"Mama, I have bought all the necessities for the next ten days. I have asked Kannamma akka to come for cooking until the guests leave." Kumaravel, Rajan's sister Sharadha's son, told Rajan.

Kumaravel, a six-foot-tall village man! Chocolate skin, broad forehead decorated by untamed hair, poking eyes, lips hidden in thick beard and mustache, muscled up by the farm work, perfect hero material for a village story!

"The second room upstairs, clean it. Here, change all the curtains and bedsheets. There are new towels, soaps, a shampoo bottle, and a paste. Put them near the bedside table." He sent the two women he had brought with him with a handful of bags.

"Why did you bring them, Kumara? I would have asked Maanu to clean that room." Rajan was complaining. The festival is starting tomorrow, and Agaran and Geetha are expected to arrive tonight.

"Come on, mama. Poor Maanu! She can't stand dust." Kumaran took her side.

Rajan wishes to marry off his daughter to Kumaran. He is a hardworking man with no bad habits. He wanted to keep his daughter within reach!

"Don't pamper her like this, Kumara. This is why she is not listening to any of us."

"She is a child, mama."

"Child? Come on, stop it, Kumara."

"Then why are you still beating her with your walking stick if she is not a child anymore?"

"You know her. She brings people to my doorstep every day. I am the president here, and many of the problems are caused by my own daughter. Your grandpa is of no use. I am depending on you to discipline her, and here you are, worse than my father." Rajan shook his head.

"I will take care of her, Mama. Don't worry. I will keep an eye on her."

"Please, do. Festival time is when she unleashes her full evil side."

"Haha, she is not evil. She is a cutie. I will take care of her. You take care of the festival." Kumaran gave his word and left the house.

The sun set, making the sky hues of orange, yellow, pink, and blue. Birds were flying back to their nests. Maanu and her friends, Keerthana, Suba, Nithya, and Priya, were heading home after a whole day of fun! They usually play hopscotch, kho-kho, and hide-and-seek, and go swimming and fishing in the little lake, which is the main attraction of their village.

"You girls know what happened today? I erased Manjari's kolam. She got angry and came to pour water on my kolam, which I spent more than an hour on. I got so angry. I showed her the picture we took the other day, and she ran inside like a coward. I think we can use her at the festival! She has a fat piggy bank. We can loot her money!"

"That's great! She thinks she is some cinema star and we are all her extras. Serves her right." Nithya spoke.

"Yeah, the other day, she told me that I am too fat and I need to diet to get married, or else I will grow old like Avvaiyar without marriage," Keerthana added.

"If I get a spell book that really works, I will put a fat spell on her and make her really fat for life. Hmph, she is like a skeleton and calls everybody fat. She thinks she is Kirti Sanon." Priya said angrily because Manjari had called her short so many times. Actually, the truth is she is the shortest of them all. But how can Manjari say that?

"Ok, how can we make her pay for us?" Suba asked.

"There are so many stalls. We shall take her one stall each day and wipe out her piggy bank." Maanu said.

"First to the fancy store!"

"No, no! First to food stalls."

"First rides!"

"Nope, first to the mehendi stall!"

"Whoa! Let's play hopscotch. Whoever wins picks where to go first!" Maanu said and picked up a stick on the side of the mud road. She started drawing lines for the game on the mud road. They all picked up flat rocks they found and took turns playing.

***

Geetha went to her son's apartment.

"Agara, I am here!" She opened the door and came into the house, which is on the seventh floor.

"I am ready, ma." Agaran came out of his room, rolling his luggage. He was in maroon shorts and a sky-blue shirt. He looked too handsome for his mother to cast out evil eyes on him.

"En kanne pattudum!"

"Haha, of course, I am your son! I am precious to you."

"We are going to a village, Professor Sir!"

"You think this is inappropriate?" He asked his mom very seriously, looking down at himself.

"I don't know. Don't tell me you packed like this for all the days!"

"No! I have some pants and t-shirts too. It is summer, ma."

"I know. Shall we leave?"

"Sure!" They walked out of the house and got in his car, the car he bought with his own salary.

"Do you have the address?" He asked his mom.

"Andhiyur in Erode, dear. I don't have the proper address. Geetha said If we get to the village, anyone will lead you to their house."

"She said this much but not her address?" He asked her, irritated.

"Pch, there is only one two-storey house in that village, and their house is the house next to that. Now start the car."

"Ok, ok! Chill, ma!"

