காதலே நீ பூ எறிந்தால்
எந்த மலையும் கொஞ்சம் குழையும காதலே நீ கல் எறிந்தால்
எந்த கடலும் கொஞ்சம் கலங்கும்

Though the intensity of the lies hunted him and many a day, he woke up all drenched and covered in sweats. Hugging the tiny body next to him, inhaling her baby scent, and holding on to the long slender fingers of his girl lying on the other side, he drew the strength to pass on the lie to the next day...

There were multiple instances during the initial days when his mom's and his former family's memory haunted him, and he cried hugging his sleeping baby girl close to his heart...

For he couldn't show his sadness to his better half...

She was an independent selfless girl with so much forward thinking, but she had an excess of self-pride....

Which he was proud yet afraid of...

Added to his pile was another issue...

Earlier, if only the caste was the issue...

Now, even Shwetha added on to his list...

Of late, his mom had started hinting on his marriage with Shwetha...

She was confident and partly adamant on getting her brother's daughter as his wife....

He was hell shocked when he heard it for the first time...

Even if he didn't have Mudhra and Mullai in his life, he couldn't have accepted Shwetha in his life...

He had feelings for her...

True...

But, those feelings were nothing more than what he felt for Kanna...

Why couldn't these thick head people understand that he wondered...

So, for a matter of fact he cut short his visits to his family to a very large extent...

His Doctorate in Philosophy post his Masters helped him to a great extent..

His thesis topic was closely related to tribe and tribal people and he piled up his next lie on how he was ultimately busy with his teaching and thesis and he went and met them only a couple of times that too for not more than a couple of days..

He had started hearing the sarcastic remarks of how he was growing busy more than the President of the United States of America...

His nephew and even his younger brother had teased him multiple times on how much of a workaholic he was turning into...

And he was far better when he was in Pandian stores..

The only thing he was happy about was Shwetha never showed any such romantic gestures or feelings or anything close to it during his visits...

And he couldn't be more than happy about it...

For, he would never be able to sow any such seeds into her brain...

The only two time she had taken the privilege of him being her mama was for her education...

She had requested if he could coax her father for her further education...

And he was more than happy to do it for his cousin sister...

Every time, he had seen his whole family pampering Jisha, his smile flattered, thinking about his baby girl...who was denied all the privilege...

But, he was just a puppet in the hands of fate...

He was bound to choose sides and he did it without a second thoughts years ago...

Which he would never repent...

He knew he can never open up about his family and him being a family man to his family till Shwetha was settled...

Else, he was afraid...

His uncle and his friends might not think twice before hurting them...

They were influential people...

Even if they never hurt her physically, they could cause enormous damage with their filthy tongue...

They could twist the truth and tell Mullai about how he had kept her in the dark about him...

And

He knew for a matter of fact...

She will blame herself...

Blame herself as the sole reason he stayed away from his family..

And he knew he would never be able to face her...

Nor would her father...

All thanks to him...

He was aware the lie can never stay hidden...

Yet, He built his life on lie....

His baby girl had grown to more than half his height...

She was an epitome of beauty in his eyes...

A perfect blend of him and Mullai...

She had inherited all her features from her...

Except her eyes...

She had his eyes...

Something Mullai loved...

Thankful for his wife, his over pampering and his extra caution and fear took a back seat once she started walking on her own...

When she fell after her first step and cried, he rushed towards her to shush her, pamper her...

How could his baby fall...

He had vowed that he will not let her face what he faced in his father's absence...

He would make sure no harm reach her....no hardship shall she face in his presence...

But, before he could reach her, she had attempted once again...

And he stopped to watch over her...

She fell again on her cute soft bum..

Yet, she rose...

That's when realization dawned on him...

That's when the English story of the Sea gull, he read during his school days came into his memory...

He was supposed to be her support system...

Just like how his father was...

His father was a liberal thinker...

Something he had inherited yet he forgot when he became a dad...

The moment he took her in his arms, he vowed to protect her...

But, today he realized,

He was not supposed to keep her within his cocoon of arms like his wife and his in laws mocked...

