"Varsha... Varsha..."
There was a shout of an elderly man from the outer courtyard of the house.
"Now the new day has come. Sun has not even risen and the old man has started shouting his orders to my darling." One elderly woman sitting in inner courtyard muttered to herself.
Hearing the shout, a girl of around 20 ran out from one of the rooms, adjusting her stole on the dress. After adjusting her dress, she ran toward outer courtyard while shouting "Coming Grandpa!"
"This girl is also too much. Let the old man shout. Why is she not sleeping a bit more? It is still 6 in the morning." Old woman said loudly this time.
"Mother-in-law! Let her do the bidding of her Grandpa. She is too occupied in thoughts of being perfect and to learn how to serve elders for her future family. This girl has really gone mad" Mother of Varsha said while laughing.
Another daughter-in-law of the old woman also came and said "Mother-in-law! We are always trying to stop her from working hard. But she says that now that her study is complete in the village and she can not go to the college, she wants to learn everything she can. This way her husband and husband's family will be happy from her. This girl is really infatuated."
The old woman said grudgingly "This is all the fault of that old man. Who asked him to tell the girl at the age of 10 itself about her marriage. This Girl has started dreaming from that time. If I will study well, my husband in the city will feel happy with it. Either it is learning to cook or any other work at home, everything she does so that she can perform it well in front of her husband and make him happy."
Old woman sighed and say while trying to walk toward the tap at one corner of the courtyard "Bring me the neem stick. Let me brush my teeth and rinse the mouth first. Talking about the old man and this girl will take up the whole day."
One of the daughters-in-law of the old woman brought the neem branch stick to her and she dampened one side of it in water and gave to the old woman. The old woman took the neem stick and started chewing the wet part to make it like a brush before brushing teeth with it.
At the outer courtyard,
Varsha reaches at the outer courtyard and found her grandfather sitting on his bed in the lounge. Her grandpa called her and said "Dear, go and bring some fresh neem stick from the tree. The ones we have from before have dried up. Break some extra, your father and uncle might also need. They are arranging water channels in the vegetable garden."
"Where are all the elder brothers?" Varsha asked while gasping. She has come running when her grandpa called.
"Your brother has left for the city yesterday itself for giving orders for new water pipes and both of your cousins have left early to go to the farm to take care of some things before sowing in the afternoon. Are your lazy sisters-in-law are still not awake yet?" her grandfather said.
Varsha laughed and said "No. They are not yet awake. Don't start now about how bad your old woman is that she has spoiled all her granddaughters-in-law." And she ran outside the courtyard and shouted: "I will bring the neem stick in 5 minutes."
"Be careful. Don't fall from the tree." Grandpa of Varsha shouted from the back.
This is the morning time of summer end. Sun has not risen yet and the air is cool and fresh. Varsha ran and reached the neem tree which is just about 200 meters from her home. She climbed on the tree like an expert and sat on a thick branch and broke few branches with the thickness of fingers and made 8-10 sticks of almost 8-9 inches each.
She got down slowly from the tree holding the neem sticks she prepared and ran back toward her house. Once she entered the outer courtyard, she found that the village chief who is the friend of her grandpa is already sitting in the lounge and they are talking and laughing about something.
Varsha shouted while gasping "Chief grandpa! we have not yet finished brushing our teeth and you are already here for morning tea and breakfast. Don't you get breakfast at your home?" Both old men got startled hearing the shout and then burst into laughter together.
Village chief looked at Varsha who was giving neem stick to her grandfather and his gaze became softer and he said "Ramlal! Your family is the best family. Children respect their elders. Brothers love each other. Everyone loves the only girl of the family like his or her own life. Why don't you give Varsha to us? My grandson is 24 this year and he has already a graduate and has got a government job as a primary teacher in our village itself. He will start his job from this July. It is really a shame to lose our beloved daughter of the village to a person of the city."
"Chief Brother! They are also the people of our village and have done too much for our village. And what you see today in my Varsha, they have seen that 10 years before itself." Grandpa of Varsha, Ramlal Verma sighed and said "Our darling Varsha has already accepted that boy as her husband. Now there is no chance for anyone."
Varsha pouted and said "Grandpa! why are you talking like this and sighing? Were you planning to marry me to someone else if I did not tell anything? You are really making me angry. I don't want to talk any further."
She humphed angrily and went inside the house and her grandpa and village chief laughed again.