The Enchantress

24. Infatuation

Silence hung heavy in the air. What the Pandit (priest) had said had shocked everyone. Madhavi was shivering in stress and Om was looking extremely tensed. Aarav's arrogant voice broke the silence, "You are lying, aren't you, Uncle? I thought that you would be a good priest but you are also like that greedy priests who would tell things like these and make us do an expensive ritual so that you can pocket that money. I can't believe you would be like this too."

The Pandit (priest) was looking visibly shaken by his words. He had seen Om growing up, getting married and had witnessed most of the growing years of Aarav. His words brought so much shock and hurt to the Pandit (priest) as he felt his eyes fill with tears. He simply said, "What I say are just advices. Acting on them or not is in your hands."

Both Madhavi and Om seemed to be in a spell, which was broken with the Pandit's (priest's) words. Om's hands fisted and they were shaking so hard, anyone could have told that he was fighting with himself against hitting his son but his son was an adult and it would be embarrassing for him. So, Om was trying hard to control himself.

Madhavi however was too much in shock about the birth charts part and what worried her more was his decision. She didn't want her son to die because of some girl. No, she couldn't let that happen at all. She had to convince her son to not do this. She was not much superstitious but she couldn't risk her son's life because of her non belief.

"We should leave. Thank you, uncle for helping my son. What is the fee?" Om asked, clearing his throat. The tension in the air was so thick that it could be cut with a knife.

The Pandit's (priest's) face softened as he said in a soft voice, "Why will I take fee for checking my grandson's birth chart? There is no fee but I need the wedding invitation whenever it happens and tell me if you need any help for arranging the venue and catering."

Aarav felt bad by now as he said in a low voice, "I am sorry for my earlier words, Uncle. I still decide to not follow with your advice but I shouldn't have said words like that."

The Pandit (priest) smiled. If elders won't forgive the younger ones, who else would? Patting Aarav's shoulder lovingly, the older man said, this time tears slipping out, "You were so small when I first saw you and now look at you. I am proud of you, kid. Don't worry about whatever you said. It's alright."

Aarav genuinely smiled and he remembered something and said, "We actually also wanted to know any auspicious time for the wedding. We are in a hurry actually and we want the wedding to happen soon."

The Pandit (priest) nodded and mumbled, "After three days, Diwali will start and it will be Dhanteras and the very next day, it will be Lakshmi Poojan. I think that it is the most auspicious day in the near future but we can discuss about other dates too."

Madhavi's head was spinning at how everything was getting so out of hand as she said to Aarav, "Don't you think everything is happening too quickly? We should slow down, especially after the birth chart reading and consider if we should go forward with this marriage or not. I am having second thoughts about this match."

Aarav scoffed and answered, "No, I had asked you once and stop suspecting her character. I know where your thoughts are running off to. We took a decision and I think we should stick with it. Four days later is indeed a good time and we can do everything quickly. It's the perfect time in fact."

Om was getting frustrated at his son's behaviour and asked, "Enough time? How? We have to call all the relatives, have to invite more than hundreds of people, look for catering and venue arrangements, get a ring made and have to polish the gold plated plate of the ancestral Goddess and get Goddess Kanbai married before you marry so it will be a night of travelling and think about them at least. They have to go wedding shopping and get ring and Mangalsutra (nuptial chain) too. How do you think we can do all this so soon?"

Aarav frowned and said, "It was their wish that this marriage happens in a hurry. We can just buy ready made ornaments. No need to order to make new ones and we don't need new clothes to marry. We can directly marry in the village of Kanbai instead of getting the gold frames polished. That would help satisfy your ritualistic concerns too."

The Pandit (priest), Om and Madhavi nodded, as if agreeing but all three of them had their doubts on how good that really would be. Madhavi cleared her throat, trying not to cry at the things happening and mumbled, "I will go and tell Mahamaya's mother about this. If they agree, we can go forward with it."

Aarav nodded, too happy to notice her distressed expressions. She stepped aside to call Indrayani. The ringtone played till Indrayani accepted the call, "Hello, how are you doing sister-in-law? Compared the birth charts?"

Indrayani was tensed because she knew what would happen but she somewhere hoped it wouldn't. She heard Madhavi from the other side, "Yes, we did. I didn't like what we found and Aarav is being adamant on marrying Mahamaya. I don't know what to do, sister-in-law."

In her distress, it seemed like Madhavi had forgotten that Indrayani was Mahamaya's mother first but she treated Indrayani like another woman, a mother asking another mother for help. Indrayani bit her lips, not knowing what to tell her.

It seemed that her daughter had enchanted yet another man. Finally, she wet her lips and spoke in the phone, "I think you should tell him clearly that you didn't like Maya instead of giving reasons like birth chart. He wouldn't agree if it is for the birth chart but if it is something else... he might feel detested."

Indrayani felt like she was working against her daughter by giving this suggestion but she knew the complications. She could understand Madhavi's position and where she was coming from.

"Alright, I will try to do something," Madhavi said, determined as she started wondering what lie would break the infatuation his son had with that cursed girl...

*****

A/N:

So, these two weeks, it was Makar Sankranti. Makar Sankranti is one of the few festivals which is based on the solar calendar and that's why, it happens on the same date for three years and one day ahead for one year. This year was the one day forward because of the Indian calendar leap year. We eat tilgul, or sesame jaggery balls in this festival and fly kites and this festival marks the day when the harvesting of the crops all over India will start and this festival is celebrated all over India with different names.

Then it was also National Youth Day, based on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda and I just want to say, I still get excited when I hear, My sisters and brothers of America. It always gives me goosebumps on how Swami Vivekananda had represented Hinduism in an international platform when Hinduism was not considered a religion and also with how he and his disciples travelled from village to village to teach little children because for an overall development, you need both spirituality and knowledge and he knew that. That's why his birthday is celebrated as National Youth Day in India, albeit it is not a public holiday.