Contd..

He opened the first of the three photographs titled Archana_Ascendas.The Windows Live Photo Gallery came alive showing the photograph of a girl in a white kurtha and blue jean standing tall and slim. His mind started to evaluate the height of the girl. He pressed on the right arrow to open the next snap. The title of the window changed to Archana_Scooter. He saw a girl in sky blue churidhar standing next to a Black Activa with the helmet on the handle bar. She was wearing the office ID card around her neck. then he noticed that the girl next to Activa was not that tall or even close to what he saw in the previous photo and he pressed on the left arrow to go back to the previous snap, that was when he noticed that there was another girl on the frame, thanks to the height of the girl in while kurtha he had not noticed Archana in Archana_Ascendas.She was not that tall, a little plump and was wearing a pink and white kurti. He again pressed on the right arrow and Archana_Scooter loaded. He pressed on the plus symbol to resize the picture.”Machi enna panra?” came the voice of Andy. And Andy came close to look at his laptop,”Dai Shiva ivana paru da thaniya vokkandhu figure photo pakkaran….dai yaru da indha paapa?”…Karthik made the same obscene gesture that he had made in sagar except that he was just rude enough to use both the hands this time. “Sari sari no feelings yaaru sollu” said Andy. Andy is a self proclaimed name. His original name was Anand. “Dai this is the girl my mom has finalised for me” Said Karthik.”Means ? O.K. for you is it?” said Andy.”No man I am just looking the photos and she looks okay, lets see”. He closed the laptop to avoid further conversation on this topic and asked “Dai inniki match enna aachu?”

Later that night his mom called him again,”Karthik did you see the three photos that I sent you? or still adamant? In any case, if you do not respond then your father and me are going forward with this girl.” He instantly remembered that he had not seen all the three photos and while talking to his mom on the phone he typed in his credentials to unlock his machine, Windows Live Photo Gallery was still open and Archana_Scooter was still on the screen. He pressed on the right arrow and Archana_Saree loaded. Karthik was just making the all annoying “hmm” noise as his mother was giving a lecture on the other end of the call. Archana_Saree could have made him tell yes had he seen the photo even a couple of years back. He was looking at a beautiful girl in a cream saree with gold border. He could not control the immediate smile that was slipping out of his lips on seeing how childishly she was smiling for the camera posing next to a floral rangoli that said “Happy Onam – Boeing Account”.”Ennama ponnu mallu va?” asked Karthik.”Karthik be serious, what do you think about the girl? if you do not like her..” just before his mother could complete anything he said “Amma, amma ponnu azhaga irukka! you do what ever you want” he could feel the blood rushing to his ears and he heard Shiva shouting “Dai Andy payyan matikittan da, ponna okay pannitan”. “Bhagavane aen payyan manasa mathinadhukku romba sandhosham..I was so scared he might never agree for marriage” said his mother and Karthik was aware that his mother got emotional and was crying out of happiness.”Amma now what? I have said okay…do not cry” said Karthik. “Ennanga, payyan ponna pudichi irukku nu sollitan, Karthik you have her number in the bio-data venum na call panni pesu.I will call her parents and let them know that we can arrange for you both to meet to take it further..I have lot of work…Kalyana vela ellam aarambikkanum” said his mother, now she was ecstatic and they were on the call for few more minutes before hanging up.

“Sree, I just got the call from Mrs. Shiva Shankar, they want to come to our place to take this further” said Raghunandhan. “Apdiya? enakku kayum odala kaalum odala, amma Archu nee oru vaati andha payanoda photova pathu pudichi irukkanu solluma?” said Sree Lakshmi. “Amma, I don’t have time now, you see and do what ever you think is good for me.” said Archana. “Chella kutti ora vaati paathu vunnoda opinion’a sollidra kanna, amma dhan avlo dhooram solralo no?” said Raghunandhan. “Fine pa, I will take a look at the pic in the office, lunch la call panren, Aadi bye da, amma varen” said Archana while tightly pinching on Aaditya’s Cheek. “Chi podi loose” said Aaditya. “Aadi, akkava apdi ellam pesa koodadhu” said Sree Lakshmi and Raghunandhan at the same time. Before they could say bye she was accelerating her Activa.

