MALANG

11. Does life heal?

2 years later
Jaisalmer

"Khamma ghani aunty, myself Nityami Bharadwaj." I joined my hands before Mrs. Somani as I gave her my introduction at the doorstep of her house.

"Nitya beta! Come inside, Vani is waiting for you." She flashed a toothy smile and ushered me in.

Slowly we walked towards the great hall where Vani was sitting with Vivek and Abhishek Somani. They were happily chattering amongst themself when I went ahead and threw my arms around my best friend's neck.

"Hey bestie, I am back."

"Finally got the time, you busy woman!" She slapped me at the arm affectionately. "I was waiting for you. I had asked you to come early na."

"Sorrrrry. Got stuck with some important work at the last moment." I squeezed my eyes and gave her the best puppy eyed look that I knew she couldn't ignore. Then I turned towards the Somani duo and exclaimed- "Khamma ghani uncle, khamma ghani Vivek."

"Khamma ghani beta. Please take a seat." Mr. Senior Somani suggested while Vivek just smiled at me pleasantly. I nodded softly and sat down beside Vani on the huge leather clad white sofa.

"Shall I get you some sharbat or you prefer tea?" Mrs. Somani asked from the other side. I guess she was going into the kitchen to personally look after the eating arrangements.

I smiled and replied- "sharbat will do, aunty."

An hour had passed after that as all of us sat together, dicussing about life, career and politics. Mr. Senior Somani, the one and only owner of Somani Infrastructures, was a great speaker and listening to him was fun indeed. But since at the back of my mind I had an other important work to do, I couldn't fully concentrate and kept fidgeting in my spot every now and then. It was soon caught by Mrs. Somani and she questioned me without further adeu.

"Beta is there any problem? You seem a bit uneasy?"

I also decided not to beat around the bush. "Yes aunty, I think we should start discussing about what we are here for."

Mr and Mrs Somani exchanged a glance and gave a subtle nod, signalling me to proceed.

I took a deep breath and resumed- "yeah, so as you know that Vivek and Vani are in love with each other and want to marry as soon as possible, I am here to talk about their marriage."

Mrs. Somani drank some water from her crystal glass and caressed my cheek gently. "I really appreciate your concern, Nitya but this isn't your thing to do. Marriage talks are done between families and it would be great if you just inform Vani's family members instead."

"But Nitya is my only family!" Vani protested aghast. I squeezed her hand asking her to stop. If I was her only family then only I should be the one talking over here.

"I can't do Vani's kannyadan. I need to call her father for that. So ofcourse, the entire Gupta family will know about this wedding."

"I have no objection. Vani is such a lovely child. I just want to bring her home as my daughter-in-law. That's it." Abhishek Somani chirped inbetween.

I passed him a smile while Vani's cheeks got tainted red.

"I also don't have any objection. I know my son has selected a gem for himself." Mrs. Somani chirped thereafter.

"That she is." I hugged Vani sidewise. "So now can we discuss about the marriage date?"

Mr. Somani suggested- "We need to consult our family priest for that. But we can definitely do the Mudha Tika (engagement) this sunday."