TAMING OF THE SHREW-(RTMC)FF NEW PART PG 34

"I am feeling nauseous" she said rocking the chair back & forth in front the dressing mirror, both hands joined with fingers clasped together  certainly she wasn't praying but was shaking in despair;popping her knuckles against other hand.

"Will u stop already",priya commanded, seeing her friend's charade of despair , may be not a charade ; clearly she wasn't expecting  aisha to be ecstatic about her weddding. But com'on there was no reason to be melancholic ,somber,gloomy on the top of that queasy. She grabbed  a brown paper bag ,sat on her haunches ,raised the bag over her mouth. "Easy ,easy . just breathe in the bag relax"she said affectionately . "Com'on breathe in breathe out. Its ok ash to have cold feet before the wedding".One moment of affection and there goes Miss I know it all. "now ash close you eyes breathe out to to let go all the negativities".Again  Miss know it all cum life coach now yoga teacher . Geez man!.freeing her entwined hands , clutching both the fists she really wanted to beat the crap out of her best friend . But who was she kidding priya just meant well, she does.Yup! Ash can bet her life on that .Priya her only real friend. One who knows aisha in n out .After her  mother Priya was only one who knew aisha so well . May b more than her mother. How?Lets see her mother knew her 3 years and yup include the nine months no no not nine six our rebellious brat was premature too. So that adds upto four month less than four years. But Priya knew her 5 times the years than that . Certainly aisha had a bond with her mother .But generally the bonding  that she was more with her photo in the silver plated photo frame. Its not that was her or her mother's fault ;it was fate that her mother died in the car crash, the godamn driver . Sometimes she wished she shouldn;'t have been sick then .Because than she wouldn't have stay at home with her nanny. Might have accompanied her mother to the trip to heaven.Damn life is so unfair if she wouldn't have been sick then,she might have not been feeling this queasiness because of the situation now. Not performing 'breathe in' the brown bag thingy.

              Finally she unclenched the fists ,fitted them in priya's  bare arm coz priya was wearing a sleeveless blouse,moved her back with her brown bag. "Life sucks" she stood up in disdain. Stomped towards the window  facing the pink curtain; she so wasn't in mood  even to peek through the curtains to she the visual of the wedding ceremony preparation. "why me? ".She said shutting her eyes tightly ,holding her arms crosshandedly (i.e sort of hugging herself). Priya knew that all this disdain ,anger was a coverup for her helpless ,not the stereotypical helpless woman helplessness. But her the case was like ' monkey and the peanuts'.

                       Priya stood up  on her feet the beautiful saree was messed a bit but as if she cared not coz bride herself was still in  her T's and shorts. But coz the person that matters most to her was in the soup currently. She moved towards  Ash and wrapped her arms around her from back and kept holding her.Lovely  hugs makes the problems vanish atleast for a while. "Adorable it is all gonna be fine". Again she does it "It is gonna be f9" her magic word. Priya turned Ash towards her. Again hugged her tight.Hugs always help.After the hugging session..Priya held aisha's both wrists  softly and brought it up towards her neck below the chin. "Ash I know it is unexpected  and you poor soul is forced into this mean marriage" . "Aptly said Pri Me poor, abla ,bechari naari , musibat ki maari" "STRI (women) ki yahi kahani".Priya RAISING HER  one EYEBROWS  "wat crap was that". Atleast aisha hasn't lost her sense of humour and why she has to she wasn't being sent to "guantanamo bay". "Enough of this filmy drama ", Priya slowly open aisha's fist and placed  her  hand over her . and Priya was lovingly gazing at aisha's palms. "Look , how beautiful and dark the mehendi has turned up.you know why? "she looked at Aisha. Aisha giving her look of 'not giving a damn about the mehendi' . "coz PRI U  held me captive last night applied this junk on me and didn't even let me pee alone coz u feared I would wash it away". "Made he sleep in attention position". Seriously Pri u guarded my mehendi as your life depended on it.Again the rebel "abla stri " is back, Priya reacted nodding her head in denial not at all surprised by her friends reaction. Priya took a deep breathe and spoke , "silly it means ur hubby is gonna love you very much". O my god again Aisha thought Priya has done with all her avatars of Miss know it all, yoga teacher  but no ; now new avatar of MISS never say die.gosh !

