Saroja was startled. When she and Kumaresan had visited his grandparents’ village, none of his uncles had been present. Now all four of them might be here. She could not imagine what would happen if they all decided to gang up against Kumaresan and herself. Whenever she thought of that trip to his grandparents’ home, she found herself feeling intensely relieved that the uncles had not been present.

She had not considered the possibility that Kumaresan’s uncles and their families would be part of the crowd here. It had not occurred to her that if Chellakka was related to Kumaresan, she was definitely related to his uncles too. Here, in these parts, everyone within the same caste was related to one another. Kumaresan had a particular way of addressing each one of them. If they were not ‘maaman’—uncle—or ‘machinan’—brother-in-law—there were other terms like ‘pangali’ that denoted degrees of distance in kinship.

Why did Saroja not think of this! She shrank and withdrew into herself and hid behind Kumaresan. As they approached the lights, someone said, ‘Ada! It is our son-in-law, Nōndi. The procession started from your village. Why didn’t you join them?’

Kumaresan replied jokingly, ‘I thought that my uncles here might be too deaf to hear the sound of the drums and music, so I felt I should come ahead of the procession and inform you all!’

His eldest uncle stepped forward from the crowd and shouted, ‘Whom are you calling deaf? I have watched you grow up. Are you making fun of your elders?’

It was clear that his uncle was in the mood for a fight. ‘I didn’t say that about you, maama,’ he said humbly.

‘Don’t call me maama. Don’t even try to address me as a relative now,’ his uncle replied.

Kumaresan did not say anything further. Whatever he said would lead to an argument. It was clear that was what everyone was waiting for. But his uncle didn’t stay quiet. ‘She looks like she would trip over a blade of grass. He has come here dragging this orphaned dog. Who invited him? At the mere mention of food, all these dogs turn up with their tongues hanging about.’

Saroja did not lift her head to look at anyone, but the words battered her like rocks. Kumaresan had not expected any of this. Shocked, he stayed silent.

Someone else said, ‘Why are you fighting here? This is a problem between you two. Take it elsewhere.’

His uncle’s wife shouted, ‘Their village has ostracized them. Yet here they are, strolling about as a couple! If he truly understood what he has done by marrying someone from who knows where, would he stand so shamelessly in front of the community and speak like this? Would he dare talk back to his uncle, who carried and raised him?’