A Big Fat Indian Wedding

Chapter 2

Time in India, on the other hand, seemed to be passing so fast that an infant could grow into an adult in a matter of a few minutes. No kidding, Dalhia thought in her mind.

As the magazines lay idly on the coffee table, opened to the accessories page that Dahlia liked even a little bit, she was stressed. She'd reached that level where everything looked just the same and it wouldn't matter if her wedding jewellery was coloured stones or diamonds. Let's face it, Aman, her fiancé, wouldn't refuse to say his vows just because she didn't have the red studs in her ears and neck piece.

"Millie should be calling any minute." Dahlia heard her mother pacing around the room clutching their cordless phone in her hands with such anger that she expected it to ring by itself. "Maybe I should send the driver."

"She told you, she'll manage. She's a big girl." Yeah, a big girl who lived her life without a trouble unlike her blood sister who was buried deep in tragedy. Tragedy of choosing her wedding jewellery among a hundred others that looked similar.

"She's still a kid." Her mothers menacing tone made Dahlia roll her eyes. Being younger of the two, Millie had her advantages.

But it wasn't true. Millie was big enough to live in a city like New York, of course she could manage a cab ride home from the airport without getting mugged or robbed, in broad daylight at least.

"Stop worrying." Dahlia made her mother sit down with her and check out her mess but only after her mum protested a million times.

Soon enough, Millie was home. Carrying her extra large strollers through the living room into the dining area, she jumped up and down in excitement when she saw Dahlia and her mother.

Perhaps, she still was a kid.

"You should be thankful I'm so forgiving." Dalhia told Millie. It was sibling love-hate relationship. "Only fifteen days to go, do know how freaked out I am?"

They hugged releasing the pent up emotions from the last time they saw each other in person, about a year ago. Joining them was their mother who was trying so hard not to let her tears slip but being the emotional wreck that she was, she couldn't help. It was still hard for her to realise how time flew leaving her with two such mature daughters, one of which was about to be hitched in a few days.

"You know I'm just waiting for you to get sick of Aman so I can hook up with him instead." Millie joked. It would have been a lot funnier if Dalhia would only have been just dating him. Making jokes like such about her sister's soon-to-be-groom seemed outrageous and obscene at that moment.

"Alright, love." Millie's mother interjected. "You just got off a sixteen hour plane ride, you need a nice hot bath and rest."

"Yeah." Dahlia agreed. "And a few of Aman's friends are arriving tonight. Maybe you could show them around the city tomorrow?"

"Wouldn't hurt." Millie, without giving a second thought, agreed to it. It had been a while since she was about the city on her own anyway. "Where's Fi?"

"Right where you left me, sugar." In walked in the woman Millie secretly calls her idol.

With voluminous natural curly brown hair and eyes that literally shine like a summers day to put Shakespeare's Juliet to shame, was Fiona; Fi for short. She wasn't much elder to Millie but in relation she was her mother's real sister. So, Aunt Fi it was.

Millie's mother didn't approve of Fi and her rash ways because that's what she was known for. Living life on the edge and similar thrills. She was currently living in Mumbai after getting divorced from a doctor. It's a shame but that's life.

"Speak of the devil." Millie laughed hugging Fi.

"You fat arse." Fi and Millie hugged and soon enough all three, Fi, Millie and Dahlia found themselves catching up.

A hot shower bath, a nice Indian meal and a relaxing six hour nap later, Millie was fresh. Fresh as a young toddler to tackle her first day at school. Only this was scarier, attending her sister's wedding.

"The taxi guy cancelled." Dahlia walked into the room with a phone in her hand, exasperated. "Roy is going to pick Aman's friends from the airport, could you give him company?"

"Now?" It was seven in the evening and the jet lag was horrible. Who could blame her for complaining about the nine hour difference between New York and here?

"Now, yes."

Millie agreed after debating over it with herself, concluding that maybe fresh air wouldn't hurt her too much.

Twenty minutes later, she found herself waiting in the car as her cousin Roy was in the arrival aisle waiting for the two guys, is what Millie had understood, named Rajesh and Eric. They were flying in from different States.

Surprisingly, one of these two, Dahlia didn't say who and even if she did Millie wasn't listening, was from New York.

"Who knows maybe you know him." Her mother had said before they were leaving but Millie laughed it off.

The United States of America is five times the size of India, you don't just happen to know everyone who lives there.

So now, Millie sat in the parking lot waiting to be proved wrong.

***