Ghosts of Past Boyfriends

Preetham was in a very happy mood. His wife has returned home with their kid. He took a early leave from the office and headed directly to home. Some young girl was waiting in the living room. He didn't even bother to greet her nor even he tried to recognize her. Preetham was more yearning to see his wife and child. When he entered the room Seema, his wife had just kept the phone receiver down and looked a bit gloomy. She spoke her mind out even before Preetham could enquire, "Its my friend Radha!... Her husband has left her because he caught her chatting with her old boyfriend. Seriously she was not upto any mischief nor she meant to betray her husband. You Men get so easily blurred and burned by the acid rain drops of jealousy and suspicion?*"

Preetham had other better things to talk,"Come on! I believe its not the right time to talk about it."
But Seema had predetermined something and it got clear as she spoke, "Seriously I want to make a confession before it is too late. Before You came into my life, there were three men. I will tell you about them today." So saying she took some photos, which was tuggged in between the pages of a paperback.
Preetham was taken aback, "Old boyfriends! And you still have their photos. Sure! Their love letters must also be neatly filed somewhere"

She shows the first picture and announces "Hari.. My boyfriend when I was just sweet sixteen, the age when we fall for good looking and attractive men. '. Preetham found the words not matching with the picture, "Your Hari Puthar looks more like Harry Potter with those specs. Attractive is the last word I will use to describe him.."
Seema laughed aloud, "He is more weird than Harry Potter! We used to sleep together..." Preetham's jaws nearly dropped on hearing the sleep word
But when seema completed the sentence, he was relieved, ".. together in the boring History class... Today he sleeps just four hours in his home"
Preetham completed, "The balance he gets in office i suppose... Anyway... why did you break up?"
Seema found her memory fading regarding the reason, "Don't remember! Maybe boyfriends came with expiry dates during that teen period!"

Seema picks up the second picture and goes back to the old days, "Those were my final years of graduation. During that age, we want men to respect us and accept us as we are. Alok! True to his name he was out of this world. He always used to take me to those Viraan places... Those old places and monuments where there would be no crowd at all and only shrubs and nature..."
Preetham didn't want his imagination to be put to work, "What kind of friends you had! Your choices seem to be all wrong."
Seema corrected her husband, "Don't mistake him, dear!... He was more into archaeology thing... old places.. old things.. etc"
Preetham interrupted, "Then he should have gone for an old woman... why you? err... wasn't that an insult to you?..."
Seema said, "Not at all.... An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets the more interest he has in her**. But I was not lucky with Alok. He said he preferred quiet girls to me. Now that's what I call an insult."

Seema comes to the final snap "This is Ryan...." Preetham cries out, "A Christian? Being a pious brahmin girl you fell for a Christian!..."
Seema was taken aback, "All I saw was that he was a boy ...."
Preetham cools down, "Okay! During this stage, I suppose you looked for a man with good job prospects and status in society. Right?... So what was this Ryan boy? Doctor or Engineer?"
Seema laughed as she explained his profession, "He was a bus conductor... I was knocked out by the way he whistled, standing on the foot board and put the vehicle into motion with his usual clarion call 'Rights! Okay! Lets go!'.I thought he would always have said the same for all my wishes in the life"
Preetham couldn't believe his ears, "You were so stupid in love.. So why didn't this relationship work... "
Seema confessed, "I was very stupid. I didn't knew how to be alone and love always provided the escape. But even here, destiny had other plans. He gave up the whistle and held on to a flag. He joined a railway station as a gate man I suppose. Now that sounded very boring..."

