21.You & Me - Sandhya

Thulasi looked outside the window from her new room. Her family had shifted to this new house couple of weeks back. It’s the Kumar’s house that was given to them legally through Dinakaran’s lawyer.

Thulasi was not in a mood to meet Kumar or Dinakaran, so she had asked Saradha to handle all the legal matters. With the help of Dinakaran, Saradha had spoken to Kumar and have got the properties transferred to her name. Kumar had also deposited the money in her bank account.

Both Saradha and Kavya have been praising Dinakaran non-stop for the past few days. Thulasi could understand their excitement. She knew that completing these transactions quickly is not an easy task. If it’s not for Dinakaran’s help, it would have taken many years and with a cunning man like Kumar it would have even taken a life time…  But Thulasi was very quiet on this topic. She neither appreciated Dinakaran nor criticized Kumar. She had too many important things to worry about…

 It has been almost two months since she met Dinakaran. She had not seen him or heard from him after her angry reaction after he proposed to her in his home. In the last many days, Thulasi wondered if she had over reacted to his teasing words and smile… Many a times she thought of calling him in his phone but it was not an easy task for her…

Since Dinakaran made no effort to talk to her, she started wondering whether he has changed his mind. Though she met and spoke to Seetha many times in these two months, Seetha as usual had carefully avoided mentioning about her son to Thulasi even once…

While Thulasi was worrying about Dinakaran, Kavya was flying high in the sky. Krishna had called and informed her that he will be travelling to India for undergoing a mandatory training.

Abirami wanted her son to marry while he is in Chennai, so that he can take his wife along with him when he returns to USA. Saradha was also happy hearing the news and accepted Abirami’s plan. But Saradha also wanted Thulasi to get married. Once while talking to Dinakaran regarding the properties, she started the topic casually and Dinakaran had replied,

“Please don’t worry about that aunty. Whether our marriage takes place before or after Kavya’s marriage doesn’t make any difference…”

That one sentence had given Saradha the much needed comfort and confidence. So she didn’t bring up the topic again with Thulasi or Dinakaran.

Saradha opened Thulasi’s door to ask her about the dinner menu. She found her elder daughter starring outside lost in thoughts. Saradha had felt that there is something wrong with Thulasi of late. Thulasi has been very quiet and have been staying away from both Kavya and herself. She can see that her elder daughter is a bit out-of-sort…

Saradha looked at Thulasi again. Still Thulasi was lost in her own thoughts... Without disturbing her daughter Saradha went back wondering what can be wrong with Thulasi.

Suddenly, the door bell rang as if to disturb her thoughts. Saradha opened the door and was surprised to see Abirami and Seetha.

“What a surprise! Come in… come in…” welcomed Saradha.

“I wanted to talk to my daughter-in-law about the marriage plan. Hope we didn’t disturb you” said Abirami with a beaming smile.

“Oh no! There’s no disturbance. I will call Kavya…”

Saradha called Kavya and informed her daughter about the guests. Kavya was also excited and started chatting with Abirami and Seetha. Saradha prepared some snacks and coffee and offered it to their guests.

Kavya and Abirami continued to talk about Krishna, purchase and other arrangements, while Saradha and Seetha listened to their talk. After a while, Saradha turned towards Seetha and asked,

“I wanted to ask you something. It’s about Thulasi…” said Saradha in a very soft voice.

“Even I wanted to talk to you…” said Seetha also in a low voice.

Saradha turned towards Kavya and Abirami and said,

“Ok Kavya, you continue your talk with your aunty. I will show our new house to Seetha madam…”

Once they are away from Kavya and Abirami, Saradha asked Seetha,

“Thulasi is somewhat different in the past few days. I am not sure what happened to her... hmmm… I don’t know whether you are aware of this news but Dinakaran sir told me…”

“Please stop addressing my son as sir…” interrupted Seetha.

 “I know he has shared his wish with you and he also informed me the same…” said Seetha with a gentle smile.

Saradha’s face brightened up a bit.

“I hope you are ok with his wish…”

“Come on! I am more than happy… To tell you honestly, no one else can manage him better than Thulasi” said Seetha with a big smile.

Saradha also smiled back.

“But I don’t know what’s wrong with Thulasi… I have never seen her like this… She didn’t even go to the boutique last full week… Now, it may not be important for us financially, but I know she really likes it…”

“Hmmm… even Dinakaran is different nowadays…”

“Oh! I hope there’s no problem between them…”

“Oh no, please don’t worry. I spoke to Dinakar and as usual he assured me and said there’s nothing to worry”

“…”

Saradha was somewhat relieved to hear that but still she had worries about Thulasi…

Couple of weeks went by and there was no improvement in Thulasi – Dinakaran relationship. But things were going much smoother for Kavya and Krishna. Though Krishna had visited Chennai on official purpose, he spent most of his time with Kavya and in the rest of the time he spoke to her in phone. Now ofcourse, there was no one to stop them…

Abirami wanted her son’s marriage to take place as soon as possible and hence consulted a popular astrologer for the marriage dates. Abirami shared the five dates that the astrologer gave her to Saradha and asked her to decide on the marriage date as per her family’s convenience.