SS-Life partner,CHAPTER12-PG142DEC.9 - Page 49

Mamta looked in geet's eyes which were drowsy and slight red,while doing aarti of her daughter in law as a gesture of "welcome to the new house".She shifted her gaze from her to Maan,'her son". He gave a smile in response which did not reach his eyes like always.Her son was a calm and composed person but his eyes were pools of disturbance. Mamta knew very well that his life partner was "something else"… Something which she could never use to describe her son.She looked back at geet now.Smile which was initiated on Mamta's lips in response to Maan's soulless smile was still lingering which did not go amiss by geet,making her give a wide toothy grin in response. Mamta felt like glow on her bahu's face had concealed the light of "diya"lit in the plate.After completing the aarti,she held geet's hand with affection and lead her inside the door. She knew what she was bringing to her abode.."Soul..".

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Geet was made to sit in a large beautifully decorated living hall.She was surrounded by "ladies",First similarity that she found in her new house with her old house.These ladies which are characteristic of a wedding house may involve paternal aunts,maternal aunts,their daughters ,daughter in laws and neighborhood aunts sometimes,They always remain dressed in the suits ,sarees or any other form of traditional outfits having golden and silver colored patterns in different forms on them ,however amount and frequency of golden and silver shimmer may vary depending on their own choices. In this way this variation of golden work may be used as a measure to guess one's idiosyncrasy. Silver and golden work may be accompanied with different forms of fabric creativity named as "bead work","patch work","paint","embroidery work"etc etc,however colors used for these sophisticated activities always remain brightest members of spectrum. They all serve for one purpose i.e."To make a simple piece of clothing unbearable heavy and shiny". Owners of these shiny outfits always remain lost in their own world of gossips ranging from minor issues like "inflation" to major issues like "how one managed in the marriage after loosing one earring from matching jewellery set just before baraat."

After almost writing a full fledged essay on the topic "double x chromosomes bearing creatures in wedding"in her mind,geet was still not able to send the "sleep" away from her eyes. She was tired and was missing her bed most among all the things that she left in her parental house."They become severe insomniac in wedding environment"Geet added last line to her "essay in head".She was using every bit of energy to keep her eyes open.But energy was decreasing with time and at last her eyelashes met with each other. Relief was short lived as after few minutes her sleepy head fell towards front.She opened her eyes immediately and found her mother in law looking towards her with most serious expressions ever on her face.Geet was ashamed and cursed her sleepy genes in her head. Fear of being caught of her dozy act by her mother in law grew further as she saw Mamta approaching towards her with big steps.

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Is this what your mother had taught you..???

Is this your way to respect the guests in your in law's house???

Is this the way newly wed bride should behave??you made us ashamed ....

Geet was busy contemplating all the ways in which mamta could scold her while walking through the long gallery. After being caught dozing in the middle of mass of relatives, she was instructed by mamta to follow her..

So here geet was following her mother in law while taking a quick look of her new surroundings,,,"This house is much bigger than mine..iImean this is also mine now,,,ok my new house is much bigger than my previous house,,hmm that seems correct"...

Mamta turned to left making geet do the same.."where are we going???geet asked mamta in a whisper..

"kitchen"..mamta replied without looking back,,

Are you going to burn me alive with karosine for my mistake???? mamta stopped in her tracks and looked back flabbergasted."What did you say..burn you what"??

oh my god..i was thinking loud..."nothing"all she manged to bring out of her mouth..She cursed her overactive brain which was giving conclusions at highest rate ever,It was not sleepy anymore.In her cursing she missed the smile on mamta's lips while taking off towards kitchen.

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Smoothness of cheese was giving immense pleasure to her taste buds,as she dug her fork once again in pasta bowl.Yummy taste sometimes makes your manners impaired.It was true in geet's case as she did not realize when she made herself comfortable enough to sit nonchalantly on the kitchen shelf in the presence of her mother in law.Pasta disappeared from the bowl at a quite higher pace and made her grumbling stomach at peace which was ensured by her small burp..

"Sorry"Geet said to mamta who was busy admiring antics of her son's wife.

"Its ok,beta...something sweet to go with" she asked in a equal sweet voice.This time geet was not amazed like she was when mamta's stern expressions suddenly changed after entry in to kitchen,,,,like when she cursed those women in the hall who made geet sit in hall for an hour even after completion the ritual of "munh dikhai just to judge the price of her bridal attire and jewellery specially...when she asked her whether she was hungry...when she warmed pasta for her in microwave...when she fed her first spoon.Amount of amazement in geet's eyes was decreasing gradually with each loving gesture of her mother in law.And when mamta offered her spoon of pasta tears replaced the amazement completely as geet missed all those moments when she was fed by Rano in same way.Mamta smoothed her hairs and ordered her to finish soon with facade strictness on her face.

