Vows

Ajabdeh found it extremely difficult to walk in the lehenga as soon as she wore it. They let her look at her reflection in the full-sized mirror only after Jaivanta had made sure all her jewellery was in place. 
"Now you are looking like a true Sisodiya." Jaivanta put a kajal spot behind her earlobe. "Girls bring her downstairs when it's time." Heer and Rukaiya nodded. 
Ajabdeh tried to walk from the door to the mirror for a good look at herself and found herself dragging the lehenga. 
"For God's sake!" She sounded cross. "Who makes such gaudy attires?! I can't even walk."
"Jija, you remember what Maasa used to tell about her wedding lehenga being heavy?" Heer reminded.
"Oh, Ranisa's lehenga too was heavier than this one." Sajja arrived with a soft smile on her face that made Ajabdeh look at her like she had a cry for help.
"It will be over before you know it." Rukaiya reassured, "But ten years later you will love the photos."
"Rukaiya Sultanam, don't treat me as a client. I taught you to say that to bossy brides myself." Heer and Sajja laughed at her words.
"I can't even walk properly. What if I fall?" Ajabdeh sounded alarmed "In front of all those people trying to get up on the dais…"
"Oh, she is doing that thing again." Heer sat down amused.
"What thing?" Rukaiya asked.
"She has performance anxiety before big things. Stage performances in school. Her first solo event…. She is doing that again."
"Oh, she should see the room Ranisa prepared for tonight." Sajja almost murmured to Rukaiya who turned red, "That's where she should have performance anxiety."

Pratap didn't know why his palms were sweating. He was made to stand on the dais, all eyes on him, as two ladies stood with the varmala on either side of the dais. Perhaps it had to do with the atmosphere around him. The smell of flowers, the sound of drums and shehnai, everything created an ambience for a wedding. His wedding. He looked up once at the crowd with known faces smiling at him in anticipation and then saw further away to where she was. As soon as he saw Ajabdeh, his heartbeat increased. They were actually doing this. She looked different with that hairdo and gaudy lehenga and jewellery. One look at her and Pratap knew that none of the elements that made her look so regal was in fact her choice. He also noticed her looking down, concentrating on each step at a time, which might make her appear as a shy bride to onlookers. She was really finding it difficult to walk. He smiled at his own thoughts.

Ajabdeh looked up only when they reached the stairs of the dais. Her veil was drawn to her nose and there was no way she could gracefully walk up those steps without holding her lehenga or lifting her veil for a better view. Heer and Rukaiya helped with the lehenga. She was about to lift her veil for a better view that alarmed Jaivanta for a few mere seconds when she saw him give her his hand. Ajabdeh looked up from behind the veil at his face. The lights falling on her own face made the view difficult. She took his hand as he held it firmly allowing her to climb up to the dais, trusting the fact that even though she couldn't see through the veil properly, he was there to hold her if she missed a step.
"Aw." Heer's expression of awe was duly ignored as she stepped up on the dais and Pratap noticed her alta-clad hands were cold. Was she alright? He tried to figure out her body language. 
"Varmala time." It was Shakti who walked up to Pratap and declared it as Heer and Rukaiya made their way to Ajabdeh's side to hand her the garland. 
"Wait wait wait." Shakti stopped Pratap from putting the garland as Sajja had instructed with all eyes on Shakti.
"This is no fun." He said as he walked across promptly to Ajabdeh's side with Jalal in tow and lifted her up. "Let's make it difficult for him to reach her."

A ring of laughter went through the amused crowd as Ajabdeh looked alarmed. "What are you two doing? I will fall." Her voice died down in the sound of laughter and cheers. 
Pratap shook his head. "You really think I can't reach her this way?" He asked. 
"It's difficult." Heer giggled.
"I was a basketball champ in school." He reminded them. Ajabdeh looked at him a little wide-eyed going easier with the flow of things than she was or expected him to be. 
Pratap had almost thrown the varmala over her head, it didn't miss the target and landed on her shoulders making her a few kilograms heavier. Shakti and Jalal set her down and walked over to Pratap's side. 
"Your turn Ajabdeh." Jalal smiled.
Ajabdeh went on her toes to put the varmala but Shakti and Jalal held Pratap back. She tried twice and stopped. It was when she stopped that Pratap took a step closer to her and bowed his head slightly making them cheer.
"There you go." His Mausi reminded Jaivanta not very indirectly "He is already in her control."

