You are mine now and for ever

meeting the family and friends

They had to start the process of going and visiting all their family and friends after their wedding but Ian was perpetually busy so aunty Gertie reminded him of their duties, it was the done thing after a wedding. The newly wedded couple were expected to go visiting all of their family and friends so that the new member would get a better chance to meet and bond with the family. The next weakend Ian and Prescilla drove to his eldest auntys house in Balligunge. Prescilla was wearing a black and white printed chiffon saree and she looked absolutely lovely in it. "Stunning" he remarked as she seated herself in his car while he had waited for her downstairs. "What language is this song in because it definitely isnt in hindi as Ive heard enough of hindi by now to understand the basics?" she asked. "Yeah this is a song by honey sing and its in punjabi." he told her while he drove carefully within the speed limit. "Whats he saying?" she asked again. "Hes saying that he loves the girl and that he finds her beautiful. He takes her phones and talks to her father asking him for permission to marry her as he has enough for sustaining his love." he laughed "Youll have to learn not only hindi but also punjabi as thats your husbands basic language and Id want to converse with people and wouldnt want you to be left out of the conversation in the future, clear." "Cristal" she responded and laughed too. "So what other type of songs do you like?" "Oh I love all peppy and sexy songs. My favourite singers are Enrique, Kylie Monogue, Cold Play, One direction, Justin Biber, Tyffany Alvord, Pitbull, Rihana, Bruno Mars among others. By the way have you heard the song of Ed Sheerans 'Thinking Out Lout' ?" he asked. "No, you know that Ive missed a lot of all things as Ive been in the hospital and then the wedding and only lately have you gifted me the laptop and Iam still learning its use." she said. Immediately he selected that particular song and put it on for her. She rested her head on his black Audis seat. She was grateful that Ian could afford such good cars, he had three other cars, all red. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the words of the song, she was touched and understood that Ian was a romantic in his heart if his choice was such.When it finished "Absolutely fabulous, youve got very good choice, I can see that" "Do you know that I lately saw a photo of Zayn Mallik of One direction and I thought him to be an absolue sweetheard, OH! hes soooo scheet" she gushed"How come hes also Mallik and not a punjabi?" Ian seemed serious before he answered "I want you only to find me handsome and no one else" and then he gave her a lobsised silly grin. She realised that he had been joking. For a moment she had become worried that perhaps he was one of those maniacal types. Then he continued "Well Zayn is a Mallik and a Muslim while we are M A L L I C Ks and are Punjabis though there are many Punjabi Muslims too in our country, all Punjabis whether Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs or Christians all share the same language and culture." he said. She looked perplexed. "You dont have to understand everything about us in one day, after all Rome wasnt built in a day." he remarked.

BALLIGUNGE BANGALOW: TIME: 7.30 P.M.

Standing in front of the wide wooden doors of the fancy bangalow, Ian placed his left hand on Prescillas bare waist. She gasped in surprise. Instantly an electric impulse ran up her body. His warm hands always had this effect on her . She turned towards him and said "Ian!, what are you doing? We have to behave, Oh God!" then closing her eyes, she continued in a wisper " We have .... havent... I mean your eldest aunt..." Seeing Prescillas reaction to a simple touch of his mightily pleased him. This was pure,unaldulterated , he felt. On impulse he bent low to her level and tenderly touched his lips to hers, kissing her like a nervous yet horny teenager. In surprise, her eyes flew open and looked deeply into his. She was mesmeried. When the door flew open both of them were startled and quickly parted.Cathy, Ians eldest auntys middle offspring stood gaping at them. Though Ians cheecks were slightly stained at having being caught, yet he reacted almost instantaneously to the situation "Hi! Cathy, how are you and where are the others?" She greeted both of them and invited them inside. Prescilla noticed that a big hall led to several doors, both to the left as well as the right. There was a door also opposite ther main door. There was a wide winding old fashioned staircase in attendance leading to the upper floors. She surmised correctly that Ians eldest aunt was very rich as their house seemed as big as her own. One of the left hand doors led to the drawing room where the whole family was gathered. It seemed that the second aunt had also arrived with her family there, to welcome the new bride. Everybody got up to greet them and again Prescilla was introduced to the others.His eldest aunt had three children , the eldest was a married son. They had been married for a total of 6 months and the bride clearly was atleast 5 or 5 and a 1/2 months pregnant. "Phew!, the Indians certainly didnt waste any time to procreate, no wonder they had the second highest rate of population." she thought. Cathy was the second child and was in college, she was 2 years older than herself but she acted like a kid, she thought. Their third child was a boy of 17 years, he was extremely tall almost as tall as Ian and well built for his age. He was handsome too. She noticed that all his relatives were much fairer than the other bengalis residing in Kolkata. Ian had at one point, revealed to her that the Punjabis were the fairest and the most goodlooking race among the Indians as they were the descendents of the Aryans, their blood had been least polluted as they seldom beleived in marrying out of their own community.His name was Siddhart, on being questioned as to why he didnt have an English or biblical name, showing his religion he had sais"Its not necessary for Indians to have christian names, earlier when the Indians changed their religion they changed their names and surnames to the ones chosen by the priest but now a days it isnt nescessary. They had been christians for many generations, moreover they had converted due to the love of the religion and not some sort of benefit, as many of the lower class Indians had done in the past, as their family had always been extremely affluent. Prescilla took a great liking for this cousin of Ians and got along famously with him. He had informed her that since he was so intelligent he had been promoted to class 12 instead of being in the 11th grade. She saw that the middle aunt Pamella had only one son who was 27 years old. His name was David.He was a mechanical engineer and was working in his fathers company, helping to grow his business.He seemed good enough but rather a reserved type . She further perceived that he spoke quite a lot with Ian in wispers and was being friendly with him. Ian too liked David , in all probability the best of all his cousins. After a most tiring session of question and answers they sat down for dinner. She felt a little disheartened to see that again an Indian spread had been laid on the table. "Did the Indians not give any importance to the wife or her tastes?" she wondered. By now she was used to eating all sorts of Indian cuisines so she quelled her niggle of displeasure and tried to eat with gusto. "Do eat some more child,you need to fatten up quite a bit." the eldest aunt Annabele said as she pouredout some more rajma and rice onto Precillas plate. Prescilla turned her eyes towards Ian, pleading with him in silence. She didnt know what to do. it was unthinkable to refuse , to an Iandian it was taken as disrespect, yet here she was, extremely full and any more food would certainly upset her system. She couldnt bring herself to eat as much as the Indians did. Ian understood her dilema and said " Bua Anna, please dont serve her any more as in the morning her stomach was upset and she still maybe suffering from the sideeffects of the strong allopathic antidose." And so they chatted more over the dinner table even after their dinner was finished. She saw that this was their family trait to sit and chat on the dinner table even after their food was over, instead of going back to the drawing room. Slowly the night came to an end and they took their leave. By the time they reached their own NewAlipore house, it was already 12.30 P.M. and it took another 15 minutes for them to change and settle down into their bed. She was extremely tired, so was he, but his need for her was greater. Ian tried to pull her into his arms and kiss her. She came willingly enough but on being kissed she didnt respond but rather lay camatose in her deep sleep. As Ian looked at his beautiful bride there was a moment when he felt like kissing her more deeply, waking her up to satiate his need but after some time his heart lurched at the sight of the dark shadows under her eyes and her slight frame as she lay in his arms most comfortably as if she were sleeping in her own side with her own pillow, tilted under her head as she most often prrefered, he wrapped his other arm aroung her and went to sleep too.