Locked down in lockdown

24-The wedding part 2

After the small engagement, she was asked to sit opposite the groom. His parents were now supposed to sit with him.

At the beginning of the marriage ritual, the girl is given a coconut to hold in her hands, and the boy was supposed to support that, with his hands extended in the center. But Vikrant was unable to hold still. His hands were shaking tremendously, causing Vaani to adjust her hands and hold still. Everyone else was worried seeing this.

When the time came for Vikrant to tie the knot, and as the sound of dholak started to sound, Vaani's mother broke down crying.

"Aunty, everyone has to marry someday. I also have daughters, we can't all cry now, right. Stop crying." Everyone there consoled her using logic.

Even at that moment, the tremors in Vikrant's hands had not stopped and everyone asked him if he needed something to eat or drink, which he took on the offer gratefully. Everyone had started to get suspicious of the behavior but no one said anything. All knew that he was still recovering from Covid.

Next part, Vikrant's elder sister was called up on the stage to put a silver ring on Vaani's toe. With that done, his elder sister escapes inside the house.

All the heavy-duty ritual part was over and now was the time for some fun activities just for photographing purposes.

There is this one game where, a gold ring was dropped in the middle of a utensil, filled with milk water. Whoever found the ring first wins and gets to keep the ring or he or she rules the marriage.

The pandit, took Vikrant's ring and dropped it into the water, and asked the couple to find the ring. Everyone cheered happily, siding with both of them. Vikrant laughed and pushed Vaani's hand away with his unoccupied hand and searched inside the vessel before she could put her hand in.

Everyone laughed but Vaani ignored his competitive side and looked for the ring which was not there.

"The pandit didn't even drop the ring inside, " One of her aunts said smiling.

The couple looked at each other and removed their hands chuckling.

In the next two rounds, the pandit had still his hands inside the utensil and asked the bride and groom to search for the ring. When Vaani put her hand inside, the pandit, put the ring in her hand discreetly.

Vaani won both times, a happy smile on his face while Vikrant complained about losing. He was sure that he was going to win and so was Vaani. Vikrant's palms were large compared to Vaani's and in one sweep of his hand, he could have easily found the ring. But the pandit helped her.

"It's my ring now, I'll take it later from you" Vaani chuckled whispering, giving Vikrant his ring back.

"You cheated" He accused, amused not believing he lost.

Vaani then told him how the man helped her because it was all for fun.

Next, the married couple was asked to take blessings from all the elders present by touching their feet. There weren't many people so it was over soon.

The wedding was over now and the next thing was a reception, which was going to be held on the same platform. They just had to change their costume, just to stand on the stage and take photos with the guest. Vaani had thought of this one as unnecessary but everyone else completely disregarded it.

Everyone else was already there, no one else was going to come so they could have just taken the photos in the same clothes but no, everyone wanted them to change and even Vikrant wanted that.

Standing on the stage, Vaani in a red saree and Vikrant in a peach sherwani, the couples took photos with their parents, and then both the families stood together for the photo. Vikrant had chosen to wear his engagement dress instead of his reception clothes, creating a complete mismatch between them. All he cared about was to look good.