Baby's baby
II immediately used her favorite ammunition
"She was here last night, abhi gayin subah, to bring her in laws" she lied😕
"Poor thing, she runs between both houses taking care of things" Sam sighed
"She is like you, she wants to control every one's life" Manya chuckled
Sam hit her playfully "Sahi baat bolti hoon main, tujhe sun na nahi hai"
"What was Mr Iyer saying to you?" Sam asked
"Umm.." R&B dragged his feet
"Some secret?" Manya prodded
"He said its a tradition for the women to return to their parents house tomorrow and stay until delivery" he said blandly
"KAL SE?" Sam asked in disbelief
He nodded carelessly
"OMG!! Kaise allow karenge hum?" Sam argued
AYYYO
UMM...
APPA...
HE JUST CAME LAST NIGHT
HOW CAN I STAY HERE FOR TWO MONTHS?
I CANT
I CANT
I CANT
II fretted silently
Amma appeared again "sam Mrs Vora wants your help" "Ishitaaa"
"I am ready Ma" she turned to her husband
"Vareya?" she asked
He nodded
"Main baat karoon Mr Iyer se?" Manya asked
"No no... please MERI MA" Sam joined hands begging
"I told him II cant make it tomorrow" her husband said bluntly, very coolly
AYYYO!!!
II's heart skipped a giant beat
As color rushed to her face
AYYO HOW EMBARRASSING
WHAT WILL APPA THINK?
HE WILL THINK MY HUSBAND CANT STAY WITHOUT ME
Appa appeared "Lets go kanna" "vandu is here" he said with a bigg smile
II smiled relieved
"Sam Akka aa gayin"
"Pakadkar daant ti hoon" Sam promised rushing out
Akka grinned "Yaha mandli lagaakar baithe ho?" she asked as if there was no issue with her showing up at 7 AM
Shubhang looked AH-DOOR-A-BUL in a tiny orange dhoti and green kurta, he had faint traces of wispy hair now
"Vaaa daa, motta papa" she snatched and hugged him
R&B lingered, as Shubhang lifted his gaze up up and up to stare at the dude
"Hey.. lil man" R&B whispered
"Chithapa sollu" II taught him
The boy did a half smile
R&B reached and took her
Sam and Vandu chattered as Manya looked on
"Raat ko aakar subah gaayab ho gayi?" Sam asked accusingly
"KAUN?" Akka asked baffled
"TUMMM"
"Umm yaa" Akka nodded uncomfortably
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was seated east facing ona wooden takht at the temple, the hall was decorated elaborately, the shehnai thundered as she
entered and was seated, Periappa sat in his easy chair not too far from the stage mumbling and giggling
Ammafirst invited Manya, (she was a clever fox) to garland her SIL, Manya was delighted to do it
Akka sat in the first row teasing II
R&B leaning on a far window talked with Ranjan and Tan, his shield to the world, Amma's friends and Appa's sought him out, and ogled or tried to talk
Various hand painted clay pots with lots of bangles were arranged like an arc around where II sat
Amma was invited by the priest to go adorn it on her daughter
Amma teared up, as she picked up the first bunch
II and Amma gazed at each other the longest time😳😭
"Kozhandaikki kozhandai" Amma let her tears flow, Appa picked up the edge of his veshti and shed some tears😭
Amma arranged a stack of green on her right, turned to Sam AND Manya and invited them to stack her left,
R&B was seen taking pictures with a fancy camera with a mile long lens
He caught a sparkling tear trop by II's nose ring, his lens whirred to capture the tear drop in full form
A large measuring cup( padi ) with paddy grain with husk,( nellu ) a lit diya was placed on the heaped measure, silver coins placed on II's head two on her shoulders 2 on her feet and stomach and hip
A bunch of ladies lined up to do teeka, apply a haldi chandan paste speck on her cheek, her arms and her feet, flower string in her hair
and holding the measuring cup tap the spots with the coin and bless her ethi irakkudhal. Then perform a arti...
By the time the routine was done it was past 11 AM
Then began a long havan...
A young boy and a girl were invited to grind some fresh banyan sprigs and a spianch variety called august or hummingbird tree leaves (agathi keerai)
They were asked to smash and squish the leaves, and the essence was gathered in a silver bowl and
poured into a silk cloth, a drop of essence will be then later squeezed in II's nose as part of tradition.
Crowd swelled 100s of Bhalla acuqaintces filled the hall many shooting videos...
"Uncle its too early to send her home" Manya went to bat for her brother, un invited, unannounced
"Well its a tradition Ms Manya," Appa was polite
He wanted his daughter home starting tomorrow
He was already pissed by his SIL's response at home
Manya caught him at a wrong time
Bala's mother was making all sorts of unreasonable demands to the catering boys asking for hot water with jeera
Hot water with ginger
Coffee with extra decoction
Mr Sitaraman the cook had to come up and talk with Appa, only to realize Delhi's high society crammed the room
Mr Sitaraman was thrilled to see Sam and Ranjan and spent most of his
time sucking up to them in the hope he will land some references and clients in the posh Cpuri area and and maybe even politicians homes
He recognized a couple MPs in the crowd
"Mr V Iyer is in the big league now" Sitaraman nodded to himself
"Its tradition, I will speak with Sam" appa smiled dismissively
"Hes not even here most of the time, hejust got here last night, so its going to be hard to send Ishita" Manya was loving the cat fight
"Yes yes, there in lies the whole problem, he is having a child and never in the country" Appa slammed back
"He has a job Uncle"
"Thats fine, but my daughter will be in DII for delivery, I will speak with Mr Ranjan"
"U want him to quit and move to India?" Manya challenged
"No he can stay in Paris, my daughter will be in RK Puram" Appa said smugly
Vandu walked over distressed "appa rendu perum malai 10 vaati eriyachu, (Nandu and Shravu have climbed the rocky mountain of the temple 10 times)
PLEASE go tell them not to do, they are also taking Lakshmi's daughters those girls are wearing pattu pavadai if they slip in the moisture"
Appa glared at Manya and walked away
"Chalo Manya, Amma is calling u for arti" Vandu held her elbow
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