The Enchantress

Chapter fifty two

Today was the day when they would finally visit their favourite Khandoba. The temple was away, 200 steps were to be ascended to reach there. As they arrived, it was quite early in the morning. Only countable shops around the temple were open.

They walked further and before Mahamaya could realise what was happening, she felt like she was floating in air. She looked around, trying to make sense in what she was experiencing as she realised that Viraj had picked her up. She fisted his shirt that he was wearing and hid her face a little, her cheeks turning pink and Viraj could swear that she was looking like a seductress.

He looked away a little, gulping, reminding himself this was a holy place and his thoughts should likewise be holy. Her saree's edge slid up a little to show her milky waist more and her eyes widened as she struggled to hold the saree close to herself, making Viraj chuckle.

Mahamaya had chosen to wear a saree with normal ornaments worn by married women, like vermillion in hair partition, nuptial chain, glass bangles along with extra ornaments to go with the existing ones like earrings, ring and the one Viraj had put on her toe during the wedding, her toe ring. For footwear, she had chosen to wear normal sandals.

Viraj was wearing simple shirt and pants. For footwear, he was wearing socks and leather shoes and was currently gazing at his wife, forgetting that he was supposed to carry her. Mahamaya herself seemed to be lost in his eyes, as she kept looking at him. The energy of the place was weird for both of them, as they felt like they belonged here.

They heard whistling as they looked around and saw everyone cheering them on. One of the older women said, "They look just like Malhar and Mhalsa, don't you think?"

Everyone agreed as Mahamaya hid her face more in his chest. Viraj finally realised that he was supposed to carry her for eleven steps and he walked further as the rest of the group followed him.

Vijay felt happy for the couple, for Viraj especially because it seemed that he was finally happy after everything he had gone through. Yuvraj and Tara were in their own worlds and discussing how everybody looked at them. Tara kept arguing that they were looking at her because she was looking beautiful and Yuvraj kept arguing that they were looking at them because Yuvraj was looking handsome. It was like kids were fighting.

"Do you want me to keep you down?" Viraj asked gently, looking in her eyes, noticing how uncomfortable she was while her hands tried to hide her waist.

She jokingly asked, "Why are you asking me this now when you didn't ask me before picking me up?"

Viraj chuckled and concluded, "No it is then."

Mahamaya's eyes widened as he kept walking with her in his arms. Everyone was surprised when he didn't drop her off like he was supposed to. He didn't give anyone a chance to advise him to keep her down and she was drowned in his eyes too much to notice anything. He himself was drowned in her eyes as he felt a sense of belonging, like this was perfect, like he was meant to hold her like that.

Halfway through, Aabha exclaimed, "My knees hurt."

"Let's take a small break then," Viraj stated, keeping Mahamaya at the side of the steps so that those who wanted could go from the middle and she wouldn't obstruct them. Others settled themselves besides her immediately, huffing and puffing, except Viraj, Vijay and Ayush.

Mahamaya smiled and took Tara in her lap. Their little Tara was tired and yawning. Even though it was said that there were two hundred steps, it just meant like two hundred stone stairs but they were wide enough. That's why, they had to take two to three steps to climb every stair.

Viraj settled himself between Mahamaya and Aabha while Yuvraj sat besides Aabha. Sameera had settled herself besides Mahamaya and helped her with Tara while the father son duo of Vijay and Ayush didn't sit  The shops were opening finally and Suryadev (sun God) kept rising higher and higher.

"I think the more we sit, the more tired we would feel," Viraj said, seeing that everyone was becoming lazy after sitting for fifteen minutes straight. Mahamaya was surprised because she was thinking the same thing but she didn't know if she would get taunts for saying that becauseshe didn't have to walk at all to reach where they were. She felt like if she said that, she would be disrespecting their efforts to reach where they were. She was glad Viraj brought it up.

Everybody nodded and got up and Mahamaya was about to wake Tara from her little nap but Viraj signalled her not to and picked Tara up in his arms. Mahamaya was worried that all this carrying around would make him sick but since they were newly married, she couldn't say anything.

Finally, they were upstairs near the temple. The group visited a shop where they stored their footwear while Mahamaya and Sameera bought aarti ki thaalis (plate with things used for worshipping).

As they reached the main place of the worship, Viraj asked Vijay, "Would you mind if you would hold Tara till the worshipping is over, brother?"

Viraj smiled and replied, "Of course not," and took Tara in his arms. She had woken up a little with the movement but with Vijay rocking her, she was back to sleep again.

After they were inside, Viraj took the aarti ki thali (plate with things used for worshipped) from Mahamaya. Mahamaya and the other women quickly covered their heads with their sarees as Mahamaya joined her fingers to Viraj's elbows. Viraj started revolving the plate again and again.

The priest was the same as that day as Mahamaya remembered, when she had come here with her parents. He came forward, delighted as he saw her again. Before everyone understood what was happening, the priest knelt down and kept his head between Mahamaya's and Viraj's feet.

Nobody could understand what was going on. The priest took the aarti ki thali (plate with things used for worshipping) from them and kept it aside haphazardly, before stating, "Welcome to your palace, my King and Queen. Jejuri and we, the people of Jejuri welcome you..."