a gift of chappals summary
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Mridu goes to Rukku Manni’s House
Mridu is a young girl living with her grandmother Tapi and grandfather Thatha in Chennai. Mridu goes alongwith Tapi to her aunt Rukku Manni’s place one afternoon. There she meets her cousins Lalli, Ravi and Meena. Everyone at Rukku Manni’s house was glad to see Mridu. There was a thick bitter-berry bush in their backyard, Ravi took her beside that. There was small little kitten inside a torn football. The small creature was busy drinking milk that was kept inside a half-shell of a coconut.
The Kitten
Meena informed Mridu that they have found the kitten outside their house in the morning of that day. But, they must keep it as a secret otherwise the grandmother will leave their house immediately. Ravi was upset that they were being taught to be kind towards animals, but when he was trying to do so elders were screaming at them calling the kitten a dirty creature. His grandmother was suspicious while he was taking out milk for the kitten from kitchen. He had to drink more than half of the milk to make her believe that it was for him.
He also told Mridu that they have named the kitten as Mahendran. Mridu loved the name because it sounded real unlike those cute ones you keep for the kittens. Ravi further added that its complete name was Mahendravarma Pallava Poonai and M P Poonai in short.
He informed her he could make it from its fur that it was a fine breed cat, a close relative of lion family like the one that Pallava kings used in their emblem. To this Mridu giggled which instigated Ravi to prove his knowledge about the history further. On his school trip to Mahabalipuram he had seen statue of a lion and he firmly believes that it was the ancestor of that kitten. He proudly announced that his small kitten is the descendant of Mahabalipuram Rishi-Cat. He reminded Mridu of cats being worshipped in ancient Egypt. He believed it to be a descendant of cat godess, Bastet.
The ‘Kreech’ Noise
Ravi was busy in making all proud announcements about his kitten when a weird sound ‘Kreech…! came from the window. Mridu was shocked while Mahendran was frightened. Mahendran jumped with fear on a try or red chillies kept under the Sun for drying. With the “kreeching noise continuing on the background, Mridu enquired what it was? Ravi informed her that it was Lalli learning to play the violin. Mridu peeped from the window and she found Lalli was holding the violin in an awkward position sitting a bit away from her music teacher who had his back towards the window.