Then the angry Mother-in-law barged in from nowhere and demanded Seema, "Give me those three photos right now... Whats going on here?"
Preetham felt that she mus have overheard their conversation. Preetham got really tensed up fearing that his mother would throw tantrums if she did come to know of her Daughter-in-Law's confessions. But the next line came as a total surprise to him, "My sisters daughter is waiting impatiently in the living room to see her three suitors photos from such a long time!!... and you are playing with the same, you silly girl !!!... Give it to me now!!!"
Seema without any protest handed over her so called ex-boyfriends snaps. Looking at her husband's all stressed out face, she gave away a mischievous smile, "Now you know the truth!" That smile did the trick and Preetham was not at all angry with her. He scolded her a bit lightly," You Nautanki!!!... So there was no one else at all in your life..."
Seema uttered the true confession, "Till I married you, I had never kissed any boy and was still sleeping with my mother.*** " and then slowly hummed these beautifully lines, "Na koi hain...na koi tha...zindagi mein tumhari siwa" (There was no else now... no one else before... other than you in my life)

* Adapted from a quote by Astrid Alauda
** Quote by Agatha christie
*** Adapted from a movie line

To Say or Not To Say

The work burden had fallen on Manya after her boss Preetham took a friday leave to enjoy the weekend with his family. When she had completed the work and was down in the parking lot, it was eight in the night. She was damn tired but still found some energy to instruct the security guard to check the entire office once again. The Security guard put down the novel he was reading and exclaimed in Shudh English, "Madam, There is still a light on in the third floor. I presume someone in accounts is at work."
Manya tried to catch a glimpse of the cover of the paperback, but failed. She and the guard moved towards the third floor to find out who the night owl was.

What they saw brought a smile on their face. A young accounts executive was looking at the computer screen. No he was not looking at some tax computation nor it had anything to do with accounts. It was the photo of a cute young girl around twenty three and the executive was zooming in and out.
Manya cleared her throat, "Doing some eye exercise.... at eight o clock in the night, Mr...."
The embarrassed executive gave his introduction, "Surendar... Surendar Rao... I was just about to leave..." and saying so he directly switched off the power switch without even going through the normal shutdown procedure.

Manya knew how seniors have to sometimes address the concerns of their juniors and it has to be truthful and not like 'How is your mother doing now' immediately followed by, 'Can I have the file by evening on my table'. So she teased the guy softly, "Is the girl on our payroll. I mean are you working out on some final settlement for her? or is it some admission formalities"
Surendra was shy yet he answered her question, "Not exactly. She is not on the payroll of our company. She has definitely captured my heart. Its all just a online relationship. I have not even expressed myself to her for fear of rejection. She lives in the big metro and I in this Small coastal town."
The Security Guard encouraged the young man, "So what? She may be just another girl in big bad city wanting a good boy to love her.It all ultimately comes down to that! You are simply confusing yourself" and he further added, "Online relationship is much better than the 'out of sight is out of mind' sort of relationships"
Manya just went wow with the Guard's answer. But she also felt he was giving her competition and so she cautioned the young man, "All forms of relationship are complex. Whatever one hears or sees or reads must not be believed, because there may be undercurrents which we cannot sense...."

Surendra expressed his concern, "I have been exchanging mails and messages with her for the last five or six months and dreaming of a better tomorrow with her. The feelings in the heart have just remained that...feelings... they have never been expressed through words."
Manya felt that someone has truly said,'Woman often talks outside her head and man inside his head'. She dispensed her advice "Why don't you speak openly with her? I don't believe she is good at telepathy to read your mind. Don't just build a castle in the air. Its just a waste of time."
The watchman again hijacked the argument from her, "If you have built castle in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them*"

Surendar put his hands up, "Still! Would she say yes? I mean she wants to come up in her field and other than that metro where she can get a good opportunity to excel in her area of expertise and come up in her career. On the other hand, I am a easy going man..."
Manya found that young man was unable to explain his position, "Hmm... Love and planning life can definitely go hand in hand. Think about it? So why don't you think of moving to the big bad city where there is lot of demand for your profession than for software engineers?"
The guard decided to put in his own thoughts, "Its not a big distance to cover. The greatest distance man has to ever cover is the eighteen inches from the head to the heart.**"

By then they had reached the parking area and the Surendar just said 'Ill think about' and went away. Manya asked the watchman, "What do you think, Sir? What decision he has to take ?"
The old man laughed and said, "Do you girls allow boys to take the decisions. Even in a family if man is the head, woman is the neck and it is the neck which turns the head. His head is already turned...."***
Saying so he got back to his book and now the title was clear to Manya. It was Two States. And Manya thought, 'Like the title, so was Surendar.... in Two States of mind.'

