Rab Rakha

Chapter 15

The Haldi began with Anju and Rajiv applying the prepared haldi paste to their beloved daughter, followed by their relatives taking turns to participate in the ritual.

"Bua, thoda-thoda lagana." Sheena mentioned, watching her aunt walk up to her with the haldi.

"Ha baba!" The aunt rolled her eyes and yet applied all the material she had brought to the girls face anyway.

"Aye Anju, baat sunn." The aunt went forward and stood next to Anju and Rajiv after applying haldi to them as well.

"Ha didi?" Anju replied.

"Yeh, Mickey ki dost. Sana. Uske Ma Baap nahi aaye?" The aunt asked.

"Nahi aa paye didi. Bhaisaab ki tabiyat kharab hai, pehle se thik hai abhi toh. Lekin iss mausam me safar karna thik nahi hoga unke liye." Anju replied.

"Yeh bata Sana, mere bete Dev ke liye kaisi rahegi? Mai soch rahi thi, ladki ke Ma baap aate toh mai unse baat karti." The aunt asked.

"Didi, Sana bohot achi ladki hai, jis ghar me jayegi, sabko khush rakhegi." Anju replied she was surprised. Her sister in law wasn't very fond of Shehnaaz a few weeks ago and now she wanted to know if the same girl was suitable for her son.

"Mai Sana se baat karu?" Anju asked.

"Ladki se kya baat karni hai? Tu mujhe uski Ma ka number de dena." The aunt asked and Anju gave it a thought before giving in.

The ceremony went on, Sheena was wearing a plain yellow saree and sitting on a small pedestal while guests came over and applied haldi. Sidharth and Rita Ma came forward, taking part in the ritual as well.

Shehnaaz didn't miss how some of the girls, her friends to be exact had an eye on Sidharth. They had asked about his name from her. She smirked, who wouldn't like a man like that. But something else caught her attention. Sidharth took a good amount of paste and smudged it all over Sheena's face and hair deliberately.

"MONTUUU!! Yaar! Hatt yaha se!" Sheena screeched in irritation while the audience laughed.

"Ruk tu!" She angrily got up and chased him, making sure she did the same to him. He laughed, she wasn't tall enough to reach his face so bent down a little for her to let her win.

"Haaye raam! Inko dekho." Anju commented, laughing at the scene in front of her.

"Mickey, chal baith wapas. Rasam abhi bhi bachi hai." She told her daughter.

"Kaha lagau? Jagah hi nahi bachi." Shehnaaz chuckled as she came forward with her friends for haldi, layering her friend's face with another layer of haldi. Once done, she scooped some more paste in her hands.

"Kya kar rahi hai?" Sheena suspiciously asked.

"Pata lag jayega." Shehnaaz winked at her and started applying the paste on to her friend's neck and shoulder.

Slowly her hands moved lower, to her friend's chest and then a little too further, adding to Sheena's panic.

"Abey!? Bhakk pagal!" Sheena jumped at her place, pushing away Shehnaaz and trying to do hit her.

Their friends joined them and the girls began to play with haldi, as if it was holi. Carelessly throwing the paste at each other's face, thereby ruining each other's hair and clothing along with their faces.

"Thodi si bach gayi hai, hum aapko laga dein Sidharth?" One of their friends, Meera, asked him lovingly.

"Han. Bilkul." He smiled, forwarding his face to the girls. They all giggled, having a fair share of his cheeks.