MG OS: Journey towards 'Forever'

Journey towards 'forever'

Once In a while,

Right in the middle of an ordinary life,

Love gives us a fairy tale.

Marriage. What is associated with this single word? One would say love. Others may speak of commitment, many others of vows & promises. Each of the expression & understanding of it is quite varied yet nonetheless it sparks curiosity in all for the secrets with a hope to live, cherish & treasure all that it holds within. Each human being always associates so many emotions with this one word. It is synonymous with so many words ... joy, celebration, bonding, happiness, blessing, gifts, and loss in order to gain. This curiosity, these emotions, the wait, the joy experienced makes one wonder the reason for all of it. Each introspection leads to different reasons but then all boils down to another single word that holds answers to it. Dreams.

A girl weaves dreams of her marriage even before she fully understands the meaning of being married. Right from the time she sees her mother dressing up for her father, when she feels the happiness while partaking in the marriage celebration of a close one, or even when she watches a bride all dressed and moving towards her groom to be bonded to life in a sacred relation.

Today is the day when I will be the bride. I'm not a dreamer like Pari Di who lives in her world of knight in shining armour 'Mr. Dreamy'. She always chides me for my not so 'Dreamy' behaviour. Now is it my fault that I don't blush or feel tickled with all the so called 'Mushy' feelings she has been trying to infuse in me. I haven't spoken of it but then I too have felt the emotions of the song 'Mere khwabon mein jo aaye...' when I danced to the lyrics of it since childhood with all my friends. Jhalli! I had always felt that 'prince charming' is a face to teenage fantasies. But I was proved wrong.

The day has finally arrived when all dreams will turn into reality. Today is the day, when I will live my fairytale given to me by love. A first step towards a life of commitment filled with love. As I gaze at the mirror I see an ordinary girl clad in her simple salwar suit freshly bathed after her haldi, washed of any blemish. Nothing extraordinary or special, yet there's a glow that brightens her whole face. A crimson hue spread on her cheeks from all the teasing she has faced last few minutes as well as from anticipation of the coming moments, nervousness for the future. I identify this girl staring back at me as self. Geet Handa.

Moving towards the window I see there's so much of hustle bustle everywhere. Standing here I get the view of the wedding lawn as well as the front of the farmhouse where the decorations are still going on. Everything is chaotic but there's so much of happiness around. The bright lights adorning each place reflect the celebratory mood. The decoration, sweets, food all of this speaks of the joyous occasion and willing indulgence in the festive mood. The gifts, money, jewellery all of which are very materialistic yet they speak of blessings that will be showered by loved ones & well wishers.

I feel so overwhelmed with it all. The breeze blowing by soothes me. I feel the whispering wind carry the message of love that engulfs me within its holds, caressing & comforting me. With one last look I turn around and let my gaze wander around the room. Mom has instructed me to get ready for the marriage rituals that will take place in few hours.

Staring at everything around I realise how less time is left for me to get ready before my two devil friends barge in to deck me up for the most beautiful day of my life.

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After tremendous struggle I finish tying the last of the ties of my choli. Phew! I'm standing here wearing my wedding attire, waiting for the few hours to pass before I will unite in a bond of life with the love of my life. Love. I had never imagined I would be so much in love. Never dreamt to have a love marriage. But all of it changed.

"There is never a time or place for true love.

It happens accidentally,

In a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment."

I was a girl who always felt would end up marrying the individual Mom-Dad would choose for me. I had many boys as my friends in the society I lived but never felt more than friendship towards any of them. Not even towards Him, my neighbour of sorts. He lived two blocks away. Only link in this distance is that our Mom's are best friends since childhood & married in the same locality. I used to visit his home quite often for family functions & also for group study sessions with his younger brother Dev. More precisely our whole gang Dev, Madhu, Tanya, Nilesh and I would land up studying there. Dev & I were very good friends being in the same batch. But same couldn't be said about him and me. He was always very reserved towards me & spoke very less to all of us. I guess he felt us younger lot were not up to his standards to speak with. I considered him to be very Akdu. Common! He was just 3 years elder but felt so superior. Others in my gang never felt so. So I was the one who always kept my guard against him, remained aloof. We always kept to our selves. All was well & fine this way till I was done with my S.S.C. exams.

That summer we were all chilling out enjoying our freedom when one day Dev seemed quite upset. Dev was closest to me, and on asking he told me that his Bro had a break up with the girl he was dating in college. On further questioning Dev revealed that he was quite heartbroken. I still wanted to be aloof & advised Dev to give him time to come out off it. But the two love gurus of my gang Madhu and Tanya decided that we will help Him, to which I had to agree much to my annoyance.

