Ever since my meeting with Mayank, I constantly wondered if I should speak to Rithvik or not. It wasn't that this was the first time I was thinking about telling Rithvik its just that I never had the courage to before it was put into words by someone else.
And so when I met Nina at our usual place I told her that I'd met Mayank. To which she obviously responded, "Oh, so you thought my idea of eloping is good, you just wanted to do it with a guy."
At that I just hit her with my hand on her head.
"What? I was just pointing out all the possibilities!"
"You and your imaginations Ninu!"
"You wish you had them, Aahana."
I just made a face at her. Then she said,"Seriously, though why did you meet him and how did it all go down?"
So for the next half and hour I described her everything how I texted, when we meet and everything after that.
"Its funny Ninu, at fifteen I had thought that he was the most perfect guy who had come into my life, not perfect, literally, but perfect for me. I had even thought about how wonderful our wedding would be and how beautiful our house would look. But now all of it seem as childish aspirations of the past and I'm glad that is the case, or I'd never have with Rithvik what I have today."
"Oh, I know Aahana! I've seen how happy you've been the past few months. You the gloomy child of darkness, is finally happy!"
"Yes but being happy gets me scared, makes me wonder how long will it last.Which reminds me, I need to tell Rithvik about my carrer plans."
"Aahana, are you seriously thinking about it? Then don't. Just concentrate on your marriage right now, let all the pieces fall into their place and then you can do whatever you want to. Don't ruin this for your sake."
But how would all the pieces fall into their place if one important piece was missing from my life?
I just nooded at her and she further continued speaking,"I know, Aahana, what being an independent woman means to you, but wait for it. It may eventually come to you."
I gave her an agreeing nod and talked for a little while after which I left for home.
***
At home, I was greeted by Supriya di and Kaushik bhai who'd arrived together as Kaushik bhaiya directly came to Mumbai from London at Supriya di's place and from there to Bangalore. They arrived a week earlier and their spouses would come on the wedding day.
I was so glad to see them though. Although they were my older cousins, I'd always thought of them as siblings since I'd lived with them for a really good time. Supriya di is seven years elder to me and Kaushik bhaiya is nine years elder to me. And so when I arrived the two of them took up to it to look after me in their own ways.
Supriya di was the one who'd take care of me. On days I wouldn't feel like eating, she'd feed me. Times I'd just cry on my pillow and wouldn't fall asleep, she'd be next to me. She'd take up my studies and she was the one I came running to when I had my first period.
On the other hand, Kaushik bhaiya would try to cheer me up by being a pain in the ass. He'd tease me constantly, and call me names at which I'd always get annoyed and yell at him, forgetting that he was much older than me. I didn't like it then but now I understand that he had done it simply because he wanted me to react to something. He'd fight with his father when need be, that is when he thought that he isn't providing for me. He didn't live in this house for very long after I moved in as he went to London to do his masters in engineering and settled there. But our relationship never strained.
And so both of them hugged me as they could and I hugged them back. Supriya di said, teary eyed, "I can't believe you're getting married, Aahana!"
Kaushik bhaiya who doesn't do well with tears said, "Ma, you're getting this pidi (small girl) married? She'll burn his food or she'll burn him some day!"
"Nice idea. I'll suggest it to Nupur bhabhi. Maybe she'll burn you down."
I was squealing in my mind, since I seldom won from bhaiya but on those rare occasions that came to me, I liked rubbing them on his face. We continued with our banter, after which maasi interrupted and told me to let them settle in, after which we went on to talk about our lives. I usually didn't prefer much company but theirs was always welcome.
"I haven't met Rithvik yet and I'll only approve once I have," she'd said it even before a lot of times and since her opinion mattered a lot, I was always scared of what would happen if she didn't. She had talked to Rithvik on phone plenty of times these past months, but never got to come up here and meet him because of her two four year olds. She always said talking and meeting a person is always different as it leaves more for observation.
At night, when Supriya di and I were alone, I told her all about Mayank and what he had said. She knew about Mayank and how things had gone down between us,so there wasn't much to explain to her.She told to go ahead and tell him about my plans.
"Aahana, I have had to change a lot after marriage, you know that. But that doesn't mean you stop climbing higher in life. Harshad and I both made compromises together to have the life that we do today. And I think its quite possible for you to do so to."
Supriya di was as bent on being something in life as I was. And today at the age of thirty she was a principal of a good school in Mumbai. And managed a house hold quite well to. I looked up to her a lot.
And so I took her word and pondered on telling Rithvik again.
***
Wedding functions were about to start and the house was filled with relatives and so were the neighbors houses, who had lent room for the ever incoming guests.
We were going to have a three day wedding, that is first two days we'd have wedding functions and the actual wedding on the third day.
Two functions, haldi and mehendi, were to be held in this house, in one day, and the rest at the wedding hall that we had rented, at the outskirts of the city. The guests from both the bride's side and groom's side were to live in rooms attached to the wedding hall.
So here I was, on the first day of my wedding, still undecided about talking to Rithvik. I didn't think I still could.
We had haldi in the morning and everyone was prepared to colour each other with turmeric and had worn the old clothes so that they could have fun without worrying about it. All my friends had arrived and all of them congratulated me while applying turmeric.
There was a lot of chaos too in the house, as it is complimentary with a wedding. There was no electricity in the house, which usually didn't happen. Some kid had fallen sick, another was crying, some old lady was spreading gossip about some scandal, some aunty was trying two pair another two people, I'd say nothing out of ordinary, it being a wedding.
Haldi was fun, after which everyone tried to get hold of a bathroom to take a bath, since the rest were busy. But since I was the bride, there was a bathroom which only I'd use and nobody else and so I didn't have to get into petty quarrels regarding that.
In the evening we had mehendi after which the groom and his friends would come and search for his name in my Mehendi, which was more like searching his scattered letters in my hand and would take a while.
My mehendi was fun, my friends all started dancing and singing while the lady was putting mehendi on my hand. Nina got a tiara for me and apurva clicked pictures of me in different styles.
And finally he arrived with a bunch of his friends, and I took a deep breath in. My heart previously filled with happiness was now captured by a different tingling feeling and in that moment I decided I'll not leave a stone unturned to complete it.
He and his friends occupied one side of the room and mine occupied the other.After a banter between the two sides Rithvik finally placed my hand in his and started searching for his alphabets. There was some hooting at that point from the audience but I didn't really care. There was an amount to be payed by the grooms side for getting to see his name in my hand and while they were quarreling about it I silently requested Nina and one of his friends Saurabh to leave us alone for a minute.
And as we sat alone there, I began to gather courage to tell him.
"Oh, you just want to have me all by yourself, don't you," he said while putting both his hands around me and pulling me in.
I just lifted my chin, looked at him and said, "Oh, you crazy guy, now will you just listen to me for a minute?"
Then, I took deep breath in and began telling him all about my wanting to change my career and explore other options, my misgivings about his mother at which he gravely nodded.
Then I finally told him about my meeting with Mayank, about whom he had known before and had said that it didn't matter to him. Yet after his name came up and I spoke about everything, he suddenly got up and stromed off without saying a word.
Author's Note:
Hey fellas!
I know I've been gone on a long time. But I couldn't help it since I had a lot to study and then later I had exams. But thanks for patiently waiting for this story to be complete.
And how did you guys like the cliffhanger? Please don't kill me for it as it was important. But let me know what you guys think will happen further!
Also, a lot of new Indian terms are added, they mean :
Bhabhi:a sister in law
Haldi:a wedding custom where the bride and groom have turmeric applied on them.
Thanks for reading the chapter. Please don't hesitate to vote or comment!