Smita,😊
Here is my interpretation for Part 111.
Unfold, open-up, open-out, disclose, divulge, unveil, present, explain are the key words that convey the gist of this update at various points. In a word its UNFURL...
NK walked towards the bed on quick feet, managing to dodge a table with pesky candles lit on it... some basin with water in it and lit candles floating on it... a bowl of fruit... a curtain of flowers...
"Whoever is in a hurry shows that the thing he is about is too big for him" ~Lord Chesterfield
He parted the strings of flowers, and clambered on to the bed, shedding his shoes on the way.
"If you must be in a hurry, then let it be according to the old adage, and hasten slowly"
~ Saint Vincent de Paul
He lifted the ghoonghat covering Aarti's face, throwing the pallu back over her head, to reveal a beautiful and bejewelled Aarti sitting with her head lowered, her eyes on her fingers clasped together on her raised knees. The bright red of the Banarsi sari made her glow even in the dim light.
"The most beautiful view is the one I share with you"
"Aarti!", NK called softly.
She lifted her head, her eyes meeting his. They held a smile.
NK fell over her, making Aarti fall back against the bank of pillows, her eyes wide, surprised...
NK did not waste anymore time. He leaned over her, raining kisses on her forehead, her maang tikka, her eyebrows, her eyes, her ears, her nose, her cheeks, her chin, and her neck.
"Happiness is pleasure without regret"
~ Leo Tolstoy
The feel of his warm, hard lips on the sensitive skin of her neck made her squirm pleasurably.
Reassured that she was really there, and that she was his wife, NK rested against her heart, panting.
"I never assume anything. I anticipate the possibilities and allow my imagination to create the future" ~ Lionel Suggs
"Aarti, we got married today evening, didn't we?", he asked, gasping for breath.
Aarti smiled and nodded.
"The wedding, our family, Baba & Khushi Bhabi singing... all these happened, didn't they?", NK wanted to be very sure of all these.
"Faith to me is trusting in every evidence that something is - that it is possible, that it is significant, that it is real" ~ Richelle E. Goodrich
"Yes. They all happened.", Aarti reassured him, smiling.
"Aarti... It is just that... I have been dreaming about our wedding for months... and suddenly...", NK could not find words to explain his confusion.
"The sweetest pleasures are those which are hardest to be won" ~ Giacomo Casanova
Aarti cupped his face, and said softly, "It really happened. Finally."
NK nodded.
Aarti caught hold of his hand, and placed hers by his, showing him the engagement & wedding bands.
NK sighed in relief.
"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky" ~ Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds
Aarti took his hand to her neck, and made him finger her beautiful, new mangalsutra. NK kissed the slender chain of diamonds & black beads as though paying homage to it.
"I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it" ~ Rita Mae Brown
"Aarti, I promise...", NK was very serious as he looked into her eyes. "I will try to be the best husband in the world. I... I haven't been married before... so.. so just give me a few days.. I will learn to be serious and... and more disciplined... and more...", he sighed.
Aarti looked at her husband, smiling.
"Sometimes people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them. But you
keep the promise anyway. That's what love is.
Love is keeping the promise anyway"
~ John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
NK confessed with lowered eyes, ashamed of himself, "I didn't even clean my cupboard, Aarti. I didn't think that you would be shifting your things over here... I am so..so..sorry, Aarti..."
Aarti smiled.
"Khushi Bhabi, Payal Bhabi, & Di must have cleaned out my wardrobe. That's how they found my toy aeroplane, books, & maybe, a packet of chips...", NK fretted.
"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."
~ George Washington
Aarti smiled. She ran a hand over the smooth plane of his right cheek, and said softly, "I don't want you to try to be the best husband in the world. I can live with your aeroplane, joke books, and even that packet of chips among your clothes... All I care about is that... I... I just want you to love me all our lives as much as you do right now. The rest will happen naturally."
"LOVE...
If you have it you don't need anything else...
