Indian Wedding Tales

H A R S H : part II

I stepped through the common balcony on my floor and saw the outlines of snowcapped mountains straight ahead. It was breath-taking if I ignored the wrenching feeling in my gut. I shuddered as a gust of cold wind blew past me. I shook my head when I realized I had forgotten my jacket inside. My skin prickled with the unfamiliar cold and I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Rough night, eh?"

Surprised, I looked around for the source of the voice. Behind me, tucked in the shadows a man was smoking cigarette. When I concentrated on him, I noticed that his square face was heavily bearded and puffs of smoke rose from his lips.

"I.... I think I just screwed up" I said and let out a frustrated breath. He gestured me to take the empty seat beside him and I gladly rested my legs and flopped down.

"Relax, you're going to screw up a lot in the first year," The stranger said in a gruff voice. He extended his hand for me to take the cigarette but I shook my head firmly. No vices, I had promised my mother.

I looked around at the empty balcony and watched my breath come out as wisps of cloud. The cold was starting to make my legs shiver a bit and the hair on my arms began to rise.

I shook my head as I found myself speaking, "I don't even know if she married me because she wanted to or....."

"Or?" The stranger prodded for me to complete.

Or because I was the only one wiling to marry her.

I bit my lip for letting out my darkest insecurities in front of an entire stranger but the thought was always there in mind. Was she really happy that she had agreed to marry me or was it because she couldn't find anyone else that she had to settle with me?

Twenty fucking boys had come, watched her smile and serve tea and all of them had rejected her because of her past. It angered me to an extent that I decided I didn't want to let Aarti go through such horror ever again and also because I couldn't imagine myself with anyone else.

But.... Maybe I wasn't Aarti's first choice.

The thought made home in my mind and as much as I tried to shake it away and not let it bother me, it made me restless. I bit the inside of my cheek from screaming accidently.

"It'll get better, brother" The man beside me tried to console me as he passed me a sad smile. I tried to return it.

I hope it does...

***

I returned to the room to find Aarti sleeping on the left side of the bed and wrapped in the heavy blanket. Sighing I slipped beside her making sure I left a good amount of space in between us. I didn't want to invade her personal space in sleep; I'd already crossed boundaries today.

The next day, I woke up to the blaring of the most annoying alarm in the history of all alarms. I carefully lifted my head to find that the room was empty and Aarti's phone was the one ringing madly. She was probably in the bathroom for a shower.

I rolled onto her side and took the phone in my hands, the harsh light made me squint my eyes and I desperately swiped at the screen for the alarm to go off.

When it finally shut down, I sighed and placed the phone next to me but soon I realized something was still playing on it. Placing the phone closer to my ears I listened carefully and soon the melody drifted out it slow beats.

I gasped when I recognized the tune. I increased the volume and held up the phone. The lyrics rolled out and my lips parted in disbelief.

Yeh haseen Vadiyan, yeh khula aasma