So blew the winds of change when we included him in our gang. This time he didn't have that snobbish behaviour in him. He gelled quite well with us. Our whole summer was spent enjoying time & roaming around various places that he was well acquainted with, being the experienced teenager who knows about college life. Something started stirring within me then, some unknown uncalled feelings becoming a part of me. After a long fight within I named it attraction. Yes I got attracted to Him, my first crush. Dev's elder brother. Maan. He whom I kept distance from throughout my growing years, in few months became an integral part of my life.

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There's a knock on the door breaking my train of thoughts. I rush out draping the dupata around my form. As soon as I open the door two devils of my life enter in looking as beauty queens. Meera and Priya, my friends since junior college, glare angrily. Shutting the door they drag me to the dressing table get me seated on the comfy chair. They keep fussing over my tortoise speed in matters concerning beautifying myself. I want to tell them that he loves me simple, but then they will shoot me if I say so on my wedding day. So starts my role of playing a mannequin where I sit and let them do the needful of 'making me a Bride'.

My mind wanders seven years back where all of it started. Our story took many twists and turns, to reach where it is today.

"Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning."

Once our results were out each one of us joined different streams. Maan too continued his studies. In spite of all the new things in our lives all of us made it a point to spend time together as a group. It was during this time in junior college I met Meera & Priya who became my besties & have been with me through all the ups & downs. Dev & I had joined the commerce stream. It was here that Dev met Naina whom he fell in love with. Now love was something very alien to me yet I was happy for Dev. Our gang celebrated it. Though Maan was initially quite taken aback at first and wasn't happy with it, but later all was fine.

It was post this that I developed a strong feeling for Maan. I had accidentally heard the talk between the two brothers where Maan was advising Dev on relations & the consequences of involving your heart in the relation so early in life. Though Dev didn't notice me but Maan did notice my presence listening to their conversation. That evening we both went for a walk where he revealed that name which he hadn't disclosed to anyone. Sameera - the name that hurt him. He felt that he needed to unburden himself today seeing his brother in love. He wanted me to know it for reasons he didn't tell me. He just said that he knew I would keep his this part of life within me. He trusted me. Something pricked me that day very deep as I came face to face with his pain. That day I was acquainted with a feeling I was battling within me to give a name to. He gave meaning to the feeling I had initially dismissed as attraction. The feeling within me was more than could be expressed as attraction or infatuation. That evening when I held his hand for comfort, I for the first time stared deep in his eyes trying to seep into his pain to lessen it for him. His pain I felt as mine. It hurt me seeing his soulful chocolate eyes blank. That moment I knew the name to the feeling I always harboured for him and always kept running from.

Love. Yes I was in love with Maan. He came into my life and gave meaning to all my feelings towards him.

In days following my realisation of love I was still very distressed, feared what lay ahead. It was then that I confided about it to Meera & Priya as I couldn't to anyone else, as only these two could give me a neutral view to it all. After expressing it all that was eating me up they made me realise something very important, and something that I treasure till date. "Being someone's first love may be great, but to be their last is beyond perfect." Yes I wanted to be that last beyond perfect love of his life. This realisation completely calmed me & strengthened my feelings for him.

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Someone shakes me hard, and I'm brought back from my ruminations. I see both my devils staring at me with confusion which seeing my expression turns to anger as they suppose that I was taking a nap while they were toiling for me. I see that they're done with my makeup & even my hair is beautifully tied in a French roll with tiny beads & other adornments. They tell me what I would have done without them while I agree to them and pull them both in a tight hug, where both make sure that none of our faces smudge any of our make ups. We quickly get out of our sentimental hug. Soon they make me sit again and get out all the ornaments to adorn me with them.

One by one they start adorning me with all the ornaments with me occasionally helping them out. As we are deciding on the earrings we hear a voice behind us. "Pick the green ones ... she loves green." Without turning I know who it is with the special emphasis on Green. It is none other than Madhu, making a grand entry. She comes in front and whistles looking at me, but instead of shying away I pout. She knows it's because of her late arrival which I can't blame her for. She tells me I should be grateful that she made it to arrive today. I nod and give in as she bends & gives me a hug. She again looks out for green earrings and I glare at her saying that green doesn't go with the colour of my lehenga. She winks & tells me she was just trying to bug me with the mention of green after all we have a special "green" connect. But then she is right green is something I associated with her few years back that even our yellow of friendship was dulled out.

"Don't compare your love story to those you watch in movies.

They're written by screenwriters,

yours is written by God."

