Meenakshi

PART 26

Meenakashi's POV

As usual I was busy till the night time, after everyone got into their rooms, I had a quick dinner and went to our bedroom to sleep. But as soon as I entered our room, my husband locked the door and pushed me on the bed and hovered over me. But the sudden push made my back ache really bad that tears started flowing from my eyes which alerted my husband and he asked me if I was alright but I was not able to answer him. He made me drink water after I stopped crying and I said to him about my back pain.

After listening to me, he asked me to sleep on my stomach and he started massaging my back which made me feel very embarrassed and I requested him not do massage but he didn't listen to me and just pushed me back on my stomach and continued massaging. Even though I felt awkward in the beginning, it gave me an instant relief from the pain and eventually I fell asleep.

The next day was Sankranthi, so I made rangolis and my mother in-law filled colours in them and also decorated the rangolis with the gobbemmalu (balls made of cow dung which are decorated with turmeric and vermilion).

Later, my mother in-law and I were busy in cooking as we serve food to our neighbours and all the helpers who work in our fields along with their families on every  special occasion. My in-laws also always made sure to give them extra payment and new dresses on special occasions.

We all had a light breakfast and busy. Even our children were busy in filling the glasses with water while the guests were eating. My husband and father in-law were talking to the guests whereas my mother in-law and I were serving the guests with food.

We started cooking early in the morning in our backyard as our kitchen would have not been sufficient to cook in such huge quantities.

All the guests would not come at once, so by the time all our guests ate, it was 4P.M. in the evening. As my grandmother in-law was old, she ate on time but the rest of us including my children didn't eat. Even after insisting the kids to eat, they refused saying that they want to help us.

My husband and father in-law ate with the men while we were serving, my mother in-law and I ate with the ladies while the men were serving and my children ate with their age group kids while we were serving.

The best part of festivals is that our house would be filled with many people including our neighbours, relatives and our helpers.

While we were all conversing with each other, my father in-law's only sister, Shanthi aunt came home along with her family. Her husband was social Lecturer in a government junior college and they had a daughter and a son. Their  daughter, Ramya was a homemaker married to a software engineer with a son and a daughter and they stay in Bangalore and their son, Rahul was a doctor married to Sruthi who was also a doctor and they both have daughter, Aradhya. They both stay with Shanthi aunt and her husband in Hyderabad.

Shanthi aunt looks like an harmless person but she could kill people with just her words. She doesn't have a filter at all but she has a golden heart. She fought with her brother for marrying her nephew at such young age and destroying his life. She stopped talking to my father in-law for few months and after a lot a requests from my father in-law, she started talking to him but whenever, she remembers how my father in-law got my husband married at such a young age without her knowledge, she scolds her brother. When she saw me for the first time, she didn't talk to me at all and glared at me and after knowing that I was an orphan, she asked me to call her as Pinni(Aunt) and asked me to come to her if I ever need anything and promised me that she would always support me. She doesn't stay nearby and stays in Hyderabad and always busy with her family but whenever she comes to our home, I feel very delighted. Even my husband and brother in-law loves her a lot and would always treat her children like their own siblings.

My in-laws wanted Shanthi aunt and her family to stay with us for few days  but on the same day itself uncle, Rahul and Shruthi went back to Hyderabad and only Shanthi aunt and her granddaughter Aradhya stayed back. She would visit us often but stopped staying overnight in our home after Aradhya was born as she took the complete responsibility of her upbringing as it became very difficult for her daughter in-law to balance both her career and her personal life. This made her stay very special for us.

After Kanuma, my brother in-law and Sudha came back. My brother in-law and Sudha were excited seeing his aunt and Aradhya who was everyone's favourite as she is the only girlchild in our family.

That night when I was in the kitchen, Shanthi aunt came to the kitchen and asked me to move aside and started cooking and asked me to just pass her the ingredients. While cooking, Shanthi aunt  talked about various topics.

When it was dinner time, Sudha and I arranged the dining area and I stood  to serve them but Shanthi aunt asked me to join them and that night I had my dinner with everyone. All of us excitedly had our food as no one could cook better than Shanthi aunt.

That night, our home was filled with laughter because of Aradhya's cute antics and cute talks which filled my heart with love for her.

That night, we all slept peacefully unaware of the fact that my husband's life would take a new turn.

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