*Quote by Henry David Thoreau
** Anonymous quote
*** A Russian saying

The Ideal Husband

It has been a routine for Preetham now. Spending the weekend at his wife's place with his wife and kid. That weekend too, the story was no different. But this time around, Preetham had brought the Souten(Mistress) along. His laptop!!.

While Seema was glued to the idiot box, Preetham was busy with the new client acquisition and its documentation work on his laptop. Seema was getting bored and then a voice coming from the idiot box caught her attention.

The presenter of a show was using his voice effectively to garner attention, "Are you sitting and watching this show alone while your husband is working on his lapptop?" Seema just nodded her head in affirmative. To that the host asked his viewer 'take a look at this' and the scene in the telly showed a young man in his thirties looking at the horizon and sound of a whistle could be heard in the background. The host then questioned, "Do you think he is sitting in the laps of the nature and that sound is the whistling of a train running through the meadows?"
Seema innocently answered, "It looks so...."
The host corrected her immediately and showed her the wider picture of the young man waiting in the verandah of his home, "He is waiting for his dear wife to return from her work... and that sound is not of the train... but its sound of the pressure cooker... coming from inside the house...."
When the narrator mentioned pressure cooker, the young man jumped to his feet and ran inside the house.

Narrator then took Seema back to the beginning of the story, "When they got married some six months back, the girl took a promise from the boy that whoever reaches the home first in the evening will cook for the other..."
Seema smiled and commented, "Whoever wants the janam-janam-ka saath promise. This promise is more practical" and she remembered those wondeful lines, "I like hugs and I like kisses...But what I really love is help with the dishes!"
The host started briefing up on the couple, "The boy worked in a government office as a accountant while the wife worked in a prestigious software company. So you know who usually reaches the home first? Its the boy..."
The host added his own bit of sarcastic remark which didn't go fine with Seema, "I remember what Rita Rudner once said,'I love being married.Its great to find that one person you want to annoy all your life.' This girl seemed to be of that mindset..."

But the young man who was being featured was of a good mindset. He didn't mind cooking for his wife. After the dishes, he started setting the whole place in order. The narrator reminded him, "Wasn't the promise only to make the dishes..."
The young man spoke his mind, "When my wife comes home tired, I want to provide her a nice environment to relax."
The narrator annoyed her further with his next question, "Cooking! Cleaning! Now Isn't this what they call being joru ka ghulam (Slave of wife)?"
Seema thought the host was corrupting the young man, "The weak are always trying to sabotage the strong"

The host was nearing the end, "In our home, I have a cat which senses me coming home from a mile distance just with the sound of the horn of my bike. The story is no different here..."
And then the young man heard the faint sound of a horn coming from a distance and announced, "That's my wife's company vehicle's horn.. She's here!" Dropping the broomstick, he ran to the gates to greet her..
The narrator's voice was reading the situation badly, "I find it awkward to look at the scene where a husband is waiting for his wife at the gates!"
Seema was literally shouting at the idiot box, "I find it too romantic, you stupid! Its one of basic human necessity to have someone at home waiting for his or her return. And this good husband understands it, you nincompoop!"

The host then came onto the screen and asked the viewer and it looked he was asking Seema directly, "You seem to like it! Is the story same at your home?" Seema with a tinge of sadness shook her head saying "No"
The host threw another question, "Do you want your husband to wait and cook for you like this ?" Seema nodded her head, "Definitely! Daily!"

Suddenly Preetham put his laptop down and questioned his wife," What are you doing? Shaking and nodding your head at the blank telly?" Seema looked at her husband and then at the television and she realized that the telly was not even connected.
She looked at her young one and remarked, "Oh My Daughter! You are making me dream more these days..." Preetham smiled and said, "No matter whatever your dreams are! I will try to make them a reality"
Seema laughed aloud thinking of her dreams and it seemed her baby joined her too in the laughter.