After my realisation of love it wasn't a smooth ride for me. As it was just one sided love & also for me to be his last beyond perfect love he had to know my feelings and also I had to be his love. The turns here were as good as those in the movies.

Soon Aunt Kavita, Maan's mom got to know about Naina. But she took it very differently than what we expected. She had some dislike towards Naina, as if she couldn't imagine her in Dev's life. Later through Mom I came to know that Aunty being very fond of me wanted me as her Daugther-in-law. I was overjoyed with this news as I felt that now Aunty would help me win Maan over but then all of it came crashing down when it was revealed that as Maan & I never gelled well before, she gave up that dream and wanted me for Dev. All hell broke loose. I never disclosed this knowledge to anyone in the gang not even to Maan. But who would tell Aunty the dynamics of both Dev & mine feelings associated with love. She did all she could to make it possible between Dev & me. So started the outings where she would plan for Dev & me, which we would turn it to be otherwise. Dev would call in Naina and I would be left with Maan on such outings. This was the time both of us got to know each other more, became aware of likes & dislikes and also started understanding each other well. In all of this I didn't know how to confess my love. Devils kept telling me to go and confess but then I knew he wasn't still ready for a relation. I just couldn't gather enough courage.

During that phase our gang outings increased so as to help Dev-Naina. I started noticing Maan trying to be aloof & his interactions with me too decreased, he was otherwise quite normal with everyone else. That's when Madhu & her Green connection came in. She considered herself as love guru. I guess she knew of my feelings for Maan. Without my knowledge she stepped in to be the match maker for me. She used the age old formula Jealousy. She started interacting with Maan more, he too started interacting most with Madhu and soon Madhu was behaving as though she is smitten by Maan. Noticing this I saw Green. I was so jealous that the 'yellow' of our friendship dulled in front of the 'green' I felt for Madhu. I was forced to confess my Love but as expected Maan said he isn't ready. I told him its okay, though it hurts I won't force him and don't want our friendship to get affected. But then I kept my distance as I needed time to appear as though it doesn't hurt anymore, which I failed miserably each time.

Then came the time when Maan had to go to US for his MBA. We kept in touch through Skype and one day while talking Mom spoke of an alliance that came for me. Both Mom & I laughed it off as she said I wasn't yet ready. But we didn't notice the change in Maan's countenance. After Mom left he was pissed off. On me inquiring he just disconnected our call. I didn't know what happened all of a sudden. Next day after my repeated attempts he came online. While chatting he just asked me how could I think of any relation? When I couldn't understand he said that when we both love each other how can anyone think of any proposal. When he saw me shocked on his revelation it was then that he confessed his love for me. He confessed online! ONLINE! How unromantic! But then you don't love someone because they're perfect. You love them in spite of the fact they're not.

There onwards started our online courtship. Few days later when he came down for his holidays we went and confessed it to both our families. Both the families laughed at our expressions & said that they knew it from quite some time but were waiting for us to come and reveal it to them. They also said that we should thank them as it was because of their excellent acting that we both are a couple now. On questioning we became aware of the mastermind behind it all ---- Madhu. She had planned getting me jealous to confess and then when Maan backed out due to his insecurities she planted seeds of Jealousy asking Mom to speak about the fake proposal in front of Maan which in turn caused him to profess his love. From that day onwards Madhu teases me with Green colour being the colour of our love life.

"Babe, where are you lost? When Madhu is here don't fear." She's such a sweetheart. If it wasn't for her we wouldn't have seen this day. Today too she came after such a long travel directly from her two week long honeymoon. Yes she was married two and a half weeks back but made it a point to attend my wedding. After all she will never want to miss the limelight stating to all her role to make this wedding happen. "Geet if your worried or tensed about tonight or the following honeymoon then you know... I can give you some Gyaan. You know I am the experienced one here, two long weeks of experience..." saying so she winks at me. I blush so bad that to stop myself from being more embarrassed I whack her for her shamelessness. "So you are the Sauten" exclaimed Meera & Priya. Oh shit! I soon revealed that I used to refer to Madhu as sauten while talking to the devils those days. Seeing my sorry expression Madhu brushed it off & gave me a tight hug.

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Soon all of it is pushed behind and we again get down to selecting the ornaments & adorning me with them. Soon I'm ready. Mom comes in and stops at the door. She just keeps staring at me and then moves towards me while I stand up from my place facing her. She doesn't speak anything but then takes some kajal and places it behind my ear. Her one gesture is her approval, admiration & blessing. She makes me sit and all three friends & Mom bring the chunri and place it on my head & pin it. She tells me, "The more you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes." I promise her I will always keep this in mind.

