Chapter 16
I don’t know what time it was. It must be about 2 or 3 AM. I could feel my husband’s breath on my ear. His hand was around my waist. To check the clock, I need to move, but I might wake him up if I move. It really didn’t matter what time it was. I didn’t want to disturb my husband’s sleep. I knew I would not be able to go back to sleep. So I slowly started playing with the hair on my husband’s hand while reminiscing the previous day. Undoubtedly, it was my best Diwali. So much joy and fun. I remembered my little one’s comments.
When I collected my kids and came back to the apartment, I looked for Preethy too. I didn’t see her and so assumed she must have gone to the drinks party at Mr. Suxsena’s. I know some of the women in our complex drink too. They might have invited Preethy. I don’t think women who drink are bad, but I am not comfortable in the company of people who drink. For a moment, I thought I should go and say goodbye to Preethy. But if I were to go towards Mr. Suxsena’s house at that time, I would definitely draw Maami’s attention. So I took the children and went home.
When I was adjusting the sheet over my little one at bedtime, he had asked “Why does Preethy cry?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, I see her crying or drying tears many times. When I ask her what the matter is, she just laughs. Tonight when we were playing hide and seek, she disappeared. I went to her apartment and found her weeping in the dark. When I questioned her, she said she had an headache and needed to sleep. I think she is lying. May be she remembered her family” my little one said.
“May be” I said.
As I recollected our conversation laying in bed, I started wondering about what could be bothering Preethy. I never saw her cry, but I did see some sadness in her eyes many a times.
A thought entered my mind. May be she was dying. Just like in the movies where a girl comes from no where and brings happiness to everyone. And, then at the end, we find out that she is dying of cancer or some other illness. So many movies were made with such plots. It may sound ridiculous, but the more I thought, the more paranoid I became. May be I should check if she is doing fine. What will she think if I show up at her door in the middle of the night. What will I say when she opens the door of the apartment.
A movie started playing out in my head. I imagined standing in the middle of the night in front of her door ringing the bell. She opens the door. Her eyes are puffed up and I can make out that the smile she was giving me is fake. I could see the sadness in her eyes. I notice a small part of a handkerchief sticking out of her pocket. And there are some blood stains on it. I immediately took it out of her pocket and am shocked to see a big blood stain.
“What is this? I ask her, pointing to the kerchief.
She doesn’t answer. I immediately grab her hand.
“How long are you going to hide this secret from me?” I ask her, looking straight into her eyes.
She brushes my hand away and runs, and falls on the sofa with her face away from me. I run after her, place my two hands on her shoulders and turn her towards me.
“Please tell me. Are you ok?.” I shake her vigorously.
She nods her head instead of answering. A small tear drop falls on my hand. I stare at the tear drop. I immediately let go of her and grab her hand and place it on my head.
“Tell me now. Are you ok?”. I see a shocked appearance on her face.
She snatches her hand and runs away to her bedroom. I run after her, and there she is sitting on the floor with her head on the bed crying, and hundreds of medicine bottles all over the bed. I immediately run to her and hug her. She is crying and so am I”.
And then my runaway imagination halts. Boy! O Boy! I need to find a hobby. I am watching way too much TV I thought. Just then, the door bell rang. I wondered who it might be at this hour.
I opened the door. It was Raghavan the watchman. He said “G1 Sir is not well, amma told me to call you”. G1 is Maami’s apartment number. I walked into the balcony and noticed the lights on in Maami’s apartment.
I woke my husband. He pulled a shirt on him and went immediately. I changed into a sari, left the lights on in the living room. I left the balcony doors wide open before locking the door from the outside- just in case the kids wake up, they would notice that something was unusual and could look for us from the balcony.
When I walked into Maami’s bedroom, I noticed my husband sitting on the bed next to Maama. All of us call Maami’s husband Maama, which means uncle in Tamil. My husband was holding Maama’s hand and bending over to listen to what Maama was saying. Maama’s voice was very feeble. At the other end of the room, Mr. Krishnan was talking over the phone with the doctor. Occasionally, he would clarify something with Maami who was standing next to him with a medical-reports file. I was completely at loss as to what I should do. I just stood in a corner of the room.
