The wedding preparations are in full swing. They decide that Thimmakka’s and Nagegowda’s marriages will take place simultaneously. Thimmakka is not allowed to go out at all. The house is filled with chattering cousins and aunts making arrangements for two weddings. Chenni is handling her second pregnancy and her little son Rajegowda, greeting Marakka’s relatives, listening to Ajji’s advice on everything and balancing it with what the other people want. She still finds time to look in on Thimmakka and tease her gently.

‘What about Annaiah?’ Thimmakka once asks in despair.

‘Don’t worry, my dear, I’m making sure he gets his food. I take it myself now. I suppose I have to do it till I have a daughter, no?’ Chenni laughs.

Thimmakka goes wild. ‘It is my duty to feed him. No one else has that right. I have to do it myself!’ she screeches.

Puttaswamegowda hears that and comes into her room. ‘My dear sister,’ he says indulgently, ‘you are getting married and going away. The duties of your father’s house no longer lie upon you. From now on you only have to worry about feeding your husband, you know,’ he adds, amused and touched by what he perceives as his sister’s sense of duty.

All the cousins and aunts surrounding Thimmakka titter. She seethes with anger. Chenni, who has usurped her duties, becomes the target of her resentment and jealousy. She pounces on Chenni one night, as soon as she returns from giving Annaiah his food, with a desperate demand: ‘Doesn’t Annaiah want to see me? Didn’t he ask about me?’

Chenni looks surprised, even a bit distracted. ‘Annaiah knows you are to be married. Of course he does not expect you to come,’ she says and goes away.

But of course. How can he expect her? After all, he is just a poor old man. How can he say that he wants to be with her? Ajji, Puttaswamegowda, even Chenni will totally oppose it. How can they understand?

But she, Thimmakka, will ensure that their desire is fulfilled. She will creep out tonight and spend the night with Annaiah. Tomorrow, when the day breaks, everyone will know what she wants. Her prospective bridegroom will disown her and her brother will have no choice but to marry her off to Annaiah.

Whichever way Thimmakka looks at it, her plan is foolproof. Late that night, when the household sleeps, she slowly slips out the back door, which leads to the well where Putti died. That well is closed, but Thimmakka can always hear the water sloshing deep down, particularly if she bends her left ear. Initially she tells Chenni about it, but since Thimmakka is the only one who can hear that water, everyone dismisses it as one of her wild fancies.

She bends her left ear now as she goes. Yes, lovely clear water, sloshing deep down in blessing. She smiles. Right around the well she goes, walking by Putti’s grave, and makes her quiet way along the silent streets to the Kamadeva temple. The sleepy street dogs bark, but Thimmakka shushes them familiarly and reaches the temple. No one sees her first journey out into the real world.