A woman, exceptionally beautiful, starts experiencing some strange things. Why was she so different from others? Did she have a purpose? Who was she really? What would happen when the characters from the stories she had heard from her childhood woul...
"Hey, the city is behind us now," Mahamaya exclaimed as she noticed the smell of Earth, the kachha roads, the isolated bungalows, thatched houses, rangolis on the spreading of cattle dung and children playing around.
Rangolis are beautiful structures drawn outside houses. Drawing rangoli is to be done first thing by one of the women of the house after she has bathed. Rangolis are known to ward off evil spirits and stopping them from entering the house. Spreading cow dung on the ground makes the ground more fertile and makes it even for the Rangoli.
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Indrayani and Mahesh smiled. They loved the village too. One thing to be learnt from a village was that you didn't need money to be happy. There were things which were cheap and more effective than the costlier ones. Sustainable living was the best teaching in the village.
However, there were a few downfalls, like narrow mindedness, backward thinking, less job opportunities, lesser salaries, lower quality of life and so on.
Soon, they were at Mahesh's family house. It was a small bungalow and six cows were tied next to the house. There was a small hill of hay and straw in front of their shed. His father was a teacher in a Government school and he bought the cows and some motorcycles as investment.
Right now, his father was living off his pension while Mahesh's elder brother was handling the farm and earning through the cows' milk. He, his wife and his two children, one boy and one girl used to live in the same Bungalow. Now both of his children were married and his son lived here with his daughter-in-law. In a few years, maybe three generations would live under the same roof.
As soon as the family heard the sound of the car, they rushed out of the bungalow to greet them, helping the trio carry the bags upstairs in a room. Since they didn't have anymore rooms, Indrayani, Mahesh and Mahamaya would have to sleep in the kitchen. The old couple used to sleep in the hall while watching news and their daily soaps, while the two rooms were occupied by Mahesh's older brother and his son along with their wives respectively.
Indrayani, Mahesh and Mahamaya, once settled, bowed down to each of the elder, seeking their blessings. Mahamaya's cousin brother and Mahesh's nephew, Vivek, was recently married to PoojS, who was the newest addition to the family, thus making her Mahamaya's sister-in-law. Pooja bowed down to the newly arrived trio and Vivek bowed down to Indrayani and Mahesh. The trio bowed to Mahesh's parents while Mahamaya and Indrayani bowed to Mahesh's brother and his wife.
After the bowing and blessing ceremony was done and they were freshened up, Indrayani and Mahamaya entered the kitchen. That's where the women of the household stayed throughout the day most of the times, except for afternoon when they would catch a nap in their respective rooms.
Mahesh's mother immediately started making tea. As the tea was boiling, she caressed Mahamaya's hair as she mumbled, "You have grown up so much. I remember when you were so young, you were so small. I can't believe time passed on so fast. I was young at the time and you were small, now you are young and I'm about to die," a few tears escaped her eyes.
Mahamaya hugged her grandmother tight, wiping her tears as she whispered lovingly, "We shouldn't talk about ominous topics like death. You're all fit and healthy and you take care of the entire house, what will happen to you?
All the women of the household who had gathered in the kitchen hugged each other, till Mahesh's mother said, "I can't breath," making everyone separate and laugh out loud.
Hearing them having fun, the men in the household also entered the kitchen as Mahesh asked cheerfully, "What is the ladies group talking about?"
Indrayani told him the discussion going on, as he tsked and hugged his mother, pecking her forehead, murmuring, "One shouldn't talk about these topics, Aai (mother). You have a bio data to make and a granddaughter to wed. So, only good things allowed."
"Bio data?" Mahamaya asked, confused, "Why? Is anyone going to give a job interview?"
This made everyone crack up as she sulked. Pooja explained to her, "It's for the wedding, attached with your best photo so that they will come across it and if they like you, they will search up on you and then contact us. Similarly with us, we will check bio datas and if we like one, we will cross check things, contact them and fix a meeting."
Mahamaya blushed as she thought about her wedding. She always wanted to be a bride, since her very childhood because brides looked so pretty. Now when the occasion was near, she was having a ball of dread and nervousness in her tummy.
"Okay, I'll help with the bio data," Mahesh's father said to Mahesh as they went to the living room. Mahesh's brother went back to his farm. There was worshipping equipment with various photos and statues of deities in the living room, along with two cots and three chairs.
The father son duo sat down on the cot, Mahesh opening up the laptop as his father helped with the bio data a little but everything about Mahamaya was so good that they didn't have to exaggerate anything in the bios like people normally did.
This happened a lot. Some people would just send highly edited pictures while they looked entirely different face to face. Others would ask for lots of dowry, some would lie about the salary and/or property and so on. Mahesh's father had lied about Mahesh's salary but when Mahesh was asked, he simply showed his salary slip and said that there were lots of chances of increments, another reason why Indrayani's father had liked him. Mahesh's family didn't own much and he didn't earn much at that time either but still her father agreed to give his daughter to him because of his nature.
Indrayani would often joke that her father liked him before she did for the very same reason. Mahesh was just too simple and honest, not knowing how to be sneaky, diplomatic or smart about something. That had its downfall too but Indrayani supported him when he would normally mess up. She just hoped that her daughter would get a husband like Mahesh.
"Done," Mahesh exclaimed happily after working on it for ten minutes. Everyone gathered around the small screen to read everything. Mahamaya didn't. She didn't care, as long as it invited any guy in. She would try to accept him if he would be genuine and good. She was, after all, desperate to get away from a certain someone.
Getting tensed, she went to drank water to calm herself down as her entire family was peeking at the portable piece of technology eagerly.
She didn't know what the future held for her but she wished that everything would go well in her life. No, everything had to go well. She didn't do anything bad to anyone so nothing bad would happen to her, right?
A/N:
So, we don't just bow our head when I say bowing, we touch feet. Now, you can be younger and your elder relative could be touching your feet. That is because even though by age you are younger, but on the hierarchy of relationships, you're younger. That's why Pooja bowed to Mahamaya. Do I have sister-in-laws who bow to me? Yeah, I do. Is it discriminatory to them? No, they get blessings. They can choose not to. It's their wish.
