Avan, Aval Adhu 468
The words " stunned, shocked " would not suffice to describe what everyone felt or thought as they stood staring at Spartan who had just finished narrating the story of the sacred pendant with the Kali Yantra that lay in the pooja tray.
Daksha true to soul and her nature, began clapping loudly, and then unable to hold herself back she stepped forward and hugged Spartan tightly, exclaiming, ' Young man, you are just an amazing creature. How do you know all this?'
A thousand questions bubbled up in Madhu's mind but she could not form them into sounds and instead began crying happily and sadly and did both at the same time.
Daksha stepping back, looked up into Spartan's eyes and enthusiastically asked, ' Who are you, young man? ' and then abruptly fell silent and stood staring at him with open mouth and big eyes.
Parthiban hurriedly stepped forward fearing for Daksha's well-being and apologized to Spartan, ' Sir, please don't hurt her. For despite all her brutally frank and honest questions and observations, she is a very kind, gentle, and helping soul.'
Placing his right hand on Daksha's head, Spartan looked at Parthiban and said, ' I would never hurt her or any of you. For that matter, I rarely hurt anybody and it is usually people who bring hurt and sorrow on themselves.'
Turning to Daksha, ' You are all right as you are right now. But, just be careful with that awesome intelligence of yours. For, the rest of us are not equipped to handle all that you throw at us.'
Then giving her a gentle hug, he told her, ' We will talk more. Soon ' and looked at Madhu and Ravi and asked them if they were ready to get married.
All of them nodded like Zombies and began to gather around the small pooja room when Major Param Singh entered and announced in a loud voice, ' I am extremely sorry for interrupting this moment but we have a small problem.'
Ravi smiled and asked him, ' Major Saab, what is the problem now? More unexpected guests?'
Major Param Singh nodded and smiled, ' The words, more and guests would both be the wrong way to describe the crowd that is waiting outside and they are clamoring for you, sir.'
Rasaathi Ammal hurriedly and worriedly asked Ravi what was going on outside.
Smiling, he replied, ' Amma, you think I can get married in our own village, and that too in secret.'
Shrugging his shoulders casually, ' We tried but failed ' and looking at everybody, ' Okay people, I think it is time to shift this ceremony to the front porch right away.'
Unable to comprehend his mysterious words, all of them mutely followed Ravi and Rasaathi Ammal as they went out to meet the crowd of people who were supposedly gathered outside the house.
They went out and saw for themselves the entire population of Kumarapalayam standing there and the crowd was made up of all ages.
The moment they saw Ravi, a few of the village elders spoke up loudly and with passion.
' Master sir, Iyaa, this village and all of us exist because of you and you alone. All of us worship you and thank you more than the very God that stands watch over this land.'
An old lady began to cry loudly, ' All of us look on you as our firstborn and as our leader and yet you want to get married in secret. How can you keep us away from attending one of the most important ceremonies that is taking place among all of us?'
The oldest man, Kannappan folded his hands and wailed with emotion, ' Saami, the land we live on, work on and the school that our children, and grandchildren study in are because of your kindness and benevolence. How can you stop us from attending and giving our blessing to you, who we think of as our very child?'
Falling to his knees, he begged for himself and for all the others, ' Please don't separate us from you and your family.'
Ravi nodded and then stepping aside pointed to his mother and the priest who were placing the family deity of the Madurai Amman on a small stool and said, ' Forgive me for hurting all of you but the circumstances were such that I was left with no choice. But, now that all of you are here, we will get married before you and with all your blessings.'
Taking Madhu's hand in his, Ravi slowly stepped down the stairs and stood next to the porch and together with everybody watched as the priest began to chant and invoke the entities that preside over a Hindu wedding.
After a few moments of chanting, he came down and raised the tray and Ravi Kumar took the sacred thread with the pendant and gently placed it around Madhurima's neck and tied the first knot and magic happened.
The magic, the miracle that took place would be spoken of, whispered reverently for decades to come and long after Ravi and Madhu and everyone there would have passed on.
Hundreds of flowers began to rain down from the trees and everyone looked up to see what was going on and wondered if a sudden gust of wind had shaken the tree forcing it to drop its flowers. But the tree had no flowers and everyone watched mesmerized as hundreds of birds dropped flowers that they were holding on their beaks.
Ravi Kumar tied the second knot and another magic happened, for out of the forest came a huge elephant that looked like a small hill and majestically came and stood in front of the house and raising its trunk trumpeted three times and then quickly vanished back into the forest.
Ravi looked at Madhu and winking his right eye, said, ' I know who is doing this ' and tied the third knot and waited.
Everybody stood rooted to the piece of ground they were standing on and looked up at the trees and at the front gate wondering what magic was going to happen next.
Five fully armed Chakravyuh Commandos came running with fear in their eyes, yelling, ' Major Saab, Sher, Sher. Coming here ' and Param looked at them and asked confusedly, ' Sher? You mean lion?'.
Before they could reply, a huge male lion as big as a car calmly strolled in and stood staring at Ravi and Madhu and then falling to its knees bellowed loudly and then returned back to the forest.
Malar nudged her right elbow into Azhagan's left side and whispered, ' My lord, when are you going to grow up and stop playing these games that young boys do? Poor people, what if one of them suffered a heart attack.'
Azhagan smiled, ' I would have taken care of it. But I am glad Buddha did as I requested although he does not seem very pleased with me for using him for one of my tricks. I guess, I will have to go, beg and appease him after all this is done.'
Do you believe in magic? I do for I think all of us and all this life and world is full of magic. But the biggest magic is love and kindness and showing that to others in this world of illusion that we know as Maya.
I, you, and all of us will go sooner or later. But for now, enjoy this magic that we have here and enjoy the stories that I create for all of you.
The boys and girls who went into the dark and came back with light.
Anupamaa
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