Malathi charitham (The history of Malathi) (Kalarikkal series - 2)

21. Conclusion

"How well do you know your wife, Pranav?" asked Vishnu.

The question angered as well as intrigued Pranav.

"If you knew her, you won't have asked me that question", said Vishnu.

"What do you mean?" asked Pranav.

"Didn't you know that she had saved my life?" asked Vishnu. He looked outside the window at the distant lightnings that were flashing near the horizon.

"Saved your life? How?" asked Pranav.

Vishnu took a deep breath and adjusted himself on the bed and then continued, "A few years back, during a storm a tree fell onto the house I rented from her grandfather. It collapsed the ceiling. I thought that I was about to die and no one would come to rescue me. When the last fragments of my consciousness was slipping away, I was brought back by the brave girl who weathered the storm to rescue me. If she hadn't come, I would not have been on the face of the earth".

"She never told me that", said Pranav.

"She is like that", said Vishnu.

Pranav nodded his head and said, "I will try my best to settle with Vasudev as long as he isn't unreasonable and vindictive".

Vishnu nodded his head in acknowledgement. The thunder was getting nearer and the rain soaked wind was fluttering the curtains that adored the windows. The smell of the wet rain getting stronger than ever.

"Go home Pranav, ", said Vishnu as a thunder ripped through the air close by.

"Its just thunder", said Pranav, who too was looking out of the window.

"Just go home", said Vishnu, closing his eyes with a sigh.

On the way back home Pranav was thinking about what Vishnu had said. When he came home, Kalarikkal family had settled for the night and he very gently opened the door to his bedroom and in a flash Malathi ran into his arms, shuddering at the thunder that was near.

"What happened?" asked Pranav.

"Nothing", she said, shuddering to the sound of thunder.

"You are afraid of thunderstorms?" he asked incredulously at the woman who had buried her face in his chest.

She nodded her head slightly and he hugged her tightly. As she lay sleeping next to him, Pranav decided that whatever his suspicions might be, he should keep it in the past as he had promised her when he proposed to her.

The next day there was a meeting called by Shanmukhan master and S. I Raheem. Pranav represented Kalarikkal and Vasudev represented Paarakkal. They decided to end the hostilities and to pay for the damages they each have caused. Though the elders did not like the arrangement because they would have to pay, the younger generation decided that enough was enough and brokered for a peace.

A few days afterwards, Vishnu came back to home from hospital and he and Devika decided that for the well-being of their family, especially for their children they should leave. Subramaniyam was furious, but Vishnu's father Chandrashekharan convinced him, saying that his son had suffered enough. In a month's time, they shifted to the Paarakkal spice estate in Idukki to manage it. Vasudev assumed the helm of the Parakkal operations, with the assistance of Mahadevan.

******

One and a half years later

Pranav rushed to the hospital near Prayikkal, he got the news that Malathi was about to deliver the baby. With bated breath, he waited with his family outside the labor room. After some time, he was called to the door and handed a small bundle and the nurse said, "Congratulations, its a boy".