All Strings Attached

Chapter Two

Dhushyanth

"Enti ra, Dhushyanth?" Vilakshan Reddy initiates conversation with his grandson, "mee Naanna neeku pelli sambandhaalu chudamantunaadu."  [(Telugu) What do you say, Dhushanth? Your dad's asking me to look for a girl for you to marry.]

"Chusaava mari?" Dhushyanth plays along, watering the plants in his grandfather's lawn. [(Telugu) Did you look for one then?]

"Ninnu adugudhaam ani wait chesthuna," his grandfather responds, earnestly. "My friend—" [I've been waiting to ask you, first.]

"I'm not marrying that girl," Dhushyanth shoots the idea down before his grandfather can continue. A familiar face appears in the eye of his mind, her glinting round eyes and triumphant grin almost make him smile. "I have no intentions of marrying, but if I do, it's not going to be her," he states, decidedly. She would never marry him, would she?

"She's a nice girl, Dhushyanth," Vilakshan insists, "your career is demanding, she's a well-mannered, polite, likeable girl, she's smart and can manage a house—"

"She also has a very sharp tongue—"

"Chinna pilla, ra." [She's a kid, Dhushyanth]

"I don't want to marry a kid, Thathayya."

"Talk to her," he tries to persuade me. "I think she's perfect for you."

Dhushyanth rolls his eyes at the plants he's watering, tired of the generic dialogue that he's heard multiple times in regards to this particular woman. "I disagree."

"Are you rolling your eyes?" The old man asks, sternly. "I am asking for an opinion. Maybe you'd want to be an adult about this."

"I'm saying no." Dhushyanth confirms his stance, turning around to look at his grandfather. "Maybe you want to be an adult about this and let me be, because there's no way I'm marrying Sita."

"I wasn't thinking about Sita," his grandfather says, his eyes twinkling with excitement. Did his grandson favour a certain Cherukuri daughter? "I was speaking to you about Deepthi, actually. But good thinking, kanna. Sita is certainly better suited for you than Deepthi is. I just didn't want to bring her up after your repeated refusal to speak to her."

Dhushyanth struggles to maintain eye contact with his grandfather, feeling utterly exposed to Vilakshan upon realising they were in fact not speaking of the same girl.

"Well, Deepthi is none of the things you described her to be, and I think she has a boyfriend," Dhushyanth tries to change the topic of interest. "I have no interest in marrying either of them."

"I wonder why your mind drifted to Sita as soon as I started speaking of a potential marriage," his grandfather wonders, unbothered by Deepthi's love life.

"Because she is your best friend's granddaughter. And you have mentioned her too many times for me to not remember." Dhushyanth hopes that would do it. He wouldn't have to make further explanations to his grandfather. "And hasn't her father been in the news recently? For her wedding?"

"That is true," Vilakshan agrees, "she is my best friend's granddaughter, and her father has been in the news, not for her wedding, though. Rather, because she is single, I believe."

"I don't understand what the assembly and the media have against single Indians, what did we do that should be a state matter?"

Vilakshan waves it off, unbothered. "It's the assembly," he says, "it's never about the state— it's always about who's the better politician."

"The better man to be a politician without policy, is it?" Dhushyanth wonders, turning the tap off, and coiling the water pipe to keep anyone from tripping over it.