c h a p t e r : 0 4

y e a r : 1 9 9 2

c i t y : B a n a r a s

When Aprajita entered her room, she found her sister pacing across it, in deep thought. She stared at her fidgeting fingers, her anxious bounce in steps, she looked... serious. Something she rarely was.

"Has someone scolded you regarding yesterday?"

Pallavi looked up, finally noticing her presence. She walked up to her, held her hands, and wordlessly brought her to sit on their bed, and she herself sat on the floor, near her.

"I need to tell you something, really important." Both said in unison.

Pallavi smiled slightly. They were really different from each other, they liked different kinds of food, dressed in contrasting colours, and carried different personalities, but in the end, they were sisters. Too different yet too similar.

"You go first." she said, somewhere knowing where this conversation was heading to.

Aprajita nodded, "Do you remember what you had asked yesterday? Why don't I want to get married?"

Pallavi nodded. "Yes, that's what I need to tell you about, Pallavi. I am... in love with someone!" She breathed out.

She shrieked, "WHAT?! YOU ARE IN WHAT?!" Aprajita opened her mouth, only to hear her shriek again. "WITH WHOM? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO DO? APPU-"

"SHUT UP, PALLAVI!" She shouted back.

Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Would you let me speak or are you going to announce this to the whole neighbourhood?"

"You dropped a bomb, and now want me to sing you melodies? Now, are you telling me the whole thing?"

"So... There's a boy-"

"Oh? I thought it would be a girl!" Pallavi said, rolling up her eyes.

Aprajita frowned, "Are you going to let me speak or not?"

"Fine, say!"

Aprajita took a pause to rethink her decision of revealing everything in front of her sister, but it hardly lasted a few seconds, "Ravinder. He is my... I mean I have known him for the last two years. I... I am really really fond of him and Pallavi, I cannot imagine myself without him-"

"Shh! Take a long breath, Appu! You're not in front of Baba, it's just me. Your sister. There is nothing you cannot tell me. Now relax... Calm down, and then tell me."

Aprajita held her hand, "I know, you're here. It's just... Ravinder is too important for me and I do not and cannot imagine my future without him. If there is one man I want to spend my life with, it is him. He is the reason, I am denying every other proposal."

Pallavi smiled. Aprajita was in love. She didn't know what love felt like. She had seen it in cinemas, read it in books, noticed them in her mother's eyes, when she narrated her wedding stories, but it has always been a distant observation. Today, she saw it in her sister's eyes closely, when she probably dreamt of a future with her man, her eyes turned moist, but her smile grew wider. As if a poor child was looking up at his favourite expensive candy, kept on the shelf of a shop. Too alluring yet too off his reach.

"Why don't you call him here, with his parents?"

"He's a Kurmi, Pallavi. Baba will never accept him!" Pallavi's eyes widened. "WHAT? Stupid, did you not know when you were falling in love?"

She sighed, "Of course, I knew. I don't care who he is or what caste he comes from, all I know is, he is the only man I want to look at, forever! And there is nothing like 'falling in love'. One just feels love gradually, there is no one moment."

"Whatever! What are you going to do about it?" She asked.

"I don't know, I need your help for this! Please? For one last time? But... I don't have money to buy you cassettes, this time." She pleaded.

"I am always going to be here, I said it, right?" She replied and Aprajita grinned.

Her lips began to move again, this time filling up with his descriptions, her eyes awed at his thoughts, her hands in motion. Pallavi smiled again. She could not tell her heart, yet again. Maybe this was not the right moment. For now, Aprajita's dreams mattered more. So, she moved closer, listening to the tales of an unknown man, whose love her sister was falling into, each second.

⬝⬝⬝

"...Aprajita is a really nice girl. I don't think, we can get a better bahu for our Lakkhan." The groom Lakkhan's mother, said to Rachna, looking at a postcard-sized photograph of the supposed bride.

Rachna smiled. Their neighbour had suggested about Lakkhan's family and due to her constant prying, they were finally seated in Champa Kunj, discussing marriage. Shastris were the politicians of the opposition party of Uttar Pradesh, one of the high profile families in Banaras, who expected to win the next elections with hundred percent surety. Her Appu would eat ghee-dipped delicacies all day, if got married to their son.

Shankarlal spoke, "Bhabhi ji, our daughters have been raised well, they can do all the household work, they know how to efficiently manage expenses, they are soft spoken girls. You'll never find any complaint against our Aprajita... And even if you do, she would be your bahu, you may punish her however you wish to."

Rachna looked at her husband in disbelief. She was their daughter, they cannot punish her however!

Anand Shastri, the groom's father asked, "But your girl goes to college, Pundit ji? It's evening and your girls haven't returned."

Shankarlal smiled, "Yes, she does! They are educated as well. In two months, she will have her exams and her final year of B.A. will be completed as well and-"

"-but which decent girl goes to college?" he interrupted.

"Ji? Every household, nowadays, wants an educated girl, bhaisaab!" Rachna answered.

"Nahi bhabhi ji, this sheheri fashion is spoiling the minds of young girls. Schooling is alright, but why are parents sending their daughters to college, where boys go to? Our Lakkhan has passed B.Sc. with second distinction, he can earn well and feed his wife. What will your daughter do by studying this much? All college does is teach girls to be disobedient and vulgar. I don't think we can continue this, Pundit ji!"

Shankarlal joined his hands, "If you want, from now on, we won't send her to college... I take this responsibility, Shastri ji!"

"What about her sister?" The mother asked.

"She'll leave the college too. She too needs to get married soon. Now, shall we take this rishta further, Shastri ji?"

Lakkhan spoke, "Yes, why not? All I demand is an Ambassador car, the latest model in the market, these days, along with the cash Baauji has asked for."

Shankarlal's breath hitched. "Lakkhan beta, Ambassador, these days cost more than three and a half lakhs." He looked at Anand, "Bhaisaab, I have a family to feed. I cannot give 14-15 lakhs besides the expenses of the wedding. Please, consider my condition too."

Shastris snickered at his words, Anand rose up from his seat, "You've a weird way of asking for bheeksha, Pundit ji. And, after the wedding, your daughter is going to ride in the car with her husband, all of this is for her. And even if she does not, she will be the daughter in law of our family, isn't that enough? If you cannot arrange a simple dahej, how can you expect a good family for your daughter? Do not pretend that you can't afford this much, you aren't a beggar, or are you, Pundit ji?"

Rachna's eyes burnt with their insults, every second her eyes would gaze up at her husband's face, who had kept his self-respect in the feet of Shastris. The person she had always seen as a dominating, angry, proud man, was standing subordinated to the in-laws of her daughter.

"Ambassador it is, then. I'll manage everything, Shastri ji" He answered.

"Now, bring some sweets, Samdhan ji, we're going to be family!" Anand asked Rachna, who ran inside, taking up the opportunity to hide the tears that had started welling up her eyes.

Sweets were distributed between the Trivedis and the Shastris, but even the sweets could not lessen the bitterness soaring in Rachna's heart. Despite everything going on rightly, something didn't feel right.

⬝⬝⬝

word count: 1379

Glossary

bhaisaab- brother or someone who is alike a brother

sheheri- urban

bheeksha- alms asked by a beggar

dahej- dowry

samdhan- mother-in-law of one's son or daughter

samdhi- father-in-law of one's son or daughter

⬝⬝⬝

How was the chapter? I would love to know your thoughts on the story.

Before you leave, make sure you've voted, left inline comments and followed me for updates. Also, do not forget to add 'burnt in ashes' in your libraries and lists.

Hoping you a good day!

~N.