He was supposed to let her free yet make sure she is protected...

And he became the sooper cool dad like in a flick of a moment...

Leaving the rest in the family wide eyed and open mouthed.

And the whole family saw the transition of Kathir from "Abhiyum Naanum: Prakash raj to Samuthirakani in "Appa"

His friends had mocked "Onnu apdi iruka...illa na ipdi iruka...un character eh purinjika mudiyala da" was Akhil and Vetri's comments...

And he would join in with a laughter and a shoulder pat...

Mudhra was the apple of many a people's eyes in the village...

She was an extreme extrovert and a natural helper...

Her favorite pastime as a child before her schooling was to accompany her grandpa or her mom...

She hated going to school for one and only reason as there she was strictly asked to call Kathir as "Ayya"

"Palikoodathula naan unaku vathiyaar appa illa...ayya nu matum dhan koopdanum" the one and only restriction of her father...

In the book, "The Wit & Wisdom" Mark Twain had quoted "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

That was so damn true in his case...

Wonderful years just flew away like they were mere pages of his text books...

And the first blow came....

His support, his confide, his father in law passed away just a few days post Mudhra's birthday...

The man who went to sleep never woke up...

After his father, it was Murugan he had in his life...

With him gone, he felt a major strength leaving him....

He started having more nightmares...

His truth haunted him more...

He started feeling suffocated of the lies...

He wanted to come clean...

That's when he realized...

All these years, he had a wave of calmness washing away his fears...

It was him...

His father in law...

The belief that her father in law knew the truth was a huge support for him...

None of them were out of Murugan's loss, but Vetri was an integral part of their family as well.....

Parvathy had asked the rest three to go for the wedding...

She would stay with Saravana she had told...

Done and dusted...

She gave her final decision..

He had mustered up his courage to come clean post Vetri's wedding...

They were to go to Chennai for the wedding and they had all started sans Parvathy amma...

But, half way into the journey,

They received the next bad news...

There was a landslide in their place...

Communication were broken and they returned back to check mainly on Parvathy amma...

But, what awaited them was nothing but disaster.....

The school and the surroundings including saravana's house had been damaged beyond bounds in the landslide..

Luckily, Saravana had survived..

But, his mom and Parvathy amma had succumbed to the injuries...

That was a sight he would never forget...

The person who gave him strength had already left him....

The place which gave him solace was shattered now...

When his two dear women cried their lungs out weeping why their mother? Why them?

He had no answer...

"All good things come to an end"

So, did the period in his life as well...

One after another, misery stuck him...

It had taken him large efforts to bring the smile back on his ladies face...

But, it never lasted long...

Mull: " ini nama 3 per mattum dhan la kathir...namakunu nama matum...

Nama thappu pana...sola kooda periyavunga illa la..."

She weeped in his arms, tearing his heart apart...

Kathir: "sorry Mullai" he had cried...

He wanted to let her know, but she had dozed off even before he started...

Next day was the D- day he had set...

But then, the D day came so did the result even before he woke up...

He woke up to an empty bed...and a horrifying silence...

Something about the silence was terrifying to him...

He woke up from bed to see Mullai standing on the sofa with a bag in her hand and carrying a sleeping Mudhra in her other hand...

Kat: ey...Mullai...enga kelambita...

Ivalo kaalaila...

Adum thoongara ivala ipdi thookitu enna achu...

But all he had as a reply was a stare...

A stare which had the fire to turn him into ashes...

Kat: enna achu di...

She remained calm and composed...

Mul: Unga amma va Trichy Hospital la admit panirukangalam...

She said lifelessly....

Kat: amma ku enna achu...

Yaar sonna...

Unaku epdi theriyum...

The losses he had faced in the past few days made him enter the panick mode...

He called his brother...

It was Dharshan who picked the call...

And gave away the necessary details...

His mother had an attack and was admitted in a hospital...

She was critical...apparently...

He cut the phone with trembling fingers...

He turned around only to remember Mullai told him about his mother...

