YOU ARE MY THEME FOR A DREAM (Part 2)

CHAPTER-3

A fortnight passed & there was all hustle & bustle in the house, with close relatives pouring in almost everyday for a free vacation they wanted to enjoy.
On the Big Day, Shalu was busy in dressing herself for the 'Special Day' of her life. The dress was fitted at the bust. The sweetheart neckline revealing only an appropriate amount of cleavage. A bow underneath the bust tightened the grip on her waist & the heavily embroidered white  gown skimmed her body hugging the area around her hips. It was hard being in it but it made her feel & look gorgeous.
                       She was examining herself in front of the mirror for the millionth time when suddenly an assortment of people walked in, halting her in the tracks. Her father, her maternal aunt, her paternal aunt along with her first cousins stormed right in without as much as a knock. Worry was etched onto their features & her maternal aunt looked pale enough to faint at any moment.
"Oh, no, something terrible has happened," Shalu thought to herself, dread filling her body. It was how defeated & haunted her father looked that told her that the problem was bigger than the usual wedding woes. He was never one to worry about the small things & was generally a very optimistic man. If something had managed to take a toll on him than it had to be bad.
"What is it?" She found herself asking them, her heart racing a mile a minute.
                               Her cousin who was standing at the back of the crowd came forward & passed over a note in her hands. Trembling, she opened the note to read which stated " I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I can't go through with this wedding. I don't & won't be able to love her. Please try to understand that I'm doing this for the both of us. I'm going away &I am  not sure if I ever plan to come back. Don't try to find me & please don't hate me."
A gasp left her lips as she held the crumpled note in her trembling hands. This could not be happening, it had to be some kind of a sick joke that anyone or everyone was playing on her. Shalu's eyes searched their faces for any contradictions, but there was none. Everyone was just as shocked as Shalu was & just as hurt.
However, one face confirmed the horrifying fact———- her father. He looked so broken, so dejected & crushed that Shalu's heart ached for him. His shoulders were stumped in defeat, his entire body tensed & stiffened & his fists clenched. That however wasn't the worst part, the worst part was how he was trying to be strong & not give away the amount of pain he felt which only she could see it. His eyes told a story of their own & nothing was false in that story.
How could Raj ( the name of the would be husband) could have done this !!!!
She thought hard for ten minutes, went into her room & immediately loosing no time came out of her bridal dress, put on her jeans & top & without telling anyone sneaked out from the back gate of her house & hurriedly rushed to Raj's house which was just a couple of blocks away.
On reaching, she stormed inside the room, unannounced, where Raj's mother, Nina was chatting with two of Raj's friends who had come all the way from Gurgaon to attend the marriage.
Seeing them, she raised her finger pointing at Nina, with all the fury writ large on her face.
Shalu, shouted out to her, " what the bloody fuck is this? Why your son has run away from the marriage at the eleventh hour?"
" Heyyyy! don't talk to me like this, & just lower down your volume" Nina blurted out to Shalu in the same tone as hers, & than suddenly lowering down her voice asked " you were in jail?"
" Yep, born & raised there," Shalu replied back harshly, her blood boiling.
" And I'm quite proud of the fact," she continued.
Nina, just to humiliate Shalu, while enjoying the conversation " Wow!!! what was it like there?"
" It was awesome, & I loved it" Shalu replied back looking deep into the eyes of Nina.
Nina's eyes widened, & she took half of a step backward. She looked afraid of Shalu.
" Heard, you had killed someone?" Neena asked, her voice dropping off to a quiet whisper.
" Yes" Shalu replied being frank.
Nina's eyes widened further, defying what she thought was possible. The circumference of her eyeballs grew.
"A-are you going to kill me?" Nina asked. Her voice shook a little bit out of fear.
" Maybe yes, maybe no" Shalu said taking a seat on the uncomfortable bed.
That didn't seem to calm down Nina much.
She thought that this girl was demented & she was not wrong.
Both the friends of Raj were grinning ear to ear, sitting on the othe corner of the bed, listening & enjoying with interest to their conversation.
To frighten her more, Shalu suddenly stood up. " I'm going back to jail. You are welcome to come if you choose waving her hand at Nina.
"No, I can't go to jail. Jail is for bad people. You may belong there, but I definitely don't "Nina exclaimed.
