Oh, Be My Dawn, Sweet Heart! (Only Sample)

3. Indrajit

Authors PoV

It is a busy morning in Indrajits home. His house is the humongous house in all of Adhiyur and the nearby villages. It is not a very fancy and latest building. It was built many decades ago and is the inherited property that dwells in the family. Over the years, his family who stayed there, altered the interior of the house as per their likings and technology at the time. So it is a house that looks like an old palace on the outside but is furnished up to date to the technology on the inside.

It is a two storey house with a huge living room with comfy palace style couches and a 60inches TV mounted on the wall. The ceiling is decorated with a lustrous chandelier in the middle. There are four bedrooms on the ground floor, three with attached restrooms. A staircase in the corner of the hall that leads to the first floor and underneath the staircase is a common restroom. The rest of the ground floor is a huge kitchen and a dining hall. A door from the dining hall that leads to the backyard. The backyard is filled with fruit trees, roses and weeds. The first floor has two bedrooms and a hall which is decorated with a big wooden swing that almost fills up the hall. From the hall leads a door that opens up to the terrace.

Indrajits family is not a billionaire family but they have property and agriculture that will feed people more than in his village for decades. They use natural fertilizers and do organic farming in acres of land that they own. They never buy vithai nel (rice seed) from outside, they always save their organic seeds for their next cultivation. Similarly in their sugarcane mill, they never make white sugar just because it uses huge amounts of chemicals. They stop with the brown sugar for wholesale purposes and make achu vellam (jaggery) and karumbu sakkarai (cane sugar) for retail in their village and around. They also sell karumbu juice fresh from the fields for just Rs.5 a cup.

Indrajit and his dad were seated on the table for their breakfast as Ambika walks to and fro from the kitchen to the table serving them with hot dosas. Kannamma is the servant maid that lives with them who takes care of all the work in the house along with Ambika.

"Indar, can you look after the paddy field today? I have to go to the nearby town to collect the amount." Indrajits dad Ravindar asked him.

"Will do, Pa. Also Dayalan uncle owes us a huge amount for the cane sugar (Karumbu sakkarai) he took for the past month. He is always giving excuses to pay us."

"Why did you deliver the material before getting money? It is your fault, not his." His dad as usual pointed out his flaw.

"Pch, dad, he is your friend and you want me to deny his request?"

"He is my friend but he is also a man who does business with us. It is your responsibility to see both apart. I am planning to leave all the business in your hands in the next two years but your lack of responsibility worries me too much."

"God, not when he eats. Its just been a year since he started looking after our mills and you expect him to learn all that you learnt in thirty years?" Ambika stopped her husband from pestering her beloved son while he eats.

"If you keep on supporting him like this, he will never learn."

"Oh, come on, within this year, he has brought so many reforms in the way you run the mills. Everything has proven to be the better way. He has computerized every transaction and also reduced your trips to the bank by making it all online banking. He also has made changes in the machinery that gives us less electricity bills and more earnings. Now he is in the midst of changing our electricity source to solar power which in the long run is going to benefit us like anything. What else do you expect out of him?"

"Thanks ma! You are the one that always finds the good things to appreciate." Indrajit had a pure smile of victory on his face as a self appreciation for all his accomplishments.

"There should be someone to point out your flaws too. Only that will make you a better person. If people like your mom are around you to pamper you like this, you will become nothing less of a spoilt king." His dad stood his ground.

"Shhh, no more talking on the dining table. Finish your breakfast and get out of the house, both of you. Only if you go out, we can finish our work and leave for the temple on time for the pooja." Ambika urged them.

Indar and his dad laughed at her remark and finished their breakfast. Just as they set out to their vehicles, Ravindar got a phone call.

"Its your grandpa. You should visit him, Indar."

"Pch, will do later, pa." Indar showed his disinterest to visit their house just because of the presence of Imayal.

Ravindar shook his head in disappointment and attended the call. "Hello, appa. How are you? Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine. It is just that you are all living just two streets away and have no time to come visit us."

"Nothing like that, appa. I was just telling Indar to visit you. It was your decision to live alone in that house. Don't blame me now."

"I have told the reason so many times. Now let it all go. I called you to inform you about some good news."

"Good news? What is it, appa?" Ravindar asked his dad in pure excitement.

"Imaya agreed to study again. Thanks to Gayathri. She says something about a diploma in physiotherapy. I am not sure what it is."

"Oh, that is really good news. Don't worry, appa. I will send Indar there. He will look at the details and will help her until she goes to college." Ravindar spoke to his dad looking at the very displeased Indar.

"Pa, I have so much work today. I cannot go there or help her. Why did you say that to thatha? Why are you complicating things, pa?"

"I am not complicating anything. You are the only learned person in our family. Now she is showing interest to study and as a family isn't it your duty to help her? There is no hidden agenda as you think. I can promise you that. Go and help her. I will postpone my town visit for tomorrow and will take care of things here. You go to thatha house now." His dad almost pushed him to his bike.

"God, will go. But only because you promised me that there are no strings attached." Indrajit hopped on his bike and kicked it with all his might and drove to his grandparents home to see Imayal.