Book Title: If Only They Knew
Author: Madhavi N. Gunasheela
Publisher: White Falcon Publishing
Number of Pages: 374
ISBN: 979-8892225229
Date Published: Jan. 15, 2025
Price: INR 502
Book Excerpt
The nuns welcomed the young girl who quickly settled into her new environs, making friends, learning her job and earning her first stipend. A thrill ran down her spine as she held the money in her hand. Never, never had she imagined she would have money she could call her own, even her mother didn’t touch her father’s money. It was unbelievable.
She waited for her father to visit her, and handed it to him and bent down to touch his feet for his blessings. An overwhelmed teary Doresami bought a bright orange flowery sari for his paramour, as a thanks for her role in this transition, which he had craved for, but was out of his reach.
Sundaramani was on a high. Being in a city, the air of freedom, shops and lights, traffic and pollution, people and people till the eyes could see, overpowered her senses, making her fall in love with her new life, the past fading, fading, fading into the smoky haze.
After her work she roamed the streets and often visited the famous Meenakshi Amman Temple where she paid obeisance to the Goddess and lingered at the entrance making conversation with the flower seller ladies. They sat in groups stringing jasmine, chrysanthemums and tulsi leaves among other flowers into long garlands, which devotees bought to offer the deity. Sundaramani sat alongside knitting flowers chatting with her new group of friends. Merry days passed, and Sundaramani grew into a woman of grace, kindness and good temperament.
The monthly visits from her father livened up the connection from the past, with snippets of her old life satisfying a dying curiosity. Her mother and brother were mentioned in the passing and news of Mariamma dominated the conversation. There was always a gift from her from the lady which Sundaramani had started looking forward to. She always sent a little box of sweets back for her mother, Mariamma and her father.
One evening, after work was winding down in the hostel, Sundaramani was summoned to the room of the senior most nun of the hostel. The stern-faced lady, looked at her, taking in her dress, hair and face. She sat on an old chair adjoining a table, and looked out of the grimy window onto the street below. Turning she asked, ‘Sundaramani, are you happy working here?’
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Excerpted with permission from If Only They Knew by Madhavi N. Gunasheela, published by White Falcon Publishing.
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