"PRIYA  u have been living on earth past days right,haven't u? I'm a reluctant bride"Aisha saying this with pointing her fingers to towards herself. Priya had enough ;miss best friend needs a pep talk. "Sweety I guess u need a pep talk ".Ok  now its really getting on aisha's nerves life coach avatar.Priya indeed was multifacet girl . Guess thats the reason she was only enough for Aisha . In one friend if u wil get so much of variation who needs a gang of friends correction gang of real friends.

             "Ash heard of a story of monkey and the peanuts". "No priya I don't get along well with ur aquaintainces"said aisha.Priya replied with smile pulling aisha's cheek, "U r so correct how can u get along with urself that's my job naa". ASH said"Last time I checked pep talk was suppose to small talk" . PRIYA"Yes princess but common u know me. So where was I really Aisha,u talk too much . Now I don't remember were I was?" . "Fine then should end the peptalk here" Aisha tried to move sideways but Priya held her by her arms. "Yup got it ,monkey" "wat abt him"she said forfeiting coz Aisha knew there is no escape from her Priya when she is all geared up to give her a talk.Again correction not talk but looonnnggg speechess.

'There's an oft repeated tale about how certain hunters in Africa catch monkeys.  It can be very difficult to trap these intelligent creatures, so hunters use a more inventive method that is trapping a monkey by enticing him.  A small jar is placed at the base of a tree with peanuts which may attract the monkey's curiosity.

The opening of the jar allows the monkey to place his hand in, but when he tries to withdraw it, he is unable to do so without letting go of the contents of the jar.  Believe it or not, some monkeys will stay there with their hand in the jar until the hunter comes back to trap them.  They are trapped because they are unwilling to let go of something they are doing which is working against them."

Aisha-so u r saying u want to move to africa to trap monkeys

Priya-seriously aisha(she gave a dazing look)

Aisha- hey ! u referring me as a monkey.

Priya-mmm...

Aisha- priya !.answer

Priya- not actually but figuratively, yup

Aisha- just FYI I hate peanuts

Priya-f9,f9 .not a monkey but a kid whose hand is stuck in the toffee jar who is not willingly to give away the toffeess even it will cost the kid his freedom.

Aisha- priya I don't like toffess now let me go .

         There was a knock on the door. Aisha stepped away from priya to attend it.and started moving towards.they both faced aback to eachother.Aisha was approaching the door.

"you don't understand or you don't want to understand" priya uttered not facing her.Again a new avatar. man! Priya never fails to break through Aisha's shell.

Halting there taking a deep breathe ; managing to plaster a smirky smile .She turned back n spoke, 'I guess...'. Priya turned to face her. Aisha kept walking backwards towards the door not breaking the eye contact with Priya.Aisha sighed and replied , "May be I choose not understand .Being ignorant. I suppose its better at way".Finally speaking 'The willing reluctance' .As aisha before referred herself as "as reluctant bride "was half the truth.She was willingly getting into this like the monkey sorry sorry the kid who is addicted to toffee.

Biting her lower lip Aisha gazed at priya and said , "Pri I guess I choose to be the monkey"saying this she winked with a plastered smile , bobbed her head turned to open the door.

"Now you are here wedding is in two hours and u deliver the dress now?". "sorry ma'am but u only called up to suggest some last minute changes so it got delayed"the designer's assistance replied.Aisha took the bags and dismissed him.Closing the door she turned to Priya . "Wanna see my designer dress".Priya excitedly "ofcourse . Who designed?". "M.K BRIDAL designer",she said placing the  2 bags on the bed.

Priya -Really . heard a a lot about them they r real creatives" 

Aisha- Ofcourse they are and with my pointers their creativity has set a new benchmark

Priya-Cum again?

Aisha- Arrey with my vision and their skills

Priya-You r saying  U were involved in dress designing process more than just giving measurements and selecting colours

Aisha-Yup

  In horror she rushed for bags to view "aisha's vision".

