"whatever it is, do your duty;
Rest God will take care;
All 4 of them came out of the temple. There was a brand new sparkling red color 'Swift Dzire' was standing in front of the temple. Vijay went ahead and opened the front door for Anitha. Gayatri accompanied her, asked her to get in. "Here after things are different, this is your place Anitha, have it in mind, otherwise I would have grabbed you to the backseat with me", she said softly with a smile.
Vijay came around the vehicle and got into the driver seat, he started the ignition after Gayatri and Rajesh got into the backseat.
Still not settled with what had 'happened' to her today, Anitha reclained to the seat with much tiredness and closed her eyes. The vehicle was squeezing smoothly through the Chennai's heavy traffic. Vijay concentrated on the road as well as having an eye on the Anitha's disturbed face. There was silence for a while.
To break the silence and to smoothen the awkward situation, Rajesh started chatting with Vijay, "by the way bro, when you bought this car? It looks brand new".
Anitha was taken aback by the new information, is this Vijay's car?! Does he own a vehicle?! Why didn't he tell me?! How many shocks left over to me today?! Her restless mind filled with emotions.
"Nearly two months ago", Vijay replied and they continued with price, mileage, speed etc men's topic of interest. When it was over, Gayatri asked Vijay" where are we going? You kept it suspense".
Vijay took a glance on Anitha. "Actually you know very well, it's our custom, after marriage the bride supposed to go to groom's house and stay there forever, so now... we are heading towards my apartment", he replied nonchalantly.
Once again there was silence inside the car as everybody wound up in their own thoughts. Another shock!!! Anitha was bankrupted of all her thoughts and emotions as she can't bear anymore, she handed herself into destiny's hands and simply started watching 'whats happening' like a third person. It took nearly half an hour for them to reach their destiny.
Vijay's flat was situated in the fourth floor, there are 2 more flats in the same floor. The other 3 followed Vijay who went straight to the door which had been already opened and the entrance was decorated with traditional ' kolam' and 'mango leaves thoran' hanging in the door frame work. He pressed the calling bell button.
A 60 year old lady came out along with two middle aged women with 'aarathi plate' in their hands. They asked Vijay and anitha to come close and stand together, they took 'aarathi' for them. 'Everything was covered by him without fail, except bride's interest in marriage', Anitha thought wittily herself about her current state.
"Come inside my child by placing your right foot first" the old lady said with a broad smile in her face. Anitha did what she was told. All of them got inside. Vijay introduced the old lady named "Lakshmi ma" as his housemaid and others were his neighbors. They left after congratulating them.
"Proud of you my son... she looks like 'Goddess Mahalakshmi' as you said" Lakshmi ma exclaimed, eyes filled with tears of joy. Anitha astounded with this sudden unexpected compliment, with widened eyes she looked Vijay.
Smiling with blush, "Lakshmi ma has no one for her, like me....so I asked her to stay with me here itself, I used to call her ma" Vijay changed the topic immediately. "Oho....." Gayatri said with a sheepish smile as she noted both Vijay and anitha's expressions.
"You are very lucky to have a wonderful fellow like him, he is a very good man at heart" Lakshmi ma said to Anitha. She brought lemon juice for all of them. They both got blessing from her by touching her feet. She guided Anitha into the Pooja room and asked her to light the 'deepam'. While doing so, tears were rolling down at Anitha's cheeks. Gayatri patted her back, Lakshmi ma wiped her tears and was telling, " I know your situation...but these rituals are too important for a happy and prosperous life you are going to have in your near future, please pray the God for that".
Vijay and Rajesh were sitting in the hall and chatting with each other. Lakshmi ma was busy in preparing lunch where she refused to take help of anyone. Gayatri dragged anitha with her to take a look around the house. It's a fully furnished double bedroom apartment with spacious hall, kitchen, small Pooja room, study room and dining area, quiet big when compared to Anitha's flat.
