Chapter 92

Late. Connection Problems. But I am here, as promised.

Rabba Ve, everyone!!

Oh it feels wonderful barging through the Inn doors, yelling the delightful Arhasian greeting!!

Four weeks ago, when I was at the Departure Gate at Cochin International Airport, waiting for the flight to arrive to take me to my parents, I was strolling aimlessly past the book stalls situated in the lobby when my eyes fell on the familiar cover page of a magazine. My heart stilled and my feet disobeyed my orders to stand still. The PEOPLE's Magazine was in my hands and my eyes filled as I flipped the pages to the article about Barun. I didn't even bother to sneak-peak if the salesman was watching me reading. I just engrossed my next few minutes in reading the glossy pages, feeling the brightly coloured images under my shivering fingers...No, I am not a fan of Barun. Or of Sanaya. But I am a fan of IPKKND. And for me IPKKND is everything that reminds me of IPKKND. Barun's article is an echo of IPKKND for me. And IPKKND's echo is now the Voice and Music of my FF.

Alrighty, enough of my bantering. Let me get myself that coffee Zainza said was brewing...and get to the storytelling...

Chapter One Hundred Sixty Six: The Day of the Marriage

"Kushi!" yelled her mother aloud, over the noise in the kitchen.

There was neither an answering response nor any visible signs of the said person.

Frowning, Garima made her way through the crowd of women in the kitchen and stood in the equally crowded living room, scanning the faces and forms for her youngest daughter.

Her eyes fell on the grey-gowned figure bent over a crowd of children who were being served beverages.

Sighing exasperatedly, Garima walked up to her, "Kushibitiya!"

Kushi stood up straight, her childish smile directed at her mother, "Amma! Did you hear? These children were telling me they like my new experiment on tendered wine."

Garima didn't reply but dragged Kushi by her elbow, away from the crowd, and Kushi anxiously tried to keep the glasses balanced on the salver as her mother purposefully pulled her to the side of the stairs which was the only crowd-free corner that promised privacy.

"What is it, Amma?" Kushi looked at her mother, "Didn't you like my tendered wine?"

Garima sighed, "What are you doing, Kushibitiya? You are still acting hostess here! What do you think your mother and aunt are here for, then?"

Kushi defended her ground, "But Jiji's already dressed up and the women who were helping her out drove me away because they said I was unsettling Jiji, making her laugh and cry too much."

"YOU, Kushi! You!!" Garima pointed to her, "Why on earth are YOU not ready yet? Still wearing that grim gray gown like you are mourning!"

"I wore it for fear that I might mess my gown with all the serving and helping around!"

"That you would!" Garima nodded to herself, and then she took the salver from Kushi, ordering calmly, "Listen carefully, bitiya. I want you to leave the hosting to us and go getchanged. I heard Ram is going to the North Village in a few minutes on an urgent errand. If you are quick enough, you can get a ride with him to the Castle."

Kushi was confused, and she looked at the glasses on the salver and then at her mother, "But Amma, the procession doesn't start until its nearly dusk. Why must I go there now?"

Garima's free hand knocked at the side of Kushi's head and Kushi pouted at her mother playfully.

"You are very forgetful these days, Kushi. I wonder what's gotten into you!" Garima eyed her daughter for a moment, waiting for her daughter to remember but Kushi's silent pondering made the mother impatient and she exclaimed, "The bouquet, bitiya! Go get the bouquet from the groom's family!"

"Oh," Kushi smiled guiltily when she remembered the ceremonial bouquet that she had been told to get hours ago but her mother had already left.

Without a moment's delay, Kushi rushed upstairs to her room and shut the door behind her.

She waited for a moment with her back pressed to the door, watching how the afternoon sunlight was dancing through the leaves of the outside tree and making golden patches on her pure white gown that was laid out on the bed, waiting to be put on her.

She remembered the way he had looked at her when the gown had been held before her...

Minutes later, as soon as Kushi was dressed and her long hair was tied up in a neat bun with tiny white flowers on it, she rushed out of her room and down the stairs.

