Chariots of victory
She hated the invitation, her anxiety was kicking up, the flat smelled like incense and flowers and his mother was wearing flowers in her hair and a Chandan ka teeka
There was some classical violin playing softly in the background in the sound system
“Aatreya illi baa raja” his mother cooed
He appeared in a few running his fingers through his hair wearing a offwhite kurta and chudidar
Mrunalini was afraid there was some pooja or something
“Aunt.. Auntee I have to go”
“Come on in Mrunalini”
Somesh watched his son carefully
As he walked over to the young lady
“Avalu hogitru nodi” (she is leaving) Pramila tugged
“Amma one second” he muttered
“Banni ma” Pramila decided to put away the fruit and mithai Mrunalini had handed her
“Avaru yaake ishtu tandalu?”(why did she bring so much?)
Come on in” he said firmly
“I have to go” “U have guests”
“Mrunalini” “Its OK” he held her elbow and squeezed
She turned bright red when she noticed Somesh noticed it and then quickly buried his face in the paper
Pramila brought coffee for her
“My daughter is on her way from the airport”
Mrunal was ready to bolt
“I never had any religious ceremony, after he returned, he is moving to Juhu he says I thought as long as he lives here why not have some chanting?”
Mrunal nodded
Wondered where Dhru was, she heard “wheee” inside she realized he must be on his plane set
The coffee was delicious
“I am happy you are not like some people who wont drink caffeine after 12” she laughed
“If you know Karnataka we have the best coffee” Somesh declared
Mrunal nodded weakly, Somesh had never spoken to her
“Does Jaidrith have Indian clothes?”
“Yes, he does he even has dhoti and…” “I didn’t know” “He didn’t tell me”
“Maybe next time” Pramila was kind
Somesh was wearing a veshti
“Has he worn the south Indian dhoti?” Somesh asked
“No Mr Rao… no.. he hasn’t no”
“U can call me Uncle”
“Sure Uncle” she nodded
“I made the state sweet, Mysore pak” Pramila laughed sheepishly
She went in and came out with a plate of crunchy mixture and mysore pak”
“Aunty I have to go home now, I will eat at home, if u give me a bag”
“I put for u in a dabba” Pramila was proud of herself
Aatreya was nowhere to be seen
“One day we are craving for grandchildren another day we have a 10 year old” Somesh laughed
And tapped his ankle bone of the leg he had up over the other one
Doing the taal for the violin’s accompaniment mridangam
He hummed quite tunefully with eyes closed
“They say only the fortunate have grand children” he opened his eyes to exclaim
Mrunal nodded
“You can stay for dinner, its simple Karnataka meals”
“No I have to go get ready for work it will be very late”
Somesh said something to Pramila in rapidfire Kannada
They chatted back and forth
“He is saying we should have had this on Saturday” “I told him we cannot have religious function on Saturday, he said Sunday”
“That’s OK That’s OK” Mrunalini almost got up
“In our home in Bangalore we plan for weeks we invite pandits, he doesn’t know where we can get one.”
“In the age of internet I don’t believe it” Somesh mocked his son
“Avaru kelsasadalli tumba niratargidaare” (He is so busy with work)
“My son got a SVP promotion soon after interviewing for VP, it’s a very big achievement correct?” Pramila nodded with pride
“Yes I was at a event to pick up Dhru I saw he manages like 500 people” Mrunalini nodded agreeing
“Who is Dhru?” Somesh asked
“Jaidrith” Mrunalini explained
“If you say the full name then he will get the full essence, full power, you know what I mean?” Somesh explained
Somesh went on to describe the meaning the significance of the name
From the Hindu scriptures
This family was at another level she realized
There was no one by her she had picked out a girl name and a boy name, Lochana for a girl and Jaidrith for a boy
“What name you did u choose if it was a girl?” Pramila popped the q
“Lochana”
She immediately looked at her husband appreciatively smiling,
“You have very beautiful eyes” Pramila complimented her
“Do you know the probability of the child getting your eyes vs his?” Somesh quizzed next
And explained everything the next 20 minutes
Pramila made sure she ate her entire snack
She missed Dhru
This was really a lot
She heard footsteps in the hallway she forgot the Mendy was invited
Ira and Iris rang the door bell 20 times even though the door was quite open
Pramila’s face lit up
She turned to Mrunalini “U have met them no?”
Mrunal got up nervously
Soon to be followed by two other friends of Aatreya’s friends Puneet and Madhur and a guy called “Ro”
Aatreya still did not step out she realized he was on a call
Dhru was delighted to see Ira and Iris the girls gave him all the “female attention” he craved
He pretended to hate it as he continued to provoke them
The house became noisy and loud
Mendy was kind and caring, he stopped by her and chatted for many minutes
Lynn pretended to help Pramila in the kitchen after a brief smile and a nod toward Mrunal
The pandit aka Somesh Rao sat down by a makeshift shrine on the floor
“I really have to go” she told Pramila in the kitchen
“Just stay for the first 30 minutes”
“Oh no” “I can come back some other time”
His friends introed themselves and were pleasant and friendly
She left and ran downstairs and got in her car and hyperventilated
She drove home 30 minutes later
The first text was his
“Why did u leave”
“I came to drop him off”
“I was on a call sorry”
“Oh no don’t apologize Ur Mum is really sweet”
“Thanks”
“The arrangements looked lovely the mogra streamers and such”
“U still have no answer for running away”
“Apparently Dhru’s name is victorious chariot” she said
He sent a smiley
“I did not know”
😊
“Your Dad told me the whole story”
😊
“TTYL”
“Will call”
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
Fan Fictions
