A highly reluctant and shaken mother,escorted by my father ,accompanied by my uncle and aunt left home at 6PM. My mother is by nature a very sentimental woman and she was extremely superstitious in those days.Over the years,she has changed considerably,and citing her grandchildren as reason for her transformation ,she has willingly compromised on some of her rigid beliefs and customs.A highly diplomatic woman,since her life now revolves around her grandchildren ,cleverly she has adapted herself to suit the needs of the fast and the texting new generation.From a strict mother she has evolved into an atrociously lenient grandmother who is bent on satisfying the young brats...
Nevertheless,since word had been given to the parents of the boy,my mother agreed to pay a visit to their home.That my mother was disinterested ,was clearly evident in her long drawn out face and unlike even normal days when she is usually prim and properly dressed,on that particular evening she presented a grim picture of herself....a trait she can slip into sometimes even today...
On the way they bought fruits,flowers ,sweets and other items including coconut and manjal kumkumam for the Vettrillai paaku as per the customary practice.Uncle was in no mood to relent to the mood of my mother and had admonished her for not being cheerful.Picking up courage to appear normal,she had accompanied them..
The family of the boy lived in Mandaiveli.Earlier in the day,my uncle had obtained the address and the directions from the boy's father and the travelling distance was only a few kms from Nungambakkam to Mandaiveli...
As they approached Mandaiveli ,the boy's father was waiting near a designated landmark on his two wheeler.The car followed him into the bylanes of Mandaiveli..Winding their way through small lanes and bylanes,enroute the market area in Mandaiveli,they reached the boy's house...
Already in a state of dissent and dissatisfaction,my mother's worst fears appeared to be coming true and the others including my uncle were in for a rude shock.The locality resembled a chawl and the family of five lived in a one room kitchen unit on the second floor.A narrow staircase lead the four to the second floor and as they walked along the dim lit corridor ,the scenes of open doors, men ,women and children loitering around ,hanging clothes,the common dirty passageways and the din was appaling...
The family was indeed coming up the hard way.Mr Ramani was a meritorious student and had passed out from the prestigious Anna University.That they did not hide their status was appreciable and yet disconcerting too.They were courteous and had offered sweets,snacks and coffee.After spending an hour or so,my parents returned home with a new story for me.
We grew up the hard way too.Dilapidated,yet ours was an independent flat at Kolkata .That was the story of the sixtys and the early seventys.By the late seventys we had moved into a comfortable and spacious accomodation .So adapting now to this kind of a habitat even temporarily was unthinkable..
As far as my parents and aunt were concerned,there was no point in moving further and the match had to be called off.On the other hand,shaken but firmly holding ground ,Chandru was trying hard to make the other three still see reason to continue.
The mother of the boy had offered to come again the next day and the bewildered foursome had no other option but to say YES....
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