NOTE: All characters and venues are totally fictional; any semblance to real persons or places is merely coincidental.
Synopsis: Ana is pregnant. Benny talks Ana and Munni into an independent adoption. Ana gets a job and moves to LA. Gives birth in California and gives up the baby for adoption. Kamla goes off to live with Sheila. Reddy converts samovar to work in 110V. Ana leaves Reddy and goes to Russia to accept a job. Benny asks Munni to house-sit and leaves to join Kamla in California. Reddy gets a job at a good salary and with regular office hours, finds himself alone in a big house, and well set to save money for R2I.
Munni's LIA - Episode 19
Munni usually got home early, ate dinner, packed some food for his midnight snack, then set the alarm and took a nap before leaving for his night work. It was not usual for him to see Ana sitting up on the living room sofa when he got home. That afternoon, she was there.
She said," hello…"
"you are home…anything the matter ? .....are you sick ?"
"…well……..I am pregnant.."
"…WHAT ?.."
"…I went to the doctor this morning to confirm…….I was very …mmmhh ….late, you know....….then I bought the test stick….and when it was positive, I went to the doctor to confirm.."
Reddy and Ana had not planned for that. Ana's expression was obviously irritation and concern more than anything else.
She continued,"…after the doctor's appointment…I came home…then…… gathered some information…on services….."
Reddy looked at some of the printouts......and said,"…I am sorry about this...…but I will come to the clinic on that day…"
"….Thank you…but…I will go on my own..…..or Benny can drive me there..…"
"...Benny ?…oh..", said Reddy,"…not Kamla ?"
"…no..no…I had already told Benny....asked him not to tell Kamla.....but, Benny wants to talk to me some more....…he will come here this evening….we will talk…..please..you go and nap…I will pack your night food today"
Reddy went into his room, undressed, put on his eye-shades, and got into bed. Then he tried to go to sleep. He couldn't.
He heard Ana talking in her room, the muffled sounds were familiar to him; she was talking in Russian, probably skype..., he thought.
That evening, Benny had not come when Reddy went off to work. When he came back the next morning, he found Ana asleep in his room. That was rather unusual. He woke her up and asked how she was doing. She said,"….ok....but we must talk…may be after your class this afternoon ?"
Munni said,"…no…no…let me make some coffee…then we can have coffee and chat …"
Ana said,"….ok…but Benny is also here…in my room…sleeping…we talked until very early in the morning….Benny had a few drinks when we talked….so I didn't want him to drive home…"
Reddy said "..ok..let him sleep as long as he wants…"
Then Reddy went to the kitchen, washed some dishes and made coffee. Then to the bathroom, washed his face, brushed his teeth and came back to the kitchen nook. Benny was up and sitting at the table with Ana. Reddy brought the coffee and three mugs and joined them at the table.
During coffee he heard what Benny and Ana had talked about the previous night and the conclusion they had come to. Benny had convinced Ana to have the baby and let it be adopted. Ana would wait for one more week before she went to the clinic to set things right for herself. In that one week time, Benny wanted to find possibilities for an adoption of the child through the "Independent adoption" process. The process (usually) involved an anonymous client, already vetted by the state, to adopt Ana's child soon after birth. The adoptive parents would incur all expenses of the prenatal care and birth. After the adoption was completed, they provide additional funds for the mother's post-partum healthcare and rehabilitation. The birth mother would reserve the right to keep her child even after all the expenses until birth were paid by the adoptive parents.
Ana had decided that she would accept the job offer in California she already had and move. If Benny found adoptive parents, then she'd be away in a completely new place during her pregnancy. Reddy too had been thinking of various scenarios through the night when he was at work. The notion of independent adoption left a small chance that Ana might keep the child and decide to live in the USA and possibly with Reddy. Reddy hoped that Benny would find such a client within a week. After Benny went home, Ana made an appointment with a clinic 8 days out during the following week.
In just 4 days, Benny called and then came by to tell Ana that he had found a client. The day before Ana's clinic appointment, both Munni and Ana would meet the attorneys. On the appointed day, they went to the law firm and met them: Bruce, a colleague of Kiran, represented Ana and Reddy. A woman named Samanta Russell represented the anonymous clients. Sam and Bruce, they introduced themselves to all. It was a sombre meeting without much small talk or jokes. Bruce had apparently talked to Benny already. The details of the adoption agreement were described to Ana and Reddy one clause at a time. Ana informed the attorneys that she had accepted a job offer in Pasadena, near Los Angeles and will move there very soon. The lawyers noted that and said that the client's representatives would make appropriate arrangements for her living, prenatal healthcare and hospital delivery in California.