A few minutes later, Raghavan rushed into the bedroom saying that the ambulance had turned into our street. Everything happened very fast after that. The paramedics came and exchanged a few words with my husband and Mr. Krishnan. They examined Maama, and put an oxygen mask on him before putting him on a stretcher. We all walked with the stretcher to the ambulance. Maami got into the ambulance after Maama was placed inside.
“Should I go with her to the hospital” I asked my husband.
“No, she will need you tomorrow more than now” my husband replied.
After the ambulance left, I locked Maami’s house and went to my apartment. The kids were still sleeping. I was not able to get back to sleep. So I decided to cook.
When my kids were almost ready for school, Sailaja’s husband stepped into our house.
Glancing at our kids, he told me “Sailaja said she will put your kids in the school van”.
“That is very nice of her. They are big enough to take care of themselves, but I feel comfortable if an adult supervises them” I replied, saying bye-byes to my children at the door itself.
In the mean time, my husband joined us. My husband and Mr. Krishnan spent the whole night at the hospital. Maama was placed in the ICU, still in a critical condition. The hospital had allocated a full room so that Maami could stay at the hospital. While Mr. Krishnan stayed back at the hospital, my husband came home. Sailaja’s husband handed over a cell phone to my husband saying “I set up speed dial on all the keys. She just has to press a number to call. Here is the list showing which number is for who. 1 is for you, 2 for Krishnan, 3 for me, 4 is for her daughter…….”.
“Thank you” my husband said. “She needs it. It is very nice of Sailaja to offer her cell to Maami”.
“It’s ok. She doesn’t use it that much. Please tell Maami to feel free to make calls to her daughter without worrying” Sailaja’s husband said.
After discussing Maama’s health situation for some more time. Sailaja’s husband left. We ate our breakfast and left to the hospital to visit Maama.
I packed Maami’s clothes, toiletries, breakfast and lots of coffee in a thermos and took them with me. On the way, my husband got a phone call and picked up the phone. Out of nowhere, a police bike over took us and the policeman who was sitting in the pavilion signed my husband to stop.
My husband stopped and continued to talk over the phone. By this time, the policeman came to our car. My husband turned off the phone and banged his fist on the steering. I was shocked, I never saw my husband so angry in my entire life. When he hit the steering wheel, he accidentally hit the horn. It was so loud, the policeman who was sitting on the bike, got up and started walking towards us.
The first policeman looked at us through the window.
“It is against the law to use phone while driving. You didn’t even make an attempt to hide the phone when you saw us. On top of it, you continued talking when we stopped you. Are you stupid, or are you arrogant?” the policeman yelled, getting angrier with each sentence.
By then, the other policeman had joined him.
“I am very sorry Sir. My neighbor is fighting for his life in the hospital. I was trying to reach his only son since last night. At last, the son called back, so I took the call while driving. When the son told me he would not be coming to see his father because his parents had given him less property than his sister, I lost my temper. Thats why I yelled, but it was not at you sir” my husband replied with his usual humbleness.
“I will pay the fine” my husband offered.
Both the policeman shook their heads.
“Children are not even showing up to cremate their parents, why would they show up when the parents are sick. You are just wasting you time. Times have changed Sir” said one of the policeman.
“Are you going to the hospital now?” another policeman asked my husband, looking at the large thermos in my lap.
My husband and I nodded our heads.
“You carry on Sir, but please follow traffic rules” said the policemen as they walked towards their bike.
What a relief! I thanked the policemen in my heart.
When we entered the hospital, we heard Mr. Krishnan’s voice calling us “Kumar”.
We saw him standing in a queue in front of the medical dispensary. We walked towards him.
