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Chapter 7
The loudspeaker was screeching out Ek do teen char paanch che saat aath nau das gyarah barah tera...
...when suddenly it was overpowered by another louder...One two ka four...four to ka one. My name is lakhan sajno ka sajan mera naam hai lakhan. Ae ji o ji lo ji suno ji...
"Nahi sunna hai. God please make it stop." Geet groaned and stuffed her head deeper into the pillow, but the mashup of the two superhits of the decade was beating mercilessly against her eardrums.
She blinked blearily at the watch on the bedside.
5:30 AM.
"Crazy psychotic sleep depriving maggots. I will light their mustaches on fire if I find the ones that are turning that shit on at this godforsaken hour." She hissed.
It was the wedding season and the wedding fever was climbing steadily and rising along with it were the decibels of music mania.
Sleep was impossible now, so she threw off the covers and pushed the unknown arm that was thrown across her neck and got out of bed. Bangles clinked and soft snores greeted her in the darkness.
The bed was a tangle of bodies that belonged to her aunts and cousins. She counted at least seven shadowy figures before weaving her way out of the bedroom carefully, sidestepping the bedsheet covered figures strewn on the floor.
It was her cousin's wedding and the house was jam packed to the gills with guests.
She and her mother had arrived a week ago and though Geet was enjoying the festivities, she was missing her papa and Meera di terribly.
Meera's exams had been postponed and papa had been appointed as a moderator for the HSSC exams and so the Handas had changed the plans and only Geet and her mom had traveled out of town for the wedding.
She found her chachi and her mamma in the kitchen chatting at the table, as the chai brewed on the stove.
"Geet would you like some tea?" Chachi smiled at Geet.
Geet wrinkled her nose is disgust. "Eww noxious stuff chachi. No thank you very much."
"Geet the tailor came by yesterday after you went off to bed and dropped off your dress. I have left it in our bedroom. Go collect it after the men start waking up." Chachi informed her.
"Thanks Chachi. You are a doll. I can't wait to try my dress on" Geet hugged her excitedly and winced as the loudspeaker from the neighborhood squeaked yet again.
"46." She called out loudly.
"46 what?" Chachi gave her a puzzled look.
"Never mind chachi. It pains me to mention it. Don't rub salt on my sleep deprived eyes please. You please enjoy your witches brew and let me be." She sighed dramatically and then skipped away from there with a grin on her face.
"Geet how were your exams?" Chachi's voice called out.
"Done with." She replied and raced away before more questions were asked.
She couldn't wait to see what kind of outfit the tailor had stitched.
She looked in horror at herself in the mirror. The sleeves...God...those sleeves. They were rounder and puffier than the phulkas her mamma made, but there was nothing hot about them.
And...there were two strategically placed rosettes on her chest. What the hell were they there for she wondered? Was it to cover or to draw attention to her flatlands?
There was no helping it though, there was no time left for fixing it.
The baraat was arriving shortly and her aunt would feel bad if she wore a different dress since she'd had this one stitched, especially for Geet.
She could improvize though.
She carefully draped the dupatta around her arms and covered half of her front with it. Then she raced off to find her cousins.
She was pissed off at the groom's family. They had whisked away and hidden his shoes before he had gotten off the horse.
She narrowed her eyes at the smug faces of the groom's party and then glanced at the disappointed faces of all her cousins who had been looking forward to this fun ritual of hiding the groom's shoes.
One superior looking female from the groom's side stepped forward and drew a circle in the air.
"Dhoondte reh jaoge" She used the tag line from the the Surf detergent and walked away.
This was so not done.
All heads of varying sizes belonging to the Handa family came together. A plan was formulated and awaited execution.
Few hours passed by and the first part of the marriage was done with.
There was still some time left for the saat pheras.
Geet walked over to the mandap along with a bunch of cousins.
"Hi jeeju. I am Geet. Welcome to the Handa family. We have brought you a gift and would like you to open it right now. Let me warn you though, you are not allowed to rip off the paper at any point. You have to open it very carefully. You can call it a test of endurance if you may. We want to test the patience of the guy we are giving our didi to." Geet voiced out everyone's opinion.
"Oh wow. A gift for me. How exciting." Mahesh Deshmukh, the groom who was often fondly called Munna' rubbed his hands in glee.
"Alright then. Hey dulhaniya. What say, how about you help your new husband with this task huh?" He teased his new bride, Mohini.
She blushed and demurred.
"Excuse us jeeju, for being so very particular but there is still some more stuff to be done before you can call Mohini didi your wife and so this task is to be completed only by you. " Geet Handa called out primly.
"Stuff?!!" He laughed out heartily.
"Be careful child. The pandit may well jump into the havan kund he is preparing for our saat pheras if he hears you calling it stuff.'
Geet decided right then that she liked Mahesh Jeeju. Still, he had to be punished for his family's transgression.
Mahesh eagerly took the huge gift box from her hands and carefully detached the tape without ripping the wrapping paper. He unwrapped it and opened the box, only to find another gift-wrapped box inside it. He was careful with that one too and opened the box within to find yet another gift-wrapped box inside. He looked up at Geet with narrowed eyes.
"What happened jeeju? Endurance over so soon?" She raised an eyebrow.
"You brats. Geet this was your idea wasn't it? I am going to help him." Mohini muttered under her breath.
"They should have never hidden the shoes di. Now just shut up and enjoy the endurance test. This is for your sake too." Mohini winced as Geet squeezed both her hands in her own and held on tight.
Mahesh smile as the hushed conversation fell on his ears and winked at his wife...well incomplete wife as yet, to let her know that he was enjoying the game thoroughly. She smiled and nodded her head gently.
"Ok stop making goo-goo eyes at each other you two and jeeju please complete the task at hand." The bossy Handa brat commanded.
He grinned and focused on his painstaking task again. Forty-five minutes later and after several reminders from the pandit to get ready for the saat-pheras, Mahesh was down to one extremely tiny box. There was a small mountain of wrapping paper and boxes at his feet, but none of the gift wraps had been ripped.
Mahesh took the small box and unwrapped it carefully only to find a match box in there. He opened it and found two chocolates nestled next to each other.
He looked at all of them incredulously. Someone from Mahesh's side of the family called out in a pissy voice.
"They had made him work so hard for two candies?"
Geet who overheard the remark smiled at Mahesh jeeju
"Jeeju these are not any candies. These are very special."
"What's so special about these?" He asked in a puzzled voice
.
"Melody khao khud jaan jao." A familiar male voice called out.
"Damn it. You stole my tag line." Geet yelled out in frustration at the person who had interrupted and looked up angrily to give him a piece of her mind. However, the moment her gaze fell on the new comer all of the anger seeped out of her body.
A grinning Maan stood before her, his tongue stuck out teasingly.
Edited by Susegad - 8 years ago
Jhanak
Udne Ki Aasha
286