Chapter 18

Pavithran, one of Ashok’s friends, pulled Ashok out of the kitchen yelling, “Man, can you please stop paying attention to the jamuns and listen to your “Laddu”? She wouldn’t sit down without you by her side”. Everyone broke out into laughter as Leela threw a pillow at Pavithran, while Sheetal’s eyes were busy, secretly inspecting the natural smile on Sharini’s face.

Ashok put his hands up in surrender and untied the apron on his back. Without skipping a beat, Leela helped him finish up with the last batch and covered up the vessels. Mullai and Sharini helped to plate the jamuns with hot jeera. In the meanwhile, everyone in the living hall cleared the trays from the mats, and rearranged the cushions to settle down comfortably.

Karthik cranked down the volume of the bluetooth speaker and Mullai pulled a huge cushion to the center declaring it the “Host Seat”. As everyone started settling down, Leela pinched Ashok’s arm, making him hiss, “I told you not to pull your kitchen stunts today!”. Ashok just sheepishly grinned at her while rubbing the sore spot on his arm and added, “I just didn’t want our friends to get food poisoning from your samosas”, gaining another pillow thrown at his face.

“So much violence in marriage these days, paavam Ashok anna”, Mullai muttered from her bean bag, switching bites between a murukku and a jamun.

“This is just the beginning, wait till she turns into the real don”, Ashok joked, while dramatically plopping down on to the mat like a flailing chicken, earning a round of laughter from the room.

“Alright, scoot closer everyone, sit in a circle, we’ll start with Dumb Charades! Girls vs. Boys, no arguments”, Leela declared earning a groan from the boys. Azad protested, “Not fair, why do boys always get ganged up on in these games?“

“Because you guys are outnumbered and underqualified”, Mullai replied, licking the jeera off a spoon with no worries in the world.

A bowl with rolled up paper chits was placed at the centre. Pavithran grabbed the first one and moved to stand like a body builder.

“I”, Mullai screamed, her arms shooting up to take a guess.

“Maan Karate?”, Leela asked, as her proceeded to throw punches in the air. He shook his head.

“Two words”, Azad muttered, followed by Leela guessing “Maddy” when Pavithran mimed the famous bike rider pose.

“Irudhi Suttru!!”, both Sheetal and Sharini yelled in unison and excitedly turned to each other when Pavithran frantically nodded. For a second, the old friends surfaced but they fell silent quickly.

“Paarra~”, Azad teased in a sing-song voice, “Starting off strong with the soulmate powers I see”.

“We should keep an eye on these two”, Ashok said in agreement and pushed the bowl across.

Now it was the girls’ turn. The older lady from earlier, whom Sheetal got to know as “Veni ma’am”, another senior from school, nudged Leela.

“Go put your dramatic face to some use.”

Leela grabbed a chit and frowned. “Why do I always get the difficult ones?” she whined, stomping her feet.

“Wait, wait, don’t panic. First show us how many words”, Ashok was quick to encourage, and Leela held up two fingers.

Then she pointed to the first finger and started flailing her hands like crazy, followed by pretending to bite something.

“Chicken!”

“Leg piece!!”

“Biriyani!!!”

Mullai, Sheetal and Azad kept throwing guesses, making Pavithran judge them all for thinking about food all the time.

Ashok sat perplexed, confused whether to laugh or cry, and chose to silently stare at her flapping form like a bird having an identity crisis.

With no good guesses, she pointed to the second finger now, and started to squat and scrunch her face, eyes closed, almost like a constipated duck.

Ashok rushed to pull her down by his side, as everyone burst into a laughing fit, snatching the piece of paper from her hand. “Kaakaa muttai”, he read aloud in a deadpan tone, staring at his pouting wife, while the rest of the gang started laughing louder.

“Unna nadikka sonnadhu en thappu dhaan (It was my mistake to ask you to act.) “, Veni teased between laughs.

Ashok pulled the next chit and grinned, and dramatically loosened his limbs while bouncing on his toes, as if warming up before a boxing match.