The young girl was too preoccupied with thoughts of catching Ram's cart before it left for the North Village, that she didn't notice the murmur of appreciation and the look of awe that the crowd of women in the living room cast upon her as she raced past them and towards the open front door, looking as elegant as a bride though this one was considerably flighty.

Emerging into the sunlit garden of her Buaji's garden, Kushi lifted the skirt of her gown, and was making for the tiny gate of the fence before her, when she noticed her aunt and her father standing at the gate, halted in their conversation when they saw her approach.

They were studying her in a most strange manner, and she stopped before them, looking at one face and then at the other, "What is it, Babuji? Is something wrong, Buaji? Why are you two looking at me so?"

"This is..." Buaji stared at her, "Is that you, Kushibitiya?"

Kushi chuckled, "No, it's my great-great-grandmother's ghost." And then she added hastily, "Bless her soul whoever she was!"

Babuji laughed at this and then looked at his daughter with tears of admiration in his eyes, "My beloved princess! I've never seen anything as magnificent as this in all my life!"

Kushi looked down at her gown and then at her father, "Oh, is it the gown?"

"Gown and all!" Buaji studied her in amazement, head to foot, "It's hard to believe this beautiful young lady is the most wanted miscreant of Arhasia!"

"Oh, it's her, alright!" Kushi nodded with a smile, "But I assure you, when you see the way they've gowned Jiji and done her hair, you will know what an angel looks like!"

"That she certainly will be! She's my niece and she's downright an angel where you are the minx incarnate!" Buaji nodded self-assuredly, "but you surprised me, bitiya! With that gown on and the coiffure you sport, you bewitch a beholder's eye!"

"Do I, now?" Kushi said sarcastically, more so to camouflage her own growing uneasiness with all the admiration, and she continued with playful boldness, "Then make way for me to pass, Buaji, for I am off to the Castle to bewitch and blind some eyes!"

"Ah, the bouquet," her father nodded, remembering, "The moment you receive it, return as soon as you can, bitiya, because you will need to go to the Castle a second time when it's time for the procession to commence from there."

"I will be back before you know I'm gone, Babuji," said Kushi and then, standing on tiptoe, she kissed her father and her aunt on their cheeks, before lifting the sides of her white gown again and racing out of the gate, towards the horse cart that was waiting on the dusty road, Ram's little head at the front turned to look at her in amazement.

Buaji sighed, "What a pretty sight she is, brother! I cannot simply believe that is our Kushibitya!"

"It certainly is my little princess," Shashi Gupta said, watching the horse cart ride off with Kushi and Ram seated at the front, "And it breaks my heart this very moment with the thought that, one day, not too late, I will have to part with her as well."

"Cheer up, brother!" Madhumati placed a hand on her brother's shoulder, her gaze sliding from her brother's faraway look to where the dust, caught in the wind, trailed from the cart that had sped away into the distance, "It's not like she's being wedded away tonight itself! You have ample days to make memories of her childish ways until you are exhausted and exclaim that she be wedded away!"

"That will not be so," her brother looked at her, smiling, "I can never tire of her childlike conduct."

"Neither can I," confessed Madhumati with a warm smile, "That Goddess of Mischief will always be a child in my eyes. Even if she were to marry and mother a dozen children!"

Master Shashi and Mistress Madhumati laughed at the image of Kushi, the future Mother, with a dozen kids pulling at the hem of her gown or climbing up her arms and legs to get her attention as she struggled to catch her breath and promised to continue playing with them after a moment's rest; and in their laughter at this thought, the elderly brother and sister felt their love for Kushi increase twofold.

Since most of you are not aware of the proceedings of an Arhasian wedding, I shall offer some insight into the manner of the wedding night ceremonies. The marriage was to be held in the Temple in the South Village and all the trees and the entire temple was lit up with decorated, already for the grand night wedding. The wedding procession was to begin from the groom's home and from there to the girl's house where the groom would be blessed by the bride's mother and then both the families would together head for the South Temple where the father of the bride would be waiting to receive the arriving procession.

