"Happy birthday, Ma!" screamed Arjun at the top of his lungs. He had a hefty figure with muscular arms and chest. Probably, that was a trait which he had attributed from his father. With a broad face, aligned jawline, honey-brown eyes and walnut skin tone, he looked like a model straight out of a magazine. Though he had aspired to become a model once, he had taken up engineering on the advice of his stereotyped parents and landed up in a software company that paid him a huge sum of money. The fact that he was 29 and unmarried was something that baffled his friends and boggled the minds of his neighbors.
"Thank you da, kanna!" exclaimed a 55 year old Aishwarya enthusiastically. She might have grown old, but her bubbly character never left her. She was always cheerful and spread happiness around her. She was dressed in a simple aquamarine blue cotton saree, adorned her signature maroon circle shaped bindi, and lightweight gold earrings and bangles. Her face had less wrinkles while her hair had grays in them. She had to dye them in order to look young. Nevertheless, she considered herself young at heart.
"So where are you going to take me out for treat? Anjappar or Wangs Kitchen or KFC or Dominos?" asked Arjun, with his mouth already beginning to water.
"Won't you think about anything other than food?" asked Aishwarya mockingly.
"Ma, I always follow the modern adage 'Live to eat'. You know, food makes me happy and lively. Anything that satiates my tummy equals to God." He said, while circling his stomach with his right hand.
"I wonder from where did you acquire this character of a foodie. None of us had this habit of gorging on food. Not even your father."
"Ha ha. That's a manufacturing defect, Ma. I am a foodie by birth and I am proud to tell that. Food is my birthright." He winked at her.
"Ha ha ha. Tell me where do you want to go?"
"First of all, tell me, are you okay if Manisha and her family join us?"
Manisha was his 32 year old sister who had married a rather arrogant guy and had a 6 year old son Pramod.
"I am okay with it. But my son-in-law wouldn't like it."
"So what? We'll ask Manisha and Pramod to join us secretly."
"It won't work, Arjun. We both will go. Where do you want me to take you?"
"We'll go to Dominos Pizza. It's nearby only, so that it would be easy for you."
"Okay," replied a smiling Aishwarya.
Arjun moved away to his bedroom, fiddling his smartphone all the way.
After her marriage, Aishwarya had moved to Delhi along with Manohar. She began leading a happy life with him and bore two kids. She also joined a branch of Unity India Insurance Company Ltd and started working as a clerk. Later in 2001, the family moved to Chennai where Shankaran and Latha handed over the ancestral Chettinad house to them. But they had refused it and expressed their desire to build a new one. That's how a modern house took birth in the posh area of Besant Nagar.
It was painted in light pink. It had a huge hall with two Khaitan fans, Samsung colour TV, showcase containing various dolls, medals and photo frames, a telephone, a dining table at a corner, and a shelf consisting of books and other stationary items. There were three bedrooms, one for Aishwarya and Manohar and the other two for Manisha and Arjun respectively. The kitchen was spacious and had modern utensils like mixer, grinder and pressure cooker, which made cooking easier for Aishwarya. The puja room was just a vast opening carved on the wall in the hall. As time flew, Shankaran and Latha passed away, selling their ancestral property to a landlord who promised to take care of it. Aishwarya, too, resigned from her job at the age of 45.
At present, Aishwarya was standing in the hall, cleaning the puja room opening on the wall. Next to that were the picture frames of Shankaran and Latha, with small garlands around it. And the next one was that of Manohar! Yes, Aishwarya had lost him to a brutal road accident five years ago. He was riding the pillion to work when a negligent lorry driver dashed him from behind and sent him flying into the air. His head smashed on the ground and he was declared spot dead. That incident had led Aishwarya into a mild depression. But she recovered soon for the sake of Manisha and Arjun.
Looking at Manohar's photo on the wall, Aishwarya prayed, with droplets of tears rolling down from her eyes.
'Thank you for everything that you have given me, Mano. And please bless me that I should lead a happy life hereafter. It's my 55th birthday today.' She prayed to her heart's content.
*****
"Is everything ready?" asked a frantic Arjun to a Dominos staff member.
"Yes, sir, everything is perfect."
"As soon as she arrives, you have to switch on the lights, spray the festoons on her and sing the birthday song. Okay?"
"Okay, sir," replied the staff calmly.
Arjun called someone from his mobile.
"Hey, Shakthi, come soon. She might be arriving at any moment. I want the best photos from your DSLR."
"Yeah, I have almost reached," said the voice at the other end of the line.
