She got up silently and followed her
mother into the kitchen.
A big platter held all the goodies. The
plates were from her mother’s wed-
ding set. They were cream ceramic
with a gilt edge. The cups and saucers
were from a new set that her Uncle
had recently brought from England
for them. It had a floral pattern in
blue around the rim.
The Acchappams, Unniappams,
Murukku, banana fritters and chips
looked appetizing. However, her state
of mind prevented her from tasting
anything.
Her mother had sacrificed her after-
noon nap for getting all this ready.
They heard a car enter their com-
pound.
Her mother jumped up, “It must be
them”. She tidied her already tidy
hair, tried to correct her already im-
peccably wrapped sari and slowly
moved to the drawing room. Her fa-
ther would have received the guests.
By the time her mother was taking
to get back to her in the kitchen, she
realized that it was them. The coffee
was ready.
Her mother came back. She poured
the coffee into the cups. She asked
Latha to take the things in. the tray
was no too heavy. Her mother cor-
rected Latha’s posture; she turned her
eyes down and moved to the drawing
room. Her anklets tinkled at every
step.
22
“By-the-by”, her mother called after
her, “His mother and father are here
with him. So serve them first please
and don’t be clumsy”. Her mother
carried the plate of fritters because
they did not fit into the tray.
As she entered the sitting room, she
realized that all eyes were on her, bor-
ing into her and tearing her to shreds
to see if she hid any secrets within her.
She did not raise her eyes to stare at
them in defiance, as she felt like do-
ing. She demurely went to a person
who looked old enough to be the fa-
ther of the boy, served him coffee and
snacks and moved onto the woman
who looked like the mother and the
rest of the party. They looked up at
her but she refused to make any eye
contact. Then she served the young
man who had come to see her. She did
not see his face, but she noticed that
his socks were clean and his trousers
were matching them, clean, ironed.
His shirt matched his trousers. He
wore cufflinks, which she saw when he
reached to take his cup of coffee. He
did not take any of the snacks.
She served her parents and hastily re-
paired to the kitchen.
Before she could analyze what little
she had seen of this man who want-
ed her hand in marriage, her mother
came into the kitchen.
“Go into the dining room. He is
awaiting you there”.
She obeyed. This time, as before, she
walked with her eyes fixed on the floor.
She looked up when she reached the
center of the room. The young man
had stood up and had pulled up a
chair for her. She sat down and looked
at the man who sat opposite her.
“You sound as if you are unconcerned
about it, as if it bores you”.
“On the contrary, I feel quite appre-
hensive about all this”.
“Why?”
“Just like that!”
“Why? There is no need to be scared
of anything”.
“I know. It is not that…Oh! So tell me
what are you doing?”
“But you said that you knew about
me”.
“That I do, but if were to go by that
we would have no conversation at all”.
“Ha! Ha! Well I am working as a
plant manager for a Multinational
company in Bangalore”.
“What? You studied at IIT to garden
for foreigners?”
“No! Ha! Ha! You cannot be that
naïve. I manage one of their produc-
tion units”.
“Good! It is working”, she thought,
“The bloated male ego is at work, but
he really doesn’t look like the kind
that…”
“So you are in a really responsible po-
sition there?”
“Yes”.
“Thank you”, she said. “That’s nice”.
“What is your name?” he asked. Have you been to Bangalore?”
“Latha.” “No”.
“I’m Krishnan”. “It is a nice city. You would
like it”.
“I know”.
“So tell me; what are you doing now?”
“Oh! Nothing in particular. I have just
completed my B.A. from St. Mary’s
College. Now all I do is
wait for a suitable
man to come and
marry me”.
“He is already pre-
sumptuous”,
thought.
she