Getti Melam - Supraja - An Apple Of My Eye

GETTI MELAM GETTI MELAM- Supraja - An apple of my eye
Part 1of 8.
GETTI MELAM GETTI MELAM - RAGAM THALAM PALLAVI ( கெட்டி மேளம் கெட்டி மேளம் - ராகம் தாளம் பல்லவி)
(I am SUPRAJA narrating part of my Re- marriage story for IL’ites. This story would be concluded by ANNA)
“ HELLO! I am Supraja speaking from Cupertino City in Silicon Valley California? Is it Anna over there?”
“ Oh! yes my dear. Yes I am Anna here. Many happy returns of the day. How is CSK? I presume you are all fine and comfortable there?
“ Oh! Thank you Anna. All are fine. I know you would always remember this day. But it must be wee hours there. Sorry that I have disturbed your sleep.”
“ Not at all. I was anticipating your call.”
Then our conversation went around my nephrologist son JS and his speciality hospital at Trichy and his doctor wife K both having roaring practice. Then Anna enquired of my son-in-law Sai and my daughter Bhuvan Sai. He enquired about my son’s sons Rishab & Rahul.
Thoughts rewound to my years 1970-1977 that robbed my peace & sleep.
I was stringing star-jasmine buds into a garland. In my childhood, Anna used to squat and string jasmine buds along with mom and me. An avalanche of emotions rose, flooding my eyes - drops of tear rolling down my cheeks in rivulets. A Reflection follows on the emotions that jasmine flower stirred.
The day I joined the State Government office, very next day my Anna left for then Bombay to assume charges in a defence establishment. Within few months of his posting to Bombay, a marriage proposal for me came up for consideration.

My dad was pleased as he and mom felt that it had come from well to do family; it was found boy’s horoscope an excellent match to mine, so routine enquiries about their bonafides were made. Satisfied with this, parents had gone ahead with alliance. Boy’s family desired an early marriage!
The preliminaries were over; advance payments to cook, to supplier of groceries, for wedding venue and printing invitation cards- muhurtha patthirikkai - all done out of dad’s savings and borrowed funds and of course supplemented with savings of Anna & mine.
I wrote to Anna to come a fortnight before and stay with us all at least ten days after the wedding.

Anna could come only four days before wedding. I showed him the letter typed in Tamil that was received a few days back from an anonymous source that stressed not to go ahead with marriage as the boy’s horoscope was bogus and currently the boy under investigation for fraud and his parents are cheats and characterless.

I told him that letter was shown to boy’s mother and her instant reaction was some one jealous of this alliance had written it and advised us to ignore. Anna gone through the contents and on the back found inland letter posted in RMS so that none can determine place of posting.

Anna & I were in dilemma but my parents too did endorse “mami’s” advise and not taken it as an issue. The wedding date was fast approaching but the contents of the anonymous letter remain buried in our mind.

Janna- vasam procession in slow motion from a nearby temple reached the venue but with poor gathering. Standing close to a window I watched arrival of Groom SR in blue full suit & bow tie alighting from floral decorated white Plymouth with rose garland dangling around his nape. Next day mhurtha Neram on Sunday. Hall was half packed and I noticed invitees largely of our side and far and few between from groom’s side. The three-knots tied by SR amidst getti-melam followed by trejectories of flowery Akshadhi landing on us and a part of gathering dispersed toward dinning hall.

In the backdrop, hell broke out. A small group of family men and women from groom’s side felt humiliated in the dinning hall. They accused the cook and his servicemen for compelling them to sit in a row where poorly attired kins of service people already commenced eating from large banana leaf. They claimed this incident to be of great insult to them & groom’s parents as well. They seemed to create a chaos that lead to an abrupt end of marriage rigmarole. In turn it lead to abusing each other and in a melee that eventually ended up groom’s side boycotting the rest of the events and their abrupt departure from the venue.

Pleadings of genuflecting parents and mediation of some elderly people all went in vain and my in laws grabbed and dragged a meek me and SR, exited in a huff from the marriage hall at Alwarpet to their house at Mylapore.
It was the most devastating and stressful moment of my life. Evening my Anna and cousin brothers with some senior ladies came to groom’s home and pleaded with my in laws and husband SR to cooperate and come for the reception.
SR & I presented ourselves for the reception which had very poor attendance and from SR’s side none turned up. It was quite surprising that for a “boy” employed in bank none from his office turned up for wedding muhurtham & or reception .
Thus my apprehensions about “my life” & “their” bonafides began. There was no nuptial ceremony.
I was wondering how parents and my Anna going to resolve my life from that moment.
(To be concluded)

 

thanks for reading that propelled you think of parallel in family tree.
I am especially glad that because of your FB elsewhere I began posting this somewhat long story. Next post of the serial 2/8 would be next Sunday. Hope you would continue to read and offer your valuable FB.
Regards.
GOD BLESS US all always.

