The Perks Of Being An Indian Bride

9: Lucky

CHAPTER 9: Lucky

The past few days were a lot easier than I thought they'd be. Most of the credits go to my family, who refused to leave me alone even for a second.

Ajji, Rutu, Naina and I would spend all mornings gossiping merrily about the latest scandals that have happened amongst our cousins.

"You know, Sunita's daughter Sakshi posted a photo in a very short dress yesterday, ante! In some site called Instagrama!" Ajji said very excitedly one evening.

"Instagrama alla, Ajji! Instagram!" Naina had responded, choking with laughter.

"Haan, adhe! Sunita was very upset."

"Ajji, so what if she wears short clothes, it's her life!" I replied.

"Ayyo, not like that Dolu! It seems her bum was also showing!" Ajji exclaimed, her eyes as wide as ping pong balls.

With that, the twins and I squealed with laughter. Ajji always had the most fascinating takes to stories.

Amrita and I would spend most of our time bullying and laughing at Amay so much that he would give up trying to defend himself and just listen to all the nonsense we spew. Maya and I would watch all the Hindi soap operas (even the repeats) and drag Sid with us. He, having no other choice, would be forced to sit and watch them, swearing very eloquently at us in the process.

And when I am not with my younger siblings, I spend whatever time I have left with Shru and Bhavna talking, shopping and playing cards with Mum and Dad.

Today was an especially pleasant day and so, the whole family had decided to congregate in our garden in the evening. I was given the orders of getting Bhavna and Adi to join us, so I made my way to their room. I stopped at the door just to catch a glimpse of Bhavna and Adi in each other's arms, swaying to and fro to Adi's low but tuneful humming. He had one protective hand at Bhavna's small tummy and bent down and gave it a kiss and then kissed a laughing (because she is very ticklish) Bhavna.

I, not wanting to disturbed them, quietly made my way back to the garden, smiling to myself thinking about how perfect Bhavna and Adi were for each other.

Will I ever be as happy as she is? Sigh. Only time can tell.

My family has resorted to playing Dumb Charades by the time I got back. Ajji was brutally destroying everybody else and there was no way anyone else could win now. Looking at the statistics, Rutu and Naina were the first ones to give up, as they had lost all hopes and interest in the game. Slowly, the rest of my family gave up hope too, except for Ajji.

"Oh come on! We just started!" Ajji exclaimed.

"No Ajji, I am going to back out with the small amount of dignity that I have left." Amay said.

"No Ajji, he wants to text Priya. That's why he's backing out." Amrita said. She was the only one in our house who gave a little competition to Ajji.

"Avni, Vihaan is coming tomorrow na?" Shruthi asked me.

"Uh, yes I think so. Why?" I asked.

"She doesn't think so Akka. She hopes so." Rutu said, nudging me. I could feel my cheeks turning into a faint shade of red.

"Ma, Dad, we have some news for you." I heard Bhavna's voice from behind me.

Why does she always have to tell us something in such a serious tone?

"We've actually known for a while now, but didn't really have a good time to tell you all." Adi said.

"Plus, we actually wanted to keep this to ourselves for a while before telling everyone else." Bhavu added, smiling brightly.