A Typical Indian Bride? [✓]

P2: Moving On and On and On

Manish and Sindhu were to be engaged. Raj ji, Ma, my in-laws and me went and spoke to Manish's parents and got everything sorted out. We tried to emphasize on how this was mostly an arranged love and the idea sort of clicked. Festivity filled the air as Raj ji and I started to accept it.

Why was this sudden shift towards the approach of life, you may ask?

There was nothing more that we could lose or face in life. It was all about moving forward. Pain should be channelized into productivity. The loss is merely not a loss but a reminder that anything can happen in life. On this note Raj ji and me strategized out next steps.

We enrolled Dev into a play-school. It was time for him to see the outside world, know the bittersweet nature of  life and make his own mark. Though the initial days of his absence made us feel a bit left out, we soon realised it was the right thing to do.

With Raj ji having a full time job, his company policy dictates that he cannot run a business in his name. However he can be a partner of it. When this discussion happened at home, Ma ji and Babaji asked me to own the business, since the tution centre was already in my name. But I didn't feel it right. How can I just own a company and not be around working for it?

That's when I suggested that Rekha is the one who should be doing all this. Though my sweet little sister in law felt a bit overwhelmed with my opinion, everyone else unanimously agreed. But she was the one who had the talent and capability to do it all.

The tution centre required more recruitment and better facilities. Rekha, Raj ji and me discussed on the logistics to expand the whole thing. We pledged on quality more than anything else. Rekha personally took the interviews with the help of Sindhu and things seem to sort out.

We did have multiple variables in our lives, still at the starting stage:

- My medical student life
- Rekha's Engineering student life
- Dev in playschool
- Raj ji's work experience in corporate
- Our business expansion
- Bond with my sisters and mother

But to refocus on life, every moving piece felt more important than ever.
This also meant that we could distribute the nature of work to one particular expert. For example, finances were handled by Dhrithi, and the final wave of teacher selection was done by Sindhu. Manish aided in rolling out marketing strategies while technical knowledge was evaluated by Rekha. Everything was supervised by Ma ji and Babaji.

The biggest that however that Raj ji and me focused on was our careers. It was clear to the both of us that this was something we had to do, individually. Second year of MBBS life was challenging on its own accord but I had decided that I would be a renowned surgeon. I spent more time on studying, practicing and attended the extra lectures as possible.

Raj ji too started off with his internship and he seemed to be enjoying it.

Days moved on and on and on. Nothing stopped for our losses and neither did nothing accelerate for our success. The key to a happy married life was that, if things seem unsorted, sit down and sort them out. That brought Raj ji and me to where we are today.

But this was just us, as a couple. When we looked at the journey of our extended family, a sense of newness formed within. And so, we plunged into the preparations of my sister's and Raj Ji's best friend's Engagement preparations.

From finding the mandap, to all kinds of shopping, we kept ourselves busy. The refocus aided us to be more efficient in our professional lives itself. As the D-Day came, the decorations added onto the beauty of everything. I slowly walked into my sister's dressing room.

The lehenga and the jewels were so coherent as my damsel like sister was almost ready with her makeup. I gently knocked and barged in.

"Hey, Sindhu!"

"Pavithra, please come in-"

I gently teared up as I saw her.

"Baba will be so happy to see you like this-", I confessed.

She too, slowly mapped my feelings.

"Hey, don't ruin your makeup-", I cautioned her.

She chuckled and wiped the corner of her eye with a tissue. Dhrithi walked into the room with 3 glasses of orange juice.

I grinned.

"Recreating memories, huh?", asked Sindhu.

"Yes, you do remember right, how Pavithra used to save money and buy an orange and make us this juice-"

Now I really couldn't stop my tears and so couldn't my sisters. As we helped ourselves with the cool drink, there was a knock on the door that we couldn't ignore.

Dhrithi opened it to see a tensed Raj ji.

"Pavi, oh thank God you're here-"

"Why, what happened?"

"Manish is missing-"

***