The Urban Chronicle ✔

16: I'm Too Young To Get Married, Lady!!!

Ashoka organized a grand feast at the palace that night in honour of the local deity. It was also a kind of celebration for our arrival in Magadha.

Sanghamitra was on cloud nine when we received the news. I, on the other hand, wanted to crawl under a big rock and hide under it until the party was over.

I was quite socially awkward when it came to new people.

I honestly, could not bear the thought of spending an entire evening talking to a bunch of snobbish royals who I’m obviously never going to meet again. All they would most probably talk about was their social standing and etiquette.

I groaned and buried my face into a pillow as Sanghamitra obliviously blabbered on about the clothes we would wear, the people we’d meet, etc.

“Ooh, Tara! We can both wear the dresses we got made from Kanchanmala. And…” she chattered excitedly.

I shrugged indifferently. Where did the shy Sanghamitra go? One little incident in the village- and suddenly she was so bold and confident. Not that I didn’t like this change of character, but which person in their sane mind gets excited for a party like this?

“Hey, don’t be such a spoilsport Tara! Learn to live a little.” Sanghamitra reprimanded, when she finally noticed my utter lack of enthusiasm.

“But I don’t like formal parties,” I pouted, “Besides, there will be people who I don’t know at all. What part of trying to converse with strangers do you find even remotely interesting?"

“You shall go with me without another word, and that’s an order.” She said haughtily.

I rolled my eyes, but gave in anyway because she told me that at least five different desserts were going to be served. Ooh, now you’re talking!

Suvarna helped me dress up and seemed to be extremely happy that I’d finally got some sense in my head. I wore the dress that Kanchanmala made for me and I had to admit that it was stitched to perfection and was absolutely gorgeous.

To my surprise, even Neel wore traditional attire and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him. Ever since he came here, he had refused to wear any of the clothes provided by Ashoka. I opened my mouth to say something, “Neel, you…”

“Not a single word about what I’m wearing, I’m warning you.” He cut my sentence midway.

“….look pretty good!” I completed, “And there’s no need to get all worked up. I was just complimenting you.”

“Umm, thank you.” He said, his ears turning a slight shade of pink.

“You look beautiful too. I must say Kanchanmala has outdone herself.” He said, scratching the back of his neck.

I smiled in response. I found it very easy to talk to Neel since we had a similar taste in books and music. He was a genuine and honest person under his attitude, and I realized that I tended to underestimate his intelligence quite often.

I wondered why we used to be so averse to each other. A few days ago if someone said that the two of us had lots of common ideologies and that we would get along well- I probably would have snorted in disagreement and outright denied it.

But it’s as they say, never judge a book by its cover.

I was glad that I hadn’t passed through the portal alone. Detention had turned out to be quite eventful after all!

We headed towards the grand hall, in the west wing of the palace where the celebration was to be held. On the way we were joined by Sanghamitra who squealed with delight on seeing me.