Khudgarzi

31

Aasmano Pe Jo Khuda Hai,
Usse Meri Yahi Dua Hai,
Chand Yeh Har Roz Main Dekhu,
Tere Sath Mein,
Aankh Uthi Mohabbat Ne Angrai Li,
Dil Ka Sauda Hua Chandani Raat Mein.

Ayla POV

Praying extra nawafil for today to go well, I got up from my prayer mat. Right before getting ready, I remembered how ammi would tell me to always give Sadqa (charity) before anything important. So I quickly opened up my laptop and donated about 30,000 Pakistani rupees to the Edhi fund. I was really nervous for today's outcome because me and Salaar literally worked our asses off for this exhibition.

I wore my professional clothes, tied my hair in a sleek ponytail and wearing my work shoes, I headed down to my car and drove to the expo center where the exhibition was being held. I walked inside and this was the first time I was to see what our competitor's had come up with. A lot of the clothes were of a similar theme and that was "princess prom", so fluffy ballgowns which I daresay were extremely gorgeous. I began setting up our lehngas and cholis on the mannequins and it attracted quite the attention because they were so colorful and beautiful.

Salaar was running late but he soon joined me and I daresay, our little stall looked the best. It was full of colour and embroidery. We soon sat down over there and started talking about how today was such a huge day and how we needed to pray that we do well. The judges were yet to arrive so I just took the scarf I had in my bag and sat in the corner to recite Surah Muzammil, as its said to help you out in hard cirumstances.

In about an hour, the judges arrived and they were slowly taking rounds of the stalls of each brand. Then one of the judges, Katie, I read from her nametag, pointed at our stall and they all came near ours. I cleared my throat out and Salaar settled his tie,

"Aylaar that's an interesting name! What does it mean?", Katie asked

"Nothing really, its our names joined together, Ayla and Salaar", I laughed out

"Oh so you're together? You make a cute couple", Katie said winking at me

Before I could deny her, Salaar spoke up, "not yet but soon"

Katie made an O sound and the other two judges with her started looking around at our clothes,

"I love the colours, these are extremely vibrant. Are these traditional South Asian wear?", asked Jonathon

"Yes sir! These are South Asian bridals, all of these dresses were made under supervision and all the embroidery on them is handwork, there is no machine work", I said

"That's impressive! These are beyond beautiful", Jonathon said

"Thank you sir!", I said

"If I dare ask, how much was the cost of these clothes?", asked Darren, the third judge

I left this question to Salaar, because he dealt with the vendor completely on his own. Salaar professionally told Darren the entire cost of the clothing and the shipping. Since we had had these clothes made from Pakistan and due to the high exchange rate, it was actually really nominal in Canadian Dollars and that worked in our favour. The judges were extremely impressed and walked away from our stall.

It was now a waiting game, me and Salaar sat there, with more people coming and looking at our clothes and fortunately so, buying them. There was a Bengali family that just happened to see the sign board of the exhibition and walked right in. They saw our designs and immediately fell in love with them, she took our contact details and decided that we were to make her nikkah dress. The mother even took pictures of our clothes and business cards to spread the word. So far, everything was going all good and I muttered an Alhamdullilah.