Waiting for You!

Every walking minute that we are in the presence of someone, we come up with a constant streams of predictions and inferences about what the other person is thinking and feeling
- From the book 'Blink'

But sitting in the car ,with her boss Preetham in the drivers seat, Manya was doing something different. She was not attempting to mind-read her boss. She knew that all he wanted now is to be at Wife's place on time and enjoy the friday evening. Rather she was trying to get a vision of how Preetham's wife Seema was missing her husband.

And somewhere far away from that location, resting with her baby girl, Seema was looking from her bedside window of how the heavenly cushions were changing the covers. The sky had darkened immediately and it looked like twilight. This prompted her to hum a popular song, "It seems like that It would rain now........It seems like my heart has a song now....All I want from you is to sit in my heart....And listen to my song......." Seema's mother walked into the room and teased her daughter
“Like the earth outside that is anxiously waiting for the drops of water to fall upon it from the heavens above, So is my daughter waiting for the arrival of her husband…”
Seema smiled and then looked her at her smiling new born baby and complained, “Your father told me he would be here by five…. Its already five. I hope he will be here before the rains pour down…”
Mother continued teasing her daughter with some more nice romantic lines , “With you nearby, Years roll like minutes. Without you, even a second is like a year….”

Manya opened her eyes unable to get a picture of Seema's plight. The Rains had distracted her concentration. The sudden rains had brought the traffic to a standstill. Manya knew how eager was her boss Preetham to see his baby and she calmed her boss, "Have some Patience boss! The traffic will clear in five minutes."
Preetham cried out to his lord, “Oh God! In Dwapar, you cleared the way for Vasudev to take his kid Lord Krishna and drop him at Gokula. Some centuries back, you cleared the way for Moses to carry those TEN Commandments. Do it now also na with this traffic so that I can reach my wife’s place at the earliest”
Manya prayed a bit differently, "Oh God! Give my boss some patience..." and she waited for a moment and then exclaimed, "and give it now!"*
Manya couldn’t believe it when she saw the traffic getting cleared slowly, “Seems the overall traffic controller heard your prayers.”

Manya then started thinking whether the wife would also be praying like this.
But Seema was singing rather than praying to the Rains which had turned from a trickle to a downpour, “Oh Rains! Don’t fall so incessantly making it hard for my husband to come home. Once he reaches here, rain relentlessly giving him no opportunity to leave this place…***”
Like a host from a radio request show, the Rain God obliged and all of a sudden reduced its show of might.
Mother who was playing with the young one smiled at her daughter’s song, “You lovers are so selfish! Always thinking of yourself…..”
Seema defended herself, "I was only asking for the bad weather to clear...I am not that selfish..."
The mother answered, "There is no such thing as bad weather. We have only different kinds of good weather. Sunshine is delicious and rains are refreshing**"

When the rains had slowed down and the traffic started moving faster, Manya guessed as to what was happening in Seema's mind and made a profound statement which didn't make any sense to Preetham, "Though not in person, I feel you two are together now at this moment in the thoughts...'". Preetham was concentrating more on the road and hitting on the gas. Now it was Manya's turn to pray, "Oh Boss! Slow down... There is a whole weekend ahead...". She never believed her boss would listen to her. But Preetham not only slowed down but also brought the car to a sudden halt.
Her boss smiled as he got down the car, “How can I go empty handed to my wife.” And then instructed Manya, “Wait here! I will go to that market and be back in five minutes.”
Within five minutes Preetham was back with plastic bags in both hands. Manya tried to get a peep into the plastic bags. Preetham announced, “Only Fruits and flowers in the bag…..” Manya completed the sentence, “And lots of love in the heart. Nice combination”

Finally the destination was reached…. There was perfect synchrony between the opening of the car door by Preetham and opening of the front door by Seema. Preetham completely forgot that gentlemen open the car door for ladies. He was already at the door steps to hug his wife and child. But Manya didn't mind that her boss had forgotten his manners and enjoyed everything from the comfort of her seat without getting down. She felt as if she was in a drive in theater enjoying a romantic movie. There were times when real life imitates the movies. This was one such feel-good movie moment. But a question was erupting in Manya's mind, “How did the love of the couple grew double fold after the child arrived? Did this child bring additional love with her when she was born?


