Situation: It’s Seerat & Garry’s Sangeet ceremony. Sahiba has been working to manage both ends. She reflects on her own wedding.
Title Inspired By:
Heer heer na aakho addiyo
Main te sahiba hoyi
It has been a tiring few days. Seerat Di’s haldi and mehendi had gone well. Tonight was the sangeet. Knowing that Seerat Di was expecting, everyone tried their best to keep her happy despite all the kaands she had pulled.
The sangeet was low-key. The Brars were understandably furious by the whole turn of events. The first wedding was a catastrophe with a runaway bride and bride swap. To add to this misery, the second wedding, now had the runaway bride as an expectant mother, carrying the child of the previous wedding’s groom’s cousin. The elders were livid and kept their mouths closed just for the sake of the pregnancy. Daarji had clearly told my Dad that if Seerat Di was even being accepted it was because of the Brars’ respect for me. Rabba knows how hard I’ve toiled to gather this respect. From being called a house help at the dehleez to being relegated to a filthy storeroom.
Angad too was furious upon learning the complete truth. The only positive outcome which concerned me was that he no longer gave me taunts on being a gold-digger or someone who had been trying to bed him into a trap. His mother Manveer too has stopped. She was civil. As long as she was not making my life harder, I was relieved.
No one had any new dance numbers for the sangeet. Ekam and Kiara recycled their dance number from Angad and Seerat Di’s sangeet. They had done the dance half-heartedly. To cheer things up, Veer started to tease Keerat to lighten the environment, circled me and sang in his velvety voice:
Bhabhi teri behena ko maana, Hai Ram Kudiyon ka hai Zamana
If I hadn’t been so tired, I swear I could see a tinge of a blush creep up on Keerat’s face. Perhaps, I was just imagining things. The elders laughed at the classical teasing of the Bride’s sister by the Bride’s Devar.
However, we Mongas knew better not to chhedo Keerat! She came back with an better reply:
Tere pyaar ka ras nahin chakhna oye makhna
Tera dil tere paas hi rakhna oye makhna
Saying this, Keerat pulled me in the center. She and Veer were dancing around me. Soon it became my turn to sing. There was only one song that seemed apt for the audience at hand:
Maye ni maye mundher pe teri bol raha hai kaaga
Maye ni maye mundher pe teri bol raha hai kaaga
Jogan ho gayi teri dulari man jogi sang laga
As I finished singing, Mummy once again started crying, “ Sahiba Puttar.” When will she ever understand that some actions have irreversible consequences?
Immediately I put my hand out to stop her. Then I turned to Jasleen Bua, and with a saccharine smile said, “Jassi Bua, aap bhi gaa kar suna do kuch. Akhir Garry ki Sangeet hai.”
Manveer Ma’am also edged her on to sing. While Jassi Bua had no other alternatives left, I slid out of the Sangeet area to calm my nerves. It was not that I was unhappy for Seerat Di. It was just that had she opened her mouth before the initial wedding, I wouldn’t have ended up marrying Angad. I was in the garden leaning on the bench looking at the sky.
Unlike other girls, I didn’t have the luxury to even dream about weddings. Nevertheless, I had never in my wildest dreams ever thought that I would be a replacement bride! It was partially my fault as well. I shouldn’t have given wings to the follies of my mother and sister. I’m definitely going to be vigilant now since Seerat Di will be living in Brar Mansion after the wedding. I need to stay away from her.
I started softly singing a few lines of my favorite song:
Heer heer na aakho addiyo
Main te sahiba hoyi
Koyi ghodi lai ke aave, lai jaaye
Ghodi le ke aave lai jaaye
Ho mainu lai jaaye mirza koyi
Lai jaaye mirza koyi
Lai jaaye mirza koyi
I couldn’t continue finishing my song, as I ended up breaking down. So much pain that was pent up just flowed in my tears. All the insults, taunts, manhandling and sub-human treatment that was meted out to me. Everything just came back all in one go. My sobs became louder as I ended up shaking violently. I tried to stuff my dupatta in my mouth to stop the sobs from becoming louder.
I didn’t realize when Papa (Inder) came and tried calming me, “Puttar, ky hoya? Kisi ne kuch kaha? Kya Angad ne kuch kiya?”
I wiped my tears and replied, “Nahin Papa. Something came to my eyes. I’m ok. Wait, did you need anything?”
Dad gave a soft chuckle and said, “ I was just looking for you. I didn’t see you inside.”
“I just needed some fresh air.” Sahiba calmly replied, adding, “Thank you Papa, I’ll go in now.”
Inderpal stood looking at the retreating figure of his daughter-in-law who had become more like a daughter to him. He felt bad for the situation that she was put in. He sympathized with both Angad and Sahiba, and wished silently looking up, “Rabba, mere bachchon par apni nehmat ka noor barsa taaki yeh dono zindagi mein aage badh sakein ek dusre ke saath.”
Vasudha
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