Ana and Reddy signed many pages of the agreement to acknowledge the content of each page, crossed-out empty spaces and the various sections. One of the sections was specific to Reddy relinquishing his parental rights. Mother's option to refuse to give up the child for adoption was also a specific part of the agreement. However, all of the post-partum payments for healthcare and rehabilitation were linked to the completion of the adoption process. Reddy and Ana noticed that these payments were extremely generous. It was a very detailed and time consuming process as the attorneys went through the provisions, stopped and asked each of Ana and Reddy whether they understood that. The meeting lasted over 3 hours. At the end, Ana and Reddy were exhausted. After the meeting when they came back out into the street, their relationship had already changed. It was as if most of what they would have said to each other for the rest of their lives had been typed in legal size paper, signed and given to them already in the plastic folder that Ana carried. It was as if whatever they attempted to say seemed unnecessary. Something of a said-that-already feeling came over anything each of them thought of saying
; at that moment, they just could not to say anything to each other anymore
. They went to lunch, ate in silence and then went home to recover from that meeting. At home, Ana shut herself up in her bedroom; probably planned her move to California, Reddy thought. Reddy laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling for a long time before he drifted off to sleep.
Benny called on them in the evening and woke Reddy up. Ana and Benny had already agreed that they would fib to Kamla. Reddy was informed of it. As Reddy and Kamla didn't talk much to each other, Reddy didn't see himself as a weak link in that co-operative fib. The fib was that Ana's mother was sick in Novosibirsk and that Ana would go there for a few months to take care of her. Ana had asked Benny to tell Sheila the same story, if required. Ana's fib to hide being pregnant, naturally reminded Reddy of that other old lie that Kamla had told her parents -- that she was pregnant (Episode 7)!! Kamla told her parents that lie to get herself married to Benny, the alleged father of that fake pregnancy. That lie was exposed very quickly and eventually things had worked out to keep the marriage of Kamla and Benny intact. Reddy wondered whether some accidental exposure of this fib too might lead to a similar result. When Ana left for "Russia", Kamla cried and decided not to go to the airport. Benny took Ana to the Airport.
Reddy had not volunteered any information about his marriage to his mother and brother in chennai. He didn't think that Ana had ever told her mother about how her life had turned out in the USA. After all, she had made an incredibly stupid decision to marry an unknown person and move to America; she didn't want her mother or friends in Russia to find out about how her marriage had turned out and how she had ended up being beaten close to death and in an emergency trauma surgery at a hospital. Ana continued to receive occasional letters and cards from Russia addressed to "Mrs. Olander". It seemed to Reddy that everyone was sensitive to the feelings of others in building houses of fibs, or at least not volunteering any information that could be painful.
Kamla started traveling abroad on package tours with some of her Gujarati Club buddies. She went to Europe, to the Golden Triangle in India, To Cairo-Jerusalem-Petra tour and a train journey in Switzerland she had seen in a Bollywood movie. Benny had much free time to kill.
During the next few months, Reddy had more frequent visits from Benny. Benny wanted to make sure his nephew ate, slept and went to school and work on time. Once in a while he took Reddy to a meal and gave him news of Ana. Benny got more frequent updates from Ana. Ana called Reddy as well, but quite a lot less than her calls to Benny. Reddy focussed on his work and school. He also ordered the parts for converting the Samovar to 110 volt use. When the new ceramic block with the heating filament came, he immediately installed them, added a new wire with a three pronged plug and tested. The samovar worked perfectly and did not have any leaks. To Reddy it was a good omen: perhaps Ana too can be converted to work well in America. He tried making irani chai in the samovar -- using one of the recipes found on the internet. Although it tasted good, it did not bring about the same feeling as he had remembered. He decided that he needed the right mood; perhaps Ana's company or may be the final exam week at the university.
Reddy waited for Ana's return. He heard from Benny the news of the childbirth, and that Ana was doing well. He also heard Ana's decision to follow through on the adoption. Benny also told him that Kamla had decided to visit Sheila for a few months. A few days after the news from Benny, Ana also called Reddy to tell him that she had given up the child for adoption. Reddy didn't ask her whether it was a boy or a girl; Ana didn't inform him of that either. Reddy hoped they'd repair whatever difficulties they had after Ana returned home and they talked face to face. Ana had taken the maternity leave benefit from work and spent two more months in California, before she resigned her job and returned to Michigan.
