Saturday,
6th March
5:15 A.M.
I think it's going to take a long time for the fact that I am now married to sink in. It certainly hasn't established itself in the past seven hours. We've all gotten maybe two, three hours of sleep and we are to depart for home within another two hours so that we can be there by tomorrow night and get back to work the day after(which Abba is very anxious about ever since the massacre in the East two days ago).
The marriage was as grand an affair as I had expected it to be. Neither of us(us being Bhabhi, Bhaijaan and I) had expected for there to be anyone other than us from our side but we were wrong. I'd known, of course, that Abba had lived in this valley before the partition, and so had Ammi, but I suppose that fact had never manifested itself into flesh before now.
So many of the people that I've met today were a part of Abba's life before the partition, his college friends, his neighbours, we even have some family here that I've never met—Ammi's side of the family. They are her parents—my grandparents—and an uncle. My grandmother cried when she saw me. Everyone present only remembers me from when I was about a year old. And Abba looks so happy, so at home. I saw some of his old friends reminiscing about their exploits from when they were younger, and they sounded like memories of a different life. This is the sort of thing that fills you with wondrous amazement and a warm, happy feeling. It is surreal.
Sehmat and I have not had a chance to interact yet—having an entrounge of giggling girls around your bride is a little off-putting, if you'd believe it. I am more than a little lost about how I should approach her. I understand that this is probably as awkward for her as it is for me, maybe even more so. She has to leave behind her family, too...I am going to make the effort it takes to get her settled in. It's the least I can do.
Iqbal S.