“Hey, guy looks cho chweet dee, hey he looks like SRK da, cha he looks like maddy yaar….hey best match for you dee, hey payyan sema smart dee, arch arch enakku vittu kuduthuru di he he he” all her friends were crowding her cubicle and were making all sorts of comments and giggling for each comment.She had forwarded the guy’s pic to her friends and couple of her colleagues. She was listening to all their comments and was working on the Weekly Status Report, though she was looking disconnected from the conversation outwardly, she was totally enjoying each and every comment they were making on Karthik and thought “Hmm, payyan okay than”. She clicked on the send button to send the weekly status report to the onsite lead and same time flipped open her mobile to place a call to her father “Appa photo va pathen, neenga enna sonnalum enakku okay”. Raghunandhan could see her daughter blushing on the other end and said “paru da, aen ponnu vekka padra”.”Appa please pa” said Archana.”Appo avangala ponnu paaka vara solidren da”, “Daddy I have office this weekend, have some support work. I will take the comp off next Thursday and Friday. So indha vaaram vara solladha” said Archana.”Sari da chellam, adutha vaaram oru nalla naalu paathu vara solren, seekaram veetukku vandhuru inniki vunga athayum, maamavum voorla irundhu varanga” said Raghunandhan. “Sari Pa, bye”. She safely put her phone back in her purse and pressed alt + tab on her Microsoft keyboard. Windows photo gallery became active showing DCH002 where Karthik was standing tall with the Patronas twin towers in the back drop. She looked intensely on to the picture for few seconds before saying “Oh Man U fan’a ?” he was wearing the red and white Man U tshirt.Before she pressed windows and L, a mail popped in to her outllook and a small box made itself appear on the bottom of the screen and the subject was guy looks awesome :) it was from one of her best friend.“Vidhya va lets go to third floor cafeteria” said Archana as she grabbed her Tupperware and walked out of her cubicle.

“Karthik, Raghu called me this morning. Avaa avaaloda sastrigala ketangalam and this friday seems to be an auspicious day. Nee leave potu vandhuru” Said Shiva Shankar on the call. Karthik never expects a call from his dad since he was busy most of the day time.”Illapa, I have a deliverable pending that week, kastam pa….hmmmm sari okay I will delegate my work and come. Amma kitta solli enakku Volvo la oru ticket book panna sollu Thursday night. Apdiye Varsha vukkum book panna sollu”said Karthik. “Okay, I am getting another call. Will call you later. Bye” Said Shiva Shankar

Varsha and Karhik were sitting in the fourth row from the rear end of the bus. “Woh lamhe woh baten koyi na jaane” he was humming while also dozing off to sleep just when “Dai Karthik ivlo azhagana ponnu kooda varen kadala podama thoongara vekkama illa?” said Varsha just finishing a call with her boy friend. “Varsha thoongu dee, illana chithi kitta solliduven vunnoda matter ellam adhuvum illama annava pathu kadala poda solra..ellam kali kaalam” said Karthik. “Oh amma kitta sollriya, appo nalla disturb panren, seekarama sollu” Said Varsha. “My god why did you give me a cousin like this? Here listen to vishnu sahasranamam, atleast then you might get good thoughts in your brain and good night” said Karthik passing her the iPad from which he was listening to music from. “Hey iPad,any movies in this?” exclaimed Varsha.”No movies only Friends series and songs, thoonga vidri” said Kathik. “Chi poda” sighed Varsha.

Chapter 1

His hand was lazily searching for his mobile phone while his brain was still trying to figure out if the music was from his mobile phone or if it was one of those numbers that was played by the DJ in the late night party that he had attended the night before. A couple of minutes later, he could again hear the unmistakable voice of Sukhwindar, singing the Oscar winning Jai Ho This time however his brain was up and running to its full potential and immediately signals were sent to his senses and he woke up to pick the call, though he was not as alert as his brain. By the time he picked up his mobile to receive the call, the caller had hung up. When he checked for the missed calls, he found six calls, all from his mother.

