“Where do your parents live?”
“They are still in Thrissur. They are
attached to the ancestral house”.
“Would you mind if I ask you a few
personal questions?”
“No, go ahead”.
“As usual, they think that it is an inter-
view”, she thought.
“Do you smoke?”
“No”.
“Do you drink?”
“No”.
“Would you like a working woman for
a wife?”
“Yes, that would be nice”.
“Have you ever fallen in love?”
“Yes”.
“So why didn’t you marry her or
them?”
“It was just puppy love”.
“Do you think you can love me?”
“I think so”.
At that time her mother came, as
if with an instinct to detect trouble
brewing.
“Krishnan, I hope you both have
found out your likes and dislikes. Your
parents wanted to leave. I am sure you
can talk to Latha more and that too
soon”.
He got up, looked at Latha, said an
ineffective and mumbled “goodbye”
and went out of the room followed by
her mother who motioned her to re-
main where she was sitting”.
She heard the car leaving.
She then went into the sitting room
and waited for her parents to come
back inside”.
Her father came in first and asked her,
“So what do you think?”
“He’s fine. Nice moustache. A bit too
fair. I think he wears contact lenses.
Neat dresser. Nice to talk to. Quite a
gentleman. Has average amounts of
male ego. Fine build too”, she recited
the specifics for her father.
Her father laughed at the way she
rattled off the suitor’s particulars. Her
mother frowned. “She shouldn’t look
at them so closely. That, she can do
after her marriage”.
“Oh! Oh! Janaki! Let her speak. After
all, she has to marry him, not you. Let
her have her say”.
“Three cheers for Appa”, Latha
thought.
“But will you marry him?” Appa per-
sisted.
“I don’t know. I’ll have to think it
over”.
“What is there to think?” asked her
mother. “he looked like a nice boy,
well brought up and earning well”.
“I know. But, will he want to marry
me?”
“Why?” asked her father, “You are
the only child of a rich father. You are
beautiful, well mannered, and well ed-
ucated too. What more would he want
in a wife?”
“Yes all that is true Appa”, Latha per-
sisted, “But will he want to marry me
when he knows that I am a widow?”
“So what if you are? You don’t have to
remain one all your life”.
“But I can’t think of another. I still
love him a lot”.
“Now listen to me Latha. We have al-
ways let you have your way. You are
our only child and we want to see you
happy. You fell in love with a good for
nothing and married him. We quietly
accepted, not thinking of what people
would say and what you would do in
poorer circumstances. But your mar-
riage was not to be and he died… I
am sorry. I shouldn’t have said that”.
“How could you?”
“… No. Don’t interrupt me. Your
marriage was not to be. Instead of
staying with your in-laws as a widow,
you came back to us. You wanted to
complete your studies. We let you. But
how long are you going to remain like
this? You are young and have your life
ahead of you. You will now listen to
what we say; all or your own good.
Moreover, you will get married again.
The choice of groom will be yours; of
course, you will soon forget him… Is
that clear to you?”
“Yes Appa. But can’t you see that I
still love him?”
“Fine. Given. But can’t you see that he
is dead and that you are alive?”
“…Yes…that is the whole problem”,
she whispered.
Sighing deeply, without looking at her
father, she dragged her feet towards
the darkness that now enveloped her
room.
She did not switch on the lights. She
fell on her bed and wept for a while.
The next morning, the mynahs were
there again. The sunbeams tickled her
face. A cool draught swept over her
brow. But she did not open her eyes.
Her father found her lying like that,
with a smile on her face.
A note on her bedside table read, “I
have solved the
problem”.
Dr. Tony George Jacob
Asst. Proff., Dept. of Anatomy