Part 1 of 6 · 4 minThe Surprise

Lasya was deep in a YouTube video called "Malayalam in 33 Hours" when a "tring tring" broke her concentration. She picked up, surprised, and found it was Pramod. Normally he called at 1 and reached home at 6. But this time, oddly, he had called at 3. "What is it, andi — you were late today. When the call didn't come I didn't know what to do with myself. They said there was no work either," Lasya said. "It's nothing. Be ready by five, there's a surprise for you," he answered.

Anthoor, a small town in Kerala. Pramod had been transferred there only two months ago. He worked a central government job under the "Goods & Services Tax" department. By birth Pramod was a village man, from Manubolu in Nellore. With hard work and his parents' blessings he finished his degree, and with stubborn persistence he landed a government job. The moment his probation period ended, the family began looking at marriage matches. Government job or not, the low salary kept the matches from working out. He talked them round: an educated girl, a girl with a little worldly sense, would be enough — and no dowry either.

But as Pramod's luck would have it, Lasya was a B.Tech girl. From Intermediate onwards she had lived at home in Hyderabad with her parents. She had been raised a little indulgently from childhood, being the only child. She had her education and her manners, but the influence of the friends around her had fallen on Lasya rather heavily. From bunking classes to go to films, to going off on tours calling them study trips — they had taught her plenty of arts.

That Pramod liked her at the very first attempt, and that he was a village man and a mild one, made him look easy to Lasya. Not that the boy was any less — only that she was more than the boy. The viewing, the engagement right after, and within a month's time the wedding was fixed too. Lasya's father gave his daughter a platinum chain and his son-in-law a new bike. When everyone said it was her good fortune, she put on airs. They went on the honeymoon, and before they were back the transfer orders were in hand. In the Andaman islands they talked peacefully about everything. It was here that Pramod came to know about Lasya — about her friends, the films she liked, the trips she had been on. Lasya took his word that none of it would ever be brought up at home.

The return journey ended, Pramod left for Kerala, and Ashadam followed right after — it all came together at once. The distance between husband and wife grew, but he used the time to set the house up. The office had given quarters, 1 BHK; a proper house meant waiting another 4 months. The other problem in the quarters was the cell signal — nothing came through at all except BSNL. Every afternoon they talked about the things a new household needed. By the end of a week the struggle to get a call through had turned into a kind of habit, and a month passed easily enough. Lasya did the housewarming, and before milk and curd they got SIM cards and a landline. The landline was put in for one thing only: to pass news of their well-being to her parents' house and his.

Half an hour after the call ended, Pramod appeared at home. "What's the occasion, andi? You've come early. It isn't even Friday," Lasya asked, curious. On a Friday, being the last working day of the week, he came home early. But today wasn't that either. All this while she had been thinking like a detective, hunting for a reason. "talk you tonight," he said. That smile was not an ordinary one. "Chee, what is that smile, andi!" — and Lasya ran inside, her ears going hot. The bike that started from the house at five reached Mattool beach in half an hour. Pramod loved the seashore; that day, the beach frightened Lasya. For as long as Pramod swam, Lasya picked up shells along the shore. The bike started again at 7 and stopped at 7:30. Telling her to get down, Pramod slipped into the hotel parking lot. She sat waiting at reception, and he took her up the stairs to the first floor. There he had reserved a table set into a corner, placed so the breeze reached it and the river running outside stayed in view. When they were new to Kerala, driving down that road, Lasya had said, "let's go to this hotel sometime, andi" — and Pramod had remembered it. That was the surprise; there was nothing more to it than that.

They sat down and he ordered 2 soups, one Malabar fish curry, butter naan. Over the soup the talk began. He took care that Lasya never learned the name of the curry. More than any disappointment at not knowing the reason for the treat, what showed on her was the pleasure of being let off the kitchen for one evening. She finished the second naan, and by the middle of the third, something began to trouble Lasya. Clutching her stomach, she collapsed.