Marayi’s parents asked her to bring Kumaresan and live with them, but she refused. No matter how affectionate people were, she believed that if relationships were to last, it was best to have some distance between the people concerned. Her brothers were married, and their wives now lived with her parents. If she moved in with them, she’d have to put up with the things they might say. She was determined not to go and live with her parents. She had the fields her husband had left for her. Even if all she could get every day was a little bit of gruel, it would be enough. And so she stayed on the rock with little Kumaresan. For several years after her husband died, her father would visit every day after dark and stay at night to keep them company as a protective presence. If there was some work to be done there, he even stayed during the day.

Marayi was only twenty years old at the time. Her parents wanted to make sure that the people of her village didn’t get a chance to spread any rumours about her. Whenever she needed any help, they came rushing. They never let her feel lonely living on the rock in the middle of the farm. None of the other village men could wander around the rock, hoping to take advantage of the young widow. It was only when Kumaresan turned eleven or twelve years old and came to be considered suitable male company that people from her parents’ home curbed their frequent visits. Whenever the Mariyamman temple festival happened in Vairipalayam, they all went there in bullock carts and stayed there for a month.

Marayi had told Kumaresan on occasion, ‘Your father’s relatives didn’t ever show their faces here to see how we were doing. I could survive only because my family was so supportive and affectionate towards me. Even my brothers’ wives were kind to me. Otherwise, do you think I could have raised you like this?’

His appucchi and uncles started looking for a suitable girl for Kumaresan. He was very dear to all of them, but particularly so to his ammayi. Even if he got into a small argument with his mother, he’d run away to his ammayi’s place without telling Marayi. He also spent his school holidays there. Since he was her grandson from her only daughter, his grandmother also spent lavishly on him. But people started saying, ‘What’s the point in his spending so much time at his uncles’? Are they going to marry one of their daughters to him?’

The daughters of one uncle were all older than him. So marrying any of them was out of the question. The other uncle’s daughters were younger than him. He could marry one of them. But his uncles’ wives didn’t like the idea. They already knew how Marayi’s life had turned out after marrying someone from that village. Why risk that again with another girl. But they never said it in so many words; they just said it wasn’t a good match. ‘We will find an excellent girl for him,’ they promised, but it proved to be more difficult than they thought.