*** Lines from a Kannada song.
** John Ruskin
* Anonymous

A New Year and A New Life

The preacher had a unusual job that of giving sermons to prisoners who were facing death sentences. Today he found himself at a altogether different place. A nursing home, place where new lives are brought to this world. And his eyes fell upon Preetham, who was sitting in the waiting lounge hoping for the doctor to bring some good news at the earliest. The impatient look on Preetham's face made it clear that his wife Seema was in the labor room being attended to by doctors and nurses.

The preacher got an unusual desire all of a sudden to give the young man a sermon on creation. All his life he had been talking only about the greatest leveler - Death. Now he wanted to talk about the basic truths of creation. But he knew that Preetham wouldn't welcome a stranger like him and that too at this juncture. So he decided to use a intermediary. The preacher knew a mystic way whereby he would transfer the knowledge to a intermediary who is close to Preetham and the intermediary would in turn preach Preetham. For this role, the preacher zeroed in on Manya and all the knowledge he wanted her to possess was transferred through a mental FTP (File Transfer Protocol). But the preacher never expected a small girl like Riya to be a distraction in his discharge of this duty.

The eerie silence in the waiting lounge was broken by Manya who spoke as if she was possessed by some spirit of an Acharya from the Gurukul, " Vats (Son)! Why are you so tensed up! Whatever it is and however it is, you need to accept it as God's Gift. It could be a boy or a girl, it could be dark complexioned or a fair one, you need to accept it! Therefore I feel you are simply troubling yourself...."
Preetham looked at his junior Manya and came to the conclusion that she was again going out of her mind.
But Manya needed to impart upon him the new found wisdom, "Out of a millions of sperms that get released, only one gets a chance to see the light of the day. Only one grows as a baby in a woman's womb....."
Preetham just tried to wake her up thinking she was again hallucinating, "This is not your biology classroom nor is this your laboratory! Wake up! You are in a nursing home...."

But the young Riya had her own questions, "But who nurtures this fetus in a mother's womb? Who places those beautiful eyes? Who puts that tiny nose on the center? Who lays down those sweet lips? Who shapes those little ears? Who completes this contract of creation in her womb and that too within a period of nine months?"
Manya gave away a type of divine smile and pointed the finger upwards, " Its him....! He breaks one cell into 46 chromosomes. These chromosomes are further broken down into thousands of genes. He allots each gene a unique function depending upon the prototype he has in mind..." and then turns towards Preetham and says, "When he has created, he also knows to protect. You are just simply worrying too much...."
Preetham just tried to ignore her. But she came up with a good example, "Remember after the Mahabharatha war, when Ashwathama used that weapon of mass destruction Brahma-Shir Ashtr against Uttara's (Arjuna's daughter in law) womb with the intention of destroying the only left heir that was growing in her womb, who protected it? Lord Krishna himself with his Sudarshan Chakra. He protected it till it came to this world."
Preetham was really amazed by her knowledge, "You seem to have taken a crash course in Mythology..."

Riya's mind was working and she distracted Manya's focus, "Creation and Protection parts are Okay! But why does elders desire for a baby. They spend the first twelve months teaching these babies to walk and talk and the next twelve months telling them to sit down and shut up. If such is the case, why do they desire for babies? What it brings to them?"
Manya answered it very poetically, "A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, cloths shabbier, the past forgotten and the future worth living for...***"
When Riya started pondering over this statement, Manya prepared to bring calm to her boss Preetham...