“Alright, stand back everyone. I’m going to win this round in ten seconds”.

Borrowing the glasses from Bhargavi, Azad’s girlfriend of 3 years, he started to mime, dramatically pulling up an imaginary veshti.

“Hero“

“Danush?” Azad guessed.

He shook his head and turned up the act, puffing his chest out and flexing muscles, stomping around like a mass hero.

“Vishal!”, Sharini guessed and got a thumbs up.

“Naanum Madura kaaran dhaan da“, Sheetal chimed in the perfect tone earning some giggles.

“Sandakozhi” “Chellame“, guesses started flying in.

He then pulled the ultimate card and jerked his shoulder to one side, twisted his torso awkwardly and began limping on one leg, his hand dangling like a stick tied to his elbow.

“Enna da idhu“, Pavithran blinked.

He then turned to Sheetal, screeching, “Yekkaw” and she immediately caught on, following him with the all-time famous “Eley issuku“.

“Akka, avan inga irukaan kaa….”

And the room lost it.

Mullai dropped her samosa.

“Thimiru“, Sharini shouted, tears forming in her eyes from laughing.

The games continued for some time, slowly but steadily cutting through the invisible tension. This used to be their rhythm – chaos, laughter, the way Sharini held her sides, like hugging herself, the way Sheetal covered her mouth while giggling.

The bowl was spun and Mullai grabbed a chit. She sprang to her feet and walked like she owned the place, while still half-way through munching on a murukku. “Sit back down, you peasants, I’ll show you the real deal”, she said, and Ashok scoffed as he landed on his butt.

True to her words, Mullai’s acting was surprisingly on point. She mimicked climbing stairs repeatedly, watching tv serials, doctors and dog barks.

Soon, charades came to an end with Bhargavi guessing “Yaavarum Nalam“, Mullai scoring and sitting back down with style.

Some way along, Leela quietly snuggled under his arms, the two sharing a quick smile and a glance, they were too cute for the rest in the room.

“Alright, now Anthakshari “, Veni ma’am cheered, rubbing her hands together. The group rearranged themselves as pairs, Ashok-Leela, Azad-Bhargavi, Karthik-Pavithran, Mullai-Sheetal, and Veni ma’am-Sharini.

“Starting letter: Ma!“, Bhargavi said.

“Maanguyile Poonguyile sedhi onnu kelu….“, Veni ma’am started on an off-key note.

Sharini hummed along, smiling faintly. She didn’t usually enjoy singing in front of people, but this wasn’t about singing. This was about being part of something, allowing herself to be present in the moment, letting the carefree part of her breathe.

“Naalu endha naalu. Lu, you have to start with Lu!”, she pointed towards Karthik, who readily jumped at the opportunity with “Loosu penne”. Both Pavithran and himself sang as if they were the ones dumped by Nayanthara in the movie, fully immersed in the feels.

It continued for some rounds and when it was Mullai and Sheetal’s turn, Mullai bailed. “I’m an expert in acting, but songs and I are far from each other. Unless you want your ears to bleed, don’t ask me to sing. Sheetal, please save the team for us”, she said, throwing her hands up.

Sheetal hesitated, but Mullai insisted. “Fine, you don’t even have to start with Sa. Sing anything you want.”, Azad pushed. She glanced at Sharini, who nodded with a mocking smile, “What are you looking at me for? You are the ‘Radio star’ and all, go ahead”.

Sheetal rolled her eyes but smiled, voice stronger than expected as she sang.

Nenjukkul Peidhidum maamazhai
Neerukkul moozhgidum thaamarai
Sattendru maarudhu vaanilai
Penne unmel pizhai

Nillaamal veesidum peralai
Nenjukkul neendhidum thaaragai
Pon vannam soodiya kaarigai
Penne nee kaanchanai

O Shaanti Shaanti O Shaanti
En uyirai uyirai nee yendhi
Yen sendrai sendrai enai thaandi
Ini needhaan endhan andhaadhi

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She sang with her eyes closed, while the entire room fell into a blissful silence, her melodious voice the only sound. Everyone was staring at her in awe, Sharini couldn’t help the proud smile that graced her lips.

