Raven

4

Sounds of women singing Kashmiri Wanwun to welcome the grooms and his party resonated from the tent area. The gate entrance decorated with flowers and sparkly mirror beads  looked gorgeous and the beauty of the decorations was enhanced by the traditional music sung by the womenfolk. A group of girls which included tara and me were standing in the passage holding flower plates in our hands to shower the groom and his guests with the flowers. Some of the older ladies and men as per the tradition held different garlands some of beads and some made entirely of money in their hands for the groom. Murmurs were coming from every nook and corner, excitement was in the air, the groomsmen had called they will be reaching the venue around 9:00 pm but now it was already 9:15; they were late.

"Uh my feet hurt in these heels, when will they come? Khala also asked us to wait outside half n hour early."

"My feet hurt too. Tara what did Mamu say? Any news of their reaching here any time soon."

"He said they didn't call again and it would not look good to call them again. Maybe they will be here soon. Hopefully! "

Sound of car horns answered our prayers. Mamu jaan shouted for the videographer and his partner to hurry up and start their work. The groom's party had also brought their own photographer who literally jumped out of the car like a ninja before everyone else could and started recording the on goings. It was pretty funny to see how these professionals were acting jumping here and there. Car door of the groom was opened and he got out. He was hugged by the yazman bai i.e. parveen khala, then mamu, mum, choti khala and so on. As he started to move forward so did his groomsmen, we started showering flower petals on them as was planned. The happy atmosphere was rubbing me off and as quite ecstatic to be honest, everybody was so happy and yet so tense that it made me realize the beauty of such occasions. The flower shower was in its full throng, the women were singing with gusto, all the guests where outside enjoying the welcome of the baratis' and in all of this festivity I felt an intense stare on my face.

Looking around I made eye contact with a man who was just staring at me expressionlessly. As he walked forward I realized that he possessed a pair of most gorgeous hazel eyes I had ever seen. The surroundings remained the same, women were still singing songs to welcome the groom and praying for this union, groomsmen were walking forward, I was still showering flowers yet my mind completely stopped. All I could focus on was the pair of eyes that held me captive; I was unable to move my eyes away from them.

The man came inside and joined the group moving towards the tent yet he didn't break our eye contact even when the man besides him asked him something he gave him an answer without turning his eyes away. The camera man came in front of me breaking our little game and the realization of my stupidity set within me; did I just stare shameless at a guy I didn't know in front of everyone. I looked up to see most of the men were inside the as the party was almost ready to go inside the tent and the stranger was still looking in my direction. 

A thought came into my mind and I looked beside me where tara was standing, maybe I was giving myself unnecessary importance, maybe the stare was for her, Tara too was held captivated by the man's stare and was checking him out I don't know why looking at her behavior left a sour taste in my mouth. I looked back towards him, he was removing his shoes and as if sensing my stare he looked up and gave me a small toothy grin. He looked away as he went inside the tent and I realized that my heart was beating at an unbearably fast pace—what on earth just happened?

Authors Note:

Above is the picture of the decorated gate entrance and the kashmiri Wanwun.

Wanwun: literally "chorus", is a style of singing used by Kashmiri people. Wanwun is sung on a fixed beat, with a spoken word type rhythm.

Yazman bai: bride's mother who is the host.