Ad nauseam
Unpleasant things dont come to an end when we want it to. Manya and Appa were seeking each other out to argue and question each other
Appa went off to round up the kids Manya went away to do arti, watched II's godh bharai
with appam (a rice flour-jaggery banana-deep fried donuts) and kozhakattai (modak) tied into her aanchal
Sam asked Amma a million questions at times making Amma lose track of who she was talking to and start answering in Tamil
Janaki Athai and Vandu stepped in to explain where Amma couldnt it
The Bhallas had brought their video guy and photographer
The temple looked like Kamal'sdaughter was getting married or something, in fact ACP South was invited too, along with ACP Central
The cop cars and pilot cars jammed the tiny lane outside the rickety templegates, and the Munirka Ring Rd (Olaf Palme Marg)
"She cannot raise a baby alone and focus on her job and her love for singing" Appa said bluntly
"She doesnt have to, hes made more trips to India in the last year than the previous five years combined" Manya shot back
"Its nothing to celebrate I say, she is his wife, if he doesnt visit during the first year after marriage when will he?"
"He owns a company Uncle" Manya was furious
"Maybe he should have given it more thought" Appa said bluntly, not happy at all when he visualized II being home alone in MM with the baby 6 months down the road
Akka was inscrutable
she had a confrontation of sorts with Amma, two days ago actually, on March 2nd? 3rd?
"Is Appa going to make all the Malai Mandir arrangements?" she had asked shocked
"Ur MIL has barely returned from the hospital, Janaki Athai's hubby and Appa dont see eye to eye, we dont have sons, so yes" Amma said firmly
"Appa wants to do everything grandly no" Vandu blurted
"Vandu" Amma warned
"We cannot constantly play catch up with the Punjabis Ma"
"We are not competeing Vandita" Amma was offended
"Enakku kovil la panninela?" (Did u arrange for me at the temple?)
There!!!
There was a long pause, Selvi summoned Amma to say Periappa had soiled his veshti as the new
nurse did gujaals (Tamil slang for sex talk) with his GF in the balcony
amma hung up and didnt call Akka back
When Appa returned home and they could tide over Periappa's crisis Amma found a quiet moment to tell Appa, Akka "might be unhappy"
Appa refused to believe it
But got his own preview when he called Bala to talk about some guy in Madurai through whom he had ordered 20 dozen bangles from the Meenakshi Temple
Bala's cousin was goingt o ship it from Chennai
Appa's brothers were "too busy" to go down to Madurai from Tanjore
"Ur knee is bothering you, Periappa is perpetually sick, why are you doing this Pa the kovil is still cold and foggy in the mornings, the steps will be slippery"
"Umm... terrace is too small, I called Mr Ranjan, he expects 500 people, son's wife is pregnant.. no?" Appa explained
"We " Akka stopped
"Vandu..." Appa spoke too
"Kovil (temple) umm..." Akka wanted to be unhappy but when she thot of II wasnt able to muster up resentment
In her own inner struggle she ended up not showing up last night March 5th
Back to Appa and Manya...
"He will be here until the baby" "So let her be in C Puri"
"Your father said he will go and come back" Appa called Manya's bluff
Manya struggled to come up with a snarky retort
Sam noticed them talking and smiled amused, unawares whats was being conversed
Too many people too much noise made matters difficult
"Its a blended wedding uncle, and "
"Ms Manya, I dont approve of her being there after today's ceremony, if u will excuse me" Appa walked away
Sam found her and asked her
Manya was pissed she didnt get the last word
"Kya gup shup kar rahi thi, Uncle se" Sam winked
"I told him Ishita shud be at Malcha Marg, he rained on me like a ton of bricks
"MANYAAA!!" sam shrieked "Tumhari banti nahi uske saath, par uske khaatir tum ladne pahunch gayi?" Sam was apalled
"Not for HER" Manya was uncomfortable.
"PLEASE!!! Aaaj to kam se kam rehne do I am sick of the hating" Sam was unforgiving
"Dimpal doesnt care to send her to D II" Manya was over confident about her stance of protecting Dimpal
"Jaan bhoojkar ladi tum Mr Iyer se?" Sam was deeply upset
Tan walked over with a angry Lasya
"Hua kya?"
"Shes gone off and told Mr Iyer we wont sent ishita to D II" sam was shocked
"Galat kiya yaar boss" Tan said to Manya
Manya hated her jeeju that minute
"DAD hain, he wud have told Mr Iyer, Mr Iyer has a major grudge against R&B, tu jaakar kaam bigaad aayi" Sam was distraught
"Tell me abt it... he still thinks its a bad idea dimpal married her" Manya mocked
"US maamle mein tumhari allegiance hai" Sam slammed her
Manya was angrier now
"I speak my mind, I am sorry if u hate me for it" Manya was nonchalant
"THINK abt it" Sam hissed choking up "Sanjeev se jab tum separated thi, tab meri MIL ne but in kiya rehta to?"
"Not that it saved me from destruction" Manya said coldly "she was welcome to"
"SAM" Tan hissed through gritted teeth "Really?"
"Isko baat karne ki kya zaroorat thi, she hates that family and that poor girl" Sam was not mincing words
"I love my brother"
"Shut up!!" Tan said first "U two" "Stop it"!! he ordered with as much anger he could suppress
R&B looked at his siblings from a distance... Bala was explaining some new RBI lending policy
"I shud have been at D II last nite we could have talked more" R&B chuckled paying attention again to his co BIL
"We didnt stay last night, with a kid its so difficult man!!" Bala lied
R&B realized his wife words about Akka staying over was a lie... then?
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