Perfect Strangers

Perfect Strangers.

September 6.
A new day was dawning at Madurai. Dark skies were slowly replaced with strong yellow rays. Ragavan was active even in his 60's,he collected his daily newspaper copy and entered the home. Seeta(Mrs.Ragavan) was busy at the kitchen. "Did he woke up? "asked Ragavan. "No,I will wake him up" replied Seeta. Seeta rushed to the bedroom and woke up Krishna(Seetas son).Krishna dozed off twice before he finally got up.
Krishna works as a Marketing Executive for Ashok Leyland at Mumbai. He demanded a cup of coffee from his mother. "Krishna, do you remember the days plan?" questioned Seeta. "Yes Mom, I do. We have to go to the girl's house about whom we were discussing yesterday. Right?"." Yeah krish, she is a beautiful girl and you both can make an excellent pair." "Stop it mom, you people never seem to understand what I am running through, have empathy on me. By all means I cannot marry a stranger. I don’t know even an A of that stupid lady and you people start imagining a life with her" retorted Krishna .His mother refuted him saying all the positive things about the girl. His mother told all the good old traditional dialogues to convince him. He was not convinced. His mother lost her temper and finished the conversation by saying "Krishna, You are 28 years old. Its your inability of not finding a girl till date. You could not woo any girl. I do not know whether you tried or not but the fact is YOU ARE SINGLE and now it's our duty to find a girl for you. So co-operate with us today. We will go there, if you do not like then right away we will leave the place." .Krishna sighed but he could not control his laughter.
He glanced at his mother and went to his bedroom. His eyes were fixed on the diary. He had a practice of filing the daily happenings when he was studying standard five. He took the dairy and scanned through the pages and started reading September 6th page.

"Good evening my diary. Today I got scolding from my math teacher for not completing my home work. You very well know that I don’t like math. I hate it. I hate Padma teacher also. I could not see swat cats and Scooby doo because of math imposition. Morning, when I was going to school with my mother, I saw one small boy begging for money. He was wearing a torn shirt. His face was dull. He had a picture of sun drawn on his right arm. When I asked his name , he told that his name is Muthu. My mother asked me not to speak with him and pulled me away from him. As usual mother asked me not play cricket in evening with "exam pads", and not to fight with Sundar, which I perfectly did. Tomorrow Lakshmi will be returning to school after five days of leave. jolly jolly.good bye diary".