If you don't have it, it doesn't matter much what else you have"
"That is easy to promise.", NK smiled, his eyes moist.
Aarti cupped his face, and kissed his forehead. Then she said, shrugging, "Err..I am not used to wearing all this...", she pointed to the jewellery. "Can you help me take this off?"
Could he? NK leaped at the chance. He gently freed her from the cumbersome jewellery. Aarti sighed in relief, rubbing her ears that were now free from the prison of heavy earrings.
"No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same"
~ Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why
NK gasped. "I forgot! Aarti, I wanted to give you a gift, & I forgot!"
Aarti smiled. "I am still here."
NK nodded, and scrambled off the bed. He returned with a jewellery box. "I hope you like it.", he said nervously.
Aarti smiled at him, and opened the lid.
Inside was a set of pearl jewellery. Simple cream earrings, a slender necklace of small pearls, a one-string pearl bracelet, a slender ring with one pearl...
"After all," Anne had said to Marilla once, "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string"
~ L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea
"I thought...", NK ran his fingers through his hair. "I thought if it is simple, you can wear it to work..."
Aarti dropped the box on the bed, and threw her arms around her husband, loving his thoughtfulness... She kissed his neck, breathing in the sandalwood scent of his masculine body, running her fingers through the hair at his nape...
"A smile on my face doesn't mean my life is perfect. It means I appreciate what I have and what God has blessed me with"
They stayed locked together like this for a while, and then Aarti freed herself. "Shall I give you my gift now?", she asked.
NK nodded, smiling, eager to see what she was going to give him.
As he watched, she slipped her hand into her blouse, and drew out an envelope kept warm and close to her heart. She handed it over to him.
"When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object" ~ Milan Kundera,
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
NK could feel the warmth and smell the fragrance of her body on that envelope. His fingers trembled as he opened the flap, and drew out a single sheet of paper.
"I wrote it the night before the surgery.", Aarti said, looking into his alert eyes.
NK bent his head to read her missive.
"One love, one heart, one destiny" ~ Bob Marley
This part, I have picked from my post titled ECHT on Part 78, as I had already dealt with it there.
"My dear Sunflower"
"You asked me to marry you many times. I wanted to say 'yes' many times. But...
"Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry" ~ Tom Mullen
I would be a devil of a wife.
Do you really want to live with a girl who has never been a girl? Never worn dresses and saris? Never put on makeup? Never had long hair? Never had girl friends? Never had ice cream before you bought it for her? Who doesn't know what marriage is? Who has never felt any thing for any man except contempt for her father and respect and affection for her co-workers? Who has never been touched by any man? Who does not really know what love is?
"Love is knowing all about someone and still wanting to be with them more than any other person..."
What is love?
Aarti who has been fed with just hate from her father knows only the love and compassion of Gopi Kaka who is the only other male member of her family. She is only able to comprehend the love and affection of her Gopi Kaka and her employees. Her mother who has become fragile loves her but needs Aarti's love and care more than what she can give Aarti. Aarti's insecurity made her refuse his proposal. She is unsure of her own feelings. She just doesn't know if her reactions and the feelings that well up in her when she sees NK amounts to being in love. So she spells all her inadequacies and pens her feelings to NK in her letter asking him what it means?
Is it wanting to see you when you are not before me?
Wanting to run away when you approach me? And at the same time wanting to stay and feel you touch me?
Feeling weak when I see the naughty look in your eyes as you walk towards me, planning to kiss me?
"Love is trusting him enough to tell him everything about yourself including the things you might be ashamed of..."
Wanting to share my thoughts with you? Talk to you about the amusing and ordinary things that happen in my life? Share something that Gopi Kakka said? Something that Amma mentioned? Tell you about the roses I planted, and how Amma smiled when she saw the first bud? The birds who visit me daily in the morning to play in the birdbath I made? The big fish in the pond who raises his head out of water if he hears my voice?
