Have I done such a terrible thing, he wondered. Was it such a sin to get married? Can’t I marry the woman I love? In what way have I wronged anyone by doing that? She loves me with all her life. I love her the same way. I have not gone to anyone asking for money. Why is everyone driving us away? Even amma refuses to understand this. I will be a good husband no matter whom I marry. What’s the harm in marrying the woman I love? And why should they point out that they carried me on their shoulders, that they raised me? Isn’t that how everyone brings up their children? I am not denying they did that for me, am I? At my uncle’s house, they keep saying that they did this and they did that . . . What exactly did they do? They were merely protecting their own. Did they build us a tile-roofed house here on the rock? Did they spend their own money on us? Caste! Which caste is Soda Shop Bhai from? Wasn’t he the one who offered me the job? If he hadn’t done that, how could I have made some money? No man from my caste came to my aid.

Kumaresan wanted to ask his mother all this. But thinking of her life as a young widow who had lived alone on this farmstead all these years and raised him all by herself, he didn’t say anything for a while out of respect. But when he was unable to restrain himself any more, he finally said, ‘Amma, you keep pointing out everything you’ve done for me, but if you really loved me, would you stand in the way of my happiness? Let the people from the village say whatever they want to say. Who cares about the uncles and the other fools? You tell me, did you raise me with love? You only took care of me because you needed some sort of stability in life. You don’t really love me at all. If you did, you wouldn’t be spewing fire at me the way you have been doing every day for so long. Look at her. If you had given birth to a daughter, she’d look just like her. You are a woman too. Please don’t talk about love. It’s all such humbug.’

His mother wasn’t one to stay quiet. This was the first time they were talking it out. ‘That’s right!’ she shrieked. ‘The village is more important to me than you. Do you think you can survive, without anyone’s support? I have been living alone, without associating with any man, since I was twenty years old, haven’t I? How can you be so weak for the body’s pleasures at this age?’