The Blue Sari
Geet passes her hand through the old album. The photos, yellowed as they were now still do not lose the charm. Like it always does, her senses get arrested by that one picture of her mother when she were young.
The blue silk sari with golden Zari border looks as etheral as ever, as her mother, with her long hair plaited loosely, resting on her shoulder looks at the camera with a peaceful smile.
It was one of the first pictures her father had clicked, of her mother.
As a little girl Geet had always wondered how beautiful her mother looked. Her mother was beautiful in general, but she looked etheral in that particular picture. As a kid she had believed when her mother said the Sari had magic. She still remembered the story of how her mother got the sari.
Her parents' was an arranged match. Like any other couple of their time, their interaction limited to the handful times they had met and talked post engagement. It wasn't enough to know or understand each other's temperament. It was hard when they both had to move into a new city away from both the families, to start on their own, owing to their job posting.
They were shy and awkward around each other. She never cooked before, so making every meal and managing the office work seemed like a herculean task. The company he worked in had been going through pretty bad state back then with the union issues and strike that have been just started and he came home pretty late each day. In such stressful situations, getting to know each other had not been the first of their priorities. Although they have learnt to live alongside each other falling into a routine, living like roommates.
It was then had something amazing happened. He had gone out on a business trip for a couple of days, and in his absence, she had been trying to find out his favorite food to cook for him when he is back. The day had come but he didn't return. It were the days of letters and limited telephone calls.
As she waited for him all day, silently worrying, she had made and remade the perfect carrot halwa yet, but didn't touch any of it.
When he came, looking tired from the journey, she felt very happy that she almost ran to him and stopped herself before touching his face to check why he was that tired. He had missed his train, he had said back then. He had to take a bus and change two of them to reach home.
In their short acquaintance, she knew he was punctual. She didn't understand hence why ever would he miss the train. It was then he had given her the Sari he bought her, the blue silk Sari that peeked from under the polythene cover. It was since he got busy finding the best Sari for her, his first gift to her, had he missed his train.
With trembling hands she took the sari from him, and it was but one of the first steps to a long and happy marriage and as her mother once admitted, the first instance she had lost a little part of herself to him.
As Geet closes the album, she goes to her cupboard to fish for the Sari that she had asked from her mother as a gift, on her twenty fifth birthday.
It was not really fair on her part, taking away something that precious from her mother, yet she hoped to have it as a memorabilia to remind herself of what magic meant.
As she stood before her cupboard hence, she took the Sari out. Though a little old, it looks as beautiful as it was, atleast to her eyes.
For the first time since she got the Sari as a gift, she drapes it carefully and stands before the mirror. She was told she looked more like her father than her mother ever since she was a kid. However as she stood before the full length mirror, she realised that except for the curly hair and the larger eyes, she looked totally like her mother, the same expectant eyes and the same worry in her heart.
She was married to Maan for three months now and very unlike her parents' sweet story, her story was quite different. She married a man who wasn't willing to marry to begin with. He was out of a long term relationship and if she suspected it right, he still loved the woman that had ditched him and married someone else.
To his credit, he was open when they first met. He told her, he might not be ready for this yet and that he had loved another. She observed his past tense and didn't question much.
"Would you be ready ever" she had asked then.
"Maybe" he answered "But it might take a couple of months or couple of years. I can't promise you that" he answered truthfully.
She comes out of her reverie as she hears the bell ring and rushes to open the door.
If it were any other day, he would have walked inside without a backward glance to her. However, as he raised his head, he had seen her and she would swear she saw him go utterly speechless for a second. He went inside without another word, although he stopped at the threshold of his bedroom and turned hesitating.
"Geet" he ventured slowly "You look beautiful"
She smiled wrapping and unwrapping the edge of her veil on her finger
All she thought was; Magic indeed.
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