The lunch was great with 'vada, payasam' as Lakshmi ma made a traditional South Indian 'groom's feast'. Everybody enjoyed the food except Anitha, which bothered Vijay a lot, later on reassured by Gayatri, 'she will be alright soon'. They took some rest in the afternoon, Gayatri called her mother in law and confirmed both her babies had food and went for nap.
*********
" I want to ask you about something" Gayatri started the conversation, all 4 of them were sitting in the sitout area with tea in their hands. It's past 4 in the evening. She asked Vijay curiously, "how did you come there during the night rowdies attacked Anitha?! And why didn't you approach her in all these months after your release?!".
Vijay shifted in his chair uncomfortably, before answering he looked Anitha with some hesitation. "You already jumped into the well, then why worry about shirt getting wet? Just come out man" Gayatri teased him.
Vijay started with a smile, of course looking at his newly wed wife, after my release the first thing I did was, to search for her. As soon as I found her, I just wanted to go back to her and stay with her...but...
with a gap, he started again with a bothersome tone, she haven't believed me at that time....., and also I wanted to stand on my own before going to her....so I started following her to have a 'look' at her at least once a day, mostly in the evening times, I was waiting outside your office, followed your vehicle, watching her until she gets inside her apartment.
On that day actually I was late because I took delivery of my car and got late with the procedures, but I wanted to go my first ride with her, I called the office and got the information she had not yet started, so I came there and started waiting for her....
"And finally your wish, going first ride with your dream girl came true right?!.... quiet a love story" Gayatri said with a grin. Anitha was looking at him in disbelief, he was following her for nearly an year and she not even got a clue about that, although the word 'love story' embarrassed her the most.
Vijay changed his gaze to the tea cup, and there was silence for few minutes. "You gave up the story in middle on the day of our get together, what happened afterwards, tell us your jail experiences", Gayatri poked him.
"Actually it's not a jail, it's juvanile home, I don't know why the judge placed me in that...on the day of judgement, finally 'She' asked me, "anything you want to say about this case?!", " I nodded 'No',... but I said, "I just wanted to complete my upcoming public exams", She thought for a while and ordered to place me in that home, it's a kind of work and read type home, we have to work for 8 hrs compulsory, afterwards we can read in the library situated inside the home whatever we want, even there was a computer with internet facilities, it's the rule they have to provide us teaching facilities if we ask for".
He continued, "I utilized the opportunity, I wrote my exams from there, I joined distant education program to complete my degree, I indulged in the part-time job related to automobiles in which I am more interested, so that I could learn the basics and gain some experience in that field, after knowing my interest they arranged a guide for me, he liked me very much and taught me everything top to bottom in that field as well as shared his experiences. That's how I trained in this field and started my own automobile spare parts business in a small scale after my release".
All 3 of them watching him in amazement. Rajesh asked him, " where did you get the money for starting up a business like this?!" in surprise.
I got bank loan, the SI who involved and imprisoned me in this case, gave surity sign for me, it's the judge order, since he wrongly accused me as a criminal, he has to do something for my career, pay in cash from his salary to support my life until I got to stand on my feet as a compensation, but I denied the money. Actually the judges ordered the government to offer a job to me, but I refused as I wanted to start my own business, so the authorities provided me a place and immediately approved all my proposals", Vijay replied very casually.
Anitha was in a jaw dropped state, a teardrop escaped from her eyes, Gayatri exchanged a 'I told you know' look with her, she recalled Gayatri's words, 'man with extraordinary character'.
********
Gayatri and Rajesh wanted to leave early because their kids were waiting for them, but Vijay insisted them to have dinner here. So after 7 they had dinner altogether and after that Gayatri and Rajesh left to their home.
It's past 9, anitha was standing near the window and looking outside in the dark in the master bedroom. she didn't think about anything, she can't, her mind was too tired to think about anything right now.
To her shock, the door was opened after a gentle knock, since it's their first night, Vijay was entering into the room.....
To be continued.....