Agaran drove the car, enjoying the newly paved road between Coimbatore and Erode. His mother dozed off within minutes after starting. It took him a little more than 2 hours to reach Andhiyur. It was the first day of the festival, which started with the flag hoisting and malar alankar for the deity. The temple was seen from afar.

As he drove towards the village, he saw the girls playing on the road. It was Maanu's turn. She flicked her rock into the square and started jumping. Whoever finishes in a short time is considered the winner, and Maanu was determined to win. He stopped the car and honked at them to move out of the way, but Maanu continued jumping. Agaran looked at Maanu admiringly. Um, nope! He looked at her with bad eyes. She was in her navy blue shirt with a maroon border on her hands and neck, paired with a maroon skirt that reached the floor. A thin gold chain adorned her neck and reached the middle of her chest, which bounced along with her. Her blouse was like a second skin, which made his eyes stay below her neck. Her hopscotch didn't help him either. She pulled her skirt up and cinched it at her waist, showing half her legs. Her chubby figure was enticing him at the moment.

Maanvizhi is a curvy girl, not thin, not fat! She is voluptuous. Since there was no woman in her house, no one was there to tell her to change into a half saree as she grew. She was a little girl to Geetha! Besides, all her friends dressed the same. So she never found it odd. But she was not similar to her friends. She has more prominent features that make her look more womanly. Her curves are very explicit in her outfit. She was treating the young men in her village without her knowledge. Since she was the daughter of the village president, she was safe.

"Ah!" She stopped when she heard a loud slap and a yell. It was the same thing that brought Agaran back.

"Porikki! I will gouge your eyes out. I shouldn't see you around girls anymore. Run!" Kumaran was the one who slapped a guy who was looking at Maanu from a distance. Agaran felt the slap on his cheek. It stung his heart.

"Pappa, what are you doing here on the road? Don't you see a car waiting for you? Go home." Kumaran spoke irritably.

"Mama, it was because of you that I lost. You distracted me. Why did you hit that poor boy?" Maanu pouted.

"How many times have I told you to get home before sunset? You are not a child anymore, dear. It's festival time, and the village is filled with rogues from outside. Come, I will escort you home." Kumaran spoke, and every word he spoke hit straight home to Agaran.

"Sorry, sir! Go ahead!" Kumaran pulled the girls to the side and let the car go. Agaran took off at great speed, making the road a dirt cloud. His insides shook. Shame was eating him away. He had been surrounded by girls all his life. Though he enjoyed ragging and sighting girls in his college days, he'd never once slipped after he became a professor. He has held his honor high for so long, and Maanu shattered it all.

"Non-sense!" He muttered as he hit the steering wheel. It woke up his mom.

"Are we there yet?" She asked her son.

"We are." He stopped his car in front of the two-storey house that was not hard to find, on the beautiful kolam that Maanu had put, occupying the whole street.

"Are you alright, dear?" She asked him, seeing his distressed face.

"I am! Now, which house is it? This side or that side?"

"Get down. We will know." Geetha said as she got out of the car.

"You must be Geethanjali. Hello, Thambi!" Murugesan, who was sitting on a chair on the front porch, greeted them.

"Yes, ayya! Jyothi's house?"

"This one. But you are staying in our house for the festival. It is a village, you see; we can't let the bride and groom stay in the same house before a proper engagement and wedding."

"Oh, I understand, ayya," Geetha said while Jyothi and her husband, Shivalingam, came towards them to greet them.

"Welcome, hope your travel was well and easy! How are you?" Jo started the conversation.

"I slept the whole time. We are good. How are you?"

"We are good, too. Please, don't mind. Our home is neither big nor comfortable. He is Murugesan ayya; his son is Rajan, the village's president. They have agreed to accommodate you." Shivalingam spoke.

"No issues, sir. We understand." Agaran said, coming out of that frustration.

"Great, then. You take some rest. I will come in the morning and take you to the temple."

"Sure, sir."

"Call me 'mama', thambi."

"Um... will try," Agaran said awkwardly. He hadn't seen his daughter yet, and here he was asking him to call him 'mama'!

Just when they went inside Maanu's home after a little chit-chat, Maanu came to her home. She got so angry seeing the car parked on her kolam. It took her more than an hour that morning to finish it, and now it is all ruined. She picked up a stone and aimed at the car's rear light.

"Let it go, Maanu. It's already night. Anyway, you are going to erase it yourself tomorrow morning. What is the big deal?" Priya stopped her.

"You are right!" Maanu shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, this is Anjukka's future husband's! I don't want to make trouble with them. Let me see if he is the right match for Anjukka." She chirped as she ran into her house, throwing the stone away.