The Unsaid

Chapter 7 - New Beginnings

Yawning, Pallavi rubbed her eyes and opened them.

“Awake?”

She turned and smiled at Prithvi, glancing at the sleeping Ammu on his lap.

“Yes.”

 “We will be home in fifteen minutes,” he said, returning her smile.

She opened the window and the cool morning breeze hit her face and neck, causing a fresh awakening within her. Taking a deep breath, she gazed at the beautiful red horizon. Large canopies of Tamarind trees enveloped the road from either side for a long distance, as if welcoming her to her new life and abode. The car took a left turn and entered a narrower two lane road with rice and lentils fields on either side. Here and there, few pockets of small houses with thatched roof came into vision and disappeared behind her.  

“These are our fields on the left that you see Pallavi,” her father in law chimed. “Right until that next light pole.” Pallavi nodded and observed the lush green fields. There were some areas with plants that she could not decipher. 

“We grew up in that house,” Pratap pointed to a small thatched house in the middle of a corn field. 

“Oh!” 

“Don’t worry, we don’t live there anymore!” Pratap Rao said chuckling.

“No, No. I was surprised that you still maintained it,” Pallavi clarified.

“Yes. Prithvi still rests there. Sometimes, during peak harvest season, he doesn’t even get home and spends the night there. But perhaps, now that you are here, that won’t happen anymore.”

This time the driver chuckled and a deep blush crept up her cheeks. She looked out of the window observing from the corner of her eye that Prithvi did the same.

Right after they passed the light pole, a lake appeared on the right, the golden sunrays mingling merrily within its surface.

“Wow!” Pallavi exclaimed, mesmerized by the beauty surrounding her.  Sensing Prithvi’s eyes on her, she said, “The lake is so beautiful.”

“Oh that. It’s my favorite spot in our village too,” Prithvi said with a glint in his eye.

The fields dwindled away and houses of all types and sizes started to sprout on either side of her; some big and modern, just like the houses in Guntur, some modest with mud walls and roofs with u shaped red planks, and some with only mud walls and thatched roof, just like the one in the middle of Prithvi’s fields.

After a multitude of twists and turns on the bumpy road, the car halted in front of a white two storied house.  The driver and her father-in-law unloaded the luggage from the truck while Prithvi walked around and opened up the door for Pallavi. Madhu walked over to Prithvi and pulled up a sleeping Ammu to carry.

“Welcome Pallavi!” she greeted her with a smile.

Pallavi smiled, her body shaking with nervousness and followed Madhu. They climbed the three concrete steps that led to a giant black and white metal gate.  The spacious front yard’s pathway was built with concrete but a lot of the area was left open where a multitude of flowering plants blossomed, including a jasmine vine that climbed up to the roof, just like in her house.

Two chairs adorned the tiled porch area.  An intricate carving of the scene of Lord Krishna giving advice to Arjuna from Mahabharata, adorned the heavy teak front door.  

Jaya welcome Prithvi and Pallavi with the traditional Aarthi. Pallavi found that a crowd of people swamped the living area. Everyone’s eyes were on them, or rather her.