Krishna closed his diary and laughed at his innocence. His mother commanded him to get ready for visiting the girl's house. He got ready. As usual, his parents got ready before him and were waiting in the car. He got into the car. The driver started the car. His parents were silent and were keeping their fingers crossed as they were puzzled about what the day has for them. Krishna broke the silence. He asked his mother about the three conditions that he has. "I know it very well Krishna. First one is if you don’t like the girl at the very first look then you will leave the place right away. Second one, if you are ok with her then you would want to spend atleast an hour with her to decide and the last one being, she should be ready to travel abroad with you. Am I right??" she questioned. Krishna gave a positive answer. His mother responded to him saying "Krishna, I am ok with your conditions except the second one. The girl's family seems to be very traditional. I am not sure whether they will agree with this one hour condition and all. You observe her and decide."."No Mom, I can't compromise with my conditions." His father was just a spectator and he was watching them fight. Before they could arrive at a solution, their car reached the Girl's house.
The girls house was very near to South Tower of Meenakshi Temple.
They were greeted by the girl's parents. Krishna got a special welcome from the girls father. He replied him with a name sake smile. Ragavans entered the Girl's house. It was like an ordinary middleclass family house. He could see loads of pictures of Gods and Goddesses. Krishna being an atheist totally hated all such non sense. He tried to maintain his cool and composure. His parents and the girl's parents had a formal conversation. The girl's parents were enquiring Krishna about his nature of work. He responded them. When the conversation was on, Krishna was disturbed by the Girl's very first appearance. "She is Archana, my daughter" said the girl's mother. Archana addressed the ragavans with a gentle smile. She smiled at Krishna too. She was wearing a blue saree. She had a pony tail. Muskara defined her eyes. Round faced girl, she was pretty and neat.
Krishna could not wait to speak with her. Krishna kept pestering his mother about the second condition. His mother never listened to him and she acted as if she was busy with the girl's mother.
Archana interrupted the conversation and she told to Ragavan that she wants to speak with Krishna for a while. Seeta was taken aback and she took some time to return normal. Ragavan agreed for archana's proposal. She came near Krishna and asked him "shall we go out?." Krishna was a bit nervous, saw his mother. His mother was smiling at him. He gained some confidence and responded to her "Sure".
They came out of the house. Krishna started the conversation. "So,Where are we going??" "To Meenakshi Temple" she responded. Krishna got totally irritated with her and told her he is not having any intention to worship. "That’s not a problem, we will just talk for sometime and we will leave the place. Anyway, I will come this evening for worshiping" she told.
Krishna thought that was the most stupid place one could ever go for such things. With all such thoughts lingering around his gray cells and white cells, they reached the South Tower of Meenakshi Temple. The tower was as gigantic as it always used to be. They entered the Temple. After many years, Krishna experienced the tranquility of the beautiful temple. He loved the temple but hated worshipping. He could see her chanting some slokas. He kept following her. He totally hated it. They stepped down a few steps ,crossed the outermost corridor and stepped inside the main course to see the picturesque Golden Lotus Lake. The lake was amidst the gigantic towers of the temple. The golden tower on one side, sculptured towers on the other side and with cool breeze flying across the lake, Krishna started liking the place. She walked towards the lake and sat on the corridor. He sat near her. She started the conversation saying "Krishna, To tell you frankly, if I don’t like you then I will tell right at the face."
"That’s ok, so do I" he replied back.
"What are you upto, I got to know you have done an MBA. Which college and what specialization?" questioned Krishna.
Krishna very well knew that was the most stupid way to start a conversation.
"IIM Bangalore, HR" she said with a pride.
"Great, where are you put up now?" questioned Krishna.
"I am coordinating the SHG at Chennai .I also work for child education and against child labor "she replied.
"SHG, What's that?" he questioned back.
"Self Help Groups, Micro-finance program for the rural women." she explained.
"Sounds good, and you seem to be very religious. I thought you would take me to some restaurants, I heard, down the line, they have opened a new café coffee day shop". he said.
She smiled and said "You seem to watch many movies. I had no plans of marriage, it's out of my parents compulsion I agreed for this. I saw your photo, felt like giving a thought".
"I am honored." he said.
"Wait, don’t be hasty. I have not decided yet" she smiled.
"Have you decided on me?" she shooted.
That was a tricky question. Krishna never faced such a difficult question in recent past.
He was baffled at the question. Whether to say an Yes or No. Yes or No.
"Krishna, what are you thinking. I remember I asked you a question." she said.
"Yes, I have decided". He replied.
"Whether it’s a Yes or No?" She was curious.
"It’s a big Yes." He smiled.
"So where are we settling down." She questioned.
"We??? so is it an yes from your side too?" Krishna exclaimed.
"Yes." she said with an iota of smile in her lips.
Krishna was electrified. She was too.
"Krishna , reply to my question, where are we settling down?"
"Anywhere abroad." he replied.
"Sorry, Krishna, I am strongly rooted at Chennai. Its better we settle down there. You have any concerns? "
"Absolutely No! I love Chennai" he said, throwing his third condition to dust bin.
They exchanged their phone numbers.
"Shall we leave?" she asked.
"Yeah, but we will worship and go" He said.
"Now that’s a flirt I would say" she guffawed.
"Yes, I know" he blushed.
"Not required, I will come in the evening" she smiled.
They left to Archana's home.
Their parents were happy about what happened.
They fixed the engagement date.
Ragavans said a bye and got into the car.
Archana waved her hand , Krishna reciprocated with a smile and got into the car.
Krishna's mother started the conversation saying "Krishna, so you like her?"
"Yes mom, she is good"
"Good my boy, btw all your conditions were met?"
"Yes, both of my conditions were met" he said.
"Third?" she puzzled.
"Mom, I had only two conditions" he smiled.
His mother sniggered.

That night, his parents traveled to Chennai.
He was home alone.
He finished his dinner and he was above to sleep.
He closed all the doors. Switched off the lights. He sent a first good night message to her and slept. The clock struck at half past twelve. A strange noise disturbed his sleep,
He woke up and checked the doors. They were open. Krishna confirmed that someone has entered his house. There was a knife lying down in the table, took it as a self defense weapon. Without making any noise he went to his parent's bedroom. It’s the place where the cash and jewels are kept. When he just entered the room, he got a strong blow from a stranger. He fell to the floor. Before the stranger could do a second attack, he gained some energy and hurled a wooden flower vase that was to his side. It hit the strangers head and he fainted. The stranger was bleeding. Krishna was alarmed when he saw the stranger's right arm; it was tattooed with a sun picture. He guessed whether it could be the small boy who begged for money when he was doing standard five. He searched for the strangers pocket to get any details about the stranger. He confirmed his doubt when he saw his left arm. It was tattooed with the name "MUTHU". The innocent boy has now turned to be a thief.
He informed the local police station and the police arrested Muthu.
Next day, he called Archana and told her about Muthu, an innocent boy becoming a thief.
She replied back saying "It's for the same reason I work for child education".
Muthu and Archana turned out to be THE PERFECT STRANGERS for Krishna.