“The Junior Doctor came again. They told me to get these medicines” Mr. Krishnan said, showing us a prescription. “The senior doctor will came only at 9AM. Only then will we have a clear picture. Maama is still in ICU”.
“She is in room 203” Mr. Krishnan turned to me and said. Then he turned to my husband and asked “Were you able to reach her son”?
“I am going to Maami” I said and walked away. I don’t want to see my husband angry again.
When I reached the second floor, I couldn’t see a single human being. But the directions to the rooms were clearly written. I started walking into the passage that led to room number 203.
“Excuse me. Hello! Excuse me” I heard a voice.
I turned around and noticed a nurse standing few feet away.
“Who are you? Where are you going?” the nurse asked authoritatively. She looked like a bull dog.
“I am going to room 203” I said meekly.
“Visiting hours start only at 8:30 AM” the nurse said.
“I am taking some food. They didn’t eat anything since last night” I added.
“We have a canteen. They can buy food from there” the bull dog replied walking closer.
“I will just hand over the toiletries” I was almost pleading.
“We have a shop. Please no visitors” she told standing very close to me with both her hands on her hips, staring at me.
I was running out of things to say. No matter what I say, this bull dog had a ready reply. I wondered what to say.
“You see sister, the lady is longing to see her son. But the boy is not willing to come. So I think she will better if I am close to her” I said.
BINGO!
There was a change in the nurse’s body language, she removed her hand from her hip, there was softness in her eyes and her voice too. The ‘mother sentiment’ is very strong in India. Nothing can beat it.
“Ok” the nurse nodded “but next time please remember that visiting hours start at 8:30 AM”.
“Thank you sister, Thank you very much” I replied very happily. I turned and walked away very fast in case she changed her mind.
In the room, I saw Maami sitting in one of the chairs, staring into space. The patient’s bed was still empty, indicating Maama was still in ICU. Hearing my foot steps, Maami turned towards me.
It was shocking to see Maami in such a condition – there were bags under her eyes, no smile, and uncombed hair. She had aged a lot in the past few hours. I put the bag and thermos on the table and walked towards her.
“How is Maama?” I asked.
“He is still in the ICU. They don’t say anything much. Every half-an hour, I walk up to the ICU to see him. I cannot go inside. I can only see him through the glass”. Maami choked as she was saying this.
“Don’ worry. He will be alright soon” I placed my hand on Maami’s shoulder.
Maami continued “I keep a close watch on his diet, because you know, he is diabetic. But yesterday being Diwali I was not strict. He must have eaten lots of sweets last night” Maami said wiping her tears with her sari.
“Maami, would you like to eat some tiffin?” I asked her.
“I am not hungry” Maami replied.
“Please Maami. You need to take care of yourself. If you sit like that worrying and not eating, who will take care of Maama” I told her pleading softly.
“Why don’t you just take bath and freshen up? I brought your clothes and toiletries from your house” I said walking towards the bag to get Maami’s stuff out.
Maami walked towards the bathroom and I handed over her stuff to her.
In the mean time, My husband and Mr. Krishnan came to the room.
“Would you like to drink some coffee?” I asked them.
They shook their head.
“How is she getting along?” my husband asked me.
“Didn’t get much time to talk to her. She refused to eat anything, so I sent her to have a bath” I replied.
“She is taking it better than I expected” said Mr. Krishanan and added
“I will wait until the senior doctor comes and then go home. Among us, we have enough people to take turns to be with Maami until her family members start arriving”.
“I have no problem being with her. The problem is how to pass on her son’s reply. I wonder how she is going to take it” my husband said.
“Boss, it is your responsibility. You are the right person. I cannot stand this family dramas, emotions and sentiments” Mr. Krishnan said raising his hands up.
They heard the bathroom latch opening. So they went outside the room to give Maami some privacy.
I tried very hard to make Maami eat, but she refused. But I was able to make her drink some coffee. Around 9:15AM, the Sr. doctor came in with my husband, Mr. Krishnan, Bulldog Nurse and a couple of junior doctors.
