The Arranged Marriage

Part-32

After having prepared for months, it was finally here. Semester exams. Sivu had received the hall tickets by mail about 10 days ago. Fortunately, her center was at National High School for Girls, which was very close to home, near Deshapriya park. It was a proctored exam.

Although she had planned and prepared well, she was a nervous wreck the previous day. She had spent the entire evening preparing. When it was time to go to bed, she gave him a quick good night peck and carried her books to the other room to study. She had done everything she possibility could be felt very Ill prepared. Her eyes were getting tired and at some point she dozed off. At around 12:30 she felt someone tapping her shoulder. Achchu was whispering, "Maa nee nanna prepare panirukke. Tired aa irukke. Vaa paduthundu thoongu. Illaina exam hall la thoongi vazhiya porey." But she quickly wiped her eyes and said, "Ayo illai indha kadasi chapter mattum konjam paathukaren" and continued. He sighed and walked away, only to come back a few minutes later with a glass of coffee. "seri idhayavudhu kudichuttu padi. Aparam seekirama paduthukka vaa." She smiled at him and thanked him for the coffee. That helped her for another hour at least and she was finally done at 2 am.

She closed the books and kept them aside, near the Swamy shelf. She did a quick prayer, turned off the lights and went to the bedroom. He was asleep already so she slowly snuck into the bed and covered herself with the blanket, on the other side. In a few minutes, she felt his arms wrap around her pulling her close to him. She snuggled in smiling and dozed off in his arms.

She woke up to the sound of the vegetable vendor on the street right below her window, she rubbed her eyes and slowly opened it yawning. She tried to look at the time on the wall clock and jumped up in shock. It was 7:30 already. Usually, she was up by 6 as Achchu would leave for work at 8am. "Ayayo avarukku late ayiduthe. Ivar yen enna ezhuppave illai. Ready ayirupaaro?" she mumble and quickly dashed towards the kitchen. She was shocked to see Achchu there, whistling happily to a tune. He was in his veshti, pulled up and tied around his waist. He was wearing a vest and had a towel over his shoulder. He was cooking. She gasped and said, "Enna pannarel? Ungalukku office ku neram aachu. Kelambungo. Naan idho kulichittu vandhudaren...." before she could speak any further he interrupted her saying, "Maa Maa, padhattapadadhe. Innikki naan office ku leave potirukken. Unnoda first exam. Rendu exams vera orey naalikki. Adhunaala inniki naan unakku samachu tharen. Nee poi kulichittu vaa. Rendu perum Suda Suda coffee yum narumanathoda vegetable upmavum saapadalam" and he smiled.

She did not know what to say. She ran towards him and hugged him from behind. He smiled and trying to imitate her, said "Ayo enna pannarel? Naan kulichachu. Enna thodadhengo. Neenga poi modhalla kulichittu vaango. Pongo." Both of then laughed at his bad imitation while she pretended to hit him on his shoulder. She quickly left to freshen up. When she came out, he was waiting for her with breakfast. She loved her upma with sugar so he had spread enough sugar on top and he had his with lemon pickle. After cleaning up she went in to change and she noticed that he had picked out a purple saree with white flowers for her to wear. She smiled and quickly changed into that. She did her quick prayers and grabber her hall ticket and writing pad. She had the rest of her supplies such as pen, ink bottle calculator etc in a bag. As soon as she stepped out, he handed her a brand new Parker pen and said, "indhaa indha pen vachu ezhudhu. Best of luck." He kissed her forehead.

She grabbed the pen and was about to say bye to him when she saw him dressed up and walking out the door with her. "Neenga enge kelambarel?" she said. He smiled and started walking down the stairs saying, "Chumma un kooda school varaikkum varen." She knew that he was doing all this to help her relax and she wasn't complaining. It was working like a charm. He held her hand till they reached the school and that definitely helped to keep her calm.

She closed her eyes and said a little prayer before opening the question paper. Three hours had passed and he was waiting for the students to come out. He was anxious and scared for her but his face lit up when he saw her smiling face. She ran up to him and said, "Centum vaangiduven nu thonardhu." He looked at her lovingly, "Nee thaan gold medalist achche. Nee first class aa ezhudhuvenu enakku appove theriyum. Seri vaa aathukku poi saaptu konjam rest eduthu 2 mani exam ezhudha varalam" and he started walking. She quickly picked up pace to match his, entwined her fingers with his and whispered, "enna special aa samachirukel?" He smiled and without glancing at her, said, "unnakku romba pudicha Keerai molagootal, pulikaachal adhuvum unnoda chellamma pannara maadiri. Namma oorla irundhappo unakku romba pudikkum nu sonna oru naaliki. Naanum eppidi pannanamnu kathunden". She could not believe this man. When she thought he was just sitting upstairs in the room, he had actually tried to spend time with her family to learn more about her. She did not know what she had done to deserve this man in her life. She felt immensely grateful.  She just said a silent prayer and squeezed his hand. He looked at her and smiled.

Brinda Subramanian