But Riya quickly bounced back with another question, " But this new born baby... is more attached to its mother in the initial years. Why is it so?"
Manya again picked up some more knowledge from her thoughts, "The attachment of child and the mother begins in the womb itself, young girl! A five months fetus is able to recognize his or her mother's voice. As soon as a child is born, he/ she can recognize the mother's smell.. You understood!"
Preetham's mother commented on this new found knowledge of Manya, "It seems everybody these days knows about babies except the people who have them...."

Before Manya could really get another chance to chat with her boss, the doctor came out of the chamber with a baby in his hand and announced, "Its a baby girl!"
Riya saw the cute looking baby and innocently declared, "I am seeing a zero year old baby for the first time in my life."
Manya looked at the baby girl and like a very aged woman started lecturing, "Daughters are precious gifts placed in our arms by the heavens above. They fill our homes with love, beauty and grace..." Preetham wanted to use a tranquilizer and silence her. But she just continued, "She will be your inspiration for the rest of your life. She will be your Prerana..."
Preetham smiled, "You may sound like a psycho... but the name you have given sounds very cute....Prerana"
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Wishing all of my readers a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
This is the 25th episode in Preetham - Seema Series.


*** Anonymous Quote.

The Mediator

Though Seema was away from her husband for last few days, she had never stopped giving orders to her ever-obedient husband Preetham. Her latest order for him was to mediate between her cousin brother Jeeva who has earned for himself a MS Seat in the Buffalo University and his father, a old man in his seventies.The reason for the deadlock between the father and son was the latter's marriage. Father wanted to see his son lose his bachelor's degree before he obtains his masters degree in the States. He wanted to see his son married off.

As usual, Manya gave her boss, Preetham the company. After all the hospitality at the old man's place, Preetham directly came to the issue, "Sir! If you get him married off now, would he be able to concentrate on his studies? Wouldn't his mind get diverted?"
The seasoned man knew the exact reply, "I am getting him married off exactly for the same reason. So that his mind doesn't get diverted by some western influences. The way he is into those social networking sites and those status messages he gives makes me more afraid...."
Manya was in agreement with the old man's words, "Yups. Those status messages on the networking sites has more power to terrorize the parents than the climate warnings and the terror alerts that come on the news channels"
But this young man was too afraid to raise his voice in front of his dad.

Preetham tried to reason out, "But marrying him off would mean an additional burden na. He has to study and also has to look after his wife na... Would he able to juggle between family life and college life. Do you really want to push him into the circus of Samsara so early?"
The old man had even thought of that, "Who said we are burdening him? He will marry and leave his wife with us. We will take care of our daughter-in-law until he completes his studies. When he knows that someone is waiting for him on this shore, his mind would be more focused...."
Manya couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Oh My God! You are uniting them and immediately separating them!!!!" and then said to herself, "Is he a father or some villain from bollywood romance drama!!"
Jeeva still didn't speak a word in support of Preetham or against his father.

Preetham tried one last time, "You don't have confidence in your boy!!! From his childhood till now, he has not even looked at any girl with romantic intentions... He would go a virgin boy and return a virgin boy... I can assure that!"
Manya wanted to laugh out loud on hearing the words virgin boy...
The old man said, "Its not that I don't have confidence in him. But the time in which we live has so much changed. My colleague's son returned married. My colleague is so unhappy not because his son got married... but because his son married a guy....Gosh! I can't take any chances"
Manya laughed and remembered the lines from Dostana and said,"Love has become so blind these days that it is failing to differentiate between man and woman...."

