Karthik&Meenakshi
In the heart of South India, traditional customs still hold sway, including the practice of cousins getting married. But in some remote places, an old and nearly forgotten tradition persists - unions between maternal uncles and nie...
"A letter for me?" Karthik looked at the envelope. He opened it, and another envelope was there with a sticky note on it.
"If you are Karthikeyan, then you can peek inside the box. If not, please return this box to 'Padmavati Nirthalaya' kindly."
Karthik laughed while reading the note.
"Unless it's the person I mentioned earlier who tried to peek, I will haunt your whole family when I become a ghost! If you still don't believe me, try it!"
Karthik laughed hard, reading the last sentence. But soon that laugh stopped, and a sadness filled his eyes, remembering his dead sister.
"Well, I'm the person you mentioned, so let's see what surprise you want me to look at." Karthik opened the inner lid of the box and saw a lot of photos with sticky notes attached to them.
"See, even if you are not my Karthikeyan! I am warning you; don't harm my memories."
Karthik read the note attached to the back of the inner lid.
"Memories..?" Karthik saw the few photos; some were shaded, some were new.
He took one that was on top of all the photos; it was a shaded photo, but he smiled seeing the people in that photo.
It was Radha in her hospital gown with just-born Meenakshi in her amrs, and everyone was present; even Kasthuri, Rajadurai, and Raajan were there too. He saw that his mother, father, and Yamuna were so young. Vaitheeshwari could stand without anyone's support. He laughed, seeing himself in his father's arms, posing for the photo.
Karthik turned the photo, and he saw Radha write a small text on sticky notes, which he read out.
"05/11/19**, the day my new life began, giving birth to my precious child. When I hold my baby in my arms, all I know is that a big smile is swinging on my and my husband's faces."
"She is looking cute" Karthik said, seeing just-born Meenakshi covered in cloth. She was like Kushi.
Keeping that photo aside, Karthik took the next one after seeing one-year-old Meenakshi sitting on Raajan's lap, crying with a bald head that was covered with sandalwood paste. He knew it was her tonsure ceremony.
"Wait, why are we both crying?" Karthik saw his nine-year-old-self hugging Natarajan, and both were crying as people laughed and smiled at both of them.
Without wasting time, he turned the photo and read the note.
"One-year-old Meenakshi: My baby Meenakshi's tonsure and ear piercing ceremony. That day, not only Meenakshi cried when her ear was pierced, but Karthik and her father also cried seeing Meenakshi's crying. All teased them for crying more than Meenakshi!"
"I cried??" Karthik was embarrassed to see him hugging Natarajan and keeping it aside. Taking another one.
"When was this?" Karthik ran through his mind to remember the incident. He saw the photo again; it was teen Meenakshi, all ready for her puberty function.
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