Chapter 20 The Proposal

Sivaprakasam's PoV

Though we are not as rich as my daughter's in-laws, we are not poor either. I have a label production unit on a small scale. Almost all the labels that go on a cloth made in Tirupur is manufactured from my unit. We had only one daughter, a very beautiful girl. She grew up just as we liked and was a very obedient and respectful daughter. My wife taught her everything from cooking to taking care of a household. In her leave days, she would come to our unit and will supervise everything. She even helped me in tallying income and expenses every month. She never spoke or did anything against us.

When she finished college, we started our groom hunt for her. Many alliances came and we filtered two out of the heap. Both were from higher status than us and both the grooms were handsome. One from Tirupur and one from Chennai. But then, the Tirupur alliance demanded her to stay at home and the Chennai alliance never demanded anything. So we opt for the Chennai alliance. Though they are in Chennai, they have roots in Tirupur and Coimbatore. They were well respected and loved by everyone in our community. We even loved their simplicity despite having huge money.

The wedding was a grand one and we were so happy and proud and felt like the very reason of our existence as parents was this happiness or that is what we felt like that day. But now, I feel like I didn't read my daughter well. Now when I think about what had happened, I remember Anamika has become extremely quiet after her engagement with Arjun. Arjun was a man of little words. He was very respectful with us at the handful of times we have met. There was no big gap between their engagement and wedding. It was just two and a half months and we were always busy in shopping and invitation distribution. I don't remember them talking on the phone for hours like engaged people do now.

Anamika's silence went unnoticed with all the wedding preparations. She was not sad and when we asked her consent, she said she is fine with whatever we give her. But now that I think about it, I should have asked her what was in her mind. We didn't have any grounds to doubt her. She was her happy and polite self all through the wedding process. She went through all the customs with a happy smile. The one year she was with her husband and in-laws, we never got any complaints on her. Her mother-in-law has always praised our brought-up. We were more than proud of ourselves and our daughter.

On a fine morning, Arjun came with Anamika to our house unannounced. He has always been a little awkward at talking. They looked like usual. Anamika went straight to her mother and we were left for that welcoming and health inquiries, he sat back with his phone. After their wedding customs, Arjun has never stayed in our home for the night. He will bring Anamika and will leave and will always come to pick her up.

"Ok, uncle, I have to leave." he said to me after a hefty lunch.

"Call me when you are ready. Have a good time with your mom and dad." he told Anamika with a little smile and a nod.

Everything was great and very usual until the next morning when we found her bed empty. My wife wakes up at 5AM everyday and when she went to Anamika's room at 6 with her coffee, she was not there. We searched for her in every nook and corner of the house and called her phone. But her phone was near the bed. We called up Arjun and his parents, late in that afternoon, to let them know she was missing. They were devastated just like we were and came home the very evening. I saw a lone tear escape Arjun's eyes when we officially declared that she was gone. I knew it then that it was not because of him, my daughter went missing.

We then made it an official police complaint and Arjun used his influence to search for her. Everyone blamed Arjun and his family for her disappearance. Some even bad-mouthed my daughter that she eloped with her secret boyfriend. It was a terrible year for us. But it all subsided eventually and we were left alone.

"Sammandhi (a word that is used, by and to address, the parents of the husband and wife) I know it is not nice of me to ask for this with you. But I have no other choice." After a year and half of my daughter missing, Arjun's father Hariharan called me.

"I know you, Sammandhi. Just tell me." I told him.

"I know your pain of losing your daughter. I am losing my son too. He is not himself. We lost hope that Anu would come back to him. We cannot let his life rot like this." he said. I know where he is getting to.

"Let us know what we have to do, Sammandhi." I told him. I know it is not their fault my daughter is not with us now. I felt like I should take up the responsibility of putting them through this horrible phase in their lives. It is because of my daughter after all.

"Very sorry, Sammandhi. The police are asking to close the case, coming to a conclusion that she is no more. We don't want to see our son's life like this anymore. He is yet to start his life. We need legal divorce from his first marriage." he said with much more inhibition than needed.

"Don't feel bad, Sammandhi. You have given us enough time to get better. No one would have this patience with us with what had happened with my daughter. We will do anything you ask for. We would like to at least see him lead a happy life." I told him. They have been very considerate with us for all this time. I truly think no one would have this patience with us even after so much humiliation.

"I asked our lawyer. He states that the police complaint is more than enough to get divorce. If you just sign the divorce papers on behalf of your daughter, Divorce will be granted stating her absence for more than a year and the little to no probability of her coming back." he said.

We did what they asked us for. After 6 long months, the court granted them divorce. My wife was against this idea.

"What would you do, if our daughter comes back? You are stealing her life away!" she said crying.

"No Dhanam. You are wrong. Our daughter was the one that stole Arjun's life. We are responsible. She left the home voluntarily. She never contacted us so far. It is not right to hold that poor man's life for the sake of our daughter. It would be a sin." I told her.

"God knows what was her trouble. Why do you believe him and his family so much? You never let me talk about them to the police." she complained.

"What did you want to tell the police? Did they ever demand anything from us?"

"No!"

"Did they ever hurt your daughter?"

"No!"

"Did your daughter make any bad remarks on them? Was she treated badly there?"

"No!"

"Do you have any doubts on Arjun?"

"Why shouldn't he be at fault? He would have had other relationships. He would have not treated her as his wife. He must have been arrogant with her. Who knows?" she said.

"Absurd! You know nothing you said was true. He is still here and it is our daughter that ran away. Don't say this and add to our sin. He is a gentleman and his family was the best thing that had happened to our daughter and our family. It is high time we make clear of their paths, Dhanam!" I consoled her. She is a mother after all and doesn't want to admit that her daughter is at fault here.

I still wonder why Anamika left the house all of a sudden? She had everything. We went all the way back to her school and college to know if she had any love life back then. But nothing turned up and we are actually glad. She had all liberty with us and her in-laws family. She could have talked to any of us about her problems but she chose not to. But it is too late now!

Now, when Arjun called me up to ask details about Anandhi's family, I think there is a way to lessen our sin. If I can make Anika and Arjun marry, Anandhi's family would be benefited. Arjun will take care of her family like his own. Their financial crisis will end and the kids will have a great future. And for Arjun, Anika would be a perfect girl. A very talkative, bubbly girl grew up in a very traditional way. Unlike Anamika who was very silent, Anika would make his life colorful. This marriage would be a mutual benefit.

Once this thought was born out of my mind, I could not stop but propose this to Arjun's parents. Now that there is no problem for Arjun to remarry as we gave him divorce, I wanted to present this prospectus to them before they start to look for a bride outside. I called up Hariharan.

"Hello, Sammandhi. How are you?" I asked him.

"We are good, Sammandhi. How are you?"

"We are just alive. I have called to tell you about a good bride for Arjun Maapillai."

"We have not yet started that conversation yet. Arjun is not interested in it." he said with no interest to know what I have in my mind. I can sense that he doesn't want me to get back into their family.

"I will send you the details of the bride. Consider her too when you start looking for a bride." I told him and hung up. It is very natural that they want no more contact with us but we have been very genuine and considerate with them and still he wants us to leave. I was deeply hurt but still decided to send him the Photo and biodata of Anika to them and leave it alone. I do this to satisfy my conscience, not for anything else. Besides, Arjun has never avoided us until now. He deserves to be happy.