Journey of Her

Chapter: 2

Author's note

please bear with my writing. this is my first attempt and I wanna give it a try. Hope you all understand and support this new buddy. please comment your thoughts on the plot. i would love to read your feedbacks. i was born and brought up in a similar family mentioned in the story and i am so blessed to have them all. i want to convey my thoughts on girls building their confidence and future strongly through this story. I would like to spread the fact how families should support each others' dreams, among the readers. i am sorry the initial chapters are moving a bit slow. a lot of characters are introduced and might be confusing. since it is a family story connecting both village and modern lifestyle, i couldn't avoid it. i want to lay the foundation by elaborative explanation of the bonds shared between the families. 

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Ladies went on to wash the dishes and men started cleaning the place. Elders finished the lunch with Mahalakshmi's unique caramel pudding taking time to discuss about their other relatives and people in the village. They filled Binni and Krishnakumar with the information they missed during the time they were away although Mahalakshmi had updated everything to her daughter time to time. 

Binni was a good listener, she respected the feelings of her aunts and cousins. She knew this was the beauty of villages and extended families. She missed all these when she was away. Vanathi as per her education and morals of discipline, would not comment bad about anyone. She showed maturity in her actions. She was also a young listener and shared what she knew about the topics being discussed. Vanathi was 9 years younger than her sister in law Binni. Binni inquired Lakshmikanthan and Vanathi about the performances of students of their village in the exam. Binni was delighted to know that their school had developed well in academics. They discussed about the young generation and contemporary issues. 

Rakesh and Priya came with 5 cups of caramel pudding placed in a tray and a bottle of soft drink. Arjun with Sivaangi and Monika beside her were seated in the front hall of Binni's house which was behind and to the left of their ancestral home. Krishnakumar and Binni built it together after the birth of their 2 kids. They lived in this modern, quite big house until they left to Krishnakumar's native city. Mahalakshmi maintained it clean with the help of Kamala akka. She would sleep most of the days in this house though she spends her day at her ancestral house. the two houses were in the same compound. 

Sivaangi jumped from her seat when she saw her favorite caramel pudding and Monika the little one hit her own forehead looking at how excited her big cousin was. They all sat on the sofa and started eating. Sivaangi and Monika moaned to the taste simultaneously making Rakesh to chuckle. Sivaangi pouted when she finished her cup and and looked at Rakesh innocently. Rakesh fake glared and said "what now? you want me to go and get another cup for you? no never. if you need you have to go and get it. it was me and Priya who fetched all these for you 3 majesties." Priya chuckled silently watching Sivaangi pout more. Sivaangi started again "brother... please I am tired of travelling for 6 hours." 

Arjun was about to extend his cup and before anybody could notice it, Rakesh extended his cup taking a last spoon "I knew you would do this and that's why I was delaying to eat mine. What to do ? Poor thing has topped in the exam as well. so i must treat you with my caramel cup at least." Sivaangi's eyes shined and she smiled repeating thanks to her lovely brother. Monika was watching something on Sivaangi's phone all the while, having her small hands wounded around her favorite cousin's right arm. 

"Where's Shakthi anna" asked Priya. "He is having classes 3 days a week at Kandy. He goes for classes there as we don't have good teachers for Engineering tech branch here since It is a newly established branch for Advanced levels. it takes 2h to travel and he will reach around 7.30pm. He gets to pay a visit to Shravan once every week since he is also at hostel in Kandy. Shravan will also come today with Shakthi as he has 10 days holidays" replied Arjun. 

Shakthi and Shravan are the 2 sons of Kulasekar who is the son of Mahalakshmi's sister. He with his parents passed away in an accident 6 months back at his age of 46. Mahalakshmi had brought up Kulasekar as her own son as he was of same age of Ramkumar. They were all like one family. Kulasekar's wife Vaidehi is now a young widow  looking after her 2 sons. But she was not alone. She was another dear daughter-in-law for Mahalakshmi and Sivakumar. Shakthi and Shravan were growing along with the 9 cousins making the gang a total of 11. Shakthi is 18 years old, a year younger than Sivaangi and Shravan is 14. 

They cousins shared that Ramkumar's family will be arriving tomorrow and they can go to river together. They were all excited to meet again. The 11 crime partners after 3 months. They ended up teasing by trying to steal each other's pudding and drink. Sivakumar also came and sat beside Sivaangi and talked with his 5 grandkids. He was complaining about Mahalakshmi like a child and the teens laughed at the thought of their Grandparents' never ending cute fights. 

"Rakshu come let's watch a movie" suggested Priya and Rakesh and Arjun were the happiest. Sivaangi sulked "movie ? guys I am tire...."

 Arjun didn't let her finish and said "don't fool us that you're tired. Rakshu machan drove for 6h and all you did was peacefully sleeping. We are watching a movie and you are accompanying us even if you don't watch." 

Rakesh teased her immediately "she hates spending 3h on movies so simply reads the plots from Wikipedia. she always joins us for movie nights though she isn't interested. but today the special person is missing. Her Ashwin isn't here yet na." Sivaangi denied  what he said asked him to stop teasing their friendship. 

Arjun didn't say anything and headed to Rakesh's room. Priya and Sivaangi also settled in the bed beside Arjun and Monika after getting few snacks and drinks. Rakesh sat on the chair beside bed. they started the movie in Rakesh's laptop. Monika slept placing her head on Sivaangi's lap and extending her small legs on Priya's legs in the middle of the film. 

Sivaangi honestly missed her movie spoiler. Ashwin would narrate her what was going to happen next since she can't hold onto suspense. She hadn't met him after her results and she was eager to see his reaction. He congratulated as soon as the results were out but she wanted to meet him in person. 

Arjun took snacks from the packet in Sivaangi's hands disturbing her watching the movie. The film chosen by Arjun was very interesting that Sivaangi was awake throughout the movie. But as always she couldn't wait for the twists to unfold so tortured Arjun to know the next scene. It finally ended around 5.30 pm. They all headed to front garden where the elders were already arranging tea with homemade cookies brought by Binni and Vanathi's special fruit cake which was Sivaangi's favorite.  They all sat on the met spread on the neatly levelled, trimmed grass while Sivakumar and Mahalakshmi sat on the cement bench opposite to them.

They enjoyed the tea under the twilight sky. it was a beautiful evening. The roses in the garden added serene beauty to the cozy party.

Sivakumar suddenly called out "we are here in the garden. come come... only you were missing." all snapped their heads towards the direction and there came their another bundle of happiness... ASHWIN. 

Sivaangi's eyes shined and lips curved into a smile. Finally him, her best friend... Her cheerleader... Her secret keeper... Ashwin Kumar. 

Please vote and comment your thoughts. 
Do you like this family?

I can't focus only on Ashaangi since I want to bring the warmth of a lovely family into the story. The relationship between Ashwin and Sivaangi will be completely different. I am trying to make the bond between cousins as practical as possible like my own cousin gang.