Ashtami puja
" sixty.....enough for the crowd sitting outside " said puja counting the thalis of prasad she have to distribute. " should I open that box of sweets or its going to be alright for now. " asked sahara who is busily preparing Thalis.
" It will do for now , thank you , you guys are such help. " said sanjana whipping her sweats with her veil. " Its nothing bhabi , we really like working for puja , and durga puja is my favorite. " said Khushi with a smile.
" All right girls , we have to go near the puja pandal and I have something special for Khushi and Sahara. Since I gave my bhabi's matching saree for the occasion , I gave you same so that we can all match together. " said Trishna bringing saree and jewellery with her.
" Here you go Khushi and I think the color will suit you very much and for sahara I have same saree but not with kumkum ( sacred red vermin wore by wedded women ) since you are not my sister-in- law...yet. " said Trishna and than handed her the gift.
" For wearing kumkum you need to marry my devar ( brother in law ) first my dear. " teased Trishna again. " You are so naughty bhabi. " said sahara pinching her lightly on her arm.
" I will complain to devarji ( brother-in-law) about it sister-in-law " she said laughed and Sahara hid her face on her hands , trying to avoid the curious glances from others cause she knows that Trishna caught her red handed.
Her statement got everyone curious and that made sahara color very hard. " sister-in-law you say....really but how ? " asked puja .
" Yes , even I am curious how its going to be ? Explain us. " demand sanjana.
" well , our sweetheart is in love with my devar ( brother-in-law ) samrat and they will marry soon , thus we shall have a sweet sister-in-law. " said Trishna and everyone clapped happily.
" I was thanking her for working here but looks like she is just working in her house. Staying in in -laws house before marriage , how lucky , seems like our family is going to expand. We are so happy sister. " said puja and Sahara hid her face in Trishna's veil making others laugh hard.
" Alright , I have a saree for Nia too.. Where is she ? " asked Trishna. " you really have to entertain miss high ? " asked sahara making a funny face. " she is our guest and we believe in ' Aithi devo bhava ( Guests are equal to god ) and we must keep our family name intact. Can't ruin it for some girl who can't handle her tounge but we can handle her. so if you see her on the way please give her this saree. " she said handing sahara the saree she brought for Nia.
" Now , hurry up panditji is calling , he wants the bhog in the pandal in fifteen minutes. " said Trishna's mother-in-law and all of them started to rush. Trishna helped others with works. Than they all arranged to take Anjali ( part of puja where people after reciting verses from holy book offer flower to the Deity ).
Panditji busily provided everyone flower and than everyone chanted mantras with him and prayed to maa durga. Little purvi stood with her mother with her little hands folded , she couldn't understand the Sanskrit mantras but said them anyway.
After all the rituals it was time for them to eat. That's Trishna's favourite part cause she has not eaten anything all morning cause she was busy and now she can eat . Nia sat at a corner chatting on her phone not bothering to even talk with anyone. Trishna didn't mind her much and kept doing her work.
" oh my god ! You guys literally look like students of some school with boring uniform on , like why would you wear the same thing ? , if you needed some fashion tips you could have asked me" she said . ' And just how sankalpa liked her previously ' that's all Trishna could think about.
" We are wearing this dress cause saree is our traditional dress and we are a family so we are matching..... Its okay if you didn't understand this little thing, we don't mind. " said puja and all cheered for her in their mind for calling Nia ' dumb ' in such a charming way .
" Alright everyone sit , we are going to have our lunch, and trust me you will love the ashtami bhog. " said sanjana, whole family sat together to have lunch. Trishna was going to serve but puja made her sit to eat cause she knows how much Trishna loves to eat.
Trishna's mouth watered when she saw her favourite fish , dal , sweets papad , chatni has been served. She is a strong non - vegetarian who had to eat vegetarian food for few days , so the sight of fish made her too happy.
" yuck ! Fish...they are too smelly and look at the dishes too oily and spicy .....my diet is ruined. And who eats that much sweet oh god. " said Nia looking at her dish . Everyone who were eating just gave a cold glance to sankalpa. Sankalpa felt everyone's eyes on him and thought it would be wise to talk and stop this daily drama.
" Fish is widely loved by bengali people and Hilsha fish is our pride. I guess you didn't have proper bengali thali before that's why you don't know..... Its okay you don't have to eat that if you don't like and I understand it would be quite uncomfortable for you to eat here so you can just rest in your room , I will make someone send you food. " Said sankalpa .
He turned towards a servant and told " Prepare veg food and salad and send it in Nia mam' s room. " Nia left them and soon the party started eating happily. Trishna helped purvi and her siblings eat food and eat happily.
Nia didn't appeared the entire afternoon. All the ladies sat together gossiping among themselves and teasing sahara about the upcoming marriage .
Evening Arati
All the ladies and men got ready for the evening Arati. Panditji took hold of the lamp and started dancing it with the rhythm of the drums. Their was a divine atmosphere around the pandal.
Every couple did the Arati together , sankalpa and Trishna stood together for the Arati. They took the lamp and showed it to maa durga, Trishna after so many years of loneliness from her previous life finally was in peace. She thanked maa durga for this new life dearly.
After the Arati their was a ' Dhak competition ' people from different villages came to participate. The dhakis played nicely and everyone danced with them. Purvi danced with her siblings , Trishna with her sister - in -laws .
Trishna danced with her heart and enjoyed fully . Nia who was enclosed in her room peeped outside for sometimes and her eyes burned to see Trishna with sankalpa. She ....the real Trishna who never got love from this family and that husband of her can't digest to see them all happy.
She did all to leave the body she was in and be on some nice body to persuade her love for Kabir. She read many texts and finally learned that art and left her body and during that process another soul took over her former body. She didn't mind at first but now she does mind.
She faced a cruel reality about Kabir being a total flirt and from that time she wanted to be back with sankalpa but saw another person filled in , in her absence. ' I know all your weakness and I know how to destroy you dear ' she thought and took her phone out and told " Hello ! Kabir.."
Authors Note :
If you are confused about the new characters than let me help you understand.
Arnav and Khushi are from ' Accidental marriage' they are good friends of samrat.
Samrat and Sahara , are also from ' Accidental marriage ' and Samrat is sankalpa's brother.
This two stories are interlinked and they will just come and go and have fun. Hope you are not confused anymore.
DumoJamabo , MissKirai92 thank you so much for your support and others those who support me in my stories thank you so much. Your support means a lot to me .
Thank you ♥.
Another special Note :
One request for the writers who are reading my story. Please give your romantic story the tag of #wohapnasa , I used it but very less people uses that tag. If you use than my other stories will also have readers. Thank you ♥.