Reddy went to the airport to bring her home. After Ana came home, she used a breast pump and stored her milk in bottles in the freezer. A paralegal girl from the Bruce's law office came by once every couple of days to pick them up and ship them to Sam Russell, the attorney for the adoptive parents. Ana also spent time in the basement of Kamla & Benny's home using the exercise equipment. And since Kamla was away in California, Ana would also cook dinners for Benny and often stay in her old room upstairs. She always remembered to have her milk frozen to be shipped off to the attorney for the adoptive parents. Perhaps it was part of the legal agreement. After a few weeks, Kiran's legal assistant helped Ana and Reddy file the final application for the unconditional greencard for Reddy.
After a couple of months, Ana got a job at a sporting goods store. She spent her time between the apartment and Benny's house. Ana continued to search for that IT job that would get her to Russia or provide her with enough money so that she could bring about her dream of return to live in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Soon, Reddy received his unconditional PR card. When Reddy completed his requirements for the M.S. degree, there was no party for his graduation. Kamla was with Sheila in California. Ana was busy with yet another plan to move away to accept a job, this time in Austin, Texas. This employer had operations in St.Petersburg, Russia and Ana was hired specifically for a position in Russia after a brief period in Texas. She was quite happy that she would soon be much closer to her dream. Reddy too was pleased to see her happiness.
When Ana broached the subject of a divorce, Reddy was not exactly unprepared for it. He agreed to it, so that both of them would have the freedom to pursue their own disparate dreams. Ana petitioned for a no fault divorce, while she was still a Michigan resident. After the requisite waiting period, in a very short procedure at the family court, they were granted a divorce. Not having any children or any property dispositions made their case a very simple one.
When Ana left Michigan, Reddy took her to the airport. After he took out her suitcases from the trunk and rolled them up the curb, Ana kissed him on the cheek and said," ...Munni...please have a good life...ok ?". Reddy hugged her gently and responded,"...you too...and keep in touch...and...please be happy...".
Reddy found himself all set to save money for R2I. He had no expenses on house rent or utilities, employment at a decent salary and about a year to qualify for US citizenship. He was glad to be without much of a social life. He ate, slept, worked out in the exercise room, did lawn mowing or snow clearing as the seasons demanded and went to desi movies once in a while. Reddy was happy to have a routine, peaceful life. He continued to call and chat with people in Chennai using Skype video. He promised his mother that he would come home as soon as he saved up enough vacation time at work and money in the bank.
From the R2IClub forum information, Reddy figured he needed to work for a few more years, invest well, to save enough money to return home and build a house. He was a little concerned about how well he'd fit back into the life at home in Chennai. He had been used to the quiet and orderly life in the US. Aside from the occasional neighborhood pick-up basketball games, he had not been assimilated into the local society in any way. He had also not been involved in any great depth with the indian students association on the Ann Arbor campus. His private life as well as busy part time work had not given him any time to get involved in that group and their activities. After graduation, he had more time, but then, he was no longer a student and felt out of place in that crowd.
Very soon he would get involved with an indian graduate student at the university. The daughter of a friend-of-a-friend of his sister in Chennai: A girl, who was enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the University.
Synopsis: Ana is pregnant. Benny talks Ana and Munni into an independent adoption. Ana gets a job and moves to LA. Gives birth in California and gives up the baby for adoption. Kamla goes off to live with Sheila. Reddy converts samovar to work in 110V. Ana leaves Reddy and goes to Russia to accept a job. Benny asks Munni to house-sit and leaves to join Kamla in California. Reddy gets a job at a good salary and with regular office hours, finds himself alone in a big house, and well set to save money for R2I.
Munni's LIA - Episode 19
Life Happens-II
Munni usually got home early, ate dinner, packed some food for his midnight snack, then set the alarm and took a nap before leaving for his night work. It was not usual for him to see Ana sitting up on the living room sofa when he got home. That afternoon, she was there.
She said," hello…"
"you are home…anything the matter ? .....are you sick ?"
"…well……..I am pregnant.."
"…WHAT ?.."
"…I went to the doctor this morning to confirm…….I was very …mmmhh ….late, you know....….then I bought the test stick….and when it was positive, I went to the doctor to confirm.."
Reddy and Ana had not planned for that. Ana's expression was obviously irritation and concern more than anything else.
Reddy looked at some of the printouts......and said,"…I am sorry about this...…but I will come to the clinic on that day…"
"….Thank you…but…I will go on my own..…..or Benny can drive me there..…"
"...Benny ?…oh..", said Reddy,"…not Kamla ?"
