The Station Leave

Fingers crossed

"Why do you have to be so rude to her? Isn't she older than you?" Ma said. 

"Why? Did she go and complain to her mother about it?" Tia said while helping me to arrange my clothes. 

"Tia!" Ma scolded, "I wasn't expecting you to act like that. Remember we are all here for Mimi and her special event. Don't ruin it for her like that."

Tia rolled her eyes. "Maybe she should try and not ruin this for herself by watching what she says to others." I let out a low laugh at her statement. 

"What am I even supposed to do with you both?" Ma said, letting out an irritated sigh." Look, I know she can be a bit..."

"Annoying? Problematic?" I said.

"Snooty. I was going to say snooty. And Puchki don't you dare! What is excused for Tia won't be the same for you. You are related to her for God's sake!" 

"Ma just because I'm related to her doesn't mean I have to bear whatever she throws at me."

"Then don't! Just dodge it. Pretend you didn't hear it. Ignore if that helps" ma said as if she came up with the best idea in the history of best ideas.

"Woooowwww... what a great idea...we never thought about doing that." Tia said sarcastically. 

"Ma if we ignore her, then we'll come off as arrogant. If we ask her to stop then we'll come off as rude. Then what are we supposed to do? Sit there and watch her embarrass us?" I asked.

"What's the problem with being embarrassed by your own sister a little? It's not our job to discipline her. She has her parents for it" Ma said.

"Yes. And they did an absolutely amazing job" Tia said.

"I just can't with you girls. Now for heaven's sake don't say these things in front of our relatives. Mimi's fiance is going to arrive in a few minutes and I don't want a bad impression." Saying this tossed her thick braid over her shoulders and walked out of our room. I watched that latch of hair with the thickness of at least a baby elephant's trunk dangling as she left. Why didn't God let me have her hair?

"Hey" Tia said laying down.

"What?

"You ok?"

"And that's a hatrick!"

"What?"

"It's the third time you asked me this"

"I didn't know dude. I'm just concerned. "

"For what? I told you. This is a very childish reason to sit around and sulk"

"Well it's not like you look very lively. At Least not that I've noticed since we got here"

"That's because the whole concept of this gathering sounds tiresome to me. AND not to mention, we got here on such a short notice. It'll take some time for the whole thing to grow on us but it'll be fine I guess"

"Fingers crossed", Tia said. 

After a few minutes we heard a car's honk and by the commotion downstairs, we pretty much knew the to-be-groom had arrived. I curled up in a ball hugging a pillow. I did act all mature and tough, in reality I felt like a clueless kid getting chewed up by anxiety on result day. This feeling of 'what will happen next' is very familiar to me but somehow I'm never used to it. 

I felt a slight nudge on my back. Tia probably won't go if I didn't. I got up and hopped down the bed and walked out of my room. Tia followed. 

Our house had three floors, but we occupied mainly the rooms on the first and second floor. My room was on the second floor.

After stepping out I tried to take a look downstairs. Di and Preet had knelt down to touch jethu and jethima's feet so it was difficult to see properly. Unfortunately, before I could stand there one more second, ma looked up and spotted me. She gestured for me to come down quickly. I hurried downstairs because I know better than to piss off my mother during a family function. 

Once I had reached the foot of the stairs I was finally able to have a good look at both of them.

Chitra di was wearing a maroon chiffon saree draped elegantly along with a blouse of the same colour with puffy sleeves. Her overalls perfectly complemented her slim, tall figure. She had let her hair down instead of tying it up in a braid like she usually does. She was clearly blushing. The flush of her cheeks and the pure joy radiating out of her entire body spoke for itself. She looked so beautiful at the moment that it was hard to tell that this is the same person I've been seeing since childhood. There's just something about being in love that just makes people glow differently. It makes them more beautiful for some reason. 

I had to move my eyes over my sister's silhouette  to notice Preet who was currently towering over my sister. I seriously forgot how tall he was. 

But the man in front of me was hardly the boy I knew from years ago. The hair that barely touched the collar of his shirt was cascading down on his shoulders. And not in an unkempt kind of way, but rather properly coiffed and well maintained. Instead of a stuble now his face was adorned by a nicely trimmed beard and in place of thick black glasses were thin framed glasses that definitely made him look smarter and his eyes more normal. 

I couldn't deny that the two people standing in front of me reminded me of every single definition of an idle couple I've ever heard. They just looked so good next to each other. The embodiment of 'meant to be'.

I looked down at myself. All I saw was a God knows how many years old grey kurta. I wonder if this is some sort of dramatic irony playing out in my life, making me feel like a moth among butterflies. Separating me from all those vibrant colours and emotions inside out.

"Arey Puchki! Quit standing there like that and come and greet your brother-in-law and sister." Ma shouted. I immediately crashed back to reality. 

Brother-in-law.

Eighteen year old me would've banged her head on a wall in this situation. Nonetheless, I awkwardly walked up to the door.

Until now I hadn't noticed the third figure aggressively trying to move the handle of the suitcase. Dude was so dedicated to his act that it looked like he was about to jump that damn thing.

"That's it! I give up." The guy said finally letting go of the thing.

"See beta, I told you it's no use. Look how you worked yourself up, "Jethima said. "Somebody get this boy a glass of water."

"Aunty this is your dear son-in-law's favourite suitcase which happens to be the worst suitcase in the entire world", saying that the Adonis of a man turned around. And immediately, my lips curved up to an automatic smile. I can't believe it!

"Then why did you pull the handle? I told you it gets jammed." Preet yelled.

"Shut up man! You didn't even carry this. I had to", the man yelled, chugging down the glass of water brought to him.

"Puchki! Why are you smiling like that? Look, I know Dev resembles Salman from the 90's but you're not Madhuri and my wedding better not get turned into Hum Aapke Hain Kaun! I'm not letting you take even an ounce of attention away from me!" Chitra  said out of butt-fucking nowhere. 

Pardon my French but WHAT THE FUCK! WHY? There are elders around!  How does she get away with saying crap like that? I'd be playing handshakes  with the devil by now if it were me.

"What?" Dev  bhaiya said looking as lost as I wish I was. He turned around to see the subject of the comment. 

He looked at my face for a good 3 seconds before breaking out in that signature "clean bold" smile (as termed by the girls in our school). Did he recognise me?

"Anindita? Is that you? Oh my, you've changed so much I almost didn't recognise you" saying this, bhaiya gave me a hearty side hug and ruffled up my hair the way he used to do when we were kids. "How have you been?"

"I'm good. How are you though?" I asked not being able to contain my joy.

"You know me! I'm always amazing" he said, smirking. Even his smirk was the same as before. 

"Uh...excuse me?"