Oddiyanam (2)

The two sisters. 

        The year is 1918. Jayamma is 8 and her elder sister Janamma is 10. They are living in the Sowcarpet  area. Their step siblings are much older than them. Their younger sister is a babe in arms. Their three younger brothers are yet to be born in the far away future.

          Both girls go to the govt. girls school nearby. Janamma seems more mature and more shrewd for her age. Jayamma is the younger sister who just tags along. Janamma as the eldest child of his second wife is the apple of her father’s eye. 

             Back from school they would help their Amma with some household jobs. The elder sister would then  sit with  their  erudite scholarly Appa and learn the Grantham script. He was teaching her Sanskrit. Meanwhile Jayamma ‘s only pastime was sitting on the front steps and watching the trams plying to and fro.

          Suddenly there are whispers and fearful talks about a draconian law that is soon to be introduced. The Sharada Act.  Parents are in a hurry to marry off their girls before the Act becomes Law.  What ! wait for the girls to reach the age of 14 to get them married, whoever heard of a girl getting married after reaching puberty ,what  a sacrilege. Talks are on and a prospective groom has been chosen for Janamma who is all of 10 years. The groom’s  family is a progressive one with all sons studying well. 

               Jayamma ‘s constricted soul has only one thought. So now “she “will get new clothes and jewels. I will also get lots of goodies to eat she comforts herself.

                  Fear   talks reach fever pitch and relatives are getting their children married right and left. Some busybody asks what about Jayamma. Why delay. This is enough for the parents to start scouting at a feverish pace for a groom for her. Business family timber merchants. Properties in Madras . Ancestral house in Walajabad. One son is a student the other , a stay at home. So the student is chosen.

                   Jayamma is as happy as she can be. Finery and jewels along with sweets , same as her sister the chosen one.  What more does one want.

                   D day and  both girls are ready for their grooms. Both look trussed up in their sarees. 

                   Now the boys are beside them. Jayamma sees her groom for the first time. Then she lifts her eyes to see Janamma’s partner. A very dark boy . 

                    The small child in her feels happy , one up to me . My husband  looks better than my sister’s. 

( The Sharada act  abolishing child marriages was in fact passed only in 1929 . Yes they could have waited . )