After ten minutes, Aishwarya entered Dominos Pizza. At first, she was shocked to see that the entire place was dark. She fumbled for the glass door in the darkness and opened it carefully. As soon as she opened, the lights came on, festoons burst around her and a bunch of people began singing, "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!" Aishwarya was overwhelmed. She looked around with bulged eyes and spotted Arjun smiling at her from a corner. He came forward, hugged her and said, "Happy birthday, Ma!"
"You've already wished me, idiot!" She replied playfully and patted his head.
"Come, let's go there!" He led her to a table where a huge black forest cake awaited her.
'Happy 55th birthday, Aishwarya (2017)' It was written on the cake. A candle was dipped on it.
Aishwarya lighted the candle, blew it off and began cutting the cake. She was overcome with happiness. That was the first time her son had celebrated her birthday in such a manner. In the previous years, he would just wish her in the morning and go to work. She fed a slice to him and he did the same to her. The rest of the cake was distributed among the staff members and visitors. Aishwarya lost the count of how many came forward to wish her. But she took notice of a particular girl who wished her in a singsong manner. She felt strangely attracted to the young girl. But the girl moved away in a jiffy before she could completely register her face in her mind. Then Arjun whisked her away to a corner table.
"Ma! What do you want to have? I will place the order in the counter."
"Here take this money first." She thrust a thousand rupee note in his hand.
"Aahaaaa! It's going to be an awesome treat, Ma. Okay, I will order Garlic Breadsticks and Chicken Dominator Medium. Is that okay?"
"Okay, da."
The hot pizza and sides arrived 15 minutes later. The mother-son duo gorged on them hungrily.
"Ma, look at the girl over there! She is sooooo beautiful...."
Aishwarya didn't turn around. She concentrated on sprinkling oregano on her pizza.
"Ma!" He yelled.
"What, da?" She asked impatiently.
"I said to look at the girl over there."
"I am not interested, da. Each and every time we go out, you point at a girl and tell that she is beautiful. I am fed up of it. But when asked about marriage, you would easily dodge me."
"Ma! But you have to look at this girl...aiyo....she is going away..."
"Run, run behind her and ask her name," said Aishwarya sarcastically.
"Cha! She went away. I missed her, Ma. Wish I could find out her Facebook profile ID or WhatsApp number."
"Aiyoooo. I don't know when you'll become proper. Always talking and flirting with girls. Yet you shy away from marriage."
"Ha ha. It's fun, Ma."
'Everything will come to light soon, Ma,' he thought.
*****
'It has been three months since her birthday. I tried a lot that day. But she wouldn't budge. She didn't even turn and glance at the girl. And now, three months has passed away. She hasn't asked me anything about marriage. The next time when she asks, I will surely tell the truth.' Arjun crawled lazily on his bed, thinking about his little secret which he had hidden from his mom.
"Arjun!" He heard her call from her room.
"Coming, Ma!" He gathered his mobile phone and ran to her room.
"Sit here, da." She gestured him to sit on the bed.
A sense of elation passed over Arjun's face thinking that his mom was going to ask him about marriage.
"Just now I called the painter. He said he'll come for the whitewash from day after tomorrow. So we need to rearrange a few things. Shall we start now? Since you've taken a few days off, I thought you can be of some help."
Arjun's face fell. It wasn't what he had expected. 'Another chance missed,' he thought.
"Okay Ma. No problem. We'll start now."
"And while rearranging, we might find few things which aren't needed anymore. We'll dispose those off. Before throwing anything into the trash can, just confirm with me, okay?"
Arjun nodded his head.
Soon, they were crazily rearranging things from one room to another. The things to be disposed piled up.
"Phew! I wonder from where we had stored up such things," said Arjun, looking at the bunch of polythene bags containing disposable things.
"These are things from my house, da. That Chettinad one. You know, right? After getting married, I brought these all from there. That was when I was young. But now I don't need them."
"Hmmm. Then, anything else, Ma?"
"No. Let's wind up for today. Tomorrow we'll clean up Manisha's room. It has been ages since we have cleaned it."
"Okay, Ma."
Ping! A bell sound went out of Aishwarya's Smartphone.
"What's that ringtone for? WhatsApp or SMS?"
"WhatsApp, da," she replied, while picking up her phone to swipe down the message.
"Okay, shall I retire to my room?"
"Yes, you can go." She replied absentmindedly, while looking at a photo sent by one of her retired office friends. It was the photo of a good-looking girl.
"How is she?" the friend asked in another message.