"Life is a train of moods like a string of beads; and
as we pass through them they prove to be many
colored lenses, which paint the world their own
hue, and each shows us only what lies in its own focus"
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Is it knowing that your full focus is on me even when you are talking to someone else?
Waiting for you to take hold of my hand at the first excuse?
"Love is feeling comfortable and safe with him..."
Seeing you hug Amma, and wanting to cry?
Seeing your Bhabis love you so much, and wanting to hug them for loving you so much?
Feeling respect for your Nannav and Akash for setting out to win the world for you?
Wanting to never leave when you are with me. Wishing that you would stay with me all the time?
Looking for you in every crowd, hoping to see you?
"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people" ~ Victor Borge
Wanting to laugh at your broken Hindi even long after you are gone?
Is this love?
"Love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive" ~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Men
After noting all her feelings that are alien to her but now reside in her she talks about the known feelings. She has the innate desire for his company and would like to share her fears with him.
"When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out" ~ Elizabeth Bowen
She wants to derive warmth and strength from his presence and his love. She is scared of loosing him too!
"Love is like the sun coming out of the clouds
and warming your soul.
Love reminds you that nothing else matters"
~Amy Bushell
I wish you were with me now. I am scared about tomorrow. Scared for Amma. Scared for me. Scared I won't be able to see you again.
"Give out what you most want to come back"
~ Robin S. Sharma, The Greatness Guide: Powerful Secrets for Getting to World Class
If we don't meet again, will you ever know how much I cared for you? How much I longed to live with you? Watch you smile?
Or will you think I cheated you, broke your trust and my word?
"But how could she tell him that the reason she always acted so disinterested in everything was because of the worry that she herself wasn't all that interesting?" ~ Jennifer E. Smith, You Are Here
Life is so funny. For 22 years, I didn't want to live, but had to...
Today, I want to live. With you. But...
"Love addicts you to its feeling. You never, ever want to lose that feeling. Sometimes the fear of losing love drives people to do crazy things. Make a phone call. Cry. Write. Laugh. Because when you love someone, you really love them. You give them your whole heart. You trust them. You never want to be away from them. Sometimes, you don't even need their words. You just need them there" ~ Alysha Speer
I am so tired, my Sunflower. I need to sleep. Tomorrow is a big day.
I just wish...
I just wish I could have been your wife for atleast one day. Just one day. One day atleast...
Goodnight. Goodbye!"
"Love is such an amazing thing, and too many people take it for granted. If you're in love, don't let it go. Don't you dare let it go" ~ Alysha Speer
PS.
"You gave me my first kiss. My first ice cream. My first hug from a man. And this is my first love letter.
Thank you. For all the good memories. I didn't know that life could be something to look forward to.
"Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light - Albus Dumbledore" ~ J.K. Rowlings
Only yours,
Aarti"
"Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.'
Mature love says 'I need you because I love you'"
~ Erich Fromm
NK in exuberance, to reach Aarti as quickly as possible was unmindful of stumbling and tripping over things. Parting the strings of flowers, climbing on to the bed, he lifted the ghoonghat and looked at his wife, decked in the wedding finery, a vision to behold. She was sitting like a bride she was all bashful. Calling out to her he found that her eyes held an answering smile. It was a smile of happiness. It was a smile that said she loved him. NK who was teased quite a lot by the members of his family fell over her in his eagerness, surprising her with his action. Wasting no more time he started raining kisses on her face. He was so relieved to be beside her without any hindrance now. Still, he just could not believe he is having her all to himself! His kisses pleasured her sensitized nerve endings. Once reassured that it was not just a dream he relaxed. Still he asked her all about what happened in the wedding to reconfirm. Aarti who understood him soothed him,
"Aarti, we got married today evening, didn't we?", he asked, Aarti nodded.
"The wedding, our family, Baba & Khushi Bhabi singing... all these happened, didn't they?", NK asked
"Yes. They all happened.", Aarti reassured him.
"Aarti... It is just that... I have been dreaming about our wedding for months... and suddenly...", NK said in confusion.