The ceremony of the wedding would be conducted by a sage and this was followed immediately by the crowning ceremony after which the bride was taken to the groom's home where there was to be feasting and dancing after which all the families parted to their respective homes in happy spirits and the bride was taken to the groom's chambers where the promises made at engyesis would be made lawful through consummation.

It was still late afternoon, when Ram dropped Kushi at the Castle on his way to the North Village and before he left, she made him promise her that he would come to the Castle in time for the procession.

On reaching the Castle, she saw that everyone was excited and there was a flurry of activity that no one paid much attention to her. All the guests and inhabitants of the Castle were dressed in their best and Kushi found the ballroom brilliantly decorated for the night long dancing and feasting.

Upstairs, Lord Arnav stood before his bed, grumbling, for he was being forced to wear a tuxedo.

"This is ridiculous, Di," he frowned at the tuxedo his sister had draped over his bed and which she was patting to check for creases, "You said only the groom will have to wear a tux." He narrowed his gaze annoyingly at her.

"Pray, settle your anger, Little One," said his sister, walking towards him. "You see, Chotey, the ritual requires that-"

"I don't believe in rituals, Di! I do not have to follow them!"

"I understand," smiled his sister, "But I know this one custom you can obey, for it doesn't ask you of anything but to be garbed like your brother. It is important that the unmarried brother of the groom must dress like him and the unmarried sister of the bride should dress like her. Consider it...if Miss Kushi can wear a white gown, devoid of the veil of course, why can't you wear a tuxedo, Chotey?"

He cocked an eyebrow, "Through this lame comparison, are you trying to inspire me to follow a village girl's tirade of senseless conformity to a dressing ritual?"

"I was merely indicating what we expect you to be attired in for tonight's occasion," said Lady Anjali, looking away, "If you didn't want to wear a tuxedo, you should have gotten yourself married off first and then set up Akash's wedding!"

Lord Arnav groaned, "Don't walk up that path, Di, not again," and he ambled off towards his window and stood fuming, his arms crossed before his chest, "I was hoping you had stopped making marriage for me after the failure with Lavanya. You know how much I despise this sort of talk! Why are you so keen to anger me so?"

Lady Anjali walked up to him and leaned her head against his cold shoulder, one hand caressing the long pale sleeve of his shirt,"Chotey?"

He didn't respond.

"Alright, don't wear it, then," she said, and looked up at him from behind his shoulder, "I don't want you attending your brother's wedding with this foul mood."

He looked at his sister and there was a twinkle in his eyes as he studied her face for a moment, "Tell me Di, are you happy?"

"Ofcourse I am, Chotey," she smiled up at him, confused in her gaze, "Why do you ask?"

"After many years of confinement, tonight I am finally letting you venture out of the Castle," he said, cupping her face in his hands, "You do understand why I never let you go out?"

The light in her eyes softened and she kissed the palm of his hand that was close to her cheek, "My dear Little One, you love me with all your life...I know everything you do is because of your love for me. My only wish is that you learn to love and attend to another like the way you-"

"Di!" He slipped his hands away and looked at the window, frowning, "There shall be no such thing. You are the only one I will let myself love." He closed his eyes, "If you promise to not say another word about loving another like I do you... I will willingly wear the tuxedo."

His sister sighed, "Very well, I won't talk of it. Besides, it's not as though 'talking' ever did any penetrating into your stubborn head!" And with that she turned and left the room.

When Lady Anjali walked into the living room, she saw Kushi there and, after offering enthusiastic appreciation for Kushi's attire, she asked how everything fared at the bride's house.

"All is prepared, my lady," said Kushi, smiling, "Except for the bride's bouquet, which the groom is supposed to have made for her."

Lady Anjali laughed, "It was indeed a sight having Akash make the bouquet for her in the morning. You should have seen how excited he was when I brought him the basket of flowers and told him to make it. But I had to help him a lot because his stiff manly fingers were a disaster on the knots...and the flowers kept falling off!"

