Neha's pov:
Time flies so faster ; That too when we are in love , I feel that time is running much faster than usual. It seems just like yesterday that I met Arjun , but our journey has come a long way ;
We befriended each other, we fell in love , we made memories, we got engaged . Just too fast !!
Our wedding -the next step in our relationship is not that far. Just three more days are left for our big day. Though it brings in a blissful feeling , at times I feel a bit emotional thinking about the past.
The future which I had been worrying all these years after the loss of my parents had become a complete topsy turvy since the day Arjun came into my life. Like any other girl I too had lots of dreams about my future husband.
Like a blessing , Arjun is the one who came straight out of my dreams . He is the best thing that happened in my life. Thinking of him takes me back to the best days in our journey of love .
Arjun himself is a man of surprises and he never fails to give surprises. From the day we met our journey has been wrapped up only with surprises. I vow a lifetime to Arjun for being the soul to my life. Our first meet ; his sweet proposal ; our birthdays ; when he reunited me with my family ; so many wonderful surprises .And I am pretty much sure that he will never stop giving surprises.
Not to forget our engagement which was yet another memorable day in our life . Reminiscing that finest day reminds how dazed I was at that time. I was completely blown away by that surprise from Arjun . The best of all I could say.
That was a fine November morning when I returned from Mumbai almost after almost three months.
I was super excited to meet Arjun after nearly two months . In the middle once Arjun had visited Mumbai on his birthday . Even at that time he insisted me to come back to Chennai along with him. But I didn't go.
I got more excited like a kid ,as the plane landed at Chennai airport .After bagging out my luggages from the counter, I strode faster towards the exit to meet my man. The enthusiasm of meeting Arjun knew know bounds . That feeling was totally a bliss . My eyes roamed around the place to see my love .
Like a lost puppy I walked around the arena searching for him , but he was found no where .
As I walked out of the airport , my eyes still roamed around the place scanning all the bikes around with a hope to see him on his ducati waiting for me.
Only then a man in his late forties came running towards me informing ,"Arjun sir has sent me to pick up you ".
Out of disappointment that Arjun was not here to pick me up , I loaded the luggages into the car and took the back seat. As the car went through the tall buildings on both the sides , I sat silently watching through the windows. Thinking that in a split second my excitement had gone away , a drop of saline liquid fell from orbs wetting my cheeks.
As the car drove through the heavy traffic , my sadness was turning into fury. My nose turned red in angry flakes ,
"How come he had no urge to see me ??, Am I the only one who thinks about him all the time ?, Am not going to talk to you Arjun !" , I was frowning and groaning to myself thinking about his stupidity.
I came back to my senses when the car halted . "Anna why did you stop here?", I asked him as I found that it wasn't my home , the car has been parked in front of a 5-star hotel.
While I heeded for his answer , some one opened the door of the car .
Surprised at the sight of Arjun's mom there , I descended down the car. She pulled me for a warm hug planting a kiss on my forehead. That's when I noticed so many familiar faces around the place.
Unaware of what's happening around me , I was about to put forth the question to her . Without letting me speak , she pulled me inside in a hurry.
On reaching the insides of a banquet hall in the hotel, I saw that the whole place was decorated in a ethnic way with flowers and glitters. I was awestruck at the sight of the inscriptions
"Engagement ceremony
Arjun & Neha"
I couldn't believe my eyes. Without making me think too much she took me inside to dress up.
She gave me a beautiful peacock green silk saree. As I struggled to drape the saree ,she laughed and helped me wear it. She herself groomed me with a few matching jewellery and put on a little make up. All the while I kept on nudging her about these plans. But she didn't give a proper reply. She was hastily grooming up me. Once everything was over , she took me inside the hall.
On the way to the stage , my eyes searched only for Arjun ,the master of all these plans . But he was no where to be seen. This damn guy was playing hide and seek. Though all my anger was gone in the air ,I couldn't stop myself from frowning as I was losing my patience to meet him. My eyes kept on scanning the place to find him.
Out of nowhere a man in a black suit stood before me . I was stilled to see the tall , hot macho smart man standing right before me .
"Shall we move beautiful ?",he asked lending out his hands.
Without my permission my lips widened into a rich joyous smile. As words jammed in my throat ,I just nodded in acceptance placing my hands in his largish palm .
Holding my hands ,he walked through the asile. Extreme happiness stormed my heart as I stood next to him filled in overflowing joy . Out of curiosity I silently gossiped in his ears ," Why didn't you tell me before ?".
"Surprise ", he winked with a broad grin.
Pacing forward greeting the people around us with a euphoric smile ,he whispered something into my ears which left me stunned," If I had told you before, I would have missed your beautiful reactions . It was lovely seeing you frown when I didn't come to the airport and smile when you came to know that it was our engagement "
"Arjun, you saw everything ,but how?", I murmered, my eyes still wide open in shock.