 

@blissfull
Thanks for tapping g the like option. I do hope you enjoyed reading the part 1 of 8 of this story. I intend to post 2/8 on Sunday the next.
God Bless.

 

@VinuthaS
Thank you for tapping the LIKE option.
I TRUST you enjoyed reading the story which would be completed on instalments. The second part 2 of 8 would be posted on Sunday the next.
I hope you would continue with Supraja
Regards.
God Bless Us All Always.

 

part 2 of 8 GETTI MELAM- SUPRAJA AN APPLE OF MY EYE.

A few days latter Anna came to say bye to me before leaving for Bombay. My mother in law treated him harshly keeping him at doorsteps. Still he did not mind and humbly very politely had requested MIL to receive the fruits and flowers that he brought on a platter. HER EYES widened and BRIGHTENED when she found a hundred rupee note and a one rupee stainless steel coin on the platter placed over beetle leaf.
It was last working day of the month.
Mil was acting very kindly to me from the moment I woke up. We sat one behind the other on the floor. She collected few drops of coconut oil and spread it on her palm and applied it over my bouncing tress; she parted the rich long hair with a broad-tooth wooden comb and began pleating. She seemed to derive pleasure out of it. She kept tiny ss lunch box ready with change for bus fare for me! Yes - I was to resume office after sanctioned leave expired.
It was lunch hour. My office colleagues & I opened our lunch box. The pent up aroma and fragrance of varieties of food from opened lunch boxes soon permeated the small hall . At a distance I saw, Mr CSK - my immediate Boss in the division was escorting my stout and tall MIL toward me. Her presence unannounced sent shivers across my body.
“ After you left in the morning, I remembered it is your salary day. With cash, travel in crowded bus would be risky. So for safety, handover the salary to me. I shall go back now itself when buses are sparsely crowded.”
My blood surged, the moment I heard her soft cunning words. But I gave in and understood the reason for her out of character kindness to me in the morning.
At closing hours of the office, I saw my parents emerging out of the elevator at VI Floor. Mom and I in tears, hugged and they were told of MIL ‘s visit and her collecting my salary.
The supposed first night never materialised under some pretext or other, MIL & her son - SR - deferred it. A week after, SR left to a rural place where he claimed to have been posted & would return home only at week ends. The night was miserable, as I saw FIL merrily whistling and singing with a tall brown bottle in raised hand and then every next evening he was drinking like a fish and MIL said “Habit dies hard”. Continued absence of SR instilled fear in me and every approaching night was scary. I felt like a demented sheep in a slaughter house.
Mil & Fil besides belligerent often, they spilled the beans. Much to my shock, I understood the house we live in does not belong to them. The tenants are not their tenants. It is all mired. SR never bothered to spend time with me during week ends and he and his parents continued to harass and demand bulk amounts often. Marriage never consummated.
Sooner I discovered that they had stolen and sold some of my jewellery and blamed it was stolen by a thief or by Me! I then heard SR too had stolen and disposed their ancestral jewels & metal-wares.
All these impelled me to write in detail in an inland letter to my Anna shedding tears over it. During my office hours, he would talk to me on STD and get apprised my status every fortnight. Within a month, with help of his friend employed in private detective agency , Anna got report in two parts.
Anna told me the contents:
According to the report SR had been dismissed from rural branch of the bank prior to marriage for his involvement in embezzlement of bank’s client funds in collusion with a senior official of the bank. He was dismissed from a rural branch even before the negotiations began for marriage-dowry and for their other demands.
Both dad and son habitually remain inebriated in the evenings. Due to dispute regarding division of ancestral property, MIL ‘s Delhi residing brother and her Trichy sister were not in good terms with MIL’s family for the past several years. The Tamil typewriter found in her Delhi brother’s residence established the fact that he was the anonymous well-wisher who wrote not to go ahead with the marriage.
Horoscope of SR was not genuine and cooked up horoscope contained several flaws vis a vis actual date of birth of SR. The detective with help of Police traced their local ASTROLOGER WHO HAD prepared the modified one that could match with mine and could also trace a copy of original HOROSCOPE OF SR in astrologer’s office! The SR ‘s family were in deep debts .
With these background, Anna suggested to file divorce case and discussed plans to that effect. He also strictly advised me not to breathe our findings about SR family to anyone including my parents and act normally till the execution of plan stage by stage.
(TO BE CONCLUDED)

 

@Ammu2886 @VinuthaS
Thanks for tapping the LIKE option evidencing your reading part 2 of8 of the story GETTI MELAM - SUPRAJA - AN APPLE OF MY EYE.
3 of 8 would be posted on next Sunday.
Regards. GOD BLESS US all always.

 

@lazy
Thank you for clicking the LIKE OPTION. I guess you liked the story part 1&2 of 8 parts.
Regards.
GODBLESS .