‘Whatever it is,’ said Chandrika spiritedly, ‘let’s see what serves her interests and not which suits your prejudices.’
‘Why do you want to rub your quirk ideas on her,’ said Janaki frowning upon her rebellious daughter.
‘It’s her life so let her decide about it herself’ said Raju.
‘You’re too young to air your views,’ Janaki was dismissive.
‘Why, he represents the future while you’re all but the past,’ said Chandrika in support of her sister’s cause, ‘and his views are only going to count in the days to come.’
‘Know we’re dealing with the present,’ said an exasperated Janaki.
‘But her life is about her future,’ said Raju, ready to take up the cudgels for Roopa, ‘and none could cater to it better than Sandhya-akka.’
‘What is to be done when children don’t heed our word anymore,’ said Janaki, as though relenting. ‘What to do than to come down and stay with her.’
‘Is that to jail her?’ Chandrika sounded sarcastic. ‘What’s her crime, than being born a woman whom fate widowed when young? It’s time you give up your jailer mind-set when it comes to your daughters’ lives.’
‘Oh, now the children don’t want to stay with their own parents!’ said Janaki, playing her trump card. ‘In that case, let Raju stay with her, it may help him in his studies as well.’
‘Why didn’t you think of it when my brother-in- law was alive?’ countered Raju spiritedly.
‘Enough of it now, for she heard us all,’ said Ramaiah, wanting to bring all that to an end, fearing the discussion might turn acrimonious in the end. ‘Isn’t she old enough to understand what’s best for her? Let’s leave it to her, for she’s the worst affected of all.’
‘I’ll stay with them,’ said Roopa with a sense of conviction that surprised all, and at that, as Durgamma wanted to protest, Pathrudu signaled her into silence.
‘So be it,’ said Ramaiah in a way that drew no further comment from those present, in spite of their reservations about her scandalizing proposition.
‘What is happiness and unhappiness all about?’ Roopa began reminiscing, struggling to sleep that night. ‘Haven’t I experienced them both in equal measure? After all, everything in life has to do with one’s state of mind. But then, don’t social constraints couple with individual proclivities to shape our attitudes? Oh, poor Sathyam, what a victim he was, of his psyche, shaped by the circumstances of his life. Why, his parents stunted his growth to begin with, and with my denying him the wifely hype, he went wayward in the end and then, how the vicissitudes of life victimized him.’