He told Maami and all of us about the case “The patient had a stroke. Since he is healthy, nothing major happened. A couple of his arthritis are blocked and they need to be fixed. The junior doctors will tell you what all options you have. You can make a decision after you all discuss with each other……..”
Then he went to Maami, placed his hand on her shoulders and said affectionately “Don’t worry Madam, he is recovering well. We will take him out of the ICU by this evening.”
He turned to us “All of you…are you all his children?”
“No” we all shook our heads.
“We are their neighbors. Her family will be joining her soon. They live very far” my husband replied.
“I would like to have such nice neighbors like you” the doctor said and left.
Mr. Krishnan said “Okay Maami. Maama’s condition is stabilizing. I better say goodbye. I will drop by in the evening”.
“Thank you very much. You stayed up all night. Please go home and take rest. God bless you all” Maami said.
“See you later” Mr. Krishnan told us and left.
Now it was my husband’s turn.
“Don’t you have to go to office?” Maami asked my husband.
“Here Maami, take his phone. Sailaja lent it to you. Sailaja’s husband programmed all the important numbers in speed dial. Vijaya can show you how later” he paused for sometime.
“I spoke to your younger brother. He and his wife are on their way, will be here by today evening. I was able to talk to your daughter. She is planning to come to India.”
“Please tell her not to come. Too expensive. The Doctor said that my husband will be fine soon” Maami added immediately.
“Your daughter said that she will call you around 11AM Indian Time. I gave her that cell number. You can talk to her directly” my husband replied.
After a little bit of hesitation, my husband said “I was not able to reach your son. Looks like he is on a tour that is why I was not able to get network connection. I did text the number of the cell to him”.
“I will come by in the evening, Maami. If you want anything, please call me. My cell number is in your cell” my husband said and turned to me “Make sure Maami eats something and go home in an auto”.
After my husband left there was quietness all around us.
“Kumar is not a very good liar” Maami said, looking into space. I didn’t know what to say.
“He spoke to my son. Didn’t he? And my son refused to come and see his father who was struggling for his life” by now Maami’s voice broke.
I didn’t know what to say.
“Please don’t think like that, you will only feel bad” I said.
“You know, Vijaya, when things are going good, we don’t think much about our actions. We don’t care or change our actions even if our actions are hurting others. Only when the tide changes that we realize and repent our actions” Maami said.
She didn’t change her position nor looked at me while saying this. But this was the first time she talked about herself.
Chapter 17
Maami alias Subhadramma alias Subbu alias Subhadra. I always marvel at the changes a relationship undergoes between two people over the years. And how bonds between two people break and form again and again. My thoughts revolved around maami’s relationship with various people in our complex. Going back to her younger days, when she was just 14. Subbu finished plating her long hair and pushed it to the back.
She was examining her reflection in the mirror. Her parting of hair was impeccable as usual, her long plate hung very well, she wore a blue cotton blouse and silk pavadai and an American gorget half-sari which her father had bought for her from Madraspattinam. She had small studs on her ears and a ruby nose stud (although one day she would like to wear a diamond nose stud). Instead of her regular small chain, she was wearing a thin gooseberry chain with a 7 stoned ruby pendant where the rubies were arranged like a flower. She has one bangle on each wrist.
She readjusted the perfectly arranged half sari again and slowly reached for the Ponds powder box. She delicately picked up the pink box, which her father had brought from Madraspattinam, along with the American gorget half sari. She carefully opened the powder box, picked up the puff, slid the thin plastic paper covering the top, and smelled the powder. It was so pleasant. She gently dipped the puff in the powder and applied it on her face. Automatically, she felt transformed into the most beautiful girl in the world. After applying the powder to her satisfaction, she applied kajal and kumkum on her face and went to the courtyard. She picked up the jasmine garland which she had meticulously made last evening and arranged them in her hair.
“You look like Goddess Mahalakshmi” said her father Shankaran. He had just finished his Surya Namaskaram, and was all admiration when he saw her.
