‘Why,’ he said, ardently looking into her eyes, ‘am I not a bachelor?’
Dropping her eyes involuntarily, she let him take her hand consciously.
‘Lucky is the guy who marries you,’ he said tentatively.
‘You are supposed to predict my future,’ she said to point out the faux pas ‘but you’re speculating someone’s fortune.’
‘Hi Sandhya,’ yelled her mother, ‘the newscast is on. Perhaps, we may find you in the visuals.’
‘Oh, she’s there,’ said Raja Rao spotting Sandhya in time, ‘Graceful really.’
‘Thanks,’ she said joyously, turning her head towards him, ‘for your compliment.’
‘I think,’ said Raja Rao as he got up after the newscast, ‘it’s time I got going.’
As he got ready to go, he wished them good night.
‘Good night,’ said Sandhya, inviting his attention.
At that, their eyes met to convey their disappointment at the impending separation.
‘Make it for dinner tomorrow,’ said Madhava Rao who had by then sensed the infatuation that gripped his nephew and the guest.
‘I would love to,’ said Raja Rao, looking at Sandhya, as her eyes seemed all of adoration for him.
After Raja Rao had left, Madhava Rao asked Kamalakar, ‘Don’t you okay him?’
‘I feel he’s a marvelous guy,’ Kamalakar pushed the ball into Damayanthi’s court, ‘what do you say?’
‘I do agree,’ Damayanthi kept the ball rolling, ‘but it all depends on Sandhya, doesn’t it?’
‘We’ll know that from the horse’s mouth,’ Madhava Rao said with the exaggerated manner of a compere, ‘right now.’
‘If you feel that he’s right for me,’ she said coyly, sinking her head into ‘The Illustrated Weekly of India’ that she was holding, ‘he’s fine for me.’
‘Leave the rest to me,’ said Madhava Rao in all excitement, ‘and contact your purohit for the sumuhurtham.’
As the elders began recounting the like incidents of matchmaking they had heard of, none took note of Sandhya slipping into the guest room to be on her own.
~~~~~~~
Lay up in the bed, Sandhya tried to fathom the persona of the man that induced love in her heart. ‘But what about him?’ she thought at length. ‘Why, surely he’s enamored of me.’
She fondly recalled his disappointed look when he got up to leave, and the way his eyes glowed with life when Madhava Rao asked him to come the next day. ‘Was it not owing to the prospect of meeting me again,’ she thought endearingly. ‘Why, it’s clear that he’s fascinated by me.’
‘But would he like to marry me? Were it possible, for him it’s no more than a calf-love in the euphoria of our youthful interaction?’ she became doubtful and dispirited at that. ‘Why, he’s smart and is pretty sure of himself, isn’t he? For all that, he could be a ladies man and not the marrying type, who knows?’