Mangalyam thantuna nena..-2

"Hmmmm..patti u make the best sweets in the world" Vishali crooned, patti smiled proudly at her and just then sudha walked in to the room and Vishali jumped up and hugged her " congrats sudha...this dumbo here is not telling me anything other than UIUC " Vishali said pointing to shankar " now u have to tell me all the details.." Sudha Blushed...and Vishali could not believe it sudha always seemed so cool, collected and serene all the time. " I think we should talk in private too.." Vishali said
"that is so unfair..girls always do this" Shankar whined but the girls have already walked in to sudha's room and locked the door.
"So Sudha tell me all the interesting details.." Vishali asked
"Well he is working in Denver..." sudha started
"Ungaloda avarukku peru unda..(Does your fiancé have a name..??)" vishali teased and sudha blushed again and said " Divakar" in a shy voice
"God..i would not have believed sudha would blush"Vishali thought "She was always so mature in school.." Sudha was three years elder to shankar and all three of them have done all the schooling together.
Vishali had been a bit of free spirit and always was up for a prank or two..usually dragging a passive shankar along for the ride..but sudha being the eldest had always kept them inline..Vishali initially was annoyed by her interference but over the time as they grew they have gotten closer to each other and now vishali saw her as her sister too.
"So do u like Divakar??" Vishali asked
"well..."Sudha dragged
"gosh i asked u a simple question..and sudha its me..u can tell me.." Vishali said
" Well he is very nice.." sudha said
" That still does not answer the question.." Vishali insisted
"i think with time i will like him..amma and appa think he is a good match for me and his family seems very nice too..did shankar tell u she is gonna join your college this summer.." sudha trailed off
"Hey Sudha..i can see that your family is happy and this decision that you are taking is something that will affect your entire life..i just wanted to be sure that you are 100% convinced that this is the guy for you...after all from what i heard u guys have talked once on phone and u saw his photo and u have said yes.." vishali said seriously..
Sudha looked up at her..her eyes suddenly seemed brimming with tears
"vishali when u are gonna get married u will realise that it is not like in movies..where u absolutely fall in love with the person who u meet. the reality for us is different here ..iam almost 24 now and amma and appa have been searching for a groom for almost a year and they have been getting really worried too becos guys with the reliable jobs and good background are very difficult to find and even among those the guys have so much expectations as to what they want in the girl ..u know they want to know if she has done computer engg and all.. but more than the guys his family has more expectations...u would understand this when u go through the process.." sudha sighed looking at Vishali's expression
"Hey watever happened to u marry some one becos u like them ..." vishali quipped
" this guy is not that bad yaar..he talks to me well and is well settled in US ..so u know no mamiyar and nathanar thollai's ( mother-in-law and sister -in-law troubles)" sudha laughed trying to lighten the mood.
"that i have to agree is def a plus to marrying a guy in US no in-law quibbles " vishali smiled " i can see u r brother trying to listen to us through the window....hey wanna go and get some icecream" vishali asked
"ok" said sudha
"then u can fill me in on the details..." vishali said " shankar do u want to..."
"Always open to ice creams....."shankar pronounced
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"God why should i have signed up for that calculus course" vishali groaned to swapna
"well i did the same..cant believe it has been just three weeks since the college had reopened and we are already having an exam.." Swapna cribbed with her " well do u want to do a joint study tommorow night"
Vishali yawned " well do we have anyother option.. the exam is on monday ..so this weekend is shot.."
She saw shankar walking towards her..it had been three weeks since she saw him and he was smiling
Vishali smiled up at him “ coming over to gloat..” she asked
“About wat ..???” shankar asked
“well I have an exam on Monday in calculus and I know u told me not to take that course..yadda yadda.” Vishali said
“oh welli never say I told u so..” Shankar winked “ Hey choppu..”
Swapna grimaced “ iam not choppu ( plaything) my name is swapna..”
“Anyways came over to invite you girls to my sister’s Nichayathatham( engagement)..” shankar said
“Oh” both swapna and Vishali said
“Thanks for the invitation..” swapna said “ I have to go to library will catch u tonite ok..bye” and she left.
“things to seem to be happenening pretty fast for your sister I think..” vishali said hesitantly..
“well when everything seems to fit so well my parents seem to think there is no point in delaying things” shankar replied
“ hey sudha has not even seen the guy..” vishali protested
“they saw the photographs..and she is ok with him..wat is the problem in that” shankar said in a serious tone
“ well nothing..its just that I can marry some one I have not seen or known for a little while atleast..” Vishali said
“ may be you don’t have to ..” shankar said nonchalantly
“ and how do u know that..” vishali asked raising her eyebrow
“well lets just say madam I have a hunch..” he laughed
“whatever..” vishali replied
“ iam going to canteen for tea want to come”shankar asked
“ that is where I was thinking of going too..” vishali said
“Well see I do know everything..” shankar said and raised the collar of his shirt and ducked when vishali tried to hit him with her folder.