Just then a cute young girl of twenties entered the house. With that jasmine buds around her long hairs and that tilak(vermilion) on the forehead and that traditional saree, she looked the epitome of feminine perfection. She touched the feet of the old man and handed him a piece of paper, "Uncle!... Papa told to give you this". Saying so she left after giving a stealthy glance at Jeeva. Jeeva who had his heads down till now had his heads completely turned. And his joy knew no bounds when his father said, "That's the girl I had in mind for my son..."
Now the young man took a complete U-turn and advised Preetham, "I think Dad is not wrong... In our life we need motivation to move ahead... Sometimes a girl plays that motivating role..... Behind the success of a man is a woman...a beautiful woman. I think I need such a woman...."
Preetham looked at the young man with complete disbelief. He scolded him, "Unnecessarily you have made me a villain na!"
Manya was getting angry with the young man and at the same time wanted to laugh at her boss's situation, "These Boys are so confusing!! They call us girls chanchal(fickle minded) but they themselves are so chanchal... One sight of a pretty girl and they fall for her... "

The Pains of Separation

Some tortures are physical
And some are mental,
But the one that is both
Is dental.
~Ogden Nash


Manya was suffering from such pain and she was at the dentist along with colleague and her guru Preetham. Preetham recognised in the visitors lounge old man Mr seetharam and his grandson. Seetharam's son Ajay and Preetham were of the same batch. Mr Seetharam was back from a pilgrimage to Triveni sangama and other places and loved to speak about it, "I even dispersed my wife's ashes in the Triveni Sangama (place where three rivers meet). Now she is free from birth and death cycles"
Manya was confused, "I cant understand these traditional people when they marry they say I will be with you for saath saath janam and when the lady dies, the men quickly go and disperse her ashes such that she doesn't come back for their hand in the next life... "
The old man did hear this and was made to remain silent

Preetham quickly diverted the topic, "So your grandson has problems with the teeth?"
The young boy who had accompanied the old man said, "No... I know good dental care. I have come to extract grandpa's teeth. I am his guardian today.."
Preetham was surprised, "But why has your son not come with you? Where is Ajay?...."
The old man was silent for sometime and then said, "Ajay has gone to give his wife a DRY WASH"
Manya and preetham didn't get the point. they couldn't make sense of the old man's sentence. The young boy was quick to correct, "Sorry for my grandpa's English. He is not familiar with sum words. He meant divorce and not dry wash.. vivah vichedan"

The old man spoke with such anger that his voice was heard by all the visitors, "After living with him for nine years, my Daughter in law says she cant take it any more. Preeham, You know my son na!!!!... He is such a gentleman...."
Preetham answered in a rush of emotion, "Sure... he is a gem of a person... I don't know how anyone can have a complain living with him"
Manya didn't like her boss's answer and she tried to talk sense,"To Know the depth of the river you should put your feet deep into the waters and to know the worth of a person you should live with the human being. She has lived with him for nine years... she would definitely know more than you, Sir."

The old man adds further, "My daughter in law is also asking in the court for his whole money... she is such a ***** ", The old man started using profanities which irritated the young boy who again came to his grandpa's rescue
He spoke with calmness "Its alimony and not whole money, Grandpa. It means maintenance charges only...."
Again Preetham rushed to a conclusion, "Isn't she a working lady.... Why does she need alimony? If she doesn't want her husband... why does she want his money?"
Manya was rational in her thinking, "I believe she has to take care not only of herself but also her kid... She has to provide for future also.... Future is uncertain.... Sir!!! why are you speaking like this?"

The old man spoke again "She is right.... not only are my son and daughter in law separating, but they are also separating me from my grandson.... It seems the mother wants the custody of the child...."
The child said with a tinge of sadness, "Lucky grandpa... He gets to stay with Dad while i have to leave to a different place with mother..."
Preetham said, "Now this is not fair... Don't the couple have some responsibility to the people who have brought them to this earth and to the people whom they have brought to this earth. Can't they just eat the poison of bitterness and live together for the sake of the family..."
Manya took a holistic view "It can be done... its called compromising.... But when the life together becomes nonadjustable... then it becomes hell. Then the best thing they can do, instead of torturing themselves and others living with them,is to separate"

Then Manya's name was called out by the attender and as they entered the dentist's cabin, Manya had one last thing to say to her boss preetham, "Sir... this teeth may look beautiful for my face.... and to the external world... but if i keep it, it will destroy all other teeth. So its better to extract it and separate it for the sake of others..."