Pookal Pookum Tharunam

ꜰᴏᴜʀᴛᴇᴇɴ

Sreedevi

Kadavule coffee nalla varanum!

I strain the coffee into a cup and move to the room. Being tensed on how a mere coffee would turn out to be sounds funny but this is different. Its not like I haven't made coffees before. I had made coffees whenever I wake up early before Ajay could return from jogging. But mostly it is Ajay who makes the coffee and it tastes way better than mine.

I never cared how coffee or any other food tasted before but now I am damn tensed because it is the very first time that Ajay has requested something. I am a type of person who can never say a No. As I am a core introvert, nobody seeks my help thinking that I am of a rude personality.

When Ajay requested to make me a coffee, out of nowhere, I started worrying about the lack of taste in my coffee. I started caring how the coffee would turn out to be.

It is the first time he has requested something, and I should do my best.

I walk inside the room and gave him the coffee. I waited for his reaction after drinking it. He sipped the coffee and made a face.

I felt so bad when he said the coffee didn't taste good but seeing my sad face and voice, he started laughing and said that he was pranking me.

Wait did he just call me by my pet name?

It was my grandmother who named me Sreedevi Mohan. It was her late daughter's i.e my aunt's name who passed away when she was just 3 years old due to some disease. As Sreedevi is a bit long name, my mom used to call me devi for convenience, followed by everyone in the household. I am not a great fan of that name but I was used to that name until marriage. My day neither started nor ended without hearing that name.

But after marriage, there was nobody to call me devi. Only when I talk to my mom over phone or when I go back home, I could hear that name from hearing it everyday before marriage. It didn't bother me at all. But when all of a sudden Ajay called that name, it felt different and something unexplainable.

He finished the coffee and stood up in a flash making me jerk a step backward. He gave the coffee cup back to me and smiled at me before walking out of the room. Ajay is a person who does his job on his own. He washes his own plate, cup or whatever it is. But now he is giving it to me for me to wash it.

After finishing our breakfast, Ajay went to take a shower while I started correcting the left over papers. The open day is on 25th of April and I should correct all the papers of all 5 classes before 25th. I have finished correcting papers of VIII E and IX C. I have to continue correcting the papers of IX B which I have paused a couple of days before. I got indulged and confused in Ajay's acts that I almost forgot that I have a job.

I took the papers from the cupboard and sat on the dining table. I arranged my refer books at a side and started correcting the Roll no 34 where I stopped last time. As it is the annual exam, I decided to be lenient in correction. That is my common method. During the terminal exams, I would be very strict in correction so that the students would study seriously for the annual exams.

Ajay returned after having shower and sat on the dining table opposite to me. I raised my head and I smiled at me. I don't know why but I just felt like doing it and I did. Ajay smiled back and roamed his eyes through the papers. I went back to reading the answers on the paper. He tapped his fingers on the table and asked-

"Ama nee enna subject edukra?"

I stopped on my action and raised my head staring him.

A very nice question for a husband to ask his one and a half year old wife.