."

"This is why they say, adults should be careful while speaking in front of children", Pavithra commented.

Keerthi laughed, "Yes anni, you are absolutely right. You have to be extremely careful especially in front of kids like our Sriram, otherwise you can get into serious trouble like this morning."

He stopped his laughter and a sudden seriousness entered his voice, "A brother who has one and only purpose in life, to earn for his family with no personal likes or dislikes... and anni, you who has taken birth only to keep her husband's family satisfied... did you realize that both of you have lost your individuality.. your identity... your friendship... closeness? Although living under the same roof, you have drifted apart so far away from each other that at times I have wondered whether you both talk when alone." Pavithra looked at him bewildered.

"You two are the pillars of our house. But for you neither the oldies nor the youngsters can survive. If the pillars were to lean in opposite directions, won't the house come crashing down? Is our family going to remain the same way as it is today? No anni, the older people are not immortals and even the youngsters can leave the house for studies or work. What will you two do then? I felt the need to strengthen your relationship", Keerthi smiled affectionately at his sister- in- law.

Pavithra turned towards Balaji, "Please tell me something. Is Keerthi the script writer for our Wednesday's episode?"

Keerthi laughed, "No anni, I am only a director."

Pavithra gave a piercing look at Balaji, "I thought so."

"Why, what happened, do you have any problem with anna's abilities?" Keerthivasan queried looking at his brother.

"No everything was fine, except that he took me to 'Solayil Jeevanam' and bought me diabetic lunch. I couldn't digest that". The car filled with Keerthi's laughter.

"Anna, of all the restaurants... couldn't you think of one fitting the occasion?"

"What could I do, Keerthi? All I wanted to do was disappear into some place before anybody saw us together."

Pavithra nodded her head in agreement, "yeah even I felt the same way."

"Oh my God! Anna, you seem to live in the nineteenth century. Pavithra anni is your legal W - I -F - E . You have every right to take her with you any where you wish", Keerthi shook his head in disbelief.

Pavithra felt bad for thinking Keerthi to be immature. He was so clear in his thinking , but what about Pavithra and Balaji? Wanting to give up old values but not able to, at the same time not finding the courage to embrace newer thinking also... she felt it was actually them who were living in Trishangu's heaven.

"I have one serious doubt. Is Keerthi writing his thesis based on our life?" Pavithra's question put Balaji in discomfort.

"Kadavule... Keerthi, are you doing something like what your anni said? Please don't mention our names."

Keerthi laughed, "Am I a fool to mention your names? I will only refer you both as Mrs and Mr. Nut Loose." Pavithra pretended to twist his ear.

"Pavi, you brought him up and look at the respect he has for us."

"Ok students! From now on, I shall write the script for the monthly episodes. Don't forget that I will also be the taskmaster director. Now time to go.. bye anna... bye anni", Keerthivasan got down from the car.

"Keerthi", Pavithra and Balasundaram called out simultaneously.

"Thank you da..", Balaji's voice had raw feelings.

"Good direction", Pavithra appreciated.

Keerthi saluted playfully and walked away. Pavithra and Balaji looked at their 'elder son' with happiness and affection.

Giri..

arumai arumai.. 👍🏼

You made my day.. 😊

Do write many more and enthrall us.. 🤗

Nithya

Originally posted by: nithyamkv

Giri..

arumai arumai.. 👍🏼

You made my day.. 😊

Do write many more and enthrall us.. 🤗

Nithya

Originally posted by: .scarlet.

Hey

So simple n sweet !!

A good one again !

Btw... m Mansi😊

Originally posted by: girivanam

Welcome Book Talk Forum Contest Winner😊. I appreciate your comments. Thanks ma, Navetha.

i remember telling the same to her before. She has her own style when it comes to writing ⭐️

Giri - i got glued and was already imagining the scenes on my mind - that much i had enjoyed it. Love the way you capture everything so well ⭐️

i become your fan giri