She gave an affectionate smile to her father.
“You had your tiffin?” her father asked affectionately.
“No appa” Subbu replied.
Just then her mother appeared with a plate of two iddlis and podi.
“Eat while standing. Your skirt will get crumpled if you sit down” said her mother handing over the plate and admiring her daughter.
A few minutes later, Subbu’s 3rd elder brother entered the courtyard and exclaimed. “Amma, ashgourd is eating idly”.
Everyone turned to him, wondering what he meant by his comment.
He walked closer to Subbu, and pointing to her, he said “This is the ash gourd”.
He turned to Subbu and said “you should not apply so much powder just because you have it. You should apply little. Now you look like an ashgourd. May be we should hang you at the front of the house. You can scare the evil away and also people too” and burst into loud laughter.
“Shut up!” said her grandmother who was drying her madi sari on the cloth line.
“Learn to be nice to your little sister. It is not good for the house if the girl of the family cries”.
Subbu’s mother took the plate away from Subbu and used her wet hand to wipe Subbu’s mouth. As soon as she left, Subbu’s grand mother came close to her. Subbu’s mother and grand mother don’t get along with each other. They try not to be physically close either, which is difficult in their small house. Her grandmother held Subbu’s face with her hands and turned Subbu’s face in different directions to examine it at different angles. Then the very pleased grand mother placed a kiss on the forehead of Subbu.
“Apparanji bomma” she said with all satisfaction.
The old lady then reached out to the end of her sari’s pallu and opened the knot and removed a half anna coin and placed it in Subbu’s hand.
“Buy something with it” she said.
“Aayi paati, give me some money too” Subbu’s brother yelled.
“Why do you always give money to her and not to me”?
“Because monkey’s don’t need money and eat whenever they like with out following acharam” replied Subbu.
“What would an ash gourd need money for? Oooo! I know. You will buy colors and apply them on your face and you can look like drishti and we can hang you in front of the house” Subbu’s brother said and tried to grab the money from Subbu.
The grandmother stepped in between and prevented Subbu’s brother from touching her grand daughter.
“Don’t touch her” she said in an infuriated voice.
“You haven’t taken bath and on top of it you are drinking coffee with out performing your morning pooja”.
“Do you know something else? I didn’t brush my teeth either” announced Subbu’s brother and started sipping the coffee very loudly just to irritate the old lady.
With shock the old lady moved away from him and said “Siva, Siva, I think Kali kalam has started. What has come over the younger generation nowadays? No respect for culture, God, elders and customs. I think the mothers should be blamed. A good mother knows how to raise a proper child”.
Some of these comments were meant for her daughter-in-law, that is, Subbu’s mother, who was adjusting the flowers in Subbu’s hair.
And the grandmother continued:“I raised a perfect son. He never disobeyed his parents. He always performed his duties irrespective of the consequence. Once he had a 108 degree fever, he couldn’t even walk, but he still took bath and did his pooja before he took his medicine”.
“Paati, how do you know it was 108 degrees? There was no thermometer in those days” commented Subbu’s brother.
He liked to argue with his grandmother, and also had a way of defending his mother.
“Enough of your crazy arguments. I have no time for such inappropriate people” saying this the old lady walked away.
Subbu’s mother finished adjusting her daughter’s flowers and gave a smiling look at her son. All her life, her mother-in-law directly and indirectly passed comments putting her down. Occasionally, she gave it back to her mother-in-law indirectly, especially when her husband was not around. But most of the time she kept quite- she feared her husband. She knew how much Subbu’s father loved his mother. She also had another reason: the old lady likes Subbu very much. If the affection continues, she might give some money and gold to Subbu when Subbu gets married. And after marriage, when Subbu goes to her in-laws’s house with more dowry, Subbu would enjoy a better position in the house. She did not want her daughter to be in the same situation as she was in.
