Choices

CHAPTER | 10

"And then what happened?"

"All the villagers gathered together." Suman said, her voice lowered to a perfect decibel to make sure that her listener was hooked. "You know the Janaki River at the end of this village?"

Aarthi just nodded her head, as she pulled Suman's right leg over her lap and applied oil to massage it.

"It was very big that time. Now, the construction of houses has made it look like a pond." Suman made a disgusted sound. "Anyway, the villagers called 'Kapila!' very loudly. No, I think the name was Gopi, I don't remember."

"That's okay." Aarthi smiled, not wanted to dampen the older woman's spirits. "I think Kapila is a good name."

"The cow was under the water all this time!" Suman exaggerated and Aarthi knew it too. "On hearing the name, the cow gracefully walked back to its owner."

"Really?" Aarthi feigned innocence.

Suman had been very silent during the initial days when Aarthi had accepted the offer to stay and help the old woman. But now, it had become very difficult to shut her up. Aarthi didn't mind. At least now, she didn't have to rely on the newspapers and novels to pass her time.

"Yes. The river was so clean back then." Suman looked at her window again. "Even Vijay used to play there with his friends. Go there every Sunday for a bath while I washed clothes along the banks. Did you know he was a great swimmer?"

Aarthi almost imagined a toned body as Vijay got up from the river with water dripping from him. With a slight blush on her face, she shook her head sideways. She had been watching way too many cinemas with Suman to have such a thought.

Then again, who could blame her? The old woman always made sure to talk about her son at every apostrophe. And the images had become stilled visions and they had even made their way into a few dreams of Aarthi's.

Aarthi wasn't dull. She knew what Suman was doing and though she didn't say it out loud, Aarthi knew that Suman wanted her to be her daughter-in-law. The constant need to praise her son, the sighs of her saying that she wished a daughter-in-law like Aarthi wasn't something every woman talked openly.

Though the ideas were stupid and unrealistic, the notion of a future with a guy from town had sown a few seeds that had started to sprout.

Aarthi had seen Vijay a few times – okay two times. And in both the times, he had been very civil and kind to her. He was handsome, though not a Greek God, he had his physique well maintained. With a rough stubble that always stayed on his face, Aarthi had started to imagine them only a few months back.

In Aarthi's dreams, she had already been married to him in various scenes – once in the village and once in the town. They had even visited parties and laughed till their stomach ached. They had two kids and they went to the local school in the village. They were good in studies too. Aarthi had already named them Tinku and Rinku.

"... and every evening he wanted spicy snacks." Suman went on while Aarthi day-dreamed about her future life. "Aarthi, can you call him? It's been so long since I talked with him."

Aarthi always waited for such pleas from the old woman. Now, Suman looked like a Goddess who would grant all of her wishes. Immediately, standing up, Aarthi went to the landline phone to dial the guy's number.

"Ma?" The rough voice that she had often heard in her dreams gave her jolts. "Are you okay? I'm sorry I couldn't call."

"This... this is Aarthi." Her voice was so small and she could almost hear her own heart beat thumping loudly. "I will give it to Maaji."