a feel good book about two people arranged together, falling in love.
the entire phase of courtship between two strangers after their marriage is arranged, it's incredibly underrated.
it's like falling in love with an intention to remain in love, t...
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Saturday afternoon, there were 3 hours to go for their engagement to begin. Valli was eating her lunch, with butterflies and elephants having a full on party in her belly. She was so nervous, she had not met Atharva's family yet, and she knew that they had arrived the day before. He had gotten busier since then.
"Kumud! Eat quickly and then start getting ready. Hair and make up will take time." Avani said, putting her ironed saree and jewellery on the bed. It was her mother's wedding saree and a little necklace that belonged to Valli herself.
"Is the makeup lady here?" Valli asked, shoving the last piece of pulka into her mouth.
"She's 5 minutes away." She told her.
"Akka! I'm scared!" Valli whined.
"Scared of what? Atharva?" Avani chuckled.
"No. Of this entire thing." She cried.
"Shh! Stop being dramatic and get ready." Sukanya scolded, grabbing her plate.
The engagement was going to be quite small, in Ayyagaru's lawn with only family and few of Valli's friends. The entire village would be invited to their wedding anyways, so they chose to have the engagement with only family.
It took nearly two hours to get her hair and make up done after that. She stood in an altered blouse and the saree skirt, and three women around her - her aunts were focused on getting the saree draped as quickly as possible. And she was receiving instructions one after the other.
"Don't walk too fast, don't laugh too loud." She was told.
"Why would I laugh?" She whined.
She was scolded again and then given more instructions.
Atharva on the other hand, he got dressed in his room, calm and collected. He was looking forward to seeing Valli. When they drove back from the city, he was excited with the notion that he would get to see Valli everyday and they'd meet more often, but as the engagement drew closer and his family came - it became nearly impossible to take time out to be with her. She could hardly speak over the phone as well, and he was truly missing her at this point. They were going to see each other after a long few days.
The auspicious time for the engagement was set to be 6:30 pm. And it was already 6 now. He could hear the chaos downstairs, telling him that her family was arriving. For now, he had his pinni (mother's younger sister) and his mama (mother's brother), his cousins. And he had his aunt from his dad's side who he wasn't very fond of. He also had a lot of his parents' cousins at home.
"Atharva anna, are you ready?" Sreenika popped into his room, his youngest cousin. She held her little daughter Vithika on her hip and smiled, seeing Atharva. Sreenika was his pinni's only daughter and he was truly fond of his little sister.
"I am. Are they here?" He asked, buckling his watch onto his wrist.
"Yes, they're here. Vadina looks so beautiful! She's in the room downstairs!" Sreenika grinned.
