The boy is
the son of a house help around here , a single parent. He completed the basic school education and after a few
years of not being sure of what to do, he attended a monthlong training on
construction in the nearby town.
The girl is from a tiny hamlet in Thanjavur district,
which is pretty far away from here. Her mother is also a single parent and she
has a younger brother who at the time was unsure of what to do in life
The girl
also happened to attend some training in the same location this boy was
attending . Looks like it was love at first sight for both of them
The mother
everyday meticulously packed lunch for the boy, paid for the
transportation hoping against hope , the
boy will settle down in some work soon
Training
completed, the boy was back in the village started working in now and then
masonry work . The girl took up a job in a factory in Coimbatore and moved to
the city , which is also pretty far away from here
The boy and
the girl were strongly committed and the advancement in technology helped them be
in total regular communication .
Now that the
boy was making some money, the mother started conversations about marriage. The
boy for reasons known to us, rejected all the proposals she brought and at some
point, the cat came out of the bag .
It was
pandemonium from the boys side – the caste , the financial situation and
several other things kicked in and the mother tried in vain every gimmick under
the sun to dissuade the boy. The boy did not budge and the mother had no other choice but to give
in.
Knowing
fully well, the girls side also will throw all tantrums for the same reasons ,
the mother son duo started thinking about how to perform the marriage.
One day,
they brought the girl from the city to a relatives house in one of the
surrounding hamlets to avoid the prying eyes of their neighbours . There in a
totally new place, with totally new people the girl stayed for a little over a
month – till the auspicious date for the marriage. Her family had no clue of
this turn of events as she was maintaining the regular conversations with them
and even continued to send the monthly amount to her family, now given by the
boy’s mother .
The marriage
was a grand affair with the loud speakers blaring for two days, sumptuous feast
for the neighbours , all expenses born by the boy’s mother - with the girls family not knowing about any of
the happenings here . The boy’s mother would have spent a substantial amount on
the marriage , probably she would have received some or most of the amount
through the ‘moi virundhu’ (cash gifts to the marriage)
In a few
months , the girl became pregnant. All
along she had been sending the regular amount for her family maintenance ,
given by her now mother-in-law and also was having regular conversations with
them so as not to raise any suspicions. At this juncture, the mother-in-law
decided this was the time to break the news to the girl’s family. And they did
and as expected , all hell broke loose. A bunch of people from the girl’s side
came here from Thanjavur with seething anger, but the mother-in-law was ready to
face it and she had organised a big gathering of people to talk on her behalf.
Well – to
cut the long story short, after much argument, everyone settled down and agreed
to participate in the valaikappu aka baby shower.
It has been
three years now. The boy and the girl have a bubbly two year old daughter and have settled into the rhythm of
a routine normal life
Wishing them
both a “happily ever after “
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