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Nillendru nee sonnaal,
En kaalum nagaraadhe
Nee soodum povellaam
Orupodhum udhiraadhe

Kaadhal enai ketkavillai
Ketaal adhu kaadhal illai

She opened her eyes and softly smiled, looking at everyone, her eyes finally landing on Sharini, the smile growing a tiny bit more.

En jeevan, jeevan, needhaane
Ena thondrum neram idhu dhaane
Nee illai illai endraale
En nenjam nenjam thaangaadhe.

She sang looking directly at Sharini. Before it could get awkward, she quickly nudged everyone to join her, to start with the chorus again.

Nenjukkul Peidhidum maamazhai…

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The song came to an end with everyone singing the last few lines together, and a rain of claps followed.

“Wow, Sheetal! You have a brilliant voice!”, Karthik praised. Azad joined, “If I didn’t love Bhargavi already, who knows, I might have fallen in love with you just now”, he commented, making the group laugh and earning a death glare from his girlfriend (and someone else, he just didn’t notice).

•

Next came the friendship killer -Uno.

Veni ma’am left somewhere in the middle, saying her daughter would be waiting for her. Azad and Bhargavi also had to leave. The group just prayed his comment didn’t blow up into a fight between them.

Sheetal sat across from Sharini, clutching her cards, while Karthik was trying to take a peek at Mullai’s.

It started like any other round — Sheetal throwing a +2 at Pavithran, Sharini skipping Ashok for the 3rd time in a row, a random reverse card flying in, someone muttering some curses when hit with a Wild Draw 4.

Sharini had two cards left. Sheetal had three.

“I know you’re saving a red”, Sheetal said, her eyes narrowing.

“Then don’t give me a red.”

The table laughed.

Leela dropped a red 5, letting Sharini drop her last but one – a Yellow 5, shouting “Uno!”

Karthik didn’t have anything, so he grabbed a card and sat back, pouting. Mullai, Sheetal and Leela exchanged glances, they had one aim, don’t let Sharini win. The next few moves were quick. Mullai and Sheetal played their turns to not affect Leela.

Unfortunately, Leela didn’t have any power cards, so she did what she can best, avoiding red. Everyone held their breath as Leela dropped a blue 2, anticipation at its peak when Sharini kept staring at the card in front of her, void of any expression.

Then in a swift move, she dropped her last card in her hand, a red 2, making the rest groan as Sharini raised her arms in mock triumph,. “Justice!”

Sheetal smirked. “Luck.”

“Jealousy”, Sharini countered.

A pause. Sheetal shrugged. “Maybe.“

The game went on. They played two more rounds. In between the games, the two girls noticed each other falling back into their old selves, but made no comments. Sheetal passed Sharini an extra card when th stack ran out, teasing her about shuffling like a beginner. Sharini warned her to watch out for the next round.

For the first time in a few days, they forgot about everything that had been happening. They weren’t walking on eggshells. For now, they were just Sharini and Sheetal again. Not soulmates, not almost lovers. Just two friends, bickering, having fun, laughing like none of it ever broke.

•

As the night drew to a close and guests started to leave, Sharini and Sheetal helped the couple clean up

Sharini just washed her hands and helped herself to a glass of buttermilk.
Sheetal came over quietly, and sat beside her, close but not touching.

“I didn’t think you’d talk to me today”, she said softly.

Sharini didn’t respond right away. She stared ahead at Leela and Ashok smiling at Karthik, Ashok sending him off with a bro hug.

“I didn’t think you’d come”, she said truthfully.

“I almost didn’t. But I… I couldn’t sit in that flat one more night, waiting for time to fix what I broke”.

Sheetal had watched Sharini laugh again. Not the tight smiles she gave out of politeness, the real, carefree ones. The kind she hadn’t seen in days. And she had realised – she had taken that away.