The Arranged Marriage

Part 46

It was the first day of Navrathri. Radhu decided to wear the onion color half saree that Sivu had gifted her. She fixed her pleat beautifully. Then she parted her hair in the middle and plaited her hair. She applied kajal and dragged to make wings with it. Finally she made a long bindi with her Shingar liquid chaandhu pottu. The wind blew her curtains and she looked out to see Manikandan glancing at her. He signaled to her with his thumb and pointing finger (👌) indicating she looks good. She blushed and looked away mumbling, "Ayayo enna ivar ippidi ellam panarrar. Vara vara deiriyam romba jaasthi ayiduthu. Adiyei Radhu, andha manishan thaan ennamo pannaraar na nee yen asadu vazhiyara. Ippo ange poi paithiyam madiki vekka padadhe. Ayyo avara paathale ennavo pannardhe, Guruvayoorappa." She gave herself one last look in the mirror and slowly glanced at his window but he was gone.

She went next door calling out, "Mami, naan vandhutten." Manikandan was sitting in the hall with a book. Sulo yelled from inside, "Radhu vaa vaa. Ulla vaa. Dei Kanna, uruli la nei payasam paneerken kaa. Adha kondu vandhu Swamy room la vai da. Ennala thooka mudiyalai." She came smiling and grabbed Radhu's arms asking her to sit down, "indha dhavani le mahalakshmi madiri irukkai. Vaa vaa ukkaru. Iru orey oru nimisham." She grabbed the jasmine string and adorned it on Radhu's hair."Haan ennavo kammiya iruuke nu Paathen. Ippo correct aa irukku" and she did dhrishti for Radhu. By then, Manikandan brought the uruli carefully and placed it at the indicated spot. "kanna ange vai da" said Sulo. Then she looked at Radhu and said, "Avana aathula Kanna nu thaan koopuduvom. Avanoda paati appidi kooptu pazhagiduthu. Seri naan vala vala nu pesindu irukken. Nee romba nanna paaduviyaame. Oru paatu paadu di maa." Radhu sensed Manikandan glancing at her so said, "Edho konjam paaduven. Ennoda paati kittendhu paduchunden. Cinema paatu pidikkum" she giggled, "Pakshe golu paatum konjam cholli thandirukka. Then she stealthily glanced at him, smirked and cleared her throat, closed her eyes and started singing, "Alaipaayudhe kanna en manam alaipayudhe". Manikandan, who was drinking water, literally choked listening to the song.

When she finished, Sulo was mesmerized and said, "Aaha nee padardhu kettunde irukalaam nu thonardhu. Azhagaa padarey." Then she gave her the thaamboolam which consisted of vethalai, paaku, manjal, cheepu, kannadi and banana. Then she wrapped the chundal and payasam in two different pieces of banana leaves and wrapped that in a newspaper. She thanked Sulo and while leaving, glanced at him again and he did the same gesture with his finger as before and hummed the same song. Then he looked at her and blinked his eyes. She literally felt butterflies in her stomach and blushed very obviously. She couldn't help giggling and she ran home.

For some reason, he made her feel a new kind of happiness that she had not experienced before. He made her feel like she wanted to fly. She was happily twirling forgetting everything around her but Chachu looked at her daughter worried. The last thing she wished for her daughter was a heartbreak. She also realized that her little girl was now a young woman and she felt knots in her stomach.

Brinda Subramanian

Sorry for the outburst guys. Didn't mean to spoil all your mood but I had a pull an AK June 20. Thanks for the overwhelming support and all the lovely comments.