Yup the nightmare came true. White ! white! On her wedding day!. Now Priya needed her breathing exercises . breathe !cool relax .first review the whole thing. She took the lehenga out , despite of color it was beautiful, it was so gonna suit aisha , as there was anything that was gonna make her look ugly. Certainly  priya knew aisha wasn't trying to make herself look ugly but something was fishy for sure ,dupatta was was not huge one small sized. She was seaching for something as it was missing. Aisha enquired . "omg I guess they forgt to sent the 'choli' wat r we gonna do.only 2 hours go" ,priya said anxiously.but no line of worry on Aisha's face, she said sheepishly, "they haven't forgotten to deliver it . here it is" she said pulling out the garment from the bag which was with the duppata and showing it to priya innocently. Priya jaws literally dropped. "what the hell. Wat is that . I thought it is a undergarment" priya said it in a state of shock looking at the white choli which resembled a strapless bra . No no not just strapless bra but diamond studded designer one. Holy cow! Was Ash planning to wear that on her wedding along the piece of cloth called duppatta. Priya knew her bratty BFF was hardly excited for the wedding and the dress but she had no clue she was hardly gonna wear anything.  But did that surprised priya .No , her Ash was unconventional ,unexpected, loud dresser,sometimes not so loud dresser. In short it was impossible to predict her. If Aisha would have done something predictable that would have stunned her. This absolutely not!

Was priya thinking being the only bridemaid was gonna be a piece of cake. For our multi facet Priya it was a easy task. But to be the 'only bridesmaid' of 'Aisha' was not gonna be walk on the grass but assuredly was going to be handful.So buckle up,tackle that situation .Because you yourself choose to be on the pilot seat to fly the bride to her wedding, be strong don't let this turbulence shake you.

                 Aisha was still holding her 'choli' to her friend who was in dilemma, but aisha acting as she she had no idea as to priya was shock and continued to boast proudly about her design, "it took me 3 days to make the designer understand my vision ". Unquestionably Aisha was expecting priya to reply as why to waste 3 days when u can stomp into a lingerie shop and buy it and knit some  small diamonds and bedazzaled it. But hello! priya was hell lot of better pilot was determined to land this flight properly.

 Priya got off the bed took the 'choli ' from Aisha ,placed it carefully in the bag. Now here comes the scolding which Aisha was rooting for,but little did Aisha knew her friends reaction. "Its beautiful , let it be in the bag or it might get a stained ,you know  we should be careful about white"said Priya. Now it aisha's turn to be perplexed. No scolding, no criticism, was that being supportive of her!

   "now wat are u just standing looking at me .Go  get a bath, you have to get ready.Bathtub is ready with rose petals. Go now hurry"said Priya pushing Aisha in the bathroom and closing the door.

             Priya  turned towards the table got her cell and phoned someone, "hey there's a situation I immediately need you to deliver me something at Singhania house . I got twenty minutes tops , not more than that..."

An empty gym(indoor basketball court )except for a shirtlessguy , 20 something.tight abs , muscular body,sweaty strands. of hair .Standing a feet beyond the 3 point line, grabs balls from hopper and rapidly shoots the basket and shoots,shoots.clearly  he was an ace.

"that was a good one"said Karan, handsome,tall,slender ;taking of his jacket and throwing it over and moves forward , "lets see if u can handle some competiton"karan  leaned and picked the ball and  dribbled it. He  whiped the ball at shirtless guy saying "scared Prithvi". Prithvi , cat-quick, , caught the ball. spinned around on his finger , "of u ! in  u r dreams" and started dribbling the ball and bit of defence ,Karan tries to snatch the ball but Prithvi is too swift and and scores the basket.Round two. Karan is dribbbling the ball not giving a chance to prithvi this time ,and scores. Now match for the final point. Karan is dribbles the ball giving a top notch defence too prithvi . But PrIthvi manages to get the ball continues to drible . Karan leans close to make a good offence and determne to get the ball.but Prithvi dribbles the ball  between his legs confusing karan and scores.and we have a winner.Both sweaty men catching their breathe, Prithvi grabs the towel, rubs off the sweat.Karan sipping the water, "Today I let you win coz today is u day ".prithvi, "ya right. Keep dreaming coz excuses is food losers thrive on ".karan, "hey lets race to the suite".

Prithvi- we better not

Karan - you have to get ready and look pretty

Prithvi-yooouu (moving to punch him )

Karan- ok ok no more jokes lets get ready

Prithvi took a quick shower. Dried up himself.

PRITHVI staring himself  haughtily into a full length mirror.Sprays the body spray and dons the sherwani. Gelling up his hair .perfectly dressed ,Has to be its his wedding afterall.Karan walks in he too dressed in sherwani. "ready MR groom, at the end of the night u r no longer going to be the most eligible bachelor .finaLly less competion for me".Prithvi enquired about the transportation. "yup cars are ready and I should have informed the manager to make honeymoon suite ready or you wish the pent house anything you wish , the whole hotel is booked oN your name". "I won't be coming here after the ceromony" SAID PRITHVI . Karan  said mockingly"I didn't know u r so excited about the wedding that u r gonna immediately fly to your honeymoon".prithvi replied, "NO, that's not the case I will be moving to our ancestral house".

