Serendipity

79

The shrill voice of the alarm sounded throughout the room. Anupama stirred. Anuj pulled her closer to himself and hugged her, extending his arm across her to switch the alarm off. Anu rolled onto her back and Anuj placed his body across hers to reach the phone on the bedside table near her.

As he retreated after completing the task, he realized her mangal sutra was caught on the button of his kurta. Again. He smiled remembering the last time this had happened, he'd learned she'd had a crush on him in college.

Anu drearily opened her eyes to see him smiling. When she glanced at him quizzically, he pointed to the entanglement that had bound them together. She smiled and gently rolled him on his back, and got to work to free her mangal sutra from his kurta button.

Laying on his back, his hands under his head, Anuj admired his new wife. The pursed lips, the deftly moving hands, the gentle touch, the random strands of hair that continued to get in the way, her annoyed look as she blew the hair away while continuing to detangle the mangal sutra.

Finally, she released her hand as she succeeded, a triumphant smile gracing her face. She looked up at Anuj with a proud sense of achievement and was about to move away when he brought his hands forward and held her near him.

"Anuj...," she chided, blushing furiously, completely understanding his intentions.

He simply nodded his head and in one swift motion rolled her over.

"Anuj.." Her voice sounded panicky. Her eyes darted from side to side, worried. He silently laughed, raised his hands, and began tracing her face.

"Anuj.." Her voice sounded squeaky. Her face flitting with expressions from fear to pleasure to passion to shame to excitement. She bit her lower lip, her tongue darting out to wet it. His eyes turn stormy grey; his hands contoured her form, slowly caressing each and every part of her body.

"Anuj.." Her voice sounded parched. She was thirsting. She swallowed. Her throat bobbed. Anuj moved closer to her neck and kissed her throat.

"Anuj.." Her voice sounded raspy. Her hands fisted the sheets on the bed. He paid attention to her fingers, lifting them closer to his mouth as he took each one of them into his mouth and leisurely licked them, repeating it all over with the other hand.

"Anuj.." It was a whimper. He turned her over, moved her hair to one side, and started kissing her neck, slowly and leisurely making his way down her back.

Anupama had lost her half-hearted fight with customs, rituals, and propriety. Wantonly she turned and pulled him closer to her, taking his lips with hers, coaxing his mouth to open. He obliged, pulling her sari away from her being, covering her body with his lest she feels shy.

The kiss, the ministrations, the sensations.

The clothes, the love, the promises.

They always knew they belonged to each other. Now, they truly did.

As Anu coyly got up, covering herself with her sari haphazardly, and made her way to the bathroom to get ready, Anuj looked at the mess in the room and smiled. His words, written in that diary, 26 years ago, had finally come true. Today, she was Anupama Anuj Kapadia, in every sense of the word.

*****

As the two descended for the prayer service, GK and the Gaekwads looked at the newlywed couple with a sense of admiration and pride. Clad in a deep red Banaras silk sari, her neck adorned with her mother-in-law's rani haar, a ruby choker, and matching ruby earrings, the traditional Maharashtrian nath, Anupama looked like she was born into royalty. Anuj too looked stunning - wearing a royal off-white kurta-pajama, a pearl and ruby kantha layering his outfit, a red turban adorning his head, and his mother's broach pinned to secure the turban.

Maharani Radhika Raje, walked up to the couple and formally invited them to sit in the prayers by doing their aarti. As the couple stepped into the royal temple, she smudged a little bit of the kohl from her eye and marked both Anupama and Anuj behind their ears.

"May Maa Bhavani protect you from the evil eye."

The two bent down to seek her blessings and proceeded to begin the pooja.

The prayer service seamlessly blended into the coronation ceremony. The only change was that of the venue. The priest read holy hymns, holy water was sprinkled on Anuj, his turban was swapped for a more ostentatious one with a feather, Anupama was asked to present her husband with a gilded sword, Anuj was officially declared the next crown prince of the Gaekwad dynasty.

As the ceremony came to a close, Anuj and Anupama bent down to seek the blessings of all the elders in the room. Anu then got up and placed a gentle kiss on Anuj's cheek, to which he responded: "I love you."

****

Anuj's wedding and coronation ceremony had been live-streamed, with news channels televising the highlights. Vanraj, who'd already watched the entire wedding and coronation ceremony on his laptop continued to watch the highlights on the news channel. 

The clip where Anu gently placed a kiss on Anuj's cheek and he responded with I love you was currently being played on a loop, with various news channels calling it the Cinderella wedding of the century, hailing Anu and Anuj as the new power couple of Gujarat. Panel discussions had managed to track down many of their college friends who had "apparently always known that there was something between Anuj and Anupama."

Greeting cards from Anupama's current students were on display, sound bytes from her colleagues, some even from Anuj's ex-girlfriends, it would suffice to say that the news channels had decided to turn the Kapadia wedding into a major festival.

The only person who was unhappy with the outcome was Vanraj Shah.

"Toshu's Dad?" These were her last words before Anupama screamed and fainted as she caught Vanraj and Kavya making out in her bedroom. Vanraj had scoffed, annoyed with her for interrupting his makeout session and leaving him feeling frustrated.

As the family rushed to their bedroom, having heard Anupama's scream, Vanraj sighed. Everyone would find out now. Not that he cared. He was done with this marriage.

Why? His sister had dared to ask. What was wrong with his wife that he had to look outside?

Wife? He'd scoffed, deciding that he had nothing to lose by washing his dirty linen in public. They hadn't had a normal marital relationship since Anupama had conceived Pakhi. And even barely before that. This marriage was broken from the start. There was nothing in it to salvage.

Anupama, awake had heard every word of his. Refusing to gratify him with her tears, she'd simply told the family that she was willing to sign the divorce papers whenever Vanraj wanted her to. She agreed with him. There was nothing left to save in this marriage. There was nothing in this marriage right from the beginning.

*****

Leela watched her son rewind the coronation recording and play the last clip again. She had lost count of how many times he had done so already. She sighed. It hurt her to see her son in so much pain. But there was nothing she could do. She went to the kitchen to make the two of them a cup of tea. Vanraj would eventually have to accept that he'd lost Anupama.

But that didn't mean he was a loser. If 44-year-old Anupama could get married, surely she was capable of finding a bride for her handsome 48-year-old son. With that intention, she made her way to the living room with two cups of tea in her hand.

While the TV was still running, Vanraj was nowhere to be seen. Leela sighed and sat down on the sofa, to wait for her son when she spotted a note on the coffee table. The note didn't need to be signed. She knew the handwriting. It belonged to her son.

I am leaving. I have made many mistakes in life. But the biggest one is not valuing Anupama and letting her go away. I don't think I can live in this house anymore. Every corner of this house will remind me of Anupama. And after today, I know she can never be mine again. I need to learn to live without her. Once I do, I will come back home. Until then Baa, take care.

Right next to the note was a wad of cash and an empty checkbook with an entire bunch of signed blank cheques. 

Leela looked up from the note at the television that was still broadcasting some news to do with Anuj's coronation. And then she looked up towards the sky and cried.