A sudden smile lit up on Shalu's face, seeing the condition Nina was in.
Shalu, turned her back & was about to leave, when suddenly a voice of one of the boys echoed from behind "Shalu, I will marry you."
She stood in her steps, turned around & there stood the boy with an innocent face of a gentleman waving at her.,
"B,b,b,but, Ashok, how can you? She is a jail bird." Nina intervened
"O!!! Aunt, don't you worry, she seems to be a nice & a brave girl. I know, I'll be happy with her" Ashok responded back.
" Shalu, can I have a talk with you in private? Please come out in the lawn" he asked her in an affectionate tone.
They both went out to the well manicured lawn & took their seats opposite to each other in the garden chairs.
After a short introduction with each other where Ashok told her that he was staying all alone in Gurgaon & his parents were in Bangalore.
He was going to talk further when Shalu made him aware of the guests assembled at her home for the wedding which had only five hours left according to the pandit.
After a very small chit chat, Shalu stood up all ready to go & said "I think I should go now as all my family, especially my father will be getting worried about my whereabouts"
"But you must come home first, meet my father & then we decide"
" Yeah, I'll be there in another fourty five minutes , " called out Ashok.
                                Hurriedly, Shalu reached home, sneaked into her room from the backside quietly & sat on the bed in her room. After fifteen minutes her father along with her aunt entered the room. Seeing her sitting quietly in a pensive mood on the bed & as if reading her mind he spoke up, his voice completely lacking the confidence she normally associated with it " we can't cancel the wedding, sweetheart. It will ruin us, all of us. If a wedding doesn't take place today, not only will we be humiliated but we could stand to loose everything " he choked out & Shalu stared at him stupidly, not knowing where it was headed.
Her aunt, someone who would never allow herself to be humiliated by anyone, looked at her then, pleading Shalu with her eyes.
" We need your help Shalu. You are the only one who can save the reputation of the family now."
By the time they were talking, the doorbell rang.
Someone opened the door & Ashok stepped in.
Shalu introduced him to her father & aunt making them aware of all the things transpired between them.
Shalu's father grilled him thoroughly with  a plethora of questions about his family, his job etc. etc.
Finally, satisfied with his replies, her father agreed to the unison.
Approximately, four hours later, she was all ready to be taken to the church, followed closely by her aunts & the cousins who had been told the truth. A long veil covered her face ( as the custom was) & the corset she wore under the dress moulded her shape to fit into the dress.
The music began to play & Shalu firmly fixed her gaze to the ground, begging herself to not let any tear escape. Her father linked his arm with hers as everyone left the room.
" Shalu, my daughter, you have no idea what this means to us" he whispered in her ears & she nodded her head slightly, not trusting herself to speak.
It was to the beat of traditional wedding march that she walked towards the altar, her father gripping her arm tightly, comforting her but all the while suffocating her. He let go of her when they reached where Ashok & his best man stood & after completing his duty of giving her away, he left her alone to take the biggest step of her life.
The vows were said, the lies concealed as she took Ashok to be her husband, for better or for worse. Shalu's actions were mechanical, her tone robotic.
Shalu had always loved the weddings. There was just something about the 'till death do us part' line that got her every time. The idea of two people spend the rest of their lives together was so utterly romantic & everything about a wedding symbolised that decision for her.
The rituals over in the church & then it was announced by her father that everyone who was present should proceed to the banquet hall opposite his residence for a gala party for celebrating the occasion, where the first floor & the hall had been already got reserved by her father.
Shalu was brushing her hair in the room on the first floor of the banquet hall, when she first heard the loud, panicked voices & the sounds of people arguing.
Not again, she thought to herself, rolling her eyes. People ha been fighting all day over the smallest of things. The flowers, the food, the seating arrangements, the decorations, you name it & there was a problem with it. Shalu wasn't surprised though, her both aunts were perfectionists. She pitied the wedding planner who had taken up such a Herculean task of satisfying not only one aunt but the other one too.
                                     The festivities continued till late evening. When all the guests left Ashok & Shalu too bid a good bye to everyone & made their way to the car which Ashok's friends had got decorated with roses & jasmines. After saying a tearful bye to her father, she quietly sat in the car & left for her new home.