Raven

1

It's raining, though not as heavily as I prefer; the dark grey clouds covering the sky are giving a pretty gothic look to the surrounding, the sound of rain falling on the concrete produces that distinct music which often relaxes the soul; it's just a perfect autumn day. All I want to do in this cozy weather is to curl up on my window seat with my comfy blanket, a cup of tea and a nice book. It has been raining like this since morning.

Going near the window I observe how the water hits the roof of the outhouse, making a big puddle from where the collected water eventually falls down from the side drain like a small river emerging from a dam. I truly wished for a garden in front of my room; waking up to the smell of fresh flowers or breezy air or to the smell of wet earth would have been so amazing but instead I have an outhouse. A part of the street is also visible from my room but currently there is no one outside, just two or three crows sitting on the electric wire and a poor dog running, probably looking for a shelter from the rain.

"Liza! Come down we are already late!" shouted my mother.

"Coming!!" looking at the clock on the wall next to me I realized that indeed we are late for our appointment. I went to the dressing table and picked up the comb to style my straightened hair. Applying a bit of lipstick I checked my dress in the mirror; I was wearing a bottle green kurta with orange embroidery paired with navy blue pants which also had some embroidery near the ankles. Making sure that I look good, I checked whether I closed all the electronics and made my way downstairs.

"Liza!! Oh there you are. Come on lets go, your father is already waiting for us in the car. You take so much time to ready. Did you close the door, switched of the lights---""yes!!!? Mum, all done let's go like you said it's already late." Pushing her inside the car's front seat I dashed towards the back, before she could protest. "God! You two take so much time to get ready. Look it's already 3:00 pm; it will take us more than an hour to reach the banquet hall." Complained my dad, as if, he wasn't the one who gave us just 30 minutes to get ready. In my defense, in a normal situation it would have taken me less than 10 min to get ready however since it's a marriage ceremony even 1 hour is less for a person like me who is not bad just ok at doing makeup and dressing up, moments like this make me miss my sister more.

"I feel so bad, really! Look at how the rain is falling. It seems like it won't stop and might even become worse. Poor Parveen! Her only daughter is getting married and the day turned out to be so bad. Marriage of a daughter is already so hard and now this. I pray that all preparations end well for her" said my mother.

Indian culture and its view on women fails to change no matter what religion or economic background you belong or what kind of education you have received women are still seen as a weakness by this society. This 'marriage of daughter' talk never fails to surprise me

"What can we do it's all Gods will? Hopefully everything will be fine. I remember one I was attending a party..." While my father was telling one of his famous 'once upon a time' stories I trailed out of my parent's conversation and started focusing on the surroundings that went by me.

One thing my mum pointed out was true, the rain was falling fast now; it pattered against the car window, falling down the glass pane till completely disappearing down the edge. Roads were filled up with water and whenever a Car crossed a puddle the accumulated water on the roads gets splashed on the passerby's. People where running about looking for shelter, some people were waiting for buses or other forms of public transport and others where just walking with an umbrella to their destinations. Since it was the time when schools got off many school children where on the street laughing and giggling while jumping in puddles. Looking at the kids, a smile came on my face; at least someone is enjoying the essence of rain.

I actually wasn't in the mood to attend a marriage rather I would have preferred staying at home in my bed reading a book or watch a movie. But my mum believed that the relatives would 'talk' if I didn't go so for the sake of my mother's sanity I decided to accompany her. No matter what how much you hate your extended family; functions are to be attended no matter what this is an unspoken rule of the Kashmiri families. Noor, the bride is related to me from my mother's side; her mother and my mother are sisters and today is her Baharat function where her groom will come to take her to his home.

A "KM MART' sign board which was the identification mark passed by our car suggesting that we were almost there. Looking down at my watch I realized that it was almost 4 and a feeling of dread started to develop in the pit of my stomach. I could feel my social anxiety starting to kick in. I hated meeting my relatives; I felt that they didn't like me for some reason.

Lightning flashed across the sky followed by a loud 'rumble' of thunder, "Liza", I look towards my father and I realized the car has stopped and we have reached our destination. Here goes nothing.

Authors note:

Hi there !

Above is the outfit Liza is wearing

This is the first chapter of the book .

I hope you enjoyed it 

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