"I have my ways my beautiful!,See even now that amazement in your eyes , I love that when your eyes twinkle in daze.", he shot back those words which were enough to make me smile ecstatically .
We exchanged our wedding rings infront of the guests who took part in our happiness.
Being lost in those jubliant train of memories that happened on our engagement , "NEHAAA", I heard my aunt scream.
"Huhhh..Huhhh. ye..yess aunty", I stammered twirling aside to see her.
"Neha!!, Look, who has come to see you", my aunt uttered in her feeble tone. I saw her walking towards my room with someone.
"ABHAY", I screamed in joy looking at my best friend. Its almost after an year I am seeing this bastard.
"Aunty I just came to give away this , not to see her ", he frowned looking away from my face giving a parcel to my aunt.
Just before an week he came back from US . As I was not allowed to go out of the house after a few wedding rituals I couldn't meet him in person. Also the fact that after my engagement I was staying with my dad's family ,the mission to meet him become quite impossible. Arjun had already warned me that he was super angry as he came to know everything about our wedding. Seems , he had been mad at Arjun as well as their mom too. Now it was my turn to face his wrath .
Like a saviour my aunt lightened the situation, "You kids are never going to stop these silly fights . Better finish your fight soon and come for lunch ",she taunted us and left the room.
To ease his mood , I started the conversation ," Bebo...",I hummed in a husky tone.
"Don't ever open your mouth ,I might even kill you (kolaveri la iruken, odiru!!) ", he snarled.
He doesn't even knows to be angry. Controlling my laughs on hearing his so called terrific dialouge ,I said, "I know you can't do that to your bestie ", pouting my lips giving a poor baby like (appavi*) look.
"You even remember that I am your bestie ?",he furrowed his brows giving an angry glare .
"Dei , Dei ....Stop over acting ", I uttered marching towards his direction , raising my hands to beat him.
"You cant even touch me ",he shouted running away from my sight .
"Let me see that too ",I challenged and started chasing him.
After a few minutes of hitting and chasing each other ,he finally stopped , "Okay I give up!!", standing infront of the dinning table .
"You will never change da ", I said chortling as he inhaled the aroma of the yummy food before him .
"Someone was angry this much time ?", I asked him with a crooked smirk to tease him as he was busy munching the food.
"You are forgiven for now , Let's continue after food !", he said which made me laugh again madly. That he is !! His craziness is what that bond us together as besties.
_______________________________________
The next two days went in a jiff with a lot of wedding rituals at both our homes. At first both our family members had disagreements with the marriage customs ,whether it should be an authentic Hindu wedding or an grand Church wedding ?.
After a bit of cold arguments , my grandpa agreed for the marriage to be held by Arjun's custom.
Since it was an Hindu wedding ,there were lots of procedures and customs .One among them was , I wasn't allowed to meet Arjun for the past three days. Though we talked through phone , that literally sucked .
One more reason for my anger is we were not able to spend our first new year night together . Since our wedding date was also on the same morning , we were given a red card to meet for new year night celebrations. So we just wished happy new year through phone.
After that bright and sound night of December 31st with overwhelming new year wishes and the sound of bursting crackers , the new year bloomed .
2017 had blossomed with new ray of hopes. And today we are getting married . Gifted we are to celebrate the new year in the forth coming years with double happiness.
Grooming up myself in the engagement saree (which is a south Indian custom to wear engagement saree before wedding)I was ready to leave my home to the wedding hall .
After praying before my parents portrait ;their blessings would be always with us , I was taken by my relatives to the wedding hall.
Though it was winter outside , the wedding hall was decorated in the effect of spring . I turned around beaming my eyes wide , to see those beautiful roses in red and white . The whole place was beautifully decorated in a red and white theme.
The south indian shennai -popularly called the nadhaswaram*(traditional musical instrument) played the wedding notes spreading the aroma of music everywhere around the hall.
My eyes scanned Arjun who was sitting in front of the fire (agni*) in a white silk veshti* and shirt. I couldn't take away my eyes from him .But he didn't notice my presence ,He was quite busy performing the wedding rituals.
In a few seconds ,the priest announced , "bring the bride to the stage ".Soon I was escorted by my aunts to the stage and I was made to sit near Arjun.
The priest proceeded with the Ganesh pooja* That was an Indian tradition of begining a good thing with a prayer to lord ganesha. After that he began the marriage rituals. Chanting a few mantras , he asked me and Arjun to exchange the garlands. In Indian tradition the exchange of garlands symbolises the unification of two souls into one. We exchanged our garlands as the priest continued his mantras. After a few minutes of chants , Arjun's parents handed me the bridal silk saree* (Muhurtha saree) .
I was taken inside the bride's room to change to my bridal saree. In a haste they draped that beautiful red silk saree giving me a feminine touch. I looked totally different with those big jumkhas adorning my ears and lot more gold ornaments . I was really worried now ,whether Arjun would like me in this new avatar.
