Lekha (Completed)

Lekha 12

It seemed that Rudra's name was threat enough for any kind of mischief anyone might have planned to do. I wonder at the kind of person Rudra was, that his siblings also feared him.

"I wonder when we will get to celebrate another wedding in the palace and where will Lekha be when it takes place. It's best she gets to see each and every celebration " said Gayatri giving a wise nod.

"What do you mean where she will be? Didn't maasa say that she will stay with us" said Vasundhara with an annoyed frown on her face, at the prospect that some other situation was a possibility.

My heart felt a warm glow of happiness at the thought that Vasundhara was so full of love and caring towards me. Though everyone kept on showering me with all the love and care, but my dubious situation which I myself was unable to decipher kept me on my toes. Every affectionate gesture thus left me a tiny bit surprised each time.

"I meant Lekha might be married by the time, the next wedding came up." Gayatri gave a naughty smile and winked at me.

I blushed pink as this thought had hardly ever crossed my mind since coming here and I was still a teenager. The scene here was a bit different though, the girls of my age were already married and some even had a child or two.

"No no no... I don't want to go anywhere leaving you. I don't want to get married. I am too young to get married. You girls are not married so why will I have to marry." My eyes went wide with apprehension.

"Look... Now what you have done. The poor girl is embarrassed and all flustered." Vasundhara said as she put a comforting arm around me.

"Don't worry Lekha. No one is pressurizing you for anything and you can stay with us for as long as you want... We won't let you go anywhere till you force us to get you married." Vasundhara now winked back towards her cousin with an equally naughty smile on her face.

This had the effect of lightening up the atmosphere.

After dinner we again gathered in the Baradari (the central meeting place in the ladies section). The ladies were all seated in a circular formation with the center left empty for the performers which were later going to dance there.

We took our place on the durrie (woven carpet) behind some group of ladies. There were two playing dholak (two headed hand drum), one the cymbals and some were singing songs. The other ladies seemed to have loads of gossip still left to be discussed and were chatting away, unconcerned about interrupting the singers. The mood was quite jovial all around.

"Is this how it is going to be, the whole time. " I asked curiously.

"It's just a warm up. They are all waiting for other ladies to join them. Even my maasa has not joined us." explained Gayatri.

"Was she not supposed to have joined Mahadevi sa for the wedding" I asked surprised.

"Maasa was not feeling well so she stayed behind" said Gayatri.

Five minutes later a group of women entered the courtyard and everybody stood up and did pranam (bow with folded hands) to them. In the center of this group was Gayatri's mother whom I recognized, having seen her before when Mahadevi sa  had touched the feet of Gayatri's mother before leaving with the wedding procession.

In Indian culture it's a custom to touch the feet of elders to take their blessings, before going out for any important work.

Gayatri's mother came towards us smiling and I did pranam to her.