Subbu’s mother Shanthamma brought very little dowry. She was not very good looking according to her mother-in-law because Shanthamma had dark skin. Shanthamma’s father and Shankaran’s father were good friends. Shanthamma’s father was a priest he belonged to a reasonably wealthy family, whereas Shankaran’s father was not strong financially. But Shankaran was the only son of the family and apple of his mother’s eyes. When he showed interest in studies his parents encouraged him.
Shankaran was one of the very few people in the village who finished his SSLC. He got a job in Madraspattinam, and his parents were very happy. They started looking for alliances for their son. None of the girls or their families pleased Shankaran’s mother. During that time, Shanthamma’s mother, who has been bedridden for many years, had passed away. Shankaran’s father felt it was his duty to help his friend’s motherless daughter. So without consulting anyone he fixed Shanthamma’s marriage with Shankaran.
Shanthamma’s father was very happy with the alliance. His wife’s long illness had depleted his wealth considerably. His son become a priest and their income became less overtime. Even in his dreams, he could not imagine getting his daughter married to some one like Shankaran, who has a government job in Madraspattinam. Even though his friend dismissed checking of astrological compatibility for Shanthamma and Shankaran. Shanthamma’s father read both of their charts and found that they would be a compatible couple.
The feelings of Shankaran’s mother were contrary to Shanthamma’s family’s feelings. Initially she thought her husband was joking but later she realized he was not only serious but even had fixed the date of marriage. She was furious, hurt, sad, and humiliated. She felt Shanthamma’s father had manipulated her husband. All the dreams and hopes she created over the years about her son’s marriage came crashing down.
Shanthamma could only read and write. She had spent most of her time taking care of her sick mother, with no exposure to anything other than her immediate family. Her family had lost their wealth, she was not very fair and hence ugly. So she was not at all compatible with Shankaran, who according to his mother, was highly accomplished and the best boy in the world.
Shankaran’s mother cried, fought, fell sick and was on the bed for over a month. She constantly criticized, begged, and pleaded with her husband to cancel the wedding. And Shankaran was torn between his parents- he wanted to marry Shathamma to keep the promise of his father’s just like Lord Rama. At the same time, he wanted to please his mother, the only woman in the world who loved him without conditions and did everything in her power to give the best for him. He remembered how his mother stopped buying anything for herself. Not clothes, jewelery, flowers and even glass bangles, just so that she can save every anna to send her son for higher studies.
One thing good about Shankaran’s parents was that they didn’t involve Shankaran in their fights or ask him to take sides. Lucky for Shankaran, his job kept him away from the fights at home, but occasionally he got letters from his cousin who was living in the same village. Shankaran was very anguished at the thought of his parents in distress because of him. Even though he had nothing to do with it.
He never looked at any girl or talked to one unlike his peers. He was very obedient and decent boy. He was willing to marry a donkey if his parents asked him to.
In one of his moments of anguish, he wrote a letter to his cousin saying that he had decided to remain single so that both the parents might stop fighting. Even though he wrote those lines to vent out his pain, he didn’t realize nor he could foresee the effect they had on his family.
His shocked cousin took the letter to Sankaran’s mother. Both parents were shocked. They took those lines very seriously and started worrying that Shankaran would never marry. That would be worse than anything else, and far worse could be that he might become a sanyasi. That would mean Shankaran is lost for ever.
The only remedy was to get Shankaran married as early as possible. But they couldn’t fix the marriage at such short notice. If Shankaran’s family asks for a quick wedding the girls people would think something was fishy. But still Shankaran’s mother approached a few families she knew- those who had showed interest in the past for an alliance. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t find any alliances now. In one alliance, the horoscope didn’t match, the girls parents refused to talk further, in another the girl’s grandmother became suspicious when Shanakran’s mother pushed for a quick wedding and in another alliance, the girl was an only child so her parents asked if Shankaran would live with their daughter intheir house instead the other way round. This infuriated Shankaran’s mother. She couldn’t imagine her son living at the in-laws’ house. She yelled at the match maker and chased him out of the house. Had others not stopped her, she would have hit him too.
