The morning isn't grey, but has soothing lavender and brilliant amber...

The colors merged into neon pink and peach..

Powerful rays flood over the landscape lighting every blade of grass, shining from each leaf...

The rays float through the window and she wakes up..

It takes several minutes for her to understand where she is..

Oh..Munnar ah?

Estate la irukomaa..

Her mind moves the clouds of agony and she gets up to check the time..

Edhu..6 mani ah?

Aiyo..1st day ey..

She goes, takes a bath, pushes herself into a grey salwar..

She sees herself in the mirror..

Her face is puffy..

The traces of tears are still there in her cheeks..

She washes her face and feels better..

She goes out..

Her room is in the first floor..

She locks the door..

Akka, ezhundhuteengala?

She turns..

A girl..Hmm..Lady.. Errrr...Woman.. is standing..

She is probably from the tribal side, M guesses..

The perfectly oiled hair and the braid with ribbon..

Her saree draping style and the way it is lifted and tugged..

Her nosepin, her smile, her glass bangles , everything is just funny and weird to M..

Akka..en peru ponni nga ka..

Neenga ezhuthundhuteengala nu paathutu poga vandhenunga..

Apdiye ungalukosram kaapi kondhaandhen..

Adhum kudukanum nga..

M-Naan ezhundhu kulichachu..

Sari, keezha polaame nu kelambinen..

Po-Indhaanga..

Kaapi thanniya kudinga..

Naan sapadra nerathuku vandhu koopadrenunga..

Sariya..

M-Angaye vandhu kudichipene..

Idha yen mela kondu varanum..

Po-Ipa aiya um amma um kaapi kudichitu pesitu irupaangallo?

Ipa anga namma epdi poga mudiyum?

Adhaanunga naan kondaandhen..

Neenga kudichupottu araila irunga..

Naan vandhu koopadren..

M feels a slap on her face..

A tight slap..

The princess..

She keeps her thoughts away..

She tries to keep her face normal..

Sari nga..

She gets the coffee..

Po-Neenga chumma ponni ne koopdunga ma..

Varen..

She shows her 32 and moves out..

M goes back to the room..

She feels like throwing the coffee out..

Her basic discipline of not wasting the food stops her..

And her headache after the sleepless night and the hangover feel make her to drink it..

It is much essential for her at this point of time..

She finishes it and doesn't know what to do..

How long can she sit inside the room?

She sees through the window..

The garden..

There is a circular lawn with a path around it..

There is a central bed of shrubs...

Outside of the lawn area are four rose bush beds to fill up the square area..

This is all she can see from the window..

She decides to go down..

To see them..

The trees..

The natural beauty..

Atleast for the sake of her congested mind..

When she decides to go, she sees DM walking around the garden..

She knows well that the watchman may stop her if she goes over there right now..

She curses her stars and falls on the bed..

She takes her mobile..

No messages..

No calls..

No notification at all..

Hmmpp..Number ah maathina edhuvum varaadhu di..

She scoffs at herself..

After a long struggle of one hour, Ponni again comes..

Mullai goes with her..

The family has assembled already..

M greets them and they ask her to eat..

M refuses at first to eat with them but, they compel her and so she eats..

After having the breakfast and some basic questions, the work routine has been given to her..

Checking the accounts..

Drafting the letters for Pandian and Lakshmi as well..

The letters that come for the charity purpose, seeking help and saying thanks..

She has to segregate them..

She has to accompany them all the time..

That's it..

She agrees immediately as she feels it very easy..

Moorthy and Dhanam watch her activities closely for three days, get satisfied and start back to Kunnakudi..

Days pass slowly..

Mullai has learnt the art of keeping her face reactionless all the time..

She takes care of them very well..

She takes care of the accounts..

Weekly monitoring is also done..

She reads books for Pandian..

She watches the old movies with L amma..

Her favourite Bhagyaraj movies too..

When they go around the estate casually, she accompanies them..

When L amma goes to the temple, she tags along with her..

L amma badly wanted a girl child..

As M doesn't have parents and being a soft spoken girl, L instantly likes her..

And to Pandian, he was struggling all these days to have a companion to enjoy 'Sivagaamiyin sabadham' and 'Ponniyin selvan'..

He really likes Mullai..

On the other hand, M gels with Ponni, Selvi akka and David, the watchman too..

Ponni actually likes her flawless skin and her dressing style..

She literally admires Mullai..

She tags along with M all the time..

M melts on hearing her 'Akka'..

Poona kutty maari suthi suthi varaa, paavam, M thinks..

And Selvi akka is a great cook when it comes to traditional food..

M in the meantime, pesters P and L to check their BP level, sugar level..

Since Pandian is found to have diabetes, M asks the doctor about the suggestions and re-schedules the menu..

As Pandian has that craving towards sweets and rice, she herself prepares sugar free, gluten free, low carb foods..

Since she didnt compromise over the taste, he also didn't complain..

She replaced rice with millets..

Coffee and Tea with porridge and lemon tea..

A slow walk with tons of things to talk about..

Everything goes smoothly..

And, Selvi akka is also fine with Mullai..

Selvi ,being at the same home for more than 5 years,is very loyal to the family..

She has seen everything about the family..

So, she is really happy with Mullai as she brings the smiles and laughter across the home..

And her culinary skills is also worth watching and eating..

As M spends time in the kitchen cooking new stuffs , Selvi akka also gels with her..

And David is very affectionate towards her as she resembles his grand daughter..

She shows interest towards the gardening and he fondly talks with her..

She came to know that DM are staying at Kunnakudi..

They don't have child..

Ponni doesn't know why..

Kanna is at Manipal..

Doing his engineering..

JM are at Coimbatore..

They have a child..

Jisha..

Girl baby..

But, M doesnt know why Selvi threw a mysterious look when asked about Jisha..

Some secret behind her?

She let is go anyways..

And Kathir, the hero of the story stays at Nagpur..

The days are supposed to be very good..

The nights..

They bring her the worst ever nightmares..

She was a princess..

The only royal princess of her family..

She has learnt the cooking just for timepass..

Now, things have changed..

The life has changed..

There is no point of going back..

There is nothing to worry about..

Yet..

Hmmm...

She is staying for wages at a home which has wealth less than hers..

The thoughts and memories take her sleep almost everyday..

She goes for a walk, aimlessly just to make sure that she is tired and tries to sleep..

Things flow as a river unknowing the bend that comes on its way..

***************Sudum**************