Jaivanta smiled at her sister and back on the stage. All she saw was that despite the arguments and opposing the idea of a wedding her older one was happy.

Ajabdeh looked pleasantly surprised at him. If it wasn't for her veil her impressed stare was a giveaway of the impact of his gesture. She put the varmala around his neck. 
Heer asked Maan to tie the knot for the Pheras around the havan kund that was lit.
"Why Maan?" was the word going around the relatives making Mausi feel uncomfortable. "Isn't she a divorced woman? Shouldn't a happily married woman do it?"
"Ajabdeh insisted it has to be Maan." Jaivanta's words made Mausi look up first at her sister and then at the bride. She wanted nobody else. Mausi sighed trying to control her coming tears as Jaivanta held her hand.
"Whatever happened to her is not her fault."
"Ready?" Heer asked as both of them nodded at her. "Go."
Pratap gave Ajabdeh his hand, as she took it and walked around the fire behind him. Manwati read out their vows.
"We will always support each other when right, suggest better when wrong and protect each other from harm." She completed as they finished one round.
"We will always do what we feel is in the best interest of each other and the family" She added on the second round.
"We will always respect each other as an individual when we disagree."
"And end every argument before the end of the day." She added.
It was time for Ajabdeh to step forward and Pratap let go of her hand. She stepped in front of him and held his hand back again.
"We will equally contribute to everything we share."
"We will understand and participate in each other's interests in life." He nodded. Ajabdeh stopped.

Manwati looked at the paper in her hand. It had six vows. It was a mistake on her end when she was compiling their vows. She had forgotten what she wrote for the last vow. She looked at Ajabdeh who seemed equally blank. 
"Make something up," Pratap whispered realising it. "It's okay. We can't stop midway."
Ajabdeh's reassuring nod made Maan go on. 
"Continue the round. I will tell you the vow you missed, the most important one." She smiled. Pratap urged Ajabdeh to go on.
"You will always love and honour each other as husband and wife for the rest of your life and beyond." Ajabdeh's heart skipped a beat. Heer, Rukaiya, Shakti and Jalal stared at them and back at Maan. Had she actually forgotten to write the last vow down? Jalal stared suspiciously. Maan was smiling at Khan Uncle who nodded at her.
"Sindoor daan rasm." Maan folded the paper and put it back in her purse. "Heer bring the vermilion." Jaivanta gave Heer a silver box ornamented with emeralds and ruby. She held the box open for Pratap. "Use your ring." Jaivanta reminded him. Oh, he knew alright. He had seen the wedding video of his parents thousand times over. But he was too vain to admit the romantic in him still existed somewhere. He took out the ring he wore on his index finger.
Heer lifted the veil up from Ajabdeh's face as she looked up at him. His eyes were on the mang tika which Rukaiya came forward to move from her parted hairline. Pratap reached out to it before she could. He held the mang tika with his left hand, dipped the ring on the vermillion with his right hand and filled her hairline with it. A little bit of Vermilion landed on her nose making her automatically close her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, his eyes lowered from the filled hairline he placed the mang tika back onto her eyes and smiled. Before Ajabdeh could smile back the veil came over her face once again. 
After a long cue of guests was met, photos clicked with them and an extravagant dinner laid out, Jaivanta directed Sajja to make arrangements for the night alongside Rukaiya. 
Heer hugged Ajabdeh and Pratap and informed them that she was leaving early in the morning. 
"I will see you at the airport," Ajabdeh spoke immediately.
"Don't be silly Jija," Heer whispered, taking her aside. "It's 5 in the morning."
"So?" Ajabdeh frowned. "Even more a reason to not allow you alone."
"It's your first night today." Heer looked awkward. "It won't look nice. Bhaijaan will drop me at the airport." Heer walked away making Ajabdeh's heart sink a bit. She barely got to see Heer anymore. Even when she did she couldn't freely be with her sister and have a heart-to-heart conversation. 

