There are certain days and occasions which are significant and important in any person's life. For a woman, it's believed that the day she gets married and the day she becomes a mother are two such occasions. When a woman becomes a bride, she embraces pain and happiness, confidence and nervousness together. Pain at parting from her home, from her parents, happiness at entering a new world, confidence on herself and
nervousness at what her new life would bring her. With each ornament that she pulls up on her body and which adds to her beauty, she marks the day her world transformed. A woman is the most beautiful when she becomes a bride it's believed. And it holds true even when the bride is like her.
Draped in a cotton red-green saree with two necklaces - one long and one short around her neck, her hairs tied in a half pony with fresh gajra adorning it, two simple jhumkas hanging from her ears and set of red-green bangles adorning her wrists, she sat infront of the mirror, her face devoid of any emotion. Her mother tearfully placed a bindi on her forehead and tied anklets around her feet after adorning them with alta. She then made a few simple patterns on her hand with the alta and finally placed the veil over her.
Meethi's heart ached at the sight of her child. She looked dead, sitting infront of the mirror devoid of any emotion. And maybe she was! She wouldn't have felt this helpless than she was feeling now, seeing her daughter being pushed into an alliance she knew she would never get any love in. Her heart ached for the man as well as the woman he loved in the city. They dint deserve this, none of them did! But she was helpless. She couldn't do anything. If only Satyakam was here! If only!
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As she walked towards the mandap, all she could remember was her failure. Her failure at procuring the mobile thus marking her failure in protecting both their lives from destruction. She had announced that so that she could get enough time to procure a mobile but all credits to her Nakli Nani, she couldn't for she had locked her in the room. And that's when all her tears dried up within her, leaving all those unshed tears akin to scars on her soul. Burning with fever yet holding onto her consciousness due to the fear of losing him still lingering within her, she reached the mandap and sat down next to him. He did not once look towards her neither did she. But she knew, despite her own turmoil what he must be feeling. She had failed him and this is the punishment they shall be getting for her mistake!
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He sat at the mandap, unshed tears and anger filled in his pools. The sound of anklets and the clamour of bangles indicated him of her arrival but he did not turn or look towards her for he was afraid with the amount of hatred and anger he was feeling at her, he would do something he shouldn't.
After she had announced her decision, they had forcefully locked him in the hut. That's when her Nani had come to meet him and threatened him that if he wouldn't complete this marriage, Malini's life would be in danger. He was left shocked at this because except Imlie, no one knew about Malini! As if answering his doubts, she had told him that Imlie had told him all leaving him enraged and betrayed.
In his anger, he hadn't noticed Dulari smirk and thus believed in whatever she had told him despite his heart voicing it's disapproval.
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He filled her parting with sindoor without looking at her. And that's how he tied the mangalsutra as well. He just did not look at her even once. If only he had, he would have understood what she was actually feeling and facing.
With each ritual of marriage, she felt her fever cloud her mind but she held on. She held on with all her being. With great difficulty, she completed the rituals. Him not looking at her even once just hurt her more. After all of it was done, she literally ran into her mother's embrace, trying to seek some comfort.
Feeling Imlie's body burn with heat, Meethi tried to part from the hug but was pulled back by Imlie.
"No Amma! Not now! I don't want to be here for even one second. Don't worry, nothing will happen to me. It's just normal fever. And this is nothing compared to what I'm feeling inside. I'm afraid if I stay here for some more time, it will be forgiving all of them here for doing this injustice and for insulting my husband when he wasn't at all at fault"
Imlie whispered into Meethi's ear, her voice shaking.
Meethi rubbed her hairs, closing her eyes in pain. Why was so much pain and suffering written in her daughter's fate?
"I love you Amma. Take care of yourself. I miss you" she added and parted from her embrace. Without glancing at anybody else, she picked up her small bag and left towards the bus.
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He walked towards the bus, still in his marriage attire, just like her, by her side and unknown to them, with matching steps. The walk to the bus stop was about 10 mins and these 10 mins were spent in painful silence. He finally glanced at her when they reached the stop and for a moment more, his gaze lingered on her. Her eyes had the distant look but that did not in anyway affect the fact that she was looking beautiful.
Much against his wishes, his eyes took in her gleaming form, the red-green combination adding to her allure. He had never seen this combination for a bride. His anger and resentment took a backseat for this brief moment as all he could pay attention to was just how much surreal she looked as a bride. As his bride!
She fought to protect his life. She gave up too for the same cause. She held on despite her body slowly giving in to her fever all because she was afraid she would close her eyes and he wouldn't be there when she'd open them. What is this if not love? True, pure love! Within the span of hardly 5 days, Imlie had given her heart to Aditya, had embraced what she was afraid of all these years! If only she realised that!
He sought for her almost all the time. He cared for her so much that he had blindly run behind her to the forest. She affected him right from the moment he saw her. She affected him in every way and he was drawn to her. Yet he wouldn't accept nor acknowledge for he's blindfolded by a dozen other things. If only he had seen past, he wouldn't have committed the blunder he's going to. He's going to push her away. He's going to fight his fate unaware of the fact that she was his fate!
Love,
Pratyusha
YOU ARE READING
Lakeerein - Ties That Bind Us
Fanfic------ Can Be Read As General Fiction ------ One night. One event. Lives of two people altered completely. When Aditya Kumar Tripathi, Chief Executive Reporter at Bhaskar times stepped into Pagdandiya and met Imlie, he did not know how his life woul...