"…no..no…I had already told Benny....asked him not to tell Kamla.....but, Benny wants to talk to me some more....…he will come here this evening….we will talk…..please..you go and nap…I will pack your night food today"
Reddy went into his room, undressed, put on his eye-shades, and got into bed. Then he tried to go to sleep. He couldn't.
He heard Ana talking in her room, the muffled sounds were familiar to him; she was talking in Russian, probably skype..., he thought.
That evening, Benny had not come when Reddy went off to work. When he came back the next morning, he found Ana asleep in his room. That was rather unusual. He woke her up and asked how she was doing. She said,"….ok....but we must talk…may be after your class this afternoon ?"
Munni said,"…no…no…let me make some coffee…then we can have coffee and chat …"
Ana said,"….ok…but Benny is also here…in my room…sleeping…we talked until very early in the morning….Benny had a few drinks when we talked….so I didn't want him to drive home…"
Reddy said "..ok..let him sleep as long as he wants…"
Then Reddy went to the kitchen, washed some dishes and made coffee. Then to the bathroom, washed his face, brushed his teeth and came back to the kitchen nook. Benny was up and sitting at the table with Ana. Reddy brought the coffee and three mugs and joined them at the table.
Ana had decided that she would accept the job offer in California she already had and move. If Benny found adoptive parents, then she'd be away in a completely new place during her pregnancy. Reddy too had been thinking of various scenarios through the night when he was at work. The notion of independent adoption left a small chance that Ana might keep the child and decide to live in the USA and possibly with Reddy. Reddy hoped that Benny would find such a client within a week. After Benny went home, Ana made an appointment with a clinic 8 days out during the following week.
In just 4 days, Benny called and then came by to tell Ana that he had found a client. The day before Ana's clinic appointment, both Munni and Ana would meet the attorneys. On the appointed day, they went to the law firm and met them: Bruce, a colleague of Kiran, represented Ana and Reddy. A woman named Samanta Russell represented the anonymous clients. Sam and Bruce, they introduced themselves to all. It was a sombre meeting without much small talk or jokes. Bruce had apparently talked to Benny already. The details of the adoption agreement were described to Ana and Reddy one clause at a time. Ana informed the attorneys that she had accepted a job offer in Pasadena, near Los Angeles and will move there very soon. The lawyers noted that and said that the client's representatives would make appropriate arrangements for her living, prenatal healthcare and hospital delivery in California.
; at that moment, they just could not to say anything to each other anymore. They went to lunch, ate in silence and then went home to recover from that meeting. At home, Ana shut herself up in her bedroom; probably planned her move to California, Reddy thought. Reddy laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling for a long time before he drifted off to sleep.Benny called on them in the evening and woke Reddy up. Ana and Benny had already agreed that they would fib to Kamla. Reddy was informed of it. As Reddy and Kamla didn't talk much to each other, Reddy didn't see himself as a weak link in that co-operative fib. The fib was that Ana's mother was sick in Novosibirsk and that Ana would go there for a few months to take care of her. Ana had asked Benny to tell Sheila the same story, if required. Ana's fib to hide being pregnant, naturally reminded Reddy of that other old lie that Kamla had told her parents -- that she was pregnant (Episode 7)!! Kamla told her parents that lie to get herself married to Benny, the alleged father of that fake pregnancy. That lie was exposed very quickly and eventually things had worked out to keep the marriage of Kamla and Benny intact. Reddy wondered whether some accidental exposure of this fib too might lead to a similar result. When Ana left for "Russia", Kamla cried and decided not to go to the airport. Benny took Ana to the Airport.
Reddy had not volunteered any information about his marriage to his mother and brother in chennai. He didn't think that Ana had ever told her mother about how her life had turned out in the USA. After all, she had made an incredibly stupid decision to marry an unknown person and move to America; she didn't want her mother or friends in Russia to find out about how her marriage had turned out and how she had ended up being beaten close to death and in an emergency trauma surgery at a hospital. Ana continued to receive occasional letters and cards from Russia addressed to "Mrs. Olander". It seemed to Reddy that everyone was sensitive to the feelings of others in building houses of fibs, or at least not volunteering any information that could be painful.
- o 0 o -
A real estate agent, sent by the Attorney Sam Russell, helped Ana with the rental of an apartment in a gated community in Pasadena. Ana was given a leased car before she started employment. A filipina nurse midwife, hired by Sam called Ana every week and inquired about how Ana was doing and occasionally came by for a conversation, inspection of the food inventories and gave Ana company for local shopping or visits to salons. The nurse became a frequent visitor during the last few weeks of Ana's term and more often, she also cooked dinners and stayed the night.Kamla started traveling abroad on package tours with some of her Gujarati Club buddies. She went to Europe, to the Golden Triangle in India, To Cairo-Jerusalem-Petra tour and a train journey in Switzerland she had seen in a Bollywood movie. Benny had much free time to kill.