Shankaran’s mother went into a depression. If she doesn’t get her son married soon, she would lose him forever. She was not able to find an alliance quickly, and felt she had no other option. So she finally gave in and agreed for the marriage of Shankaran and Shanthamma.
But she always resented Shanthamma. It was because of Shanthamma’s family that her son had to settle for such a poor match. She constantly criticized Shanthamma and made her life miserable. Shanthamma bore all of this patiently, particularly since her husband was extremely nice to her, so were her father in law. Her sister-in-laws were bossy, but not rude.
When her FIL became bedridden, Shankaran quit his job at Madraspattinam and took up a job in the local school. Shankaran’s mother became less critical about her daughter in law after Subbu’s birth. Subbu resembled her father, Sankaran, who in turn resembled his mother, who was Subbu’s grandmother. Also Subbu was named after her grand mother Subhadra.
Subhadra was the only girl grandchild in the family. She was very much loved by her father, grandmother and father’s sisters. Subbu, even from a small age, understood the tension between her mother and grandmother and learned to be tactful. Subbu’s mother encouraged her daughter to be extremely nice to her grandmother in hopes that her daughter would be able to go with a big dowry and have a better life than her. She just had to put up with the old lady for some more time until Subbu gets married.
Subbu, all dressed up, was walking with her father along the agraharam towards Sri Govindhan Mudaliar’s house. Subbu was never very interested in education, but her father always pointed out the importance of education. However, after she got her first periods, her mother and grand mother put a stop to her education- just like many girls of her time. And Subbu was relieved in a way.
All her life, Subbu had seen how much respect her father had received from everyone in the village. All the important people sought her father’s help in various matters related to reading, interpreting, writing and understanding important government documents. She understood the importance of education and agreed to be trained by her father at home. Since her father was a very busy man, her studies were not as intensive as at school.
Subbu’s father didn’t like his daughter idling around. He convinced his mother and wife to let Subbu do something useful during the day until she got married. So Subbu started going to the nearby town to learn carnatic music with some other village girls of her age. Four times a week, around 15 girls of the village visited the nearby town’s music master to learn carnatic music. Some of the girls were very interested in learning, but many of them were in the same category as Subbu- passing time until they get married. One of the girls was the daughter of an important person in the village. So, he provided the bullock cart for transportation free of cost. Subbu had no natural talent in music, but she really enjoyed listening to music.
One day, the richest and most powerful family in the entire district sent a word to Shankaran Headmaster’s house asking if Subbu would accompany their grand daughter to the music classes. Shankaran Head Master had great respect and affection towards Govindhan Mudaliar, and happily agreed.
Govindhan Mudaliar’s grand daughter, Gayatri, was waiting to get married and she had come to visit her grandparents for some time. Since she was quite bored, her grandparents thought of sending her to the music classes. Gayatri had taken music lessons in veena in the past and she could play it reasonably well. To make their grand daughter more happy, the grandparents thought of providing a companion for Gayatri, to and from the music class.
Even though Shankaran Head Master was not their equal, they held him in high esteem. They also felt that, of all the girls in the village, Subbu might be a reasonable choice of friends. Hence the word was sent and a positive answer came promptly.
As the biggest house in all of the district came into view, Subbu started feeling a little bit inhibited. But the presence of her father made her feel a little better. Mudaliar’s house was the the biggest and grandest in the entire district. Subbu and her father walked past the big iron gates and entered the veranda. In front of the house, the driver was cleaning the already clean car. On the rocking chair, Mudaliar sat reading a paper and a male servant was pressing Mudaliar’s legs. The servant and the driver noticed Shankaran Head Master and greeted him.
“Vanakkam Ayya!” Shankaran Head Master greeted Mudaliar.
Mudaliar put the paper aside and received the Head Master and his daughter. Mudaliar was a very learned man and enjoyed the company of Head Master. He treated Shankaran like a son, and in fact on occasions consulted Head Master’s opinion on various matters. Of course, he always paid Shankaran Head Master in kind for the services he rendered. More than anything, he spent many hours playing chess with Shankaran Head Master.
