“Twinkling bulbs and
beautiful flowers have turned this place into a veritable fairy land,” thought
the septuagenarian Sundari as she stepped out of the car at the entrance of the
hall, where her eldest granddaughter Malathi’s wedding was to be performed. The alley from the well-decorated entrance to
the portico was covered with beautiful, huge rangolis – all lovingly drawn by
her friends and relatives. As was common in the grand weddings of Chennai,
machines vending popcorn, cotton candy, cold cocoa, ice cream and instant
coffee were lined up all along one side of the spacious portico. Children were
already busy playing in the inflatable castle-shaped jumping bag assisted by
attendants dressed up as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. All these paraphernalia were
unheard of when she was young but now no wedding was complete without these.
She saw her four younger grandchildren, all dressed in their traditional best, welcoming
the wedding guests. After one eagle-eyed supervisory round of the kitchen,
dining room and the groom’s quarters, she settled down to oversee the
bride’s make up. Though outwardly calm,
the worry about the unfulfilled demand of the groom’s party niggled at her
mind.
“Amma, where are
you? Come quickly, Ravi is at the entrance and
it looks as if he is here to create trouble. The groom’s party will be here
very soon. Hurry up only you can handle him,” Kumar, her eldest son called out.
As she hastened after Kumar, many guests
tried to stop her with their congratulations.
“What a grand wedding and that too for a
niece! Kumar and Nataraj are indeed very good sons and do you know……….” Sundari smiled at them vaguely as she rushed
after Kumar.
Though her body
followed her eldest son mechanically, her mind traveled back twenty two years
to the black day when her pregnant daughter Parvathi, brutally beaten by her
alcoholic husband Ravi had come for refuge to
her father’s house late at night. A repentant Ravi
had come to their house the very next day with apologies and promises but Sundari
had no time for him. Parvathi had been so badly beaten that she needed ten
stitches on her face and hospitalization for four days. When she was discharged from hospital,
Sundari brought her home and nursed her back to health. With in a few days, Malathi
was born prematurely and needed extra medical care.
For three months
as is the South Indian custom, Sundari and her family looked after Parvathi and
Malathi. It was during this period that Sundari extracted the whole story about
her son-in-law’s alcoholic habits and understood how patient Parvathi had been
in her marital house. She realized that her daughter, although just a
matriculate had tried all methods from rituals to rehabilitation to cure her
husband of his addiction. She had spent money unstintingly, even to the extent
of pawning her jewels but to no avail. Every little event - be it a happy one
or a sad one - was an excuse for him to drink.
Her mother-in-law
defended her son saying, “Men are usually like that and it is up to us women to
adjust. Drinking is in Ravi’s genes, even his
father was an inveterate drunkard, who used to beat me and he continued to do
so until he died in a drunken brawl.”
Parvathi had borne all the sufferings because
she knew that her family led a very hard life and that her wedding had all but
wiped out their savings so she did not want to add to their burdens. When
Sundari spoke about this to her family their reaction was, “What can we do? It
is Parvathi’s fate. She has to adjust.”
At the end of
three months, when Ravi came with his mother
to take his wife and child back home, Sundari refused to send her daughter back.
Sundari’s husband, her two sons and their wives were aghast at her
decision. Her husband Murugesh thundered
at her, “Are you mad, Woman? Do you want to ruin your daughter’s life? How can
she stay here away from her husband? What will people say? Who will respect our
family? We will be ostracized from the community. Have you taken leave of your
senses?”
Kumar, her eldest
son said, “Amma, Ravi is only a drunkard; he
is not a womanizer or a drug addict. May be Parvathi is responsible for Ravi’s drinking? Is it not the wife’s responsibility to guide
and change her husband. Have you not heard of Kannagi and how she changed her
husband?”
“Amma, you are
right no doubt but just think of the little Malathi. What will you do when she
asks for her father? Won’t children taunt her in school that she has no father?
When she grows up who will marry a fatherless girl?” asked her younger son, the
recently married Nataraj. His wife nodded in agreement with him while looking
at Parvathi with sympathy.
The elder
daughter–in-law Kumari always soft spoken and supportive of Sundari asked,”
What will our relatives say if Parvathi becomes a vaazhaveti (abandoned woman)? She will have no status in our
community? She will not be allowed to participate in auspicious functions.” Behind her statement lay the fear of how they
were going to feed two extra mouths on the income, from the offset printing
press a family concern, which was barely enough for a hand to mouth existence.