"Men and flowers, my lady, never go together," supported Kushi, merrily, "It is good that there is such a wedding ritual that makes them acquainted with softer elements of Nature!"

"True," said Lady Anjali, "Now, if you could wait just a moment, Miss Kushi, I will go and get it for you."

Kushi nodded and watched Lady Anjali head in the direction of the ballroom. Kushi's eyes continued scanning the crowd of guests for signs of a certain person whose approval she sought with regard to the gown she wore upon his choosing.

A moment later Lady Anjali reappeared with a bouquet of white roses. Kushi smiled gratefully on receiving it and, after bidding farewell to Lady Anjali, and casting a final longing glance up the empty stairway, Kushi headed for the Castle doors.

She couldn't wait for Ram to come because it will be too late when he returned. Rahim Chacha advised her to borrow one of the carts or carriages in the Castle stable which she could return back when she came to the Castle at dusk in time for the procession.

And so thinking, she made for the stable, the afternoon sun shining down on her white form.

Luckily, she found an empty cart waiting outside the stable but there was no horse harnessed to it. So, she placed the bouquet safely in the cart, walked into the stable and brought out the first horse she found. She led the chestnut horse towards the cart and tied it to the cart's harness.

Then she sat atop the cart, taking care to not dirty her gown, and with a pull at the reins, she had the horse riding the cart along the path, out of the Castle gates and down the hill.

Since she couldn't risk losing time ridding over the long open path to the South Village, she decided to take the short cut through the forest, not riding too deep but along the periphery of the forest so that she could see the assuring sun flitting through the spaces between the trees as she raced on.

Precisely at this moment, Lord Arnav walked out of his room, dressed in his majestic tuxedo and headed for the ballroom but suddenly his sister came to him, her expression disconcerted, "How could I have been so forgetful..."

"What is it, Di?" he asked, "Is it something important?"

"There are so many rituals to follow and I forget them so quickly. It was only now when Nani asked me that I remembered," Lady Anjali pressed something in her brother's hand, "We were supposed to gift the sister of the bride a token of our joy in the family bonding. It's a ritual and the token must be handed to the sibling of the bride by the sibling of the groom. Miss Kushi was here a moment ago but I forgot to give it her. Since I can't possibly catch up with her, if you could-"

At the mention of Kushi's name, mixed emotions raced into Lord Arnav's demeanor.

His nostrils flared in anger, "Another of those unrealistic rituals! Is there no end to them? Won't she come back for the procession? It be enough you give it to her then, being both believers of this madness!"

He was about to hand back the object she had given him when OmPrakash rushed in panting, "Master, the cart you had asked to be mended..."

"Yes?" he looked at him expressionlessly, his hand hovering in the air where it was stretched towards his sister, who was also looking at OmPrakash's petrified expression.

"It is not there, sire," said OmPrakash.

"That's alright," said Lord Arnav coolly, "One of the other servants must have moved it to somewhere safer."

"I've searched everywhere in possibility, sire," said OmPrakash, "It is not in the Castle premises. I am afraid...someone has taken it off for a ride."

Just then, beside Lord Arnav, Lady Anjali gasped and her brother looked at her, "What is it, Di?"

"Kushiji..." Lady Anjali stared palely at the space before her, "She wanted a ride home..."

Next moment, his right hand unconsciously dropping what it held into his pocket, Lord Arnav was rushing out through the Castle doors, over the garden and up the stable, where he barged through the huge barn doors yelling, "Shadow!"

Some things I wanted to tell you all. I am presently more occupied than before. Juggling both my college Project as well as the new job I was offered three days ago to teach at my college itself. Thank you for all your prayers and wishes on behalf of my exams and Aura's. My daily schedule is heavily packed and since the rain is heavy in this place, there are problems with the internet connection too. So you see, overall, everything in the universe is interested in filling my time with Captain Responsibility's taunting. But I assure you, I will do everything I can in my willpower to come here every week and narrate to you the tale you have come to love...Keep a lookout for the Index always.