Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi

Bound for seven lives

Irritated. I was hell irritated with all this wedding rituals. My head was hurting like hell and at the same time I was feeling hungry...scratch that.. I was literally starving. I hadn't got the opportunity to eat anything since morning because of these rituals. Uparse this pandit was continuously blabbering God knows what. Couldn't he stop for once? I once had an urge to take hold of his neck and smash his head.

"Beta get up and sit infront her", pandit ji said pulling me out of my thoughts.

My to-be-husband (whom I hadn't acknowledged all this while as I was too  busy cursing my fate) got up from my side and sat infront. I hadn't for once looked at him since I came in the mandap. Now I looked up only to get the biggest shock of my life.
There sitting infront me was a person whom I hate the most.

RYAN SINGHANIA.

No...no...no...no this can't be happening. I must be dreaming.
Yeah I must be dreaming.

I blinked

Once

Twice

Thrice

But he was still sitting infront me. That means I was not dreaming. I could see he had the same expression as mine but he quickly covered it.

Ohh how could I forget that this person had done Ph.d on masking emotions.

Wait! Hold on your horses when I said I hate him don't think that he was my ex or crush or something like that. He was just my batchmate whom I despise because of his aggressive behavior.

"Kannyadan ke liye ladki ki pita ko bulayiye." I was snapped back into the reality by pandit ji's voice.

On hearing this I just looked at pandit ji with a blank expression. My tears were threatening to spill out of my eyes but still I controlled it.

"Pandit ji can her brother do it." Dada asked.
"Of course come here" pandit ji replied.

The pandit ji started chanting something which hardly I could understand. Dada was repeating after him. Ryan was just staring at the burning fire or should I say burning holes on it.

Poor fire!

And as for me I didn't know what was happening. My mind was blank. I was just doing what the pandit ji was asking me to do.
Have you heard Rani mukherjee's famous dialogue in the movie 'Aiyyaa' ??

That was my exact feeling now. I felt like destroying everything around me. Why God why is it happening with me??

"Now it's time for pheras. These seven vows which you will take will bound you two for seven lives." He said making my head snapped at him.
I stared at him unbelievably. What on earth was he saying? Had he lost his mind or what?
Bound for seven lives, huh?
Re I couldn't even stand him for seven minutes and here he is talking about seven lives.

I was still in daze when Ryan took hold of my hands and started circling around the fire.
Pandit ji was saying something probably explaining the meaning of the vows. But me being me got zoned out again.

After the saptapdi and after pandit ji chanted some mantras he asked Ryan to put sindoor on my maang.
I clenched my lehenga tightly as he put the vermillion on my head. Then he tied the mangal sutra around my neck.

"Vivah sampan hua" pandit ji announced.

I let out a huge breath which I didn't know I was holding.
       
                                      ☆