Seetha Kalyanam Vaibohame

Krishnan vs Arun

Arun's relationship with his father was very different from the relationship he has with his children. His father was a very strict, stoic and introverted man. He was very well respected by the people in their town. He was one of the few well educated men of his times. He was the oldest child with two younger siblings, a brother and a sister. Arun's father, Krishnan and Parvathy were married at a young age.

Parvathy had a couple of miscarriages before Arun's brother came along. It had been a very patriarchal household. Parvathy faced a lot of problems both from her mother in law as well as her sister in law. They taunted her for not able to carry a baby too. Finally, the two boys came along. Although, that helped, life did not change much for Parvathy until her in-laws passed away and her sister in law had her own family to take care of.

Aravindh,being the older child, was studious. He was the family heir and so, was automatically adored by the elders including Arun's father and grandparents alike. Arun came a few years later. Although the family was happy that there was another boy in the family, he was ignored most of the time. He also was expected to top the class like his brother.

Arun was an all rounder though. Although, he did not score marks like his brother, but her was an extremely good sportsman. He was also an exceptionally talented cartoonist. He had the skills to create a story with his cartoon characters. His teachers and principal identified his talent at a very young age. As Arun grew up, he started to stay back after school to play. Both the brothers went to a convent. Since their father had a central government job, he could afford a good private school. He wanted his kids to be able to speak in English.

The school was highly influenced by the British rule and hence they had sports such as badminton and football. The physical education teacher noticed that Arun had a natural talent with his shuttle and started to encourage him. He even spoke to Arun's father about it. Although he acknowledged it, he had a rule. Education and marks came first. Extracurricular activities were given last priority.

Arun managed to juggle between it all and until his 8th class, everything was going great. He represented his school in badminton and started winning cups and titles. He was the star. Although Aravindh was a topper, he was just a book worm. He was 4 years older and  had left the school by the time Arun reached 8th, for his pre-degree, in Madras.

One day Arun came home excited. He had two good news to share. He was thrilled. He was going to represent Tamil Nadu in Badminton and he had won the cartoon story telling competition, which meant, his stories were going to feature, on a weekly basis, in The Indian Express Sunday Edition.

Arun's excitement though was short lived. When he reached home, he found his angry father waiting for him. See, their town, mettupalayam, was small and everyone knew everyone. Krishnan had met Arun's maths teacher Ramaswamy, near the bus stop. As they were chatting, Ramaswamy had mentioned his concerns about Arun's recent marks. He had not score the centum, as expected and the teacher was worried that Arun was getting distracted with "other activities". This was enough for Krishnan.

When the excited Arun walked home, Krishnan grabbed the racket from his hand and threw it on the ground. He grabbed his belt, ready to hit Arun with it. Thankfully, Parvathy pulled Arun towards her, before the belt could reach his skin. Krishnan said, "Innelerndhu indha badminton ellam moodi vachuttu padikkara vazhi ya paaru. Indha aatam ottam onnum unakku velai vaangi tharaadhu. Padippu thaan namakellam soru podum. Naaliki naan vandhu unnoda sports teacher kitta pesaren."(from today onwards put your badminton away and take out your books and study. Enough of your running around. All these are not going to get you a job. I will speak to your sports teacher)

That night Arun cried himself to sleep. His dream to represent his state had died even before it started. That was also the first time Arun started to keep a secret, a secret about his cartoon edition. He never told anyone about it. Not even his mother. He wrote with a pen name AK. He managed to keep it a secret for merely 6 months when one day, his father noticed his drawing book peeking out of his book back. Krishnan pulled it out and skimmed through it, recognizing the newspaper editions.

That day, Parvathy was not able to spare her child from being belted. Just the thought of it, burnt his skin. Arun had to bury his dreams and desires forever but he decided that he would never become his father. He would let his children dream big and support them in every way.

Arun smiled looking at his racket. He had not noticed that Seetha had come looking for him and found him lost in thought. He jumped when he heard her voice right behind him saying, "Modhalla thoppaiya koraingo. Appo thaan thirumba badminton velayada mudiyum." (Reduce your paunch first and then start playing badminton.) He turned around and smiled, "Idhellam pazhaya kadhai maa. Kuzhi thondu podhachaachu." (Those are old stories. I have buried all those) Just then Shivu joined in to say, "Adhellam mudiyum paa. Naalelerndhu enkooda vaango. Morning jogging la thodangalaam." (All that will work out Appa. Come with me tomorrow. We can start with jogging) Then he hugged Seetha saying, "Amma aare maasathula paaru Appa eppidi thoppai ellam korachu hero madhiri jummunu irukka pora nu" (Amma just wait and see. In six months Appa will lose his paunch and look like a hero) which made Arun blush saying, "Achacho" only for Seetha and Shivu to chuckle.

Brinda Subramanian