LIFE AS TOLD BY HIM

Venu was getting ready for his usual evening stroll at twilight. He called out from the veranda, ‘Radha, ask Priya if she’s joining me for a walk’.

Priya responded with a loud ‘yes, uncle. I’ll be ready in five minutes’.

She emerged from the Nalukettu adorned in a serene off-white frock, with a big baby bump. Her hair fell along the shoulders and eyes lined with kajal.

Venu held her hand. ‘How do you feel, mole?’

'I feel good, uncle. Should I grab an umbrella? The rustling wind is giving us a hint’, she said.

‘I’ve already got them’, showed her his bag with two umbrellas.

Then he called out to the inside, ‘Radha, me and molu will be back in an hour’.

---

‘People have come in terms with you staying with us. Do you remember the time when we were constantly interrogated about you and your whereabouts?’ asked Venu.

‘Uncle, how can I forget that? The entire village talked about my audacity. I can never be grateful enough to you and Radha aunty for letting me stay here. How easily I fell in love with this place. Our neighbors were constantly skeptical, but even they have started to accept me’, she said.

‘I’m so happy to know that, molu’.

‘I never hoped to stay back when I came here with Abhay for the first time. Apprehensions to what might happen were flooding my thoughts. I’d no idea as to how I’ll take care of myself alone, being pregnant. I still remember your faces when we told you about our decision to keep the baby. You guys really baffled me by understanding us and with all the love you have showered thereafter. Even after denying your requests to marry Abahy, you guys agreed to take care of me. I’ve felt home here. You have taken care of me as a daughter when I’m not even a daughter-in-law’.

Venu kissed her hand as they sat down on the park. ‘Mole, we love you. Some relations are hard to define. More than what’s on papers, the connection between two humans emanate from the heart. You are the mother of our grandchild, after all’.

A smile ornamented her lips and tears rolled down her cheeks. Venu wiped them off and said ‘Abhay will be home by your due date’.

‘Yes, he will come on Monday’, she added.

---

Radha was setting up the dinner table when they returned. ‘How do you feel, mole?’ She asked. ‘I feel good, aunty’, Priya replied.

They sat down and had dinner.

Abhay called up on Skype as soon as they finished. Radha retorted at him for not being with Priya. ‘Amma, I’m going to be home on Monday, you see, do you think I like staying away, like this?’, he said.

‘Priya, I’m so sorry for not being there. I hate it the most. But this commitment is so important, you know, I can’t afford to miss it’, he said. She smiled and nodded.

‘Do you speak to our baby about me? Don’t let him forget me. I’ll hopefully be back soon’.

Priya showed him the bump and said how big it has been since he left. They blew kisses and bid goodbye for the night.

---

The house was filled with people and the table with gifts for the baby. Smiles and laughter everywhere.

Radha was busy serving tea and snack to the guests. ‘Abhay, your friends are here’, she called out.

Abhay was sitting beside the cradle when his friends came in. ‘Man, see, you are a Daddy now’, said one of them patting his back and handing over a present.

'Where’s your Mademoiselle? Not seen her for over a year now’, said the girl in the group.

‘She’s getting ready in the other room, with my sisters. Could you please go and tell them to let her wear whatever she wants. Please convince them, how much she dislikes sarees', he said.

Abhay and Priya sat on the floor with the baby on her hand. She looked at Abhay, ‘you sure, do you really feel ‘Madhav’ is apt?’ Abhay looked at her eyes and nodded in affirmation.

They named the baby ‘Madhav’.

Priya was feeding the baby when Abhay walked in. ‘Everybody says he looks like me. See, he’s my boy’.

‘Yes, he looks like you, very much, but he will always be my boy, Mama’s boy’, she replied and planted a peck on his lips.

---

‘Are you guys ever going to get married?’ asked Priya’s mother.

‘Amma, we are still looking forward to it and thinking about it. But we need to figure out if it will be right. Can’t afford if it doesn't. Moreover, we are happy now’, she replied.

‘Yes, she’s right, we are blessed to see her happy. I don’t want anything else’, said Priya’s father.

‘Abhay mone, come over to our place and spend a week or two before both of you set off’, said her father and mother unanimously.

‘How I wish him to be with us. Why do you think he has not come back, yet? It has been so damn long’, Priya asked Abhay with tear-stained eyes, looking lost and remorse.

‘He can't…’, Abhay was interrupted when she covered his mouth with her hand and signaled him to not mouth any word. ‘I know...’, she said and broke down.

‘Baby, don’t cry, we have Madhav now’, Abhay tried to console her.

Madhav came running and hugged both of them, ‘Amma, I want that green garland’, he said pointing to the wedding garland made of tulsi leaves hanging there’.

Priya and Abhay signed across their names on the register and exchanged garlands. Took a couple of photographs with their parents and friends and had wedding lunch with three different varieties of kheer.