He dialled his mother’s number and instantly thought otherwise and cut the call before the call went through. He was just aware that his mother hated when some one spoke at home without having a mouth wash right after waking up in the morning. He went straight in to the bath room with his tooth brush and paste, along with the bottle of Listerine. It almost took him ten minutes to come out of bath room.Now he was sure he could place a call to his mother and dialled her number, before the call got connected he went to the cupboard in his room where he had kept a picture of Saraswati and a small Ganesh idol and he stared at them for a couple of seconds. This constituted his prayers ever since he came to Bangalore and he never missed out on his prayers.When he just finished his prayers, he heard a voice from the other side of the phone that was so familiar to him. After all he had been listening to that voice for the past 29 years.”Hello Mom, good morning!!!! had break fast??” he asked. “Ethana vaati Karthik vunakku call pannanum? and its not good morning, its almost afternoon now.” She was obviously not happy about her son getting up that late.”Illama nethu night romba late aiduchu thoonga” said Karthik.”So what are you doing? had your break fast at least?”. It was more of a regular question for which she almost never expected an answer.”Karthik I wanted to talk to you about your marriage, you have been so adamant on this but this time I have decided to go ahead no matter you say yes or not. See, I have mailed you the bio-data and the photographs of the girl. Her name is Archana, photo va pathu epdi irukka ponnu nu sollu, jadhagam porutham ellam nalla irukku”.”Amma, I just came from Singapore adhukulla enna ma avasaram?” said Karthik. “Dai engalukkum vayasachu da, This time no excuse, your father and I have decided to go ahead. And this is not for your permission, this is just to let you know how your wife to be looks. ayyyyooooo andha book stand pakkathula irukku parunga vunga kannadi, Fine Karthik your father is as usual searching for his glasses I will call you in the night in the meanwhile look at the picture and tell me how she looks, bye.

He was sure this was coming and was not much of a surprise since he was expecting this. He was fiddling with more than one thought while he hung up on the call, what to have for brunch? and should he really take a look at the photo and the bio-data and was also wondering why would some one send a bio-data to him as if he was to offer a job, before he could make any decision he was logging in to the mail server from his blackberry. Just when he came to check his mother’s mail after responding to couple of his manager’s mails he noticed that the battery charge was down and instantly the phone went dead. With the technique of a one year old kid he carelessly threw the phone on the bed and went out of his room to find his friend Shiva dancing crazy like a maniac with his iPod clipped to his t-shirt sleeve.

“Shiva saptiya?, dai Shiva , dai Shiivaaa” he started to rock Shiva holding to his shoulders. “Enna maapla, sari mabbu pola nethu night?” asked Shiva still dancing. “First remove those ear plugs and tell me if you guys had your food?” Karthik said. “Pasanaga saptanga da, I am not eating today, I am on a fruit diet today”Shiva sad. He was the youngest in the room, 25 and was a plump looking guy. His entire friends circle was aware about his eating habits, eating like there was no tomorrow on the week days and dieting like an anorexic on the weekends.”Sari enakku company kudu” Said karthik. “Enna maapi veetla kalyanam pecha? Sari vaa polam”

They went to some Sagar which neither of them knew of. “Ondhu Open Dosa amele Ondhu Coffee, dai vunakku aedhavadhu?” Said Karthik. “No da, I am not eating any thing today, hmmm okay one Pineapple juice and kesari bath” said Shiva.They went to the corner of the room to sit in the table next to a table occupied by girls in the dining hall which was otherwise empty. “Dai, look at that yellow….man she is too cute” whispered Shiva. “Dai nee vera, my mom wants me to get married immediately man” said Karthik. “Hey I know that, btw figure apadi?” asked Shiva referring to Archana. Instantly Karthik made an obscene gesture using his hand which he was not using to eat the open dosa. For some reason the girls sitting next to their table giggled all at the same time and started to leave.

That evening went without any interesting events. He decided to take a look at the photo and the bio-data but this time however he was logged in to his company laptop with the Tata Indicom plug to serve plugged to one of the USB ports. He logged in to his mail server and opened the mail from his mother. He noticed that his mother had written a big note in the body of the mail, he did not care to read it and was downloading the attached zip file. He unzipped the file on to his desktop to find three jpg files and a word document. He opened the document first.

Sri Rama Jayam

Name: Archana

DoB: 23.06.1984

Father’s Name : Raghunandhan (Retd. Lecturer Govt Arts College)

Mother’s Name : Srilakshmi (Home maker)

Siblings : One Brother, Aaditya – Second year EEE BITS Pilani

Education : BE, EEE from SSN

Occupation : Software Engineer with TCS

Hobbies : Reading books, Cooking, movies, classical music.

Gotram : Kashyap

Star : Revati

blah blah blah.

“Archana Raghunandhan” Karthik mouthed aloud without any sound slipping his mouth.