My Kinda Girl - IV

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Resemblance to any person living (including yours truly) or dead, to any organisation, place or thing is purely coincidental.


Part I
Part II
Part III


"Although this is irrelevant to me, I appreciate the forthrightness," I commended her much to the oldies' wrath.
Mother and aunt exchanged a few furtive glances. Even God wont know what it meant. But one thing was apparent, they didn't like her first off and would do anything to cut her out. They expected her to be some docile, demure, softspoken girl. But she turned out to be otherwise.
"So... Lavanya, I think you heard what Raj had to say earlier. Don't you think he was too demanding and stupid?" aunt attempted to set Lavanya against me.
"On the contrary, aunty, I kinda liked it and a few points were particularly interesting," she said. Mom scowled in further displeasure.
"What? Are you out of your mind? If I were you I would have found it highly unreasonable and scatter-brained," attemped aunt desparately.
"Actually I thought it was cool, the geek part in particular, uber-cool!" she said with a glee.
"Really? That's good to hear." I appreciated.
"Yeah, but I have a few disagreements. Like I find Hacker News better than Slashdot."
"HN is good too," I seconded.
"I like Star Wars, albeit it may not be as much intellectual as The Matrix, but is very imaginative," she said. I nodded. Irrespective of whether they understood this conversation or not, mother and aunt didn't like it. Mother gestured to me to stop. I feigned to have not noticed. :)
Lavanya continued, "And that cafebabe thingy...though c0ffee is cool, it is couple bytes short and ain't anymore cool when prefixed with two zeroes. But my vote is for cafed00d." She stumped me with this stuff.
"cafed00d, yeah, that's equally good," I remarked.
"But, dude, am not a Linux type," she admitted. 
"Oh!"
"Nor Windows!" she added.
"Then?"
"Me likes old school stuff. My box runs Free BSD," she gleamed with pride. Holy smokes! She runs BSD on her box. Yes, box, that's the term. Typical geekspeak. I was bowled over.
"And, boy! With the way you were lining it all up, I was afraid you'll be asking for IQ, EQ, MBTI/KTS type, you know, that kinda data," she said in a sense of mild-mannered mockery. She seemed to be well read.
"No, no. I'm not that bad, okay?" I smiled.
The tension was building amongst the oldies. They didn't want this to progress.
"All this may seem nice to talk, but there are other important issues," dived in mother vehemently.
"Like?" I asked.
"Like..like..important issues like...er..," mom couldn't gather herself amidst mounting anxiety.
"Like conduct..integrity...," aunt pitched in inconsiderately referring to Lavanya's past. For them, pre-marital relationships are against the mores and summarily mean loose morals. I wasn't sure if Lavanya gathered that they were hinting at her past. She probably did. But either way, she seemed unperturbed.
"Yeah, yours was a good thought," said Lavanya, "the one about integrity. Reminds me of this famous quote from Oprah Winfrey, goes something like 'Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.'" 
"You know, from the heritage we come from, this is unheard of - a girl walking in like this," mother launched fresh assaults.
"But, my amma is very open minded," I tried to mediate.
"YES..what!?..NO.. I mean..." mother was lost.
Once more, aunt came to her rescue, "I smell something burning. Did you leave something on the stove?" They scored the typical strategic time-out. Mother hurried to the kitchen; aunt followed suit. Obviously, they were upto some conspiracy. 
"Hey, guess, I gotta get back home. Didn't mean to spend so much time here. Will you call them out?" she said.
"Don't bother. Jus' carry on. I'll inform them."
"Sure? No issues?"
"Not at all."
"Before I leave, should say this, I find you to be a nice guy, but lets not talk about the M-word yet. May be we should meet more often, but only if you wanna take this forward. What say?" She was terse, as usual.
"Likewise." I nodded with a smile.
In the meantine, mother gestured from inside the kitchen calling me in for a private chat. Lavanya caught my eye and asked what's happening.
"I sense a disturbance in the Force," I quipped. She picked the cue and winked in response.
"Alright, 'll get going. Put a word to them. 'll give a call, laters." She raised her hand and gestured a quick bye. She left and I walked into the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, mother said, "Thank God, she came here and told everything. Let's cut her out."
"What? You said she would be a great match for me?" I said.
"That is history. Now I've changed my mind. You said you dont want this thrusted on you, right?"
"Wait...wait... now, what's the point?" I asked.
"She's not the right girl!" declared mother.
"I find her absolutely okay!" I exclaimed.
"Shh! Don't talk loud. She might hear us." warned mother.
"She's left."
"What? Without informing us? What kinda etiquette is this?" thundered aunt. Ah! These aunts, damn!
"She did want to. But I saved the banal formalities and pleasantries," I admitted.
"Didn't I tell, something has come over you son. He has fallen for her antics," aunt again.
"Will you stop that?" I glared at aunt.
"Anjaneya! Please save my son from evil forces. I'll double the vada-malai," mother was offering prayers. No, bribe actually.
"And double the butter too!" I gibed, to keep my cool more than anything.
"Now, shut up! What about that Ravi thing?" asked mother.
"I think it is good, because Ravi is a guy and not a gal," I said coolly.
"What rubbish are you talking!" chided mother.
"This is not rubbish. Remember the story about a woman I met on the train?" I reminded.
"Let's not deviate. A daughter-in-law is like the kudumba kuthu-vilakku. And am sure she wont fit the bill." pronounced mother.
"Now, I know why that Natarajan offered to get a job for our Raj," said aunt, her typical self. Are all aunts like this?
"Yes, scheming hypocrites," remarked mother.
"That is an unwarranted comment on my in-laws" I retorted.
"In-laws?? Like hell! No way!" mother almost screamed.
"Alright, ma, it's either her or none. What's your take?" I faked an ultimatum.
"None!" she declared and walked out. Aunt followed suit, as usual.
"No.. wait.." I ran behind them.


Somethings in life will never end. But this writeup will. Thanks, folks!


-THE END-
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msr