Once Upon A Hullabaloo!

CHAPTER 12

I stared at the blank screen of my blog and the cursor blinked at it's place, mocking me. Popping the last piece of the second bar of silk orange-peel in my mouth, I crumpled the wrapper to dump into the dustbin lying at the foot of the table. The flood of confusing feelings needed a flush-out but I was terribly failing at it. The 'If only...' surrounding whatever went down with Anirudh years back was eating me up and then there was a wedding, my family and a fake boyfriend! I was no more in a position to claim that absurdity was hardly a part of my life.

Pushing the laptop shut, I walked out of the room. I leaned over the parapet wall of the corridor to checkout the chatterings going on in the courtyard. It was after-dinner and as a tradition, the Thakkar family was settled on the cots and mattresses, clutching tight to their respective shawls and sweaters. Most of the guests staying at the house were tired of travelling and the morning ceremony so had locked themselves in their rooms shortly after dinner. A tiny bonfire in the middle of the gathering seemed tempting so I made for downstairs with a scarf wrapped around my shoulders.

No sooner had I joined them under the night sky, mummy made me sit at her feet to rub some oil in my 'thirsty hair'(her words, not mine.). I shut up after some intitial protests, realizing just how much I had missed one of her head-massages.

"Pradeep bhai, " Jigna kaki turned to papa, "Remember Rushabh? The boy whom we had considered for  Omi? He is expecting his first child now. Our Omi would have been the mother of his child if only......." She trailed off giving me a meaningful look.

I muttered under my breath, "I don't think he had anything to do with marriage or no marriage to knock-up a woman."

Kshitij and Naitik let out a suppressed laugh, sitting on the cot next to mummy.

"For the record kaki," I said, "He was the one who rejected the offer. I was not responsible in that particular case."

"Omi beta, You know how such cases are absolutely rare that you give a chance to the groom-side to respond first." She smiled, "I tend to forget them."

"I don't disagree with Omi's single decision about those boys. I hardly remember any of them not being worth the dismissal." papa smiled at me.

He spoke rarely but that never stopped him from supporting me for the right. 

"You are definitely mistaken there, Pradeep." Mummy interrupted and baa couldn't hide her slight cringe of nose.

The ethnic culture of India barred women from calling their husbands by name. It was believed that doing so would shorten the life-span of their husbands. Papa had never wanted mummy to follow the same, much to baa's disapproval. 

"Did you forget about Anirudh? I loved that boy, it's a shame he and Omi couldn't work out." Mummy sighed, "You could have lived a happy----"

"Mummy!" I halted her before she could start mourning over that debacle again.

Both the set of parents were extremely heart-broken with Anirudh's and mine decision. We never gave them the details but a 'No' was enough. 

"I am sure we have better things to concentrate on than my ex-suitors." I broke the awkward silence, "We have a wedding to host, remember? What do we have tomorrow?"

"Savaare pithi ane saanjna mehndi." Baa replied, "I don't want my family members late for the morning ceremony of pithi. Am I clear?" She looked at me.

I gave an obedient nod, making a mental note of not going on bracelet-hunts next morning. 

"With that, I would advise everybody to go back to your rooms and get a good sleep." Baa got up from her cot, "Jai Shri Krishna."