The Arranged Marriage

Part 2

The newly married couple spent their first ten days with the entire family in CBE. Sivu noticed that Ananthsivan (Achchu) was not a chatty person. She spent the day with the women of the house, helping with chores or playing and taking care of the children. Achchu spent his time with the men. When it was time to go to bed, she will find him reading at his desk when she dozed off and would always be up early, before her. She woke up feeling a little guilty. The wife was supposed to wake up before her husband but he always looked at her fondly with a smile and would say, "Good morning" and leave the room to give her the privacy to freshen up and change.

Sivu was a very happy, chirpy person who kept people around her happy so whenever she was with the ladies in the kitchen, he would hear laughters and would peek in to get a glance of his wife's animated expressions. She did catch him stealing glances at her but that would only make her blush.

One beautiful afternoon, while the rest of the house was taking a nap after lunch, Achchu noticed Sivu slowly sneak out through the back door. He was curious to see what she was up to. There was a beautiful swing in the backyard tied between two large trees. Sivu tiptoed towards the swing. She held on to the thick strings and looked at it doubtfully. It was a little high and she was figuring out how to get on to it. Achchu was amused but he kept watching her. She, finally, managed to plop herself up and adjusted her body to balance it. Then she tried to swing. Unfortunately, she was not tall enough for her legs to push herself but she managed to use her body weight to get the swing moving. There was an instant smile on her face and she started softly singing a Hindi song, "Aaha rhim jhim ke ye pyaare pyaare get liye...."

Achchu couldn't help but smile and love this childlike woman. Her beautiful voice was mesmerizing. Then he noticed that she was struggling for momentum so he slowly stepped out. While she was lost in her song, she felt a slight push from the back that cheered her immediately and she turned around to look who it was. She blushed and stopped singing when she saw him and tried to jump down from the swing but he immediately held it saying, "eiii iru maa paathu paathu. Vizhunduda porey." Just when she was about to go past him, he stopped her by blocking her way and asked, "Hindi songs kooda ivvalo azhaga paadariye,  eppidi?" She smiled and said, "Palakkad la en kitta oru kutti transistor irundhudhu. Seetha akka enakku Bombay lerndhu vaangeendu vandha. Appo lerndhu Bianca geetmala, man chahe geet, manoranjan ellam vidhama keppen. Enakku Tamil la KV. Mahadevan ayya, MSV sir, Viswanathan-Ramamurthy jodi ya pannina paatugal mattum illai, Hindi la, SD. Birman sir, Madan Mohan sir, Salil chowdary sir ellarume romba romba pudikkum. Ungalukku onnu theriyuma? Salil chowdhry malayalathula kooda compose paneerkare" and she animatedly went on to sing, "kadalin akkara ponore kannaponine ponore" then she suddenly stopped when she realized that she had become too excited and was chatting away.

The way he looked at her always made her blush and she felt butterflies in her stomach. He was just taken by her beautiful eyes, her innocent yet heartfelt smile and her child like excitement and when she was about to run past him, he slowly held her hands and said, "nee pesumpodhu kettunde irukalaam nu thonardhu. Innum konja neram Iren please. Enakaaga enakku pidicha oru paatu paaduviya?" She smiled and asked, "enna paatu?" He immediately said, "Unnai kaanadha kannum kannala" and she smiled and closed her eyes to continue in her soulful voice, "inge nee oru paathi naan oru paathi, idhil yaar pirindhaalum vedhanai paathi, kaalangal maarum kaatrigal maarum kaadhalin munne neeyum naanum veralla" and he lost himself in her voice and her eyes.

He experienced love for the very first time and it was beautiful.

Brinda Subramanian

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