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We are all waiting in my room with Tanya, & Pari Di too present now. All are teasing me while I keep blushing and shying away. All are amazed watching me blush, what can I say. Its love that makes it happen. Few moments later we hear the baraat coming in and all of my friends leaving me rush out into the balcony to have a glimpse of my Maan.

I look at myself at the mirror, a beautiful bride stares back at me. My head adorned with the shagun ki chunri, forehead having the Maang tika, face without blemish glowing with love, earrings dangling kissing the shoulders, neck adorned with necklace yet incomplete without the mangalsutra, a beautiful lehnga choli adding to the beauty as it was Maan's choice, hands & feet beautified with mehndi and bangles and anklets. But there's still something missing to complete Maan's bride.

While they are busy I move towards the dressing table and open the drawer and remove a box out. Opening it I graze my fingers on the delicate waist chain present inside. I pull it out. It's so beautiful, made of two single gold strands connected at one end with an intricate diamond hook with two tiny bells like things hanging down. It is a gift by Maan. He gave it to me when he proposed me marriage. I know everyone proposes with a ring but then when is it that our love story has followed the normal clichd style. After his MBA Maan joined the New York office. I too was busy with My C.A. exams. I was just not able to clear my Group- II intermediate exams. It was like a block I couldn't overcome. I tried hard but even after three attempts just couldn't clear it. Even though both our parents did feel dejected but never expressed it, but I could feel it. I worked harder as I was answerable to two sets of parents. Throughout this time Maan was like a strong pillar of support for me always encouraging me. Finally on fourth attempt I finally cleared it. Following that I cleared the finals in first attempt itself. The day my final results were out Maan had come to Mumbai to celebrate it with me. He took me for dinner and then we went to Juhu beach. As we walked hand in hand along the shore, he all of sudden made me halt by tugging my wrist. He cupped my face, "I know I didn't confess my love to you in any romantic way but online. But my feelings are true for you. Today I want to confess something to you. You know I'm not very romantic but nonetheless that doesn't make my love any less for you. I confessed my love online & today I'm going to do something else but in here but just between the two of us. I will try to be all romantic but can't help it if doesn't sound so. Being apart from you is now quite painful to me. What I want of is so much more than an hour or two. I want to sleep every night in your arms and wake up every morning with you in my arms. Geet I will make it a point that your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness. (From shall we dance... ) Yes Geet will you marry me." Oh my! That was so beautiful much more than I could ever expect of him, I'm so overwhelmed, and "Yes Maan I will marry you." On my acceptance he kissed me senseless and then hugged me tight. After few moments I felt something pricking me. I pulled away much to his annoyance. On asking what was pricking me he gave a sheepish expression and brought a box from his chest pocket. Wow! A ring. But then all my expectations turned out to be something else. Out came a waist chain. No doubt it was delicate, beautiful but then why it while proposing. "Geet you will get your ring but I want you to wear this waist chain on our wedding day cause it will be only me who can see it & can get an access to. You will wear it na?" I blush getting his intended meaning, while he pulls me again in his embrace. We both remain engulfed in each other's warmth gazing at the waves waiting for the day of our togetherness with dreams, hopes and in love.

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He had said then that I will get a ring on our engagement that was a week later but this was a gift he wants me to wear on the wedding day that is today, six months later.

Yes he knew it all & planned it all. He made the fairytale possible. These six months were nothing short of preparation of a fairytale. And today I will be his complete bride by wearing this waist chain. I fasten it around my waist and hide it with my dupata. Finally Maan's bride is ready for him.

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Mom comes in calling me that it's time for me to go for the jaimala. Yes its time that I take my first step towards the union of our lives. As I descend the stairs & move towards the lawn I'm nervous of everyone looking at me. This day I will marry my best friend, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, and whom I love.

As I reach the mandap I gaze up to look at him. He looks the most handsome groom. He stares at me and my insides turn mush. There's a little apprehension within me for this new start, but then when I look at his love filled eyes I see our beautiful life in front of me waiting for me to reach out & stand beside and all my doubts vanish and I will myself for the 'forever' that I will say through the sacred vows. For the first time in my life, 'forever' just doesn't seem long enough. I move ahead and he holds out a hand for me to hold onto. We get this moment of togetherness even in a crowd with our eyes doing the talking. With the universal vow of our lives in addition to the vows we would take in front of all.

Atlast my love has come along,

A cherished moment together

Like a beautiful unending song,

Our love shall last forever.

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Madhoyaji