"no i am full"geet replied jumping down from the shelf.

"Eat little kheer,,beta..its really gud"

She could not deny kheer even in her dreams then how could she now though everything happening around her was not less than a dream.Only real thing appeared to her was motherly concern in mamta's eye when she gave her kheer. Geet looked lovingly towards her but got entirely confused after witnessing shock on mamta's face. Geet's back was towards door thats why she could not register the entry of two people in kitchen who were the reason behind shock written on her mother in law's face. She looked back towards door and saw Raj jijaji entering with an old lady who was wearing a peach colored saree,hair tied in a neat bun with golden framed spectacles on the eyes. She reminded geet of her principle in school.Before geet could further compare the looks of the old lady and her principle,mamta snatched the kheer bowl from her hands.She looked again towards mamta.Strictness was back to her face..

"look geet..Now you would have completely understood what I have told you till now..hope you won't disappoint me in future"mamta said in a strict tone.Geet looked at her like she was speaking in an alien language.."you won't disappoint me right???"mamta said again little louder looking in her eyes."Confusion"was an understatement for the situation."right??"mamta repeated once again when she got no response from shocked cum confused geet this time too..Geet nodded her head affirmatively while gulping the kheer down her throat.

"Arey maa and raj beta..when did u come here??"Mamta asked pretending to be completely oblivious to their arrival.."you need something???maa???" Old lady stared at geet for a while before picking the glass of water from shelf.

As soon lady left the kitchen..Raj burst out in laughter"you are pretty good actor maa..naani might be convinced completely with your strict avatar"He said while giving a side hug to mamta.

"Thats what i am"mamta replied

"ofcourse you are strict and Dhramendra can beat Michael jackson in dancing"His statement made mamta slap on his shoulder.

Geet was looking towards them with an expression 'what will you take to make me understand whatever happened few minutes before??"

Confusion was bit cleared by Raj when he told geet about Mamta's mother{maan's naani}.. and her thoughts about " how mother in law should be strict with daughter in law" .."what could be consequences if that rule was not followed".."how geet could take advantage of mamta's motherly nature..etc etc" Raj was busy with his nani saga when another female entered the kitchen. She was completely different from previous one..

She was a girl in her 20's donned in a pink nighty which geet could bet she had seen in tv or movies only.Attitude was clearly visible the way she entered the kitchen and grumbled to raj.

"bro...i can't sleep with your son..make him sleep with bhabi"She said completely ignoring thepresence of other two persons in the kitchen.Before raj could answer she was gone leaving air of arrogance behind.

'ohk..maa..i was here to say bye to you..but i think i have to entertain madhu's complaint before leaving for the station" raj said to mamta..

"you are going jija ji..???moreover you are going at this hour of night???"geet asked forgetting that chick for a while"

"duty calls"he shrugged his shoulders in response.

Meanwhile mamta handed some packed snacks to him.Raj touched her feet and took the stuff from her hands.."we have sweetest mother in law in world..right geet??"he said with a wink

"and strictest too"..geet replied with a grin.

'ofcourse'mamta exclaimed while shoving another spoon of kheer in geet's mouth,As soon raj left the kitchen,geet immediately questioned mamta" Who was she aunty???"

"firs she was madhulika.."raj's cousion"..second"call me maa..not aunty"

geet bit her tongue in response

.'and she is doing MBA from xyz institute" mamta continued with a smile..

"hmmm..she should do something else"geet mumbled to herself..

"modelling..right??"mamta replied and both burst in to laughter.

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Finally geet was in her new bedroom which she had to share with her hubby too.However pleasure of having sleep finally was short lived as she saw Maan sleeping on his stomach in a diagonal position completely using the space on the bed.He was in deep slumber for sure as he did not budge by little sounds made by geet.Finally geet mustered courage to disturb his deep sleep as she poked his shoulder but he did not budge.This time she put extra pressure while poking.She was completely offguard when Maan pulled her hand under his face suddenly and mumbled in a sleepy voice"Not today..I am so much tired dear"..

Geet's eyes widened with shock...Second shock was more shocking to her as she felt his lips on her palm..