Across Time

1. coimbatore mappillai (part one)

May, 1993

Sivaangi stared at the ground, desperately trying to escape the tension in the room. Here she was, trapped in a awkward conversation with a strange man whose birthday she didn't even know. But she was to be potentially locked with him for a lifetime.

She sighed wondering why her life had to be set a certain way. Women in America or France didn't have to go through this! She was a free spirit, one with a childlike demeanor and no time for seriousness. She loved to prance around in the garden, play cricket with children and sneak sweets from the local tea stall. But she had reached the ripe age of 22 and there was no escape for her against her parents demands. It was time for her to be a wife.

"Unnaka yenna panna pudikum? Free time la?"
She looked up, the man had finally said something. She wouldn't lie, he was very handsome. But he was painfully quiet, and seemed unbearably dull. "Ungaluku yenna pudikumo athum yennuku pudikum," she replied with the standard statement her mother had drilled into her. "You must act like a lady for once. Don't tell him you don't know how to cook, clean or even fold clothes. He is a dream mapillai, you cannot mess this up," she has repeated while braiding her hair and forcing her into an uncomfortable sari.

Ashwin was confused. He had come to see a potential wife for what seemed like the thousandth time and she was giving him the answers he had heard a thousand times. But he knew this girl wasn't like the others. Months ago, he had been on his way for a job interview; anxious and nervous beyond belief. He was poor in socializing and his introverted nature always made interviews an awful ordeal. He dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief, looking around the crowded, hot bus. Most women tried to make themselves invisible on a local bus, crouched and cornered as small as possible. But then entered this one girl, demanding and fighting the bus driver to change the song to her favourite Ilayaraaja tune.

She was everything he could never dream to be, so bold and stubborn in what she wanted. After the driver gave in she had clapped her hands in glee, and then she started to sing. His heart had stopped. Her voice could not be put into words, it brought him to a different dimension. A place of utter peace. That peace carried with him for the rest of the day, ensuring a cool attitude at his interview and securing him a job. After that he had yearned to hear the girl sing again, the voice haunted his dreams. So imagine his surprise when he came to this house as a part of the arranged marriage process, and looked up to coffee being served by the girl on the bus. He was flabbergasted. He didn't know which divine force to thank for this meeting. And when she sang for his family he went back to that place he never stopped dreaming about. It was an intoxicating feeling.

He peered closely down at her face. Beyond the placid facade, he could sense spirit and a wild personality bubbling. Her eyes were filled with fire, her lips forcefully pressed together. He smiled to himself. He'd found his wife.