Karan-you mean the castle".prithvi,

prithvi "it was the castle , now it is modernised"

karan- but prthvi it isn't in use for so long

prithvi-that's wat I m saying to inform someone make it ready and shift my belongings there. I will directly drive there after ceremony

karan- "I" not just you my friend with your wife .by the way wats her name

prithvi-no clue

karan- I get that u r not keen to meet her but atleast u should have known her name.wat if she is fat, I mean she might not be required to lift her finger also, a parade of servants might be there for each task

prthvi- like I care how she looks. U know why I m...

karan - I know u r Akbar

Prithvi- I m wat..

Karan- I mean u r in a situation like Hritik in 'jodha akbar'. HOPE SHE IS 'Ash'. I mean beautiful as ashwariya rai.

"Sir cars r ready. I think we should leave" mananger informed. Thank god manager came at right time else would have narrated whole jodha akbar story.

                Aisha came out of the bathroom in her bathrobe with towel wrapped around her hair and sat before the dressing table. Priya came behind her unwrapped the towel , moved her fingers over aisha's hair to sort it and was drying it with the towel. "aAH"aisha screamed.  "do it slowly". Priya "sorry" and continued to rub her hair slowly with the towel, then blow dried it, straighten the curly locks. Perfect simple straight just above the waist but way longer than shoulder length. Simpler and sweet ,Who wants to pin it up ?, try decorated hair pins, tiara, strands of pearls, varieties of beads, jewel comb etc. 

A normal bride would but guess normality was not aisha's cup tea. Her instructions were clear NO hair dresser nothing fancy,because of priya's persuasion atleast she agreed to straighten it up. Priya hydrated aisha's face with  moisturizers, Brushred powder on her skin with light layer concealer and foundation. Glitter and  pink blush was strict NO no,Ash would have washed it. So priya was extra careful about the makeup.then some eyeliner, eye shadow and mascara. Chapstick on lips to hydrate then and lipgloss as dark lipstick was out of the case. Now all done hair and makeup . 

It was time for jewellery luckily Aisha gave full freedom to Priya to select her jewellery but ofcourse with some pointers like no gold ,no tacky stuff,no heavy jewellery. SO AISHA donned the lehenga and her self designed blouse (choli) .Priya fasten the necklace aroung her neck and another one with red stones studded in it and diamond studded pair of bangles. 'finally done" said aisha standing up looking her petite figure exquisitely displayed coz of the lack of clothing in the upper half of the body. "wait dear. Dupatta is remaining"priya protested.Aisha looking herself in the mirror moving her fingers in her straighten hair. "hey"aisha screamed coz someone touched her waist . it was priya . "stay still" she said tucking in a white drape in her lehenga near her naval &wrapping around her waist.She made 3-4 pleat and neatly tucked them into the lehenhga, at the waist, slightly to the left of the navel, in such a manner that they open to your left. Ananya was confused "priya are u ok why are u wrapping me in this bedsheet".Priya got up making pleats of the drape and pinned from her  left shoulder flowing down her back.   "does this look like a beedsheet to u"asserted Priya still working the remaining drape around her back, covering the back making it appear like shawl. Done!. "Wat done pri . are u planning to mummify me".priya was in no mood to give straight answers to aisha , "sweety how can I make u a mummy you but don't worry u r wish might come true soon". "Priya . wat the hell u r saying. First answer me , when r u gonnna untie me"aisha demanded.Priya TURNED Aisha towards the mirror to look at her reflection. Aisha in astonishment , "wat the hell is this . that's a.. saree".

Priya coolly replied, "nope just a extra long duppata wrapped around smartly. Look how pretty you look .".aisha, "but". Priya sat on the chair ,folding her hands and uttered sheepishly , "but still if u want u ruin my effort . you can take it off.Afterall wat u care about my time and effort and feelings .Who am I to suggest u''..". "Enough enough miss emotional blackmailer I will wear it. But just for u".priya hugged her and smiled "most beautiful bride in the world". "ya right"aisha said unenthusiasticly.

 Part-2