Lekha (Completed)

Lekha 18

My spirits rose a bit after the delicious lunch and also, especially as I didn't meet that irritating, arrogant, and all sorts of names I could think of, man.

The excited talk about the night's function was also pepping up my spirits. Since the program was supposed to start before dusk, we immediately went to our rooms to get dressed. It was a time where everyone was going to put their best foot forward in order to impress all and sundry.

I took out a green color lehenga that Vasundhara had given me before and hoping my silver jewelry looked good with it.

"What...? Are you going to wear this old piece?" said Vasundhara rolling her eyes as she laid out one of her beautiful dresses and some gold jewelry on top of what I had selected.

Though I took the dress reluctantly knowing that I will be appraised by the other ladies since I had been acknowledged by Mahadevi sa as her niece but jewelry was a big no.

"Vasundhara I respect your feelings as you offer me so much more than I feel I deserve but I can't accept the gold jewelry. I have accepted the dress from you as your mother's respect and status is now linked with me too since she has declared me to be her niece to all. I have to keep her image up. I already have the silver jewelry that you had so generously shared with me, even without knowing me. But I will not wear something so expensive"

Vasundhara looked at me with a faint smile on her face and hugged me.

"Don't be silly sister. This is all nonsense, you talk about my generosity. I felt it in my heart that you were a good person so I offered it to you at that time. Now you are part of the family and so have equal right on all that belongs to me."

"Alright, "I said. "I will not talk all this nonsense from now onward but at least give me some time to adjust to all this newfound happiness and family. Even now I sometimes am in doubt whether it's reality or a dream."

I naturally couldn't share my fears with her that I might one day just vanish from their lives without rhyme or reason. I didn't want to take anything from all these generous people which might later make them consider me to be a thief. It didn't matter whether I would ever meet them again if I went back to my time, but I wanted them to have good memories of me.

She gave a silent nod of understanding towards me and her enthusiasm was back as she now focused on my makeup and hairdo. I couldn't help smile, with a blessing in my heart for such a beautiful soul. It took a lot to pull down Vasundhara's love for life.

I was surprised to see that the ladies had such extensive makeup items in this time period too. A maid had been sent by Mahadevi sa  to help us dress and also create a nice hairdo using different kinds of hair ornaments.

Gayatri soon joined us looking amazing too. She wore a bright fuchsia lehenga (long skirt) with a bright yellow kurti (blouse till the waist). Her odhni (veil) was of lehariaya print (stripes in tie and dye) using both the colors in combinations. Vasundhara wore a blue and yellow combination while I had been given blue and fuchsia combination to wear. It looked great with my silver jewelry as per 2015 fashion but that somewhat dimmed in comparison to all the bling I was surrounded by.

I observed as we reached the Suhaag Mandir above the Ganesh Pol(entrance to the palace) that the ladies no matter which time frame they belonged to always had the desire to outshine each other.