KARNA love and life of a girl

Mother ''What tomorrow?'' Aparna , looking at her mother'' mother, tomorrow , it's krishna's birthday.'' with squealing. Mother, looked at calender and nodded,''two days later ,it is seethamma's 17th death anniversary'' in a sad low tone. Aparna just nodded as she doesn't know what to say. Uncle muthyalaiah usually celebrates Krishna's birthday by arranging food at the temple for all the villagers. This time Aparna felt that there should a change in the celebration. And immediately ran to Oormila's house. Aparna ''Oormila , Oormila, where..?'' Before finishing the sentence she saw aunt Kamala and asked''Aunt, where is Oormila?'' Aunt replied'' she is watering plants in the yard ''. ''Thank you,aunt. I'll go and meet her.''ran towards the yard. ''Oormilaaa'' oormila startled and asked'' what happened? Don't shout like that from behind''. ''Oormila, do you remember what is tomorrow?'' Aparna asked. ''Yes. It's krishna birthday, right?'' Aparna nodded. Oormila continued'' I made her a small bag to hold money''leading Aparna to her room and showing a small drawstring bag with a rose flower embroidered at its center. Aparna'' it is looking beautiful. Krishna will definitely love it.''carefully observing the bag. Aparna continued '' should we celebrate her birthday in a different way this year?'' asked hesitatingly. Oormila ''normally uncle muthyalaiah provides lunch for whole village on her birthday and aunt memorial day. I don't think we should interfere with that.'' flatly rejecting the idea. '' I am not talking anything about food, later in the evening,it will be full moon.we can bring her some of favorite food and we can chat along with others. It's been months since we sat and talked together. Krishna would be happy to spend her time with us. Don't you think so? Hmm.?'' Oormila, ''Krishna will definitely be happy if she spends her time with us.hmm... Okay with me. What about other two?''. ''They will come running as soon as they hear about this. Don't worry about the. Besides, they will be with uncle Muthyalaiah helping him preparing everything regarding tomorrow.'' Aparna replied. Oormila ''we 'll be going to temple in the morning and to krishna's house in the evening ,right?''. Aparna replied ''absolutely , i will inform karunakar brother and ask him relay the same to brother Siva.'' Oormila nodded okay. ''Okay ,see you then,''Aparna left.

At Krishna's house....

Father , as he arrived,''krishnamma, can you come here?'' Krishna came to his father. Father extended his hands with a parcel towards krishna,'' it's a new saree. If you like it, wear it tommorow. I've completed all the preparations at the temple to offer food to our villagers. Tomorrow after finishing pooja in our house we'll be heading to temple. If there is anything wrong with the preperations don't hesitate to tell me.'' handing over the parcel to her daughter. Krishna took the parcel and slightly peeled it to find a green and blue combination saree,'' father,thank you. I like it. As for preparations tommorrow , can I come and cook with you?'' Father ''you can cook tommorrow ,there will be singanna, venkatesham, siva, ramappa and karunkar to help me cook and serve if you face anything just tell me.''. ''Father if I go and cook I am sure Aparna and Oormila will come to help me, is that okay?'' Father nodded yes. Krishna delighted. Her father gives her everything she asks, she knows that and choose carefully what to ask and what not to ask... they took their food together and rested early.

Next morning.

Krishna got up earlier than usual, completed her chores with the help of aunt Kamala. She took bath and wore the saree which her father bought the last day. Aunt kamala helped her in braiding her hair, decorating with jasmine flowers and firecracker flowers in four rows along her long braid. Later she wore a golden ornament, placed kukuma and with that completed her dress up. She went to his father who is cleaning utensils in pooja room to prepare for pooja. He stood up looking at her. She bent down and took his blessing by touching his feet with her both hand in devotion and bringing the same to her eyes as she prayed. Her father put her right palm over head and blessed ''Maangalya praapthi rasthu¹'' and she got up slowly and took blessings of aunt Kasthuri. They completed performing pooja at house and muthyalaiah asked kasthuri to follow him,''Krishnamma we will be going to the temple and you can go bring your friends directly to the temple.'' They left.

Krishna , after locking the doors she went to Aparna's house to see Aparna ,who seemed to be waiting for her in a restless way.'' You are late Krishna'' Aparna came towards Krishna meeting her midway. ''Mother Krishna's come.''Aparna shouted. Aparna's mother came out with a small bowl in her hand and directly fed it to krishna. Krishna took aunt Subadhra's bleesings, and they went to Oormila's house. Oormila was also waiting for both of them to arrive. ''Mother, krishna arrived.'' Oormila called for her mother. Aunt kamala also came with a sweet in her hand and fed it to krishna blessing her. Krishna took her bessings and took their leave.

They started walking towards temple. Oormila asked '' I think your brother and Siva will be at temple already, right?'' Aparna ''they set out at dawn to collect fresh vegetables from the farm. They should be at the temple by the time we arrive or they''ll arrive a little later. By the time they reached temple there were many people working with ingredients brought by Siva and others. On the other side, it is muthyalaiah performing pooja to stone stove in respect to Agni dev and lit the earthen stove in the open kitchen, and started preparing food. As muthyalaiah saw her daughter,he signed her to first visit the God in the temple and come back . She went along with her friends and prayed respect to the god and came to her father...

Oormila and Krishna helped with cooking while Aparna sat with the people preparing ingredients.....after around five hours later all the food items got ready to serve.

1.sanskrit blessing which is related to blessings of marriage.