During the next few months, Reddy had more frequent visits from Benny. Benny wanted to make sure his nephew ate, slept and went to school and work on time. Once in a while he took Reddy to a meal and gave him news of Ana. Benny got more frequent updates from Ana. Ana called Reddy as well, but quite a lot less than her calls to Benny. Reddy focussed on his work and school. He also ordered the parts for converting the Samovar to 110 volt use. When the new ceramic block with the heating filament came, he immediately installed them, added a new wire with a three pronged plug and tested. The samovar worked perfectly and did not have any leaks. To Reddy it was a good omen: perhaps Ana too can be converted to work well in America. He tried making irani chai in the samovar -- using one of the recipes found on the internet. Although it tasted good, it did not bring about the same feeling as he had remembered. He decided that he needed the right mood; perhaps Ana's company or may be the final exam week at the university.
Reddy waited for Ana's return. He heard from Benny the news of the childbirth, and that Ana was doing well. He also heard Ana's decision to follow through on the adoption. Benny also told him that Kamla had decided to visit Sheila for a few months. A few days after the news from Benny, Ana also called Reddy to tell him that she had given up the child for adoption. Reddy didn't ask her whether it was a boy or a girl; Ana didn't inform him of that either. Reddy hoped they'd repair whatever difficulties they had after Ana returned home and they talked face to face. Ana had taken the maternity leave benefit from work and spent two more months in California, before she resigned her job and returned to Michigan.
After a couple of months, Ana got a job at a sporting goods store. She spent her time between the apartment and Benny's house. Ana continued to search for that IT job that would get her to Russia or provide her with enough money so that she could bring about her dream of return to live in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Soon, Reddy received his unconditional PR card. When Reddy completed his requirements for the M.S. degree, there was no party for his graduation. Kamla was with Sheila in California. Ana was busy with yet another plan to move away to accept a job, this time in Austin, Texas. This employer had operations in St.Petersburg, Russia and Ana was hired specifically for a position in Russia after a brief period in Texas. She was quite happy that she would soon be much closer to her dream. Reddy too was pleased to see her happiness.
When Ana broached the subject of a divorce, Reddy was not exactly unprepared for it. He agreed to it, so that both of them would have the freedom to pursue their own disparate dreams. Ana petitioned for a no fault divorce, while she was still a Michigan resident. After the requisite waiting period, in a very short procedure at the family court, they were granted a divorce. Not having any children or any property dispositions made their case a very simple one.
When Ana left Michigan, Reddy took her to the airport. After he took out her suitcases from the trunk and rolled them up the curb, Ana kissed him on the cheek and said," ...Munni...please have a good life...ok ?". Reddy hugged her gently and responded,"...you too...and keep in touch...and...please be happy...".
Goodbye at the Airport ---- Bogey & Bergman in "Casablanca"
Reddy got a job with a firm at the Renaissance Center building, downtown Detroit. He gave up his night job, moved out of his apartment and back into Benny's house. Benny listed the apartments for sale. As before, Reddy helped Benny manage the apartments until the building was sold. When the apartments were sold, Benny went to California, to be with his Kamla, leaving Reddy to house-sit in Michigan.Reddy found himself all set to save money for R2I. He had no expenses on house rent or utilities, employment at a decent salary and about a year to qualify for US citizenship. He was glad to be without much of a social life. He ate, slept, worked out in the exercise room, did lawn mowing or snow clearing as the seasons demanded and went to desi movies once in a while. Reddy was happy to have a routine, peaceful life. He continued to call and chat with people in Chennai using Skype video. He promised his mother that he would come home as soon as he saved up enough vacation time at work and money in the bank.
From the R2IClub forum information, Reddy figured he needed to work for a few more years, invest well, to save enough money to return home and build a house. He was a little concerned about how well he'd fit back into the life at home in Chennai. He had been used to the quiet and orderly life in the US. Aside from the occasional neighborhood pick-up basketball games, he had not been assimilated into the local society in any way. He had also not been involved in any great depth with the indian students association on the Ann Arbor campus. His private life as well as busy part time work had not given him any time to get involved in that group and their activities. After graduation, he had more time, but then, he was no longer a student and felt out of place in that crowd.
Very soon he would get involved with an indian graduate student at the university. The daughter of a friend-of-a-friend of his sister in Chennai: A girl, who was enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the University.
No comments:
Post a Comment