Intekhaab✔️

Chapter 11 - Josh-o-kharosh (جوش و خروش)

"Teen mahine kese nikalgaye patah hi nahi chala..shaadi sar pe hai aur abhi tak tayari muqamal nahi" Qirat whined to Zaakir.

"Kya rehgaya? Shadi tho neche haveli me hi hai,
Shopping bhi sari hogayi, caterers se bhi baat hogayi, puri haveli paint bhi karwadi aur sajwat ke liye bhi team hire karli hai..abh kya rehgaya?"
Zaakir listed everything done.

"Itne dawatnaame abhi tak batne baaqi hein, mithai walo se jawab nahi aya abhi thak, Laiba ki dress ki fitting karwani hai, woh joh Arif ke kamrey me naya bed liya hai usko pura fix karwana hai karigaro se, bahar garden me bhi itna kaam baqi hai aur..." Qirat ranted too.

"Aram se aram se..breathe" Zaakir reminded his now breathless wife.
"Sab hojayga" he assured her.

Laiba and Bilal had graduated; Bilal with a 1st class who was satisfied with his result and Laiba with a second division, and she was over the moon with her result. Their convocation was done yesterday and Boths parents had attended it, celebrating the children's achievements.

Over the three months Laiba hadn't interacted much with Arif. It drove him insane, he was dying to see her by now. But he stopped himself he knew it was a pressurising time for her, doing her final exams and also preparing for the wedding. He didn't want to add to the pressure so he didn't force meetings upon her too. And now he was officially told he's not allowed to meet her, since there's only a week left to the wedding and it was a ritual of some kind to stop the marrying couple from seeing each other until the Nikah, when the date is close.

Lately Arif's work was running smooth and he had been occupied in more wedding things. Thanks to his mother. She dragged him through allot of shopping. When she finally selected all his outfits he thought his part was done. Boy was he wrong. He was then immediately handed allot of other work, mostly relevant to the redesigning of his room, which he happily did since it was redesigning to something that would be suitable for Laiba too.

Sab tayariya bari josh-o-kharosh pe thi. Aur us din ka besabri se intezaar tha abh.

——

"Itni dubli kese hogay meri jaan" Qirat asked as the tailor took Laibas new measurements to alter the wedding dress.

"Kah pee hi nahi rahi yeh larki dhang se..aap hi samjhein abh issy ke in dino tho khane peene pe aur tawajoh deni chahiye" Falak commented.

"Abh kal se tho shaadi shuru hai abh ache as kaho piyo beta.. trust me shaadi attend karne me aur khudki shaadi me betne me zameen asmaan ke farakh ki thakaan hoti hai" Qirat explained. Laiba just hugged her Mumanijaan who pat her head in response.

The next day Laibas mayoun ceremony was held. She wore a plain, simple, cotton,  yellow shalwar kameez. She has a matching yellow dupatta placed on her head. Her hair now grew into a long bob, long enough to be tied into a braid of two pleats. Her hair was left open and she was adorned with floral jewellery. Floral hoop earrings and her favourite, floral gajrey.

The rasms began. 7 married woman came one by one applying ubtan to the bride; head, shoulders, hands and knees. Starting with Qirat, and all the woman began singing the song specific to this rasm.. "Qirat suhaagan, sada-e-suhaagan..." the women harmonised. When the 7 married women were done all the younger girls also took sort in the rasm. drenching Qirat in ubtan.

Later ubtan was applied to her skin and was scrubbed off, with the girls and women singing the next traditional song "mere nehar me aaj mujhe bheja..yeh peela jora yeh peela jora, yeh hari hari chooriyan" followed by other traditional songs.

A yellow curtain was put up on the door of her room, and she was sat behind it, she was officially not allowed to see any na-mehram now. Tired of the long day it had been she lay flat on her back in her yellow outfit. And she let her eyes rest. But just then she remembered everyone told her to be reading the Quran nowadays she had a few pages left to complete it. Getting up she made wudhu and mustered the courage. She prayed isha, the prayer gave her an energy boost and she opened the Quran to where she last left it, now completing it she kissed the book and placed it back. Undoing the scarf around her she lay in bed peacefully now and let sleep engulf her.

——

The next day was the mehndi and nikah. Arif was impatiently waiting for this day, he could finally see her. And she would be attached to him forever. His happiness knew no limits. He woke up earlier then usual, was dressed before told to be and was just, well ready.

Whilst she had a much longer getting ready procedure. Some beauticians were called over to her house. She thought they'd probably do her hair and makeup. But that wasn't it. They started by waxing her arms and legs, making her almost cry. Then they did a facial on her which was soothing, but soon after they threaded her upper lip, and this time she did cry. After applying a soothing cream they worked on her hair. They tied two Dutch braids at the front of her head and merged them at the back, it gave the illusion of her hair tied in a bun. She liked it. They then told her to change into the shirt she planned on wearing.
Which was a dark sea green silk anarkali dress embellished with stone work on the borders, it was paired with matching churidaar bottoms and a golden dupatta which matched the designing of the dress. Putting on the well fit anarkali Laiba sat on her seat. The beauticians expertly brushed her face enhancing her beauty to an epitome level. Golden eyelids making her eyes shine, a winged eye liner, mascara elongating her voluminous lashes, light glowy foundation, highliter dusted on her cheekbones and a nudeish maroon lipstick.
They then added her accessories to her. Big round kundan stud earrings with a matching round tika. And her normal noise ring was kept on. She had gotten it pierced a few days after the engagement..it was also a mini rasm of its own.

She was then taken downstairs. Where guests were already present. Her cousins singing, dancing and teasing her. As two expert henna artist sat on each side of her holding a hand each of hers, covering them in beautiful patterns one of them asked her for her grooms name, before she could answer a friend of hers did. And the henna artist expertly camouflaged his name in her henna.
Her henna was done and was now dry but still on her hands. It was evening now. And the groom side arrived. Qirat and Pareesa came greeting the women. Whilst the men were sat separately for the Nikah.

After complimenting Laiba, Pareesa set her veil to cover her face. Soon the Molvi came and performed the nikah. With a low voice and shaky hands she signed the papers. No matter how strong she acted to be, it was now all gone. She cried hugging her father, loosing his name as her last name. She already began missing her parents. Her father tried to hold back his tears too but seeing her and his wife both being an emotional mess he couldn't hold back, and he let a few tears trickle down his face as he hugged his daughter giving her courage.

The molvi then went to them men's room, where the environment was totally different. Arif loud and clear signed the papers and the Nikah was done. The molvi made some dua for the couple and now it was time for him to go and see her.

A proud Bilal lead the groom to the place the bride and women were seated. All the youngsters in the crowd 'ooooh'd' as he walked in. Arif was seated next to Laiba and he couldn't bite back his smile.

"Arsi mashuf kiya jaye abh" Pareesa questioned kum announced.
A big red veil and mirror was brought. The mirror was placed on the little table infront of the bride and grooms seat. The veil was placed over them. And Laiba's veil was lifted by Arif under the red veil.

"Subhanallah" Arif whispered appreciating the low-gazed beauty before him.

She kept looking down, something was stopping her to look at him right now. She didn't know what but it was.

When they were sat back properly he whispered a 'Nikah Mubarak' to her and she nodded and bowed her head down in response.

———
A/N;

Sike!
Imma try still keep up with the double updates 😎😂.