Lekha is an orphan who has quite a fascination for all things connected with Rajasthan(India). The fascination comes to life as she is pulled into the century when the Mughals and Rajputs are in a tussle over Rajwara (Rajasthan of today). The story...
Hi Guys just a small update for now. Plan to make the next one bigger to compensate :)
"Bhabisa wake up, the lunch is ready. Everybody is waiting for you."
I wondered why this bhabisa person was not making a move and in turn disturbing my sleep. I then felt some one nudge my shoulders.
"Bhabisa wake up."
"Bhabisa... what...? Take her and leave. Let me sleep." I mumbled as my eyes refused to open. I felt as if my eyelids had turned to stone.
I heard giggling at that, which made my fuzzy brain clear up a bit. I slowly opened my eyes to see a pair of gleeful grins up close peeping at me.
"O ... both of you. What happened? Did I sleep for too long?"
"No bhabisa just one hour at the most." That got my antennas on high alert as I remembered all that had happened previously.
"Please don't call me bhabisa. It gets a bit embarrassing." Seeing their crest fallen faces I quickly added" But you can call me that after marriage."
"We can understand dear. It's just that we were so excited about you getting married to bhaisa that we wanted to assign you that designation immediately" said Vasundhara.
"After that girl... I mean ... we did not want to waste time. It's just that..."Gayatri stuttered trying to give an explanation as she twisted her hands.
"Don't worry dear. I can understand what you mean to say. You wanted to put a stamp of that designation on me before any untoward thing happened, to interfere with this marriage" I smiled, stilling her twisting hands by holding them in my own. Both nodded vigorously in relief at that.
"What girl were you referring to Gayatri?"I asked unable to contain my curiosity any longer as it had been hinted too many times.
"Let's go now. Everybody is waiting for us and I am very hungry" said Gayatri trying to avoid my question it seemed.
When I didn't budge, she turned slowly towards me and said in a pleading voice"I will tell you tonight, I promise but can we make a move right now."
I nodded my head and headed towards the door along with the girls.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Pattal and kullad
We entered the hall where all the ladies had gathered together to have their food but this time it was pattal (leaf plates) and kullad (terracotta mugs) unlike all the silverware in the palace. I had previously had food similarly once when I was quite young and my grandmother had taken me to a village wedding, so was not at all surprised. It was cost effective and most environment friendly way to feed a large gathering of people, instead of using the thermocol or plastic wares we have in our time.
We sat cross legged on the mats spread out on the floor with the plates placed in front. A maid served us the food from big bucket kind of utensils for easy handling. The puris (puffed fried Indian bread) and kachoris (stuffed fried Indian bread) were in a big plate shaped wicker basket, held by two ladies while the third person served it to us. It seemed to me as a recap of the wedding I had attended with my grandma. The food though not as lavish as the one I had become used to in the palace, was scrumptious. The items served were the one which could survive the heat of the desert sun as they had no coolers to store things. The rest which were made fresh by the cooks were simple yet delicious considering the short time they had to be made in. The restful sleep I had had been good for my appetite it seemed as I ate with gusto.
No one talked about our engagement though I saw both maasa and taisa look at me thoughtfully in turns.
The men seemed to have had their lunch somewhere else as I didn't see any of them. We girls went back to our room to take rest as it took time to feed all and pack up for the journey ahead.
Though I was still full of curiosity and wanted to ask questions, it seemed everyone was avoiding the topic after the initial excitement previously and preferred to talk about other unrelated things. Vasundhara gave me a lengthy description of their home with both of them sharing anecdotes about incidents connected to some parts of it. Life would not be monotonous it seemed after hearing both the girls chatter away.
After sometime taisa and maasa came to our room and after gesturing the girls to move away sat on both side of me.
"Lekha we are planning to officially celebrate your engagement this evening when we reach the Chand Baori and put our tents up for the night. Tomorrow we have to leave for our separate destinations, so we think it is best to do the engagement at least immediately without further delay. The wedding can take place later as per the subha muhurat (auspicious time) taken out by the panditji (the priest). Are you happy my dear?" said maasa, bending her face down a little to look into my face which was bent.
I simply nodded my head as I couldn't find any other solution and it was expected of me after all their generosity.
Taisa put her palm on my head lovingly. She called out to someone outside the door and two maids came in each holding a big thal (thick plate) covered with a red cloth. She removed the cover from one and took out a red embroidered odhani(veil) from it and covered my head with it. Then Gayatri and Vasundhara started removing all the silver jewelry I wore. Taisa took a beautiful gold necklace from the plate the maid held and put it around my neck. I looked up surprised at that but as I looked at maasa pleadingly her with my eyes that I could not take the gold, she simply smiled at me with assurance. Taisa gave Gayatri and Vasundhara one earring each of the pair to put in the ears, even my anklets were changed to a new one.
I was then asked to make a jholi(kitty) with one side of my odhani , where taisa placed a new dress, more jewelry and a coconut with red thread tied around it, which is considered a symbol of fertility and also auspicious. She put a tilak(mark) on my forehead using vermilion , turmeric ,sandalwood, rice and curd and then did aarti (ritual offering of the lamp) in front of me. I was again hand fed sweets by all to mark the occasion and I touched taisa's feet, as she blessed me.
Both the girls looked on with gleeful expression on their face. I wondered if Rudra was going through the same process right then.
In the olden times and in some parts of India 'still' engagements are done separately for the bride and groom. Though here in the story it occurred at the same place due to circumstances. Generally the boy's male relatives visit the girl's house for the engagement and then vise versa . Its again a big celebration a little smaller then the wedding though. The male members got to enjoy extra much it seemed. :D Loads of gifts were exchanged.
Any other questions about marriage do contact me ;)