Aishwarya typed, "Looking good. But I don't know whether he will like her. I won't talk about marriage now. I am waiting for him to speak up. When he feels the need to marry, he'll approach me."
"He is already 29. How many more days is he going to take?" the friend asked.
"I don't know. I'll wait."
"Okay. This girl's name is Vedha. She is also working in a software company. She is the only child to her parents. Native Coimbatore. But stays in Chennai. I found her via another friend of mine."
"Okay. Thanks."
Then, Aishwarya saved the image to her gallery. She gazed at the photo for a minute and then switched off her mobile data. She retired to her room for her afternoon siesta.
*****
Cleaning up Manisha's room was the most difficult thing to do. Both Aishwarya and Arjun tied safety masks around them while rearranging the things. There was only dust everywhere. The shelves and racks were cleaned thoroughly. Aishwarya dipped the spare cloth in water and cleaned a rack in the lower part of the shelf. Just then, her hand hit upon something. It was stacked up in the corner of the rack. She pulled it out with all her strength. Out came a watch box. As soon as she held it in her hand, she knew what it was. And the next moment, she placed it back on the shelf. But Arjun had noticed her action.
"What is it, Ma?" He came over and pulled the box out.
"Nothing, da. Just an old watch. Keep it back." She began fidgeting with her fingers.
"Watch? I love watches, Ma. Especially antique ones." Saying so, he took out the watch from it. It was of Allwyn brand, an old company of the 80s. It had a gold dial with black hands. They weren't ticking around as the battery had died long ago. It was bound by a chocolate brown leather strap.
"Aiyo! It's a woman's watch."
"Hmmm, yeah..." She tried to get it from him. But he swayed away.
"Is it Manisha's? I have never seen her wear this one."
"No, it's mine." She confessed.
"Wow! It looks good, Ma. Why aren't you tying this nowadays? I will take this to a watch shop and get it repaired."
"No need for that. I have got a watch with me. That's enough. Keep this inside."
"No, Ma. This is way better than the modern one which you possess now. By the way, you've had an awesome taste, Ma. This watch is really good."
"You're mistaken, Arjun. It wasn't my taste," she said with a stony expression.
"Then? I bet it would've been dad's selection. Did he gift you during your love days?"
"No. This was gifted by Adhitya." She stated plainly.
"Adhitya? Who is that, Ma?"
"It's a long story."
"What?! Did you love someone before dad? Wasn't it approved by grandma and grandpa?"
"Aiyo, don't let your imagination run wild. He was my best friend."
"Then why did you tell me that it's a long story?"
"I thought that you might want to know about the details of our friendship."
"Yes, yes, I do. Because those days having a male friend might have been quite difficult. Tell me everything about it."
"Okay, we'll talk over tea. Come!"
The duo moved to the kitchen, prepared some tea and walked to the sit-out. They sat around a teapoy, sipping their tea slowly.
"Now tell me, what's the story behind your friendship?"
Aishwarya began the narration of the story of her beautiful unnamable relationship with Adhitya. She eliminated the details of her true feelings for him. She didn't want to create a bad impression of her in her son's mind. Though she didn't express her true feelings to Adhitya, even thinking about him while being in a relationship with Manohar was considered as a sin. So she didn't want her son to think of her as an immoral woman.
"That's all, huh?" He asked curiously.
"Yes, that's it."
"Ma! How come?"
"How come what?"
"How did you miss him, Ma?"
"What do you mean?"
"I meant, why didn't you stay in touch with him?"
"Those days, we weren't supposed to talk to any other male after getting married. So I lost touch with him."
"You just forgot about your friendship, eh?"
"I didn't forget about it. It was etched in my memory. It still is. So I didn't feel the need to be in touch with him."
"Oh my god! I have never heard such a true friendship story, Ma. Best friends are really hard to find."
"Yes, he was my bestest friend." She stressed on the word 'bestest'.
"Nowadays, if a boy and girl are seen talking to each other, they are meant to be lovers. People aren't considering them as best friends. Or simply put, no friendship exists between them. Either they are lovers or they are in a complicated relationship. But you stayed loyal to your friendship even in those days. I am proud of you and Adhitya."
Aishwarya cringed at her son's words. 'That's not the truth, Arjun. I will never let it out to you or to anyone in this world.'
**********
Hi friends! Sorry for the very late update. I had been caught up with lots of work and other things. Hereafter, I will be updating on a weekly basis. And I would like to hear from you how the story is moving. Do you all like it? Now it has been fast forward 26 years later after that Farewell-2 episode. From here, the story is going to face a few twists. Keep reading! :-)