Prologue

So when do you know its love?

"It's a girl Mr. Karthik. Both mom and baby are doing better now. Congratulations!" I literally sprang to my feet when I heard my doctor say that. There are some words which have the power of healing the world's most fatal heart diseases. Those diseases which no Angiogram can detect. Those diseases whose only cure seems to be the Ctr-Z in God's program. I wanted to say thanks but some ecstasy dint let me speak. I looked away from her to hide my tears and let out my emotions in a deep breath. I then looked at her and thanked her profusely . She was all smiles to see me smile for the first time in last 3 months.

"Can I go and see her now?"

"Who? the baby or your wife?"

What a question, I thought to myself. I wish I could answer that in a flash. Who do I want to see first? My first progeny who had just opened her eyes to this world? She was the only person who was in our prayers all these days. Or the person who brought her to this earth? Without my wife the baby is nothing absolutely.

"My wife" I said with a smile.

"Sure. Please take care of her. She is very weak."

"I shall."

I entered into the delivery room which seemed nothing less than a war field to me. My baby has fought here for the last 8 hours to come out alive and my wife had survived the scariest test of her life. I saw her lying on the bed with her eyes half-open. She dint speak but I could hear her. We congratulated ourselves with smiles.

"How are you feeling now?" I asked her in a low tone as I drew my chair near to her bed. What a stupid question it was! As if I didn't know.
She smiled again and when she closed her eyes, a tear rolled down her cheek. I absolutely had nothing to talk and nothing to ask.

"I called up your parents. They are flying this afternoon." She acknowledged and asked me something with her eyes. Probably if I saw the baby.

"I dint see her yet. Did you?"
She shook her head with difficulty.

"I don't think we can even touch her till she is safe to be put out of her incubator." She blinked her eyes.

"You want to see her ..don't you? " She blinked her eyes again.

"I'll try to get her photo for you. Give me some time." I stormed out of the room as I saw her not taking her eyes off me.

"Can I see the baby now?" I asked our assistant and she took me to the incubator room. All I could get from the small peep-hole was the glimpse of a tiny baby covered with tubes. She had pink cheeks and her fists were loosely closed. My wife's tresses were envy of her friends but the little one barely had any hair on her head. Like every Indian parent, I tried a lot to figure out who she looked like. I smiled at myself for the early analysis but some insight told me that she will grow into a beautiful woman like her mother. How badly I wished I could hold her once! I managed to click a photo with my phone and the nurse smiled warmly.

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"Cute baby sir." It was certainly a courtly compliment because the baby's features were not evident at all. I smiled at her and walked into my doctor's room.

"Karthik, I hope you are very much aware of what was happening in your lives for the past three months." Our doctor tried to make a conversation as I was signing some papers.

"Of course I am."

"Your baby is literally your gift from God. We had no hopes to see her alive until last week. I was therefore being very cautious in our meetings and was trying to prepare you for the unexpected. By God's grace, all is well now."

"Thanks so much doctor. Thanks for everything." I stopped my work for a second and recalled the hell we'd been through for the last 3 months.

"I know you are a gentleman but its my duty to remind you of female infanticide and the associated laws."

"Like you said, she is a gift doctor. I'd treasure her for life time." I knew I made a filmy statement but I meant all that I said.
She smiled and continued."So how long have you been married for?"

"3 years."

"Is yours a love marriage?"

"Partly."

"Partly?"

"I wooed her a lot before our wedding. She always refused until that day when she asked me to talk to her parents. I did. And they agreed." I bet I couldn't have made it more uninteresting. But seriously, my love story was that plain and straight.

"Wow. You wooed her despite her not liking you?"

"Yes." I looked at her and said that confidently.

"But what kept you going?"

"I was sure she is the one for me."

"And how did you know that?"

"I love her doctor. Ever since I realized that I am in love with her, I was sure she is the right one." I told her and looked into the papers again.

"So when did you know its love?"

I put my pen down and reminisced when it all started.

Now watching- Anjali

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Did you ever feel you've just lived your childhood again? I did. In fact I always do whenever I watch this film. Anjali stands out in the best-dubbed movies from Tamil for these scenes:
1. That beginning when Arjun and Anu are excited about the new arrival. I am a first kid and I can recall how excited I was to see my brother for the first time in the hospital.
2. That dining table scene where Sekhar and the kids make faces while eating Chitra's food. I bet all of us must have teased our mother for the food she makes though we know that what she makes is unbeatable.
3. Scene where Anu and Arjun are introduced to other kids in the society. We also had(in fact followed) the same way of greeting each other in our apartments back then.
4. Sekhar slaps Anu for calling a lunatic a lunatic. When he takes her in his hands, she has that one expression which can be patented for such scenes in everyone's house. You're hurt because of your dad, it is his duty to pacify you whatever be his means. Sekhar relates a sci-fi story to them. I don't belong to such geeky kids group. I'd have preferred some ice cream the next day.
5. That immense interest in love stories and things which you're warned not to do. Arjun and gang sneak into Prabhu's house though they know he had been to jail earlier. I always had an ear for gossips at school and I used to take huge pleasure in reading personal letters though I was warned not to.
6. Arjun and Anu hate Anjali for she is not normal like every other kid. But they fight back when the other kids make fun of her. Remember all of us fought(fight) with our siblings. But we never let any body else lay his/her finger on them.
7. Other kids' mothers come and complain to Arjun's mom. I wish not to talk about what happened in my life lest this post embarrasses me.
8. Anjali weeps on seeing Arjun's wounds. This is one of my favorite scenes and I have lost count of how many such scenes I have experienced/heard of in my life.
9. Arjun takes Anjali to the other kids and confronts them. What on earth can be cuter than this?
10. Anu asks Sekhar why Anjali had to be "their" sister and why not someone else's. Sekhar has an explanation which Anu agrees to and she accepts Anjali as her sister.
11. The iconic scene in which Anjali calls Chitra her mother is probably worth millions. From that one scene, I understood why Mani chose Revathi as Sekhar's wife despite of the evident height difference.

Anjali may not be an entertainer from its first to last reels. It certainly is a bundle of emotions, amazing performances, faultless BGM and looot of memories. Thank you Mani Ratnam and Ilayaraja for such a classic.