Aarti cupped his face, and said softly, "It really happened. Finally."
"We seek the comfort of another.
Someone to share and share the life we choose.
Someone to help us through the
Never ending attempt to understand ourselves.
And in the end,
Someone to comfort us along the way"
~ Marlin Finch Lupus
Soothing him verbally Aarti placed her hand and showed him the engagement and wedding bands and the mangalsutra. NK kissed it showing how much he valued having her as a part of him in his life. He promised her that he would be serious and more disciplined. He confessed to her that he had not made space for her things in his cupboard as he had not given it a thought and asked her forgiveness. He said Khushi, Payal and Anjali must have cleared his things and that is how they must have found out about his collections.
Aarti who didn't mind all the teasing and in fact enjoyed it. For her, who was starved of family life , love and laughter, it was like Manna, the sustenance which made her look forward to her future ahead with NK filled with levity. She said she doesn't want him to try to be the best husband. She can put up with all his quirks. The only thing that she cares about is his love, and enduring love is what she wants all through her life.
"Loving someone is a leap of faith
You are giving them your heart
and trusting them not to break it...
No matter what happens
I will still never regret making that leap for you"
She has willingly chosen to be with him a she wants to,
"Be with a man
Who promises to give laugh lines when you are old
Who tells you he's proud of you in a daily basis
Who puts your happiness on the same level as his
Who uses positive superlatives when describing your relationship
Who uses 'WHEN" not "if" when talking about his future and how you fit in it"
She knows her husband to be just so. So touched was NK with her simple request and requirement, it had his eyes welled up.
"Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed
securely on shore and merely existed?"
~ Hunter S. Thompson
Aarti who was used to simple and frugal lifestyle found herself uncomfortable decked with the jewellery. She requested NK's help to remove them. NK was mighty glad to oblige. Suddenly NK remembered that he had missed giving her the gift that he had kept ready. Giving her the jewellery box he hoped that she would like it. When Aarti opened she found an exquisite pearl set. He said he bought a simple set thinking that she could wear it to work too. It was a perfect piece of jewellery befitting the stature of the one who adorns it because pearls symbolize purity and spiritual transformation. Simply wearing a pearl reminds that the wearer to be an honest, pure, wise, and the one who walks with the utmost dignity. It is the only gem born inside a living organism, a pearl is truly a matchless gift of nature. Each pearl is truly one of a kind. Pearls embody those words in every facet of their being. Every pearl is a unique creation much like everyone of us. This significance is what makes the pearl and the bride a perfect match. That is why NK's choice of gem and jewellery was perfect!
This sweet gesture of NK reconfirmed to Aarti that he is endowed with wonderful nature! Aarti who was overcome by his thoughtfulness as to her taste and liking, showed her happiness by hugging and kissing him.
"A kiss without a hug is like a flower without the fragrance"
After a while Aarti asked him would he like to have her gift. When eager NK assented, she handed out an envelope that she had kept close to her heart! She said that she had written the letter, before her surgery.
NK began reading it.
The letter I'll not go through again as I have pasted it above what was written in an earlier post of mine titled ECHT on Part 78. It holds good here too!
We see the eagerness of NK to be with Aarti unfold, unmindful of tripping over things.
He opens-up his insecurity for the first time. He just couldn't believe that his dream at last has turned into reality. Aarti who so far had been quiet, opens out and assures him of what type of marriage she expects and discloses her heart's desire just to have plenitude of love in her life. NK explains how he feels about Aarti not by words but by presenting her with a pearl set. Pearl stands for pure, honest, wise and dignity. She divulges that on the eve of her operation she had written her feelings addressed to him and gives it to him as her wedding present. Here she unveils her feelings and her heart's desire to be with him and spend her life with him.
"Grow old along with me,
The best is yet to be,
The last of which
The first was made!"
~ Rabbi Ben Ezra
UNFURL! Amen!
That's it from me. Hope you enjoy it!
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