She's The Reason Behind It !

It was a Friday evening. I got out of my workplace a little late than usual, my phone balance was zero, so there weren't any means to make any plans to go out with my friends, so I decided to go to this new mall in the town... since it was new and I had nothing better to do. All thanks to the bus driver, I had to walk half a mile back to my destination because he tried to skip the bus stop in front of the mall.

After a long walk and the security check, as I reached the escalator I saw an old man that aged and looked much like my grandpa... He wore a cool t-shirt paired with a trouser; he also had round specs, a baseball hat and a walking stick in his hands. He observed a group of people using the escalator, looked back in my direction, took a moment to decide and stepped aside... I thought that either he was too afraid to use it or never knew how to use it, so I offered him help. And the series of the conversation went more like this,

Me: "Do u need help Uncle? "

(With a cute little smile on his face he replied.)

Him: "Ohh, thank you ma, but no..."

He said this and stepped onto the escalator... And I jumped in right behind him. On the way up (to the next floor), he spoke to me as if we've known each other for a very long time.

With a huge smile on his face, he turned to me and said: "You know, I just turned 84..." (with a lot of excitement and a deep sense of satisfaction).

Me: "Wow, when...?? Today...??"

Him : "Hmm...no...not today...." He made a quick calculation with his fingers and said: "Innekk 15 naalkuk munnadi..." (15 days before...)

Me: "Oh...that's so cool uncle... Congrats."

Without giving me another second to think he said: "Atukk inda amma dhaan kaaranam...." (she's the reason behind it...), pointing his finger to the lady next to me whom I never saw until now. She wore a saffron saree, hair tied in a bun with a few strands of grey falling down on her face... She was beautiful.

We reached the next floor when he said with a twinkle in his eyes: "We've been together for 61 years" (his face towards her). When he said this she was trying her best to keep herself from blushing and they both smiled at each other... And yes, my heart smiled.

He then added a quick piece of advice before we parted ways: "Kalyanam panni husband e nalla paathukko...life enjoy pannikkoo..." (take good care of your husband after marriage...enjoy your life...)

Me: Haha....ok uncle.... (ok, that was unexpected!)

We burst into laughter...and they walked towards the next escalator... I stayed right where they left me, and watched them go, with his words still ringing in my head- "Atukk inda amma dhaan kaaranam..."