The Fate Joined Us Together

PART 3 :: INVESTIGATIONS AND INTERROGATIONS

Badrinath's  pov

It was an usual day in my life, a busy morning with continuous phone calls from work and my wife being more irritated than me because of these calls. As the day started, I took the local train to reach my work location and started my routine work. As time passed, around midday, I got a call from my friend Shankar. He usually calls me and we would meet once every month because of our busy lives. I thought about this and picked up the call.

"Hello, sollu(tell me) Shankar, how are you and family" I said in the phone.

"Hi da, I'm fine and we are doing good. How are you? How is family and children?", He asked me back.

"All good da" I replied.

"I called you to talk about something da.." he started

With that he told me about this boy who is in Hyderabad, whose maternal uncle was looking for a bride who suits him the best and he thought I may want to look into this for my second daughter Sowriya. His uncle was a close friend of him and even I have met him once when I was young. He also said that the boy is the owner of this restaurant which is going to be opened soon. He has completed BE and since he had some back logs he changed to this career. Even though it's bad, I understand that I am not a job interviewer to look for the best of his education qualifications but a father who is looking for good qualities. My friend also said that he just knows that the family is big, good and kind and asked me to pursue if everything is ok.

Thinking about this my day ended and I went home. I did not tell Rama anything about the boy yet as I need to gather some information about this boy and his family first. As days passed, I asked another friend of mine who lives in Hyderabad to inquire about this boy. Being a typical father I have to do this. My eldest one's life wasn't that good and she had to walk on a rough path in her early months of marriage. Even though the groom was a distant family member, we had to go through bad times as they showed their true selves soon. We have to involve the elders when it came to the verge of separation. This all happened because we blindly trusted them as they were our family. She is stable now and her husband takes care of her and her child well. He's improved in his career and working in Dubai now and visits every 2 months. Though this is solved, I don't want my second one to go through anything like this again. Especially after what we all have went through.

I soon received information about this Hyderabad guy. He seems good and the family is the largest and wealthiest in the village. My friend said everyone in the village praised them out of respect and not out of fear. Even he went to the stage, where he inquired about his education and work. It looks like there really is a restaurant built and is scheduled to open at the end of this month. All I'm thinking is that, will my child be suitable for their family? It looks like they are rich and may expect more dowry. Would they degrade my child when she is married and go there? Will they treat her bad as we are staying this far and not reach her soon if anything happens? I'm not a person who believes that all the rich people are arrogant and all poor are kind ones. But still will they accept our alliance?

After my work, when I reached home, I went straight to my mother's room. It's been 9 years after her death. But still I feel comfort and peace in here. After some time Rama came with a cup of tea and sat with me as usual. I immediately told her about the alliance and she too thought the same as I was thinking...we just wanted our children to be happy. We raised them up with so many restrictions because of this cruel outside world but still, they never said no to anything we wanted. So after their marriage, we just wanted them to lead a happy and peaceful life, if possible, a free life. We told our daughter about the alliance and her reaction was like, whatever you say I'm going to accept it..then why asking me?. She is different from the elder one but still she accepts our way as she knows why we do that. And that's how everything started.

Surya's pov

My alarm rang as usual. As I was tired, I slept for 1 more hour and woke up for my day. I brushed my teeth and put on my jogging clothes and shoes for the morning run. I met many of my old friends and relatives in my way. After I returned home, I was welcomed with delicious smell from the kitchen. I went straight to the kitchen and sat on my usual spot, the left corner of the kitchen slab. All my aunties greeted me with a bright smile and bombarded with questions asking if I'm hungry or I need anything or I want tea or coffee. I smiled at their love and said that I do not need anything and just wanted to see them all and what they preparing for me. After a little chat, I took water from the fridge and went to my room to freshen up.

...

After his morning chores and dressing up, he went down and had breakfast with the whole family. All his favourite dishes were made and he happily ate them all. As it was time everyone left for their daily lives. Some to the farms, some kids to their first jobs, some to their colleges and others whose summer holidays started were at home. I remembered about those old days, when we all used to play tirelessly for long hours out in the sun. Then I suddenly noticed Rajesh is not here and went to his room and knocked a little to check if he's inside. He came to open the door and said, " raa annaya, come inside"

I went in and was once again astonished by his talent. His room was decorated with plenty of his art works and he was actually working on a new piece now. He told me that it was for one if his clients. He really started to develop in this career and I am more than happy for him. But still, as he is still developing and my father was pushing him to pursue his Engineering career, he became very restless and stressed out in the past few months. So to stop my father and also for him, I wanted to give him full responsibility for my new restaurant in India. When I asked him, he understood why I am doing this and gladly accepted it but with a condition that he will only be looking after the restaurant for the next two years and by then he will be in a good position in his dream career and would carry on with that. I happily accepted it.

After we settled in, we talked for sometime about his artworks and my restaurant's opening arrangements. Finally, I asked him about his silence and why he is always locked up in his room?

"Cha cha, there's nothing annaya. I'm just busy on this client's piece", he is trying to dodge me.

"Is that it? then why were you so silent in the car, even when I was asking you about the arrangements for the opening yesterday?"

"Oh about that, I actually listened to it annaya but was just too busy driving..", a lie. Because I never asked him that.

"Rajesh, look at m.." as I was asking him, Sasi pinni came telling us that Varadhan uncle was here to talk about the opening of the restaurant next week. We had to go because we can't let him wait. Rajesh was very happy to meet him as he could escape my interrogations. We met him, talked about all the arrangements and stuff and as time passed, it was already lunch time. My father and uncles also came from farms for lunch. Though they don't go down in the mud and do the real farming work anymore, they still go to our different farms in the village to monitor everything. Yet again all my favourites were made. My family is my only weakness in this whole world. I don't care about anything else at this stage of my life. They are my strength and weakness. We all ate and this time Rajesh did not leave the group as he would want to face me. So we all sat together and happily talked about everything from studies to my sister's antics when she tried to cook. Swetha, 23 years old is my athaya's(aunt) daughter and she is pursuing medicine. Her paternal side of family is very sweet and did not rush her into marriage and we all know that she is in love with Raghuram, her classmate and both families accepted them. They wanted to wait until Raghu is 25 or 26 and get them married. Until then Swetha has to at least learn how to make some tea. After all the fun I went to my room to check my mails and did some work related to my restaurant's billing and supplies. It was evening by then and everyone was reaching home from their busy/tiring/stressful day. As we all sat for tea and snacks, my brother chandhu started to spill the tea. Which is, My family has seen an alliance for Rajesh. At this statement, Rajesh's face fell. I think this might be the reason for his prolonged silence.. He also said that my parents have visited and talked to them and also shown me the girl's picture. I did not pay attention to anything or cared about it. What I only want to know is that, is Rajesh ok with this?