Mul: Onne onnu matum sollu kathir...

Edhukaga..

En ivalo periya poi sonna...

Kat: Mullai...unna enga veetla ethuka matanga ngra bayam...

En veeta pathi sonna nee othukamatiyo nu dhan...

Am sorry di...

He cried...taking them into his arms...

She never reciprocated the hug...

Mul: unga amma ku odambu seri illa la...

Poi paru....

Kelambu...

Kat: neeyum vaa...

Mul: nee unga amma va poi paru...

Kat: neeyum vaa....

Mul: nee poo nu sonen...

Kat: nee thaniya...

Mul: irundupen....

Pooo.....

She said in a too much calm voice...

The calmness before the disaster...

Just, that he was too much preoccupied with his mother's thoughts to understand it...

Kat: naan seekram vandidaren....

Mul: hmmm...

Kat: paathu badhrama iru...

He said and left giving her and Mudhra a peck on her forehead...

Not knowing this was the one he would be giving in a long time...

By the time, he reached his mom had been in a stable state giving him the sense of relief...

Talking a word and a few line, he started to take his leave..

Moo: en da amma udambu seri illama irundum nee enga da kelambra...

Kanna: school la innuma renovation panranga...

Kat: naan vandu solren...

Amma veetiku vandadum enaku unga ellar kitayyum pesa iruku...

Dhan: seri da....aana inaike kelambanuma...

Kat: aaman anni...amma ku udmabu seri illa nu soandhum apdiye kelambiten...

Kan: annan, nethi amma pathi solumbodu phone yaar edutha...

Kat: vandhu solren...

Was his only reply...

On his way, he tried reaching Mullai to tell about his mom but she didn't pick the call, neither the land line...

Something was off...

Ofcourse he had thrown a big truth her way and left...

She was supposed to be angry...

But, the more he neared their house...

He realized something was totally off..

Their house was dark...

No lights...

There was no chance his wife and daughter would be sitting in dark...

His heart was beating loudly...

He went nearby and saw the house unlocked..

That was a first as well..

When he opened the door and lighted the room, he realized the soltitude surrounding him...

He went around the house searching for her...

He couldn't find her...

He tried reaching her on phone..

It was switched off...

He didn't know what to do...

That's when he noticed a letter in their room...

Wait?

Wasn't that there even in the morning when he woke up?

He tried racking his brain for answer but in vain...

With trembling hands, he picked the letter...

For he knew the content won't be anything pleasant....

He had seen too many soaps and movies to know the basics...

True, to his intuition,

The letter stated the obvious

"Nama vazhkai eh poi nu nenaikumbodu sirikava azhava ne therla kathir...

8 varusha vaazhka verum nadagam...

Unaku naan enga veetu alunga than irundanga nu nenachen...

Aana nee ipdi poliya vazhnda vazhura nu ...

Enaku theriyadhu...

Ennala dhane nee ipdi unga veeta vittu inga iruka...

Bayapdatha...

Naan ini un vazhkai la thadai aa iruka maten....

Ivalo naal un vazhkai aa azhichadhuku sorry....

Ipo kooda ennala unna veruka mudila....

I love u too much to hate you...

Enna thedatha...

Naan varamaten....

Ennakaga adhu matum pannu...

Bye...."

With these words in a white sheet, she left him taking his life with her...

He searched for her for quite some months...

He couldn't find any info about her..

He couldn't trace them even with her phone or mobile number...

She had changed everything...

She had moved past him or so he thought...

After a couple of months, he got the offer for transfer to Kunnakudi...

The house and the place by now had started to hunt him more...

The bed he slept hugging his baby girl, each nook and corner had started to eat him...

He would have lost his sanity had he stayed any longer he was sure....

He accepted the offer, joined the school went back home...

Maintained his façade, yet searched for them on weekend...

Every NGO, he started searching be it small or big till he met her after the span of 10 months in the NGO his brother was working...

What followed was his trial in telling or proving his truth to her...

His WISH of having them back in his life...

And

Her WILL power of giving him a hard time...

******************************THE END*************************