An Unexpected Marriage

Chapter 13(The wedding part 1)

Sanaya's P.O.V :-
Sanaya was woken up by her mother and aunts early next morning and made to eat a mixture of pressed rice and curd. Sanaya did not have much of an apetite so early in the morning and only wanted to go back to sleep. However, she could not do that as preparations were to be made for the gaye holud or turmeric ceremony that morning. Her mother and aunts had left to go to the nearest water body to invite the deity Ganga to the wedding and to bring the holy water to later bathe Sanaya with. Sanaya was left with Ishani and both her father and brother were still sleeping. She had been given instructions to wake them up at 6 a.m. , so she set about to make tea for everyone except herself. Her phone pinged loudly in the silent house and both Sanaya and Ishani jumped. Sanaya was in the kitchen so she asked Ishani to check who it was. After a moment, Ishani said, " It's your husband wishing you good morning. " Sanaya winced at the words "your husband" and told Ishani to reply with good morning. Ishani said, "Don't you think your husband should remove his profile picture and put some some other picture as it is inauspicious to see each other before the wedding? "Sanaya rolled her eyes and said, "Shani. I'm not seeing him in person. It's just a picture. I don't have my own profile picture because I rather like that quote." Ishani said, "But still. These things matter. Doesn't matter if you're just getting married for two years or not. I texted him to inform him to remove his profile picture as it is inauspicious and that I hadn't let you open Whatsapp and reply because of this reason. " Sanaya sighed and said sarcastically, "Thank you for asking me about it. Here's your tea". Sanaya next went to wake up her father and her brother and gave them their tea. As she did this, she realised that she was probably doing this for the last time. She returned to the kitchen and told Ishani that she was going to take a shower and get ready and instructed her to serve the tea kept in the flask when her mother and aunts returned. She left Ishani to watch the morning news and went to take her shower. When she emerged from her shower her mother and aunts had returned. Sanaya wore the yellow saree and applied kajal and eyeliner and a light pink lipstick and emerged from her room to find her mother standing on the threshold. Her mother took her inside her room and put a pair of conch and coral bangles on Sanaya's wrists. These bangles would signify her as a married woman after the wedding. Her mother had tears in her eyes and Sanaya hugged her mother. They stayed like that for some more minutes and then separated. Sanaya went downstairs to find everyone having breakfast and groaned. Not even half a day had passed and she was already hungry. God only knew how she would survive the entire day. Ishani, that little... grinned at her as she put a piece of kachori inside her mouth. Sanaya made a face and turned away. Sanaya's mother took her upstairs again and gave her the gold jewellery set that Sanaya would wear for the gaye holud ceremony. Sanaya took the set to her room and put on the necklace, earrings and gold bangles and left her room. Soon, all her relatives would be coming and a few of her other friends would be coming too. There was Sasha and her husband Neel both of whom were very good friends of Sanaya, Debajyoti, Akhil, Faheem, Sara and Neeti. She was looking forward to seeing her friends and Ishani's family would be coming too. Soon, the caterer for that afternoon's meal arrived and Sanaya herself looked after the arrangements and told them where to set up. A little while after that, her relatives and friends started coming and Sanaya was happy to see everyone. Ishani would get some company too as they were as much her friends as they were Sanaya's. A little while after, Ajay's sister and brother in law arrived with the turmeric paste and her wedding trousseau from his house. The same turmeric paste that was slathered on his body would be slathered on hers too. She ought to feel disgusted but she did not and that surprised her. The ceremony started and she had to break a few earthen pots with her heel to expose the shells underneath. She was then made to stand on a wooden plank while the married women put the paste on her face and arms. After this, her female friends were given the paste to apply it on her and then the water which her mother and aunts had collected that morning was poured over her head. Sanaya then left to take a shower while the others stayed behind to watch the puja or prayers which were being said by her father accompanied by priests to seek the blessings of her ancestors for the couple and to indulge in that afternoon's meal. Sanaya scrubbed of the turmeric paste in the shower, yet when she emerged there was a glow on her face that could only be the result of the turmeric paste. She changed into a salwar suit and waited for Ishani to join her in her room for the beauticians to arrive to dress the both of them and her mother up for the wedding. Sanaya soon got bored and texted Ishani. Ishani however, did not reply and she went back to being bored. She was about to put her phone away when she remembered Ishani's words from that morning and checked Jay's profile for his display picture. He had removed it and kept the picture of an inspirational quote. So he did believe in these ancient superstitions. Suddenly, his last seen changed to "online" and Sanaya quickly exited his profile feeling paranoid. As if he would catch her checking out his profile picture. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity and lay down on the bed. She soon drifted off to sleep and when she woke up, the beauticians had arrived and Ishani's make up was done. Sanaya sat up quickly and said, "Why didn't you wake me up? " Ishani said, "I was about to but then these ladies said they would do my make up first and then wake you up. Good thing you woke up on your own. Now go and wash your face." Sanaya did as she told and was indeed feeling refreshed. She wiped her face on a fresh towel and sat down for her make up. The ladies told her to wear the petticoat and blouse first and then sit. Only, Sanaya did not have a petticoat and blouse. She had a red lehenga with a long dupatta and a separate veil for her head. Sanaya had chosen this outfit as she couldn't see herself wearing the traditional red benarasi saree for her wedding. Her in laws did not have a problem with it as long as the outfit was decent. She emerged wearing the lehenga and sat down again. One of the ladies started doing her hair while the other did her make up. Sanaya closed her eyes as she had no other choice and after an hour, they were done. Now she just had to wear the dupatta like she would normally pleat a saree and Ishani along with her mother helped her with that. Next, she wore the heavy gold necklace which covered her from her collarbone down to the middle of her chest and the accompanying bangles and earrings. She let her mother put her tikli or mangtika on her hair partition and then her mother also painted her feet with alta - a red liquid worn by married women on the outline of their feet. Ishani couldn't recognise herself in the mirror after the beauticians painted her forehead with sandalwood paste. Next, her mother pinned the veil to her head and a short while after, they left the house and went to the wedding venue. The venue had an open area and an air conditioned hall with a huge area. The venue was already decorated and the caterers were just setting up for the evening. Sanaya was made to sit on a dias with a beautifully decorated chair on it and Ishani sat beside her. Sanaya's brother entered and told her that he was leaving with the car to bring Ajay along with his family members. Sanaya hugged her brother and told him that he looked very grown up in his dhoti and panjabi. Her brother said,"Didi, I am 22 years old. I am grown up", and left. In the meantime the invited guests started coming and complimenting her on her looks and clicking pictures with her. Sanaya gave a fake smile every time someone came up to the dias and stood up. Her cheeks were already aching from all that smiling and her hands were shaking from nervousness and she feared that the long, conical shaped box or gach kouto would slip from her grasp. Suddenly, there was a commotion at the entrance as all her cousins and friends ran to the entrance to welcome the groom and his relatives. Sanaya felt faint and sat down. He had arrived. Now she would have to face him dressed as his bride and she felt sick at that thought.
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To be continued...
Picture of the gach kouto and the red and white coral and conch bangles on the side.