Lekha (Completed)

Lekha 81

We must have got only three hours of sleep I guess, when a very sleepy looking Vasundhara, Gayatri and Maitri came in and tried to shake us awake. Vaishali gave an irritated grunt and went back to sleep turning the other way.

"Maasa has asked you to get ready, take a bath and wear these clothes" yawned Vasundhara as she put the clothes on the chair.

Then all three of them pushed me to a corner and lay on the bed in whatever space they could get. It didn't take long for them to start snoring softly. I sat in one corner trying to decide on my action plan which was nothing great, as I had to just pick up the clothes and go for my bath. It was gathering the will to get up which was the actual problem.

I felt someone shaking me again and through my blurry eye, I saw a maid smiling down at me. I wondered what she was doing.

" Wake up jeeji, your maasa is asking you to take the bath and get ready."

I looked towards the bed and saw all four of them sleeping peacefully fitted like puzzle pieces in the constricted bed. I felt a wave on envy pass through me but life had happened and I was a married woman now unlike the few lucky ones.

I took a deep breath and headed out to responsibly fulfil all my duties.

I came back to an empty room and realized that no one could escape maasa's verdict. Despite having no claim to any kind of input which might have caused this event, I felt victorious.

The girls slowly trailed in and sent dirty looks towards me seeing me smile at them, which again made me snicker earning me even more frowns.

Lajjo came in soon after looking upset and slumped on the chair.

" What happened Lajjo?" asked Maitri.

"Roop jeeji scolded me," she said looking totally disheartened.

"Why?" jumped in Gayatri.

Now everyone who had been previously feeling dull and sleepy perked up. I truly believed Lajjo's sadness had nothing to do with it.

"She was shouting at the maid to pack her trunks and since I slept in her room I woke up. All I did was ask her why she was packing her trunks as it wasn't even dawn ... She shouted at me to shut up" blubbered Lajjo with her lip trembling as a sob escaped her, leading to a full-scale bawling.

Lajjo and her friends had been trailing Roopmati all throughout the wedding waiting on her voluntarily. She had even converted them into her spies, I suspected since she had been concocting all kinds of devious plans. I realized where she must have got the hints from about the dresses I wore during the rituals and tried to one-up my presence. I felt pity for poor Lajjo, it's always heartbreaking to be rejected by one's idol at such a tender age.

"She even said that everything became futile all because of me... I don't know what I did wrong? I tried to do whatever she asked of me. She even said that if I told her about what Lekha jeeji was doing, she would be able to help you plan your marriage better, but since it was a surprise she asked me to keep quiet about it... which I did. Didn't I?" she said looking at me, proving my theory right.

I had been so busy with being upset that I hadn't realize what people had been doing around me. The girls tried to soothe her down.

"I don't know what I did wrong" she kept on repeating.

"You have done nothing wrong Lajjo dear, that jeeji must have been troubled by something else but took her frustration out on you," I said trying to get her out of this self-blame mode. I didn't want her to have low self-esteem because of that witch.