Mangalyam thantuna nena..( My second story ppl...:D)

Vishali turned off the ignition and parked her Scooty on the patio of Shankar's house. The patio as usual smelled of jasmine flowers ..she lingered a bit longer taking in that sweet smell ..
"what took you so long???" Shankar asked pulling her out of trance.." i have been waiting for an hour for you to get here"
" sorry shankar got stuck at the gate in tambaram.." Vishali replied " so you sounded very excited on the phone...so wat is the big news.."
"Hello Vishali..eppadi ma irruke..( how are u )" that was shankar's patti (grandmother) " it has been long time since u came our place"
"Patti i was here last weekend only..." Vishali said with a mischevious smile " shankar told me u have made Theratti pal ( milk sweet) and karasev so here ami braving the summer heat and tambaram traffic "
Patti laughed " ulla vadi kannama..unnaku illatha theratipala ( come in darling...there is def sweet for you)"
Vishali hugged shankar's patti.."i wish my patti was like his.." she thought...
"let me go and get the sweets" patti said and went inside
She looked over at shankar and asked him " hey wat is the big news???"
" Sudha's marriage has been fixed." shankar beamed...
"congrats yaar.. where is she ..???" Vishali asked..
"she is on the phone talking to her finance.." shankar replied with a big grin on his face..
"Hello mami and mama ( Aunty and uncle)" vishali said to shankar's parents..
She liked his mom a lot too...
" did u hear the news vishali " shankar's amma asked
" yes mami..congrats on becoming mamiyar( mother in law)" vishali replied..
"thanks da kanna ( dear)" his amma replied..his dad smiled at her..he was busy talking to some one on cellphone.
"so tell me the details yaar" vishali asked
" well the guy is denver US and is a consultant..he has also applied for green card and is in the final stage and he wants to get married before he gets it..some funda that i did not understand" shankar gushed
"and..iam presuming there were reasons other than his Green card that made a suitable match for sudha.." vishali quipped
"His parents are from chennai only and his sister actually is gonna join our college this june in BSc maths..." he winked his eyes and Vishali sniffed "anyways he did his BE computer science in Anna university.."
"He was actually a state rank holder in the 12th Standard " shankar's father quipped in very proudly..
"appa let me finish" shankar whined and then turned to vishali and started saying briskly " anyways he finshed his MS inUS ..in UIUC..can u believe it...He told me he can help with my SOP.." Shankar said dreamily...
"hey that is nice shankar.." Vishali said...he always dreamed of doing PhD there ...Vishali thought
"So do you guys know his family well??" Vishali asked
" Well one of friends saw this guy's profile posted online and told us about them...we them contacted them...remember i told you they came to see sudha last week.."
" oh that was really fast.." Vishali thought " wat about sudha...is she interested.."
" Well Dumbo..after she said yes only we are proceeding.." Shankar replied..
Vishali saw Sudha walking on the terrace with phone in her hand..she seemed to be glowing..
She turned towards shankar and saw him grinning from ear to ear..
"wipe that stupid smile yaar.." Vishali teased him .." your sister is the one getting married not you.."
"well you know wat that means for me...not only will i be getting rid of my bossy sister..it also clears the line for me to get married.." shankar joked
"and who will marry a dumbo like you...i really pity that girl..." Vishali laughed " lets go and eat some sweets yaar..i feel hungry .." vishali said walked towards patti bringing the goodies ...

Something to share

I was having some free time today and i felt like reading some blogs and without a second thought my fingers typed "sulekha.com" until my fingers hit enter i did not realise that in my subconcious i still remember sulekha..then i searched for some of the old blogs.( by old i mean blogs that were written roughly about an year ago..:D) and i came across all of Fizo_al's blog and it reminded me of the time when i used to refresh the Browser every 20 mins to see if she had posted the follow up's of the series "what lies beneath"..reading her work i always used to think if i can tell a story half good as hers..then i would quit my current quest and start writing books..hehehehehe...
i re read our Vi's "Vishal story" and i was again transferred to the land of romance .....in a way it reassured me that i will meet the guy who is right for me :)
I then read all of Das blogs "the college days" and "malli Poo" and i for few mins was transported back to my college days in good old chennai...
As i was going through all these old blogs in sulekha i also checked the new ones..somehow i was not able to connect to them like i did with the old ones..may be iam biased but the simple fact is the simple joy i felt while reading the old blogs i wanted to share with ppl here and suddenly it made me realise that i feel so close to the junta here even though i dont blog here that often these days and i dont check others blog ..i feel like i will be welcomed back no matter wat...
so just wanted to share that with u guys
a Very contended
jeenu

Missing...

When i woke up today morning..i could not exactly remember where i was..it was not my room in chennai that much i realized and then i took me more than 2 mins more to realize that iam not in india..but in US..
that got me really depressed and no matter how much i tried to cheer myself up i kept remembering small small things about home and it got me in even more bad mood..and not to mention added to that fact one of my american lab mate kept cribbing to me that she has not seen her family in 3 months and how unfair it was.
I literally had to bite my tongue to keep from saying something sarcastic...also it seems that all the desi ppl in my university have decided to go home this time of year..becos everyone comes over to tell me how happy they are that they are gonna go home...and why i should go home too for a visit..
People it is not as if i dont want to go home..i do..i terribly miss getting up in morning listening to my amma humming bajans...i miss the warm complan that amma makes for me ( somehow no matter how much i try it just does not taste right here..), i miss picking up Indian express and seeing my dad had marked out some articles that i might find interesting...i miss walking along the paddy fields close to home thinking about inconsequential things...I miss talking to my dad about every small inconsequential thing that happened to me that day...
to sum it all up i miss being a kid..:(
just felt like ranting...now i feel a little better that i had written it down :)
jeenu