Chapter 9:
The wedding preparations began in full swing at both the houses. They planned a low-key typical Bengali wedding. Everyone was really happy and wedding was to happen in a week so everyone got very busy in making arrangement like booking a proper hall for the wedding, planning events for every pre-wedding ceremony. The Shenoy’s convinced Kathy’s family about the marriage very easily but it was tough to convince Kathy. She demanded explanation and was really furious too.
“What is going on? What are you people talking about?” Kathy asked Ronnie’s parents when she first saw them at her place on that day. She made sure her parents weren’t around when she asked that.
“What?” Mr. Narinder asked her and she made a face.
“Why do you want me to marry Mr. Shenoy? Why did you come here in the first place? Why?” she demanded an answer.
“Why won’t you marry Ronnie? He is rich, handsome and famous. What else do you need?” Mr. Shenoy answered and she looked at him with disbelief.
“Oh you think you’ll show me money and I’ll dance on your tune? Oh just dream on! I’m not marrying him, not in a hundred years, you get that? You can’t force me!” Kathy yelled at the three of them, not believing that her idol was so cold-hearted right now. Ronnie was really impressed with Kathy right now as she stood against people who he almost despised.
“Calm down, Ms. Dutta and I’m sorry about Mr. Shenoy’s behavior! It’s just that the things haven’t really been good these days. Ever since the day when those pictures were shown in front of all those people, a lot of things are being said about you, about Ronnie, about our company. The company’s reputation is at stake and we tried to keep those images away from media scrutiny for quite some time but there are chances that it may be shown on TV. This will really make things worse for us and for you too! How will your family react to this? How will they leave their house without the fear of getting humiliated? You didn’t want them to know about what happened to you in the office that day, about those incidents but now there are chances that the whole city will know about this. What will you do then?” Mrs. Shenoy stepped forward and took control of situation and tried to make Kathy understand showing motherly concern. Ronnie let out a small groan seeing that his parents made her believe them once again.
“But this will spoil our lives. You think we both will be happy after this? How will we spend our life with each other when we don’t even know anything about each other? When we don’t love each other? In fact, we can’t even stand each other or make normal conversations! Mr. Ronnie, why did you agree to marry me?” Kathy asked when she thought about the entire explanation Mrs. Shenoy gave. Ronnie stared at Kathy with wide eyes when Kathy said all those things. He did not really thing about all these things. It was like he’d become a robot and was functioned to do everything that his parents asked. Mrs. Patel had convinced him to do this and help in improving Kathy’s image in front of everyone and that’s the only reason he agreed to marry her.
“You will fall in love; you’ll know each other better after every passing day! Give it a try at least! Okay, make it like you marry him now and umm…stay together for a year and try to know each other more and more and if you still don’t feel like staying together just end your marriage! Sign a contract for now if you want to, fair enough?” Mr. Shenoy asked her with a pleading look on his face and Kathy thought about it. Ronnie just shook his head with disbelief. His dad crossed all his limits today. Not once he asked Ronnie about how he felt, what he wanted, what turn his life will take after this contractual wedding! Ronnie got irritated now.
“Just say yes, we’ll break this relation after a year! I’ll make sure you get a good reason to leave me! Don’t over think things and waste so much time!” Ronnie said with a bored expression on his face. The only thing he enjoyed was being around Kathy family and friends as they gave him so much attention, love and respect. It made him feel like a part of family and he experienced how it is like to be a part of a family, he saw how a family is actually. Ever since the Holi celebrations, he looked forward to meet them all.
“Ronnie, shut up!” Mrs. Shenoy gave him a look and he just rolled his eyes.
“Mr. Shenoy, I hope you don’t irritate me like this throughout the year!” Kathy asked Ronnie and he raised his eyebrows at her.
“I’m ready to marry you. I’ll give it a try! But make sure you all don’t say it about this contract thing in front of my loved ones!” Kathy said.
“Fine! Great, let’s get going and start preparing things. We have a week left!” Mr. Shenoy said and everyone moved out.
Kathy thought about all this and finally accepted that this was her life and she had to fight all the troubles on her own. Both the families started with the preparation and everyone was so happy with it. There were so many people around; her house was filled with relatives and friends. Kathy and Ronnie were both smiling genuinely, though there were times when her relatives pushed the two of them into each other, teased them and made them a little uncomfortable. But now had Kathy gathered herself and with a hope and determination she started living life with a new confidence, smile and her ‘bubliness’
“You’re glowing! We found your old bubbly self back now. Why didn’t you tell us about all this before?” her friends asked, circling her and she cleared her throat and thought of some excuse.
“I was really busy then and I wanted to tell you all in person!” Kathy told them, feeling proud of her reply.
“Why did you look like a depressed soul then?” Monish asked concern written all over his face, Kathy avoided looking at him.
“Being with Mr. Shenoy is never easy!” she said winking at her friends and shifting her weight from one foot to another.
“You know, you’re past ‘Mr. Shenoy – Ms. Dutta’ phase now!” her friends laughed at her and she only smiled.
“What are you guys laughing at?” Ronnie asked them as he joined the gang and stood next to Kathy with his hands around her shoulders. Kathy stiffened at his touch and Ronnie noticed that. He only laughed at the fact that he made her uncomfortable.
“You two are so adorable!” one of her friends commented.
“We were only teasing her, I hope you don’t mind!” another friend added
“But I mind that! And I think my parents called you guys to help them so instead of sitting here and teasing me just go and help them.” Kathy said and moved a little away from Ronnie. He just gave her a blank look.
“Yeah-yeah, you need alone time with him now. We understand, we’ll leave now and won’t disturb you! But please don’t get naughty. You are getting married in like 5 days, you both can do whatever you want to after that!” a friend nudged and then they walked away. Both Ronnie and Kathy got a little uncomfortable at this.
