Lekha (Completed)

Lekha 75

'Day two', that was the first thought that crossed my mind as I woke up.

A very excited Vasundhara burst in through the door with a maid behind her a few minutes later.

" Lekha today you will get to meet maasa's side of the family. All my mamosa, mamisa, maasisa, masosa everyone will be arriving soon. You would love my naanisa, she is the best. Whenever maasa says 'no', I can easily change it to a 'yes' with naanisa by my side. She makes the best dal batti (food) in the whole world." I could feel the love pouring out of her for her grandmother, making me teeny bit envious.

"O silly me... I am so excited about meeting everybody after such a long time that I forgot that maasa asked me to get you ready fast. Maasa has sent some jewellery and poshak for you. " said Vasundhara as her eyes twinkled with joy. She went on and on explaining to me about all her relatives, while a single thought was stuck in my head and I couldn't stop myself from asking.

" Will it be a joint ceremony too"

" Ooo... You are dying to get a glimpse of bhaisa... Hmmm. I must inform him to make a special appearance just for you" smirked Vasundhara.

Vaishali joined the laughter while I was red-faced.

" I didn't mean it that ways... I just wanted to know if taisa relatives will come too as Mahira Dastoor is for both" I lied.

"No ... no... we are having it separately as there will be a huge crowd and loads of confusion. First we will have it for you as it's our house and then for bhaisa. Maasa will be happy to have extra hands to help, with her relatives over."

I felt relieved at that and my level of enthusiasm increased. I was excited to meet maasa's relatives since I had been hearing fun stories about them and actually being able to put a face to those stories was going to be fun.
Vaishali and I soon got dressed up in the clothes maasa had again sent for us. I was indeed grateful to maasa for having taken Vaishali under her wing too.

We had our meals in the verandah where all the ladies were chatting together as they ate the food sitting in rows, while the maids served them. The arrangements for the men had been done outside in the colourful tents.

I had heard that while women slept inside the rooms, the men slept outside on the charpoys in the tents or on the roof terrace. Rudra being the groom had been made to sleep in his room and thankfully he was absent. A small part of my heartfelt guilty at having taken that promise from him but I had been hurt.

"Has Anil eaten?" I asked Vaishali softly.

"Don't you worry about him. He is being treated better than me "she said rolling her eyes. "He is staying as a VIP guest with Rudra and even having his food with him. Everyone is taking great care of him... but..."

"But...? what?" I asked anxiously as my imagination in a fraction of a second went wild imaging the worst.

"He didn't seem to be enjoying all the attention. He asked about you but then it's not appropriate for him to meet you without getting undue attention. I told him to enjoy this once in a lifetime experience and not sulk. It's as if he has decided not to let happiness touch him. He is such a ..."

"It's alright Vaishali. He is all alone between strangers while you still have me" I cut in between before she went on and on with her bickering about him. 

"But..."

"Leave it... see your food will get cold "

I knew why Anil was anxious but even I couldn't help him with that as I had to maintain appearances too.

Roopmati joined us soon looking as beautiful as ever but with my friends surrounding me in the circle of love, I didn't care of who was present or absent.