Mudaliar turned his attention towards Subbu.
“She has become a big girl. Come here” he said.
When Subbu approached him, he held her chin and turned her face to left to right and then left to examine her features. With increasing diabetes, Mudaliar’s eye sight was getting worse. He then patted Subbu affectionately on her head and told her to go inside.
The family maid came out in the mean time and took Subbu inside while her father stayed out to chat with Mudaliar. They had to cross two courtyards before they came to the ladies section of the house. Subbu was seated in one of the sofas. Mudaliar’s family was one of the few who had a sofa set. Subbu had never sat on a sofa. She had seen one in a movie sometime back. Subbu looked around and admired every thing in the living room. After 5 minutes, Gayatri came into the living room along with her grandmother and couple of servant maids.
She greeted Subbu affectionately. Gayatri was almost Subbu’s age, a little bit shorter than Subbu. Even though both the girls were beauties, they were quite different in looks. Subbu put on the best clothes to make herself as equal as possible to Gayatri. But to her surprise, Gayatri was quite simple. She was wearing a simple Chettinad cotton blouse and skirt with a plain Georgette half sari. She had one gold bangle on each hand, a small thin chain and small studs. Instead of one plait she was wearing two- just like actress Saroja Devi. Subbu couldn’t understand why a rich girl had to dress up like a poor girl.
Gayatri’s grandmother told Subbu to take care of Gayatri. Subbu promised the grandmother that she would. Subbu took on the role of protector of Gayatri very seriously even though she was only 5 months older than Gayatri.
She considered themselves special. They went to music classes in a car, when the rest of the girls went on a bullock cart. Subbu didn’t let other girls become too friendly with Gayatri. Gayatri by nature was a quite person and never talked much. She liked to keep to herself and Subbu was the opposite, and in a way, they kind of clicked well. Even though they didn’t become the dearest of friends, they did enjoy each others’ company. Subbu enjoyed the closeness they had, but she always felt that she knew very little about Gayatri’s inner feelings because she never opened up. And Gayatri in return enjoyed the company of Subbu, her stories, gossip, but never warmed up to her because, in status, Subbu was not her equal, and had not seen the world- and hence had very little knowledge to have a good conversation.
For the next 8 months, the lives of Subbu and Gayatri became routine. Everyday, Subbu would go to Gayatri’s house, and together they went in the car to the music class. The days they didn’t have music class, they went to temples or one of the numerous fields and fruit gardens owned by Gayatri’s grandfather. In the middle of the 9th month, Gayatri had to go to her parents’ house. Both the girls felt sincerely sad when they said their goodbyes.
Two months down the road, Subbu got married and became Subhadra and moved to Madraspattinam. She sincerely sent invitation to her friend and in return she received a heavy money purse which Gayatri sent through her grand mother. Subbu was pleased to get the gift but she wished her friend had written to her instead.
As Subhadra’s mother wished, Subhadra’s grandmother gave sufficient gifts to Subhadra during the marriage and also, to everyone’s surprise, she gave her diamond nose stud to Subhadra. A few months later, Subhadra got an invitation for Gayathri’s marriage but she couldn’t attend because her grandmother had just passed away.
A few years later, Subhadra found out that Gayatri or now Gayatriamma was living in Madraspattinam. She went with her husband to Gayatriamma’s house to see her good old childhood friend. Gayatriamma was cordial towards Subhadra and her husband, but she was not over joyed to see her as Subhadra had expected. To make things worse, Gayatriamma’s husband just gave a nod in their direction and walked away when Gayatriamma introduced Subhadra and her husband. Subhadra and her husband felt very humiliated and offended. Gaytriamma didn’t find anything wrong because Subhadra was way beneath their economic class and didn’t need to be given much attention.
So without much excitement, the relationship between them broke. They heard about each other occasionally thorough friends or relatives but never made any attempts to meet each other.