“Mr. Shenoy, don’t even try anything with me after we get married!” Kathy warned him.
“Oh please, you’re not my type!” he answered her.
“Yeah, that’s why you can’t keep your hands off of me!” Kathy said.
“You know, we’re getting married and we can’t stay like we did in the office! I’m only acting!” Ronnie explained.
“You’re such an actor!” Kathy said and walked away.
Every day there were ceremonies that keep everyone occupied. It began with the very first ceremony called the ‘Dodhi Mangal’ ceremony where both Ronnie and Kathy were fed a mixture of sweets, curd and khoi as they had to fast for the entire day after that. The ladies from both the families then went to a nearby river to get holy water for other rituals. Next they began with a ‘Sangeet (music / dance) Ceremony’ and Kathy’s friends, cousins and a few other relatives performed on various Hindi dance numbers and a skit too. Many songs ranging from ‘Mehendi laga ke rakhna’ to ‘Saajan chi gahr aye’ were performed. They made Kathy and Ronnie dance on a few songs too. Kathy loved dancing and was good at it but she was really surprised to see Ronnie dance fairly well which was so unlike his personality. Everyone thought they were very cute together and their dance was also a decent one and so romantic. And in the last slow romantic song, Ronnie put his hand around her waist and her hands were around his shoulders. They both looked so good together and everyone except them believed that they were ‘in love’ with each other.
There was a ‘Mehendi (Henna) Ceremony’ on the next day and Kathy’s hands were now filled with mehendi designs. Many other ladies got their hands designed with mehendis too. The atmosphere was filled with so much excitement; there was so much noise around and happiness too. She saw her parents trying to make her marriage perfect and were running here and there to get all the things that they’d need in all the ceremonies. Tears fell from her eyes now because this wedding was only a contract but their feelings, the emotions attached to this wedding, everything was real. Her mother noticed and tears and sat with her daughter. They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“Every girl gets married and leaves her family behind. This is how our society works. Every girl has to go to a new house, live with her husband, her in-laws and make sure that she looks after all of them, their house; ensure everyone is happy. I’m so glad that you’re getting married to a guy you love so much. Not every girl is so lucky!” her mom said breaking silence between them. She thought that Kathy was sad about leaving them and going to a new place. Sure she was sad about leaving her parents but she couldn’t tell her parents the real reason behind her tears. Her mom wiped her tears.
“Mom, won’t you miss me?” she asked her mother with teary eyes.
“Of course I’ll miss my princess! How can I not miss you darling? I gave you birth, I’ve looked after you and made sure that nothing can harm you, I’ve tried to protect you from any trouble that might come near you! I’ve seen you grow this big in front of me. I remember the first time I took you in my hands, you were so delicate and it frightened me that I’ll drop you or hurt you in some way. I remember the first time you said “Mamma” in your cute baby voice, I remember the day when you tried to walk, the way you wrapped your little fingers around my big fingers and tried walking. I stayed up all night when you weren’t well. Of course I’ll miss my little daughter and worry about her because no matter how old you get, you’ll always a like little daughter to me!” her mom said through her tears and even Kathy started sobbing now.
“I’ll miss you too mom!” Kathy said through her tears and hugged her mom tightly.
The next day, it was ‘Haldi (Turmeric) Ceremony’ where people the relatives came one after one and applied a paste of haldi on both the bride and grooms face, hands and legs. It was meant to purify skin and give a glow on their faces. Everyone went there and teased them about staying away from each other until marriage. Ronnie wore an old t-shirt in this ceremony as he knew it would only get spoiled by ceremonies like this and he was right. Kathy’s friends went there to apply haldi on Ronnie’s arms and while doing this they actually tore his shirt purposely and gaped at his well toned body.
“Sure, Kathy fell for this!” someone commented and Ronnie was beyond embarrassed but laughed with all of them.
A few hours to go and everything will change for both of them. Ronnie will no longer be a bachelor. And for Kathy, everything will change from her house to relations to even her name. Yes, she’ll now be Mrs. Kathy Shenoy in a few hours. Hours went on and both of them were really nervous even though they didn’t want this marriage. They could feel the tension and nervousness building inside them. Their relatives ran here and there, arranged a lot of things, and performed many rituals which Kathy or Ronnie hardly understood. . Their wedding grabbed a lot of attention and a lot of people from media world, business world came to the wedding. Mrs. Dutta sent Ronnie a pair of dhoti, a silk shawl, a topor (head dress made of pith and zari) and Ronnie had to wear that as a part of the ritual. Kathy wore a nice white sari with red designs and embroidery. She wore a nice chic gold jewelry round her neck, wrists and ears. Ronnie sat around the mandap while the pandit chanted ‘mantras’ and everyone around fooled around, talked and witnessed the wedding. Much later, Kathy was called in and was seated next to Ronnie. Ronnie stared at Kathy from the moment her brothers and uncle got her to the mandap till the time she sat next to him. She looked really pretty and Ronnie forgot about how she irritated him, how they fought or how they disliked each other. He knew she was the only reason why he got married and he really wanted her to disappear but sometimes something happened to him and he would become like he was at the time of the wedding. Kathy’s parents came forward to do ‘Kanyadaan (giving away their daughter)’ and then soon, they were asked to stand up and take ‘Pheras (circle around the fire)’ and take seven vows of marriage in front of the ‘Agni (fire)’. Then he tied a Mangalsutra Necklace around her neck and then put a ‘Sindoor’ on her head. They were finally married then and her relative cried during the ‘Bidaai (where her parents send her away to her in-laws house)’ Kathy left her house to start a new life!
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