After a light touch up ,again I was taken back to the stage and made to sit in front of the agni next to Arjun.
He slightly leaned to my side in such a way hitching my shoulder , when I twirled my head towards him , he winked his eyes with a naughty grin . My brows knitted together in a what-Arjun ? kind of look.
" You look like a princess my love ",he whispered into my ears making be blush.
"As always ,you look like a prince charming ", I murmered as I pouted my lips into kissing gesture. His eyes widened seeing my gesture and this time I winked my eyes with a naughty smile.
Thank God putting an end to our naughtiness , the priest handed the thali*( Wedding chain) to Arjun and asked him to tie the knot . As he brought it closer to my neck , the Nadaswaram drums( musical instruments) were beaten louder and faster.
The first two knots were tied by Arjun, and the last knot by one of his sister making me a part of his family.
After that the priest asked Arjun to hold my hands. As he did the same ,the priest asked us to circle around the agni*(fire) to make our marriage complete.
Holding my hand carefully in his own , he lead me around the fire (agni) . We went around the agni seven times promising to be the best companions by understanding each other with more of love and friendship . Both of us promised to be each other's strength during the good and the bad times. We promised to share our life ,and live happily for the rest of our life with immense love for each other .
After that it was time to get blessings from the elders . First it was my grandpa ,following that we got blessings from Arjun's parents ,they seemed to be more happy than us. One by one we got blessings from few elders present there.
After all the customs now it was time to leave to Arjun's place . I have to take leave of my home and enter into the new home with a new responsibility as a daughter in law. I was a bit tensed .But all the way to our home in car , Arjun comforted me.
As we reached his home ; sorry our home; that's how Arjun asked me to say; No mines ,its only ours , his mom took Aarti*(South Indian tradition of welcoming couples after marriage) for us and greeted us to step inside our home by our right leg.
As we did so ,this Abhay came running from a corner and clicked a picture of us .
Arjun's mom yelled at Abhay telling ," Dei go away with your phone , let your anni* come in".
"What ........Anni *??",he screamed widely opening his mouth .
"What ?, Here after you should address Neha as anni only, Got it my son?? ",my mother in law teased him.I couldn't hide my laughter seeing that ugly expression on my friend's face.
"No way ,am calling this lazy rabbit as anni !! Ayoh!!! , too much to take in pa , am running out of this place", he commented running upstairs to his room.We all laughed hearing what he said.
There were few more rituals left for the day at our home ,as it went on ,we didn't even have time to rest . Not only that I couldn't speak to Arjun propely. I couldn't express how I felt complete. I wanted to give him a tight hug and tell him how much I love him. But we were not able to do anything , we just had to follow the orders of elders. That's what a Indian wedding is. Too much of rituals !!
We could'nt rest at all , in the evening my grandpa had arranged for a small prayer at Church ,so we had to go there. It was almost 8 p.m when we came back home. After completing our dinners , Arjun got settled in his room , but poor me was not allowed to accompany him .
All the elders in the house were giving lectures on how to adjust with your husband and make your marriage life successful. As I couldn't run away fron the place , I calmly listened to them.
Somehow Arjun's mom saved me from them and signalled me to leave. I smiled in pleasure such a way to thank her and left for our room.
Seeing me Arjun sauntered towards me , "God ,finally you are here , First day itself you are making me wait ,this is not at all fair Mrs.Arjun ",he said lifting me up from the floor in his hands and carried me to the bed in bridal style. The bed had beautiful flowers all over it and a sweet smell hung in the air. There were small candles everywhere.
As he laid me on the bed, I tugged my hands around his neck ,"You will not regret this wait my dear husband ", I said poking his nose with mine .
"Oh my god , Is that really my wife ?", he asked listening to my naughty words.
" Yes, my dear husband ", I taunted him winking my eyes.
Drewing me more closer towards him , he wrapped his arms around me. I felt jittery , as I felt his hot breathe down my neck..
"Arjunnn...", I moaned at the graze of his moist lips over the crook of my neck.
Hearing my faint voice , he looked at me with glimmering love in his eyes ,"Baby , you need time for this ??", he inquired with gentleness.
No wonder he is a gem .
I looked straight into his eyes and answered to his doubtful query , "Am all yours Arjun !", There is no point of fear, when I have you with me".
His lips curled into a honest smile hearing my answer. His eyes revealed what he wanted to say. Even words can't express that feeling.
With one hand caressing my hair , cupping my face with the other , he slowly drew me to his lips. My heart flattered as he kissed me softly . I tangled my hands around his neck as we deepened the kiss. I totally got lost myself in him. I could feel hotness spread all over me as he pulled me much closer to him that I could feel the bang of his heart beats over my chest.
It was magical , we got connected not only through our souls , our intimacy grew as we made love. The knot of wedding I tied with him became the strongest knot of my life with unending love and undying compassion as we consummated our marriage.