"What's wrong?" Pratap's words jolted her from her thoughts. 
"Nothing." She shook her head. "Heer is leaving tomorrow." 
"She has classes." He reminded her. "but I told her to come to have a vacation with us once her semester is over." He smiled as she looked up at him. "She can spend some time with you."
"Thank you," Ajabdeh uttered the words with gratitude. 
"Should have added no thank yous and sorry to the vows." He managed to make her smile.

Sajja led Ajabdeh to the room they had prepared for their first night. The bed was decorated with a canopy of Jasmines and tube roses were kept in vases in all corners. The white bedspread was scattered with red rose petals. Sajja made her sit in the middle of the bed and adjusted her lehenga around her. 
"I have kept your luggage in the wardrobe and the toiletries in the washroom." She instructed. "Don't move from here. I will send him in." Sajja suppressed her excited voice. 
Ajabdeh looked around the room. 
"There was a couch on that corner." She frowned. 
"Oh yes. Ranisa had it removed." Ajabdeh looked a little taken aback at her words. "She made sure no other piece of furniture stayed." Sajja almost let out a chuckle. "Now excuse me Baisa. Have a good night." 

As soon as Sajja shut the door behind her Ajabdeh quickly removed her veil, and folded it up to place it on the coffee table. She then used her hands to pick the petals from the bedspread and kept them away on the dresser. Then she sat down in front of the mirror and started undoing the heavy jewellery. The moment she undid her mang tika her eyes fell on the red on her hairline. Her parents wanted to see this. This was supposed to change her life. She stared at her own reflection. The makeup was too heavy. She should start with that. She did admit she looked different. Perhaps even beautiful. But was all this really her? She remembered Jaivanta and Sajja's words. To stay put on the bed like she was left until he arrived. Too late for that. She took out the makeup remover.

"Pratap." Udai Singh met his son loitering on the open balcony of the portico. "I got you two a wedding present." He said smiling sheepishly. 
"Dad." Pratap let out a soft protest. "You didn't need to…" 
Udai Singh held out an envelope. "It's trip to Manali." He spoke, "Err… for the honeymoon." Pratap looked up at his words. "I wanted to book a trip abroad but your Ranima said neither of you will spare more than a week away from work. So…" 
"Thank you." Pratap took the envelope reluctantly only to stop his father from going on further with this rather awkward conversation. 
Sajja walked up to them and bowed. "Kunwarsa, Baisa is ready for you." 

