"Aparna, can we talk?" hearing those words from his deep voice made Aparna heart skip a beat. She became silent and just sat beside him without a single sound from her throat. "Hmmm...I can't really see you being docile." he said crossing his arms and shaking his head from side to side. "What's your problem with me being docile? Firstly ,aren't you the one who asked me if we can talk? And what is this 180⁰ flip in your behavior? I really can't seem to digest this." Aparna rambled to him about his inconsistencies. He laughed again. It made Aparna lose her last string of patience. "What's with you? I really don't know if it's you or an entirely different person? I'm about to go mad. Care to explain what's happening here?" in a dominant tone that made the young man flinch a little because this is the first time he's seen such an expression on her face. He made himself straight and looked at her with a smile in his eyes. "If I ever wanted to tell anyone about this it would definitely be you. So you better listen carefully and don't mock me after listening to everything. Okay?" he said it as a caution notice. Aparna "woaah! You are really making me nervous. Continue." After hearing this from her he started narrating his story.
..
Mallikarjuna was often called as Malli since he was child. He was handful when he was a child. He often messed with the villagers like stealing the pots in one house and replacing them with the ones he brought from the other place, stole chicken eggs and returned it to their owners that evening or the next day morning, changing the chickens from one basket to other, he would often steal fresh butter and eat it himself but he provided a pot of milk to those. He was playful but also thoughtful in his own way about others. He never backed down from any promises he made. He would always see a work till its end. He was such a boy...Young man. Malli became who he is now was due to his father. He taught his son the difference between playing around and being troublesome kid. He would punish him with a cane if Malli had involved in an incident that causes discomfort to the villagers. He often told him to get along with every one. Another important thing is that whatever son did, his father was right beside him since childhood. Malli followed his father everywhere he goes, not caring about the surroundings or the people he associated with. Whatever it is, if it is right, his father won't say anything but if he found anything that is not acceptable, he would be punished. With his father right beside him, putting him on the right path, he grew up to be reliable young man whom all the villagers looked up to. Elders of the village often showed their children Malli as their role model.They like him for his playing nature which never crosses a line. He worked hard , smiled hard, laughed hard, with his father who was like a best friend to him, a figure whom he aspires to be. Father who filled his life like a twin brother suddenly disappeared from his life. One evening when they were working in the field, it was almost sunset and darkness looming around.
"Father, until when are you going to work? I'm hungry. Let's go home. You promised to buy me some sweets on our way back home. It's getting late..." Malli whined continuously to his father who's still working in the field, weeding out the crop. His father laughed at his childish behavior "I'm almost completed with these weeds. Just a little while. You get the money from the pocket of the shirt under the tree and buy yourself some sweets. Head to home and ask your mother to prepare a bath for me. I'll be back shortly after you reach home..." answered as he pulled out the weeds. "Father let's go together. Wait I'll help you. Then we can go home together" he was about to step into the field.."Malli, I told you it's almost over. Get some sweets and go home. Remember to set some sweet for me too" Malli sighed and took the shirt under the tree and took some money from the pocket , "Father I'll be leaving. Come fast. Or I won't be responsible for your missing sweets" he laughed as he said those and left. There were almost no one roaming around as it was almost dark. Malli left to home after he bought sweets and informed his mother about his late arrival and bath. She made them ready. But he didn't come .... almost an hour passed. Not yet. Malli went to the field and saw his father lying down with foam oozing from the corner of his mouth. He suddenly went weak on his knees and almost dropped at the place. He steadied himself and took few steps towards his father...who was lying with no movement and holding some weeds in his right hand. He tried to remain calm and reached out to shake his father. He found no response. "Father , father..."he wailed but no one answered his call. He carried his father on his back to the doctor as fast as he can. But to vain, he was already dead. He couldn't bring himself to belive that. How could he answer when his mother ask about father? What to do with the sweets he bought for themselves? He couldn't accept his father's death. He thought if he had been there with his father, the treatment would've been faster or the snake could've bit him and not his father. "It's because of me. Because I left father alone, this happened. I should have waited for him till he completed his weeding...I'm sorry father..I'm sorry..I shouldn'thave left like that.. ."he went on blaming himself. The doctor knows Malli and his father very well. He was just as sad as malli because his father is his closest friend. He sent the information to Prabhavathi and their friends through his assistant. In no time every one gathered.. Prabhavathi saw her son sitting at the feet of his husband and smacking his head muttering something.. she was afraid.. he doesn't know how to laugh, smile or talk without his father. Even after finishing his burial, Malli didn't come to his senses. With the loss of husband and son...who kept muttering to himself saying "I'm sorry father, I shouldn't have left you.." all the time without eating properly Prabhavathi couldn't bear to be there. So she contacted her father and her father told her to visit his younger brother in Kalyana puram. Like that they arrived here...
That was what happened back in my village." He concluded.