In face of all this
opposition, Sundari was very stubborn and steadfast in her decision. Ravi and his
mother were shocked at the turn of events and tried to appease them but Sundari
refused to change her mind. They retreated with threats of court case and
panchayat action. Nothing came of it since the recalcitrant Ravi
now drank to forget the sorrow caused by separation from his wife and the
mother could do nothing without his help. Sundari had acted decisively and
called for a meeting of their community panchayat and made the separation
official and formal.
Sundari’s husband stopped talking with her,
her sons argued with her on every issue; the daughters-in-law grew rebellious
and grumpy while her daughter cried eternally as if there was a spring in her
eyes. The only human being unaffected by all this chaos was little Malathi, who
with her sunny smiles and happy disposition charmed everyone from her grouchy
grandpa to the irritable youngest aunt. Parvathi soon recovered her equanimity
and started helping her sisters-in-law with the household work and slowly won
their hearts by her sweet nature and generosity of spirit.
Sundari approached
a local Apparel Unit and persuaded them to employ Parvathi initially as a
cleaner and requested them to train her gradually for stitching or any other
suitable skill. Within two years Parvathi was earning enough to support herself
and her daughter. The neighbours’ stares and taunts were gradually replaced by
sympathy as they observed Parvathi’s docile nature and her sincere efforts to
support herself and her daughter.
Sundari realized
that her daughter’s meager salary would never pay for her growing
granddaughter’s needs so she involved herself in their family business of printing
much against her husband’s wishes. Her
innate business sense coupled with her understanding of human nature helped
them to improve their business and profits, which began as a trickle but soon turned
into a steady flow assuring them of a comfortable though not luxurious life
style.
After Murugesh’s
death, Sundari controlled the expanding family with iron hands in velvet gloves.
She managed to keep the family together in spite of their personal jealousies
and rivalry with tact and diplomacy. She
was blessed with four grandchildren by the sons and as the business improved
they were able to build a small two bedroom house. Sundari and the rest of the
family believed that their fortunes had changed due to Malathi’s luck.
Sundari, ever
aware of her responsibility towards Malathi, encouraged her to study well and
the girl did not disappoint her grandmother. After completing her graduation
she secured a good job through campus interview and enrolled for M.B.A through
distance mode. For the last two years her grandmother had invested Malathi’s
salary wisely to assemble the trousseau
for her wedding.
Malathi readily
agreed to the alliance that her uncles brought for her and the uncles were
happy because this marriage would elevate their status in society and make it
easier for their children to settle well in life. Malathi’s in-laws belonged to
a well-to-do family and agreed to this marriage due to pressure from their only
son Madan who was nearing thirty but had been refusing to get married until he
met Malathi by chance. They had yielded to his pressure only because they were
impressed by Malathi’s amiable nature as also the sincerity and integrity of
her uncles. They
were dissatisfied that Malathi’s family was not in a position to include a pair of diamond earrings in the bride’s
trousseau but Madan did not yield. Sundari was worried as to whether that would
cause a problem later but was in no position at present to fulfill that
particular requirement.
Since it was the
first wedding in the family and Malathi was their blue eyed darling, the uncles
organized a lavish function, a little beyond their means. Everyone was full of
praises for the arrangements and now this unforeseen problem of Ravi had cropped up. Recollecting her past experiences
with Ravi, Sundari was worried about the scene
he would create and the effect it would have on Malathi’s in-laws, who were
very particular about their prestige and position in society.
As she neared the
entrance she saw the worried faces of her daughters-in-law but was relieved to
see that Parvathi was nowhere around. Kumar took her to the ante room where she
found an emaciated, unkempt Ravi sitting on a
chair with his head on the table. She assumed that he was drunk as usual and
said tersely,” Why have you come? You ruined my daughter’s life; have you come now
to ruin my grand daughter’s life?”
With trembling
hands, Ravi held out a bundle tied up in a
dirty piece of cloth and said in a surprisingly clear and steady voice, “I will
not come into her life or your life hereafter – my days on this earth are
numbered as I have liver cancer. I could not have given my daughter the type of
life you have given her or the type of wedding your sons are performing for
her. Today you have proved that if a woman wills it she can achieve anything in
life. This is the last piece of my mother’s jewellery, which she wanted her
grandchild to have. Please give it to Malathi.” With that he walked out of the
wedding venue without even a single backward glance.
Sundari was stunned
and could not believe her eyes, when she opened the bundle to find a pair of the
traditional diamond earrings twinkling at her.
