The Village Girl

Chapter Five - [Seetha]

After eating breakfast, Lady Suhanya returned me to my room before changing me into a lighter churidar. I was relieved to be in it, until she guided me to an open yard where there were quite a few girls standing around stretching.

I realized right then that she was bringing me to where we would be practicing that special dance.

I was quickly introduced to all the girls, all of whom where cousins or relatives of Aaryan. They were all beautiful, and many of them seemed friendly, though quite a few looked at me with a strange look of disapproval which did make me upset.

We didn't get much of a chance to speak, because Lady Suhanya wanted to start teaching me this dance immediately.

As Aaryan had said, the dance involved a lot of spinning, and dancing with a lit flame on a candle in my hand was difficult indeed.

We danced for hours, and to my pleasure, Lady Suhanya was happy with my progress. It was in fact a group dance. I wasn't going to be the center of attention, which filled me with relief. Twelve girls, including myself, danced in the center. There were fourteen other girls who danced on the sides, most of them being the ones who did not seem to like me. Unlike the girls in the center, the girls at the side had simpler moves, as instead of have flames in their hands, they danced with gorgeously decorated pots on their heads.

These girls were older girls, and despite Lady Suhanya explaining that all these girls were already familiar with this dance, they seemed to be struggling quite a lot to keep the pots on their heads.

It was as they struggled and Lady Suhanya sighed in exhaustion that I noticed Aaryan's younger brother. He was standing at the top of the short staircase that led back into the palace, leaning against a pillar and watching us all.

I smiled at him, and he nodded his head. I wondered if I was supposed to bow, but before I could do so, Lady Suhanya grabbed me by my shoulders and returned me to my position. "One more time," she announced.

We ran through what we had learned one more time, and for the first time it seemed to go smoothly, at least until one of the girls dropped the pot from her head, causing the startled girl behind her to drop hers as well. Immediately after, four more girls dropped their pots and Lady Suhanya stopped her singing before putting a hand on her head.

I could not deny that I was a little pleased that it wasn't me who was holding everyone back. "Girls, you have done this dance so many times, why have you not yet mastered holding the pot on your heads?"

The girls were embarrassed. I could see that it also didn't help that Aayuraavanan was standing there, watching them. Their eyes flickered in his direction as they picked their pots back up.

I cleared my throat before stepping forward. "I think I can help," I said.

Lady Suhanya looked at me.

I pulled my shawl off from around me, twisting it tightly into a circle before knotting the ends of it. "If you twist the cloth like this, then the pot will sit more easily on it," I said. I placed the twisted shawl, which was now a tight ring, on my head. After taking one of the pots, I sat it on my head, and with my chin up, I walked around easily, the pot sitting on my head.

The girls seemed unhappy with the fact that I did it with such ease, though they should not be surprise. I retrieve water, foods and much more in pots which I carried on the top of my head on nearly a daily basis.

When I returned the pot to the girl it belonged to by bending down and letting her take it off my head herself, Lady Suhanya smiled. "Fix your cloths, girls," she said. "It seems like you can learn a thing or too from Seetha."