The words made Pratap cringe. Ready for him? Ready for what? He nodded and walked away from his father and Sajja. The expectation in their eyes made him feel uncomfortable. At the staircase, Pratap stopped for a moment. Was it possible that they fed Ajabdeh with a similar sort of wordplay forcing her to do things for the sake of rituals? He walked up the stairs to find out.
When Pratap almost noiselessly turned the doorknob to the room with a knock before he entered, he saw Ajabdeh, with her veil and dupatta neatly folded on the coffee table, her hair undone, hair clips on the dressing table and she struggling with the stuck bead to open the necklace. A strand of her waved hair was caught in it. She winced a little.
He made his presence felt by clearing his throat and immediately noticed the lack of a couch in the room with a slight narrowing of his brows.
She looked up at his reflection.
"Umm… do you need help?" He asked pointing "With that? Your hair…"
"Is stuck. Yes. Thank you." She nodded. He shot her a glance that made her say "Sorry. Sorry. No thank yous." He raised his eyebrows at it as they both laughed. "I said sorry too didn't I?"
"Okay. What is this thing?" Pratap looked confused as she pulled her hair up revealing her neckline to him. There were strands of hair, stuck between the necklace chains and strings and the strings of her latkan seemed to have tangled them as well.
"What did you do here?" He sounded alarmed. "Did you fight a war or something?" She chuckled. "Should I call someone else?" She picked up her phone.
"No." He protested. "I can do this" He managed to untangle a lock of hair. "Here we go. Just need to find the right string." He was talking to himself. Ajabdeh watched his reflection in the mirror as he concentrated on the work at hand. She smiled. He was treating this as a challenge. 
Pratap was confused as the string of the necklace looked the same as the string of her latka. 
"Here we go." He pulled at the wrong string. Alarmed that her choli loosened around her body, Ajabdeh looked a little wide-eyed at him in the reflection. As his eyes met hers he realised his mistake.
"I am so sorry. I am so sorry." He blurted, throwing his hands up in the air. "They looked the same and …"
"Now pull the right one." Ajabdeh defensively put her hands across her shoulders to hold the choli back as it seemed to fall off her shoulders. "Quick!?" 
He was a bit conscious of his doing before he pulled himself together and undid the necklace.
"I will...Err … be in the washroom. Let me know when you are done." He walked away without glancing at her. The moment she heard his washroom door close, Ajabdeh was quick to take out her usual pyjamas from the wardrobe and change out of the lehenga. She felt light as a feather. The only thing she was not used to was the red bangles on her hand. Should she remove them?
Standing before the washbasin mirror Pratap looked red with embarrassment. What would she think? He looked at his own reflection in the mirror and cursed himself under his breath. He opened the top layer of the sherwani and stood in his pyjamas and plain white T-shirt as he suddenly felt hot.
"I am done. Sorry, I forgot." She called out to him as he walked in avoiding eye contact over what had happened. "I will…Erm…Get changed." He said taking out some clothes from the luggage. He eyed her combing her hair. 
"Should I remove these?" She asked, a little reluctant, making him look up. "I am scared I will break these …." He looked a little taken aback by her words and stared at the glass bangles. "I mean I sleep on my hand at times." She clarified quickly.
"You should. They can hurt you." He spoke as he walked back into the washroom. The bangles were too tight on her hand. She applied some hand cream yet couldn't remove them with ease. Struggling with the set she broke one and it pierced through the skin of her finger.
"Ouch." She immediately put her finger in her mouth to avoid blood flow.
"Are you hurt?" Pratap sounded concerned as he walked up to her. "Let me see."
"Oh, it's nothing. Just the glass cut." She spoke as she walked up around the bed and placed her pillow on the opposite side. 
"You want to go see Heer off?" He asked, taking her by surprise. "We can go."
"No. She will make a fuss about it." Ajabdeh nodded, removing the blankets and separating them to find that there was only one. "I will wait for the vacation."
"Speaking of vacations." Pratap sat down on his side of the bed. "Dad got us tickets to Manali."
"Oh, we can't take any more holidays." The moment Ajabdeh spoke for herself she looked up at him. He placed the envelope down on the bedside table. "Yeah. I told him so." He said with a hint of reluctance in his voice. Ajabdeh sat down on her side of the bed with her back to him. "But I suppose we can extend our leave by a week."
"I suppose we can." He agreed. Silence filled the room. 
"Umm. Goodnight then." She spoke laying down on her side of the bed, with her feet towards his pillow. Pratap dimmed the lights of the room with a nod.

It was almost when Pratap was in his deep sleep that a sound woke him up. It was coming from beside him. He removed the blanket in a reflex and saw the anklets on her feet. Pratap sighed. Ajabdeh seemed to be in deep sleep. And every time she moved the anklets made a sharp sound in his ears. He tried putting the pillow over his ears and turning to the other side. It didn't work. He then got up to wake Ajabdeh up and ask her to remove the anklets. His hand stopped at her shoulder. He sighed seeing her face in the dimmed lights of the room. She was in deep sleep. She looked peaceful and tired. A strand of her waved hair fell across her neck to under her upper arms. He reluctantly pulled it away from her with his index finger and thumb. His eyes fell on her hairline and her lips appeared to be smiling. Was she dreaming?

Pratap took his pillow from her feet and placed it beside hers. There was no way he could sleep after a tiring day with that sound in his ears. He would explain later. He laid down beside her sleeping figure and glanced over at her. Her breath was slow. And she smelled of lavender and roses. Pratap felt awkward realising he was staring at her sleeping figure for too long. He turned to his side.
Ajabdeh woke up as the first ray of sunlight hit her face. The curtains were open. They had forgotten to cover the window. She looked to her side and frowned a little. She got up to sit on the bed and glanced over at his sleeping figure. His mouth was open like a child's and it made Ajabdeh smile. She got out of bed and immediately heard the sound of her anklets and looked to her own feet and back at him. She shook her head and walked to the wardrobe to get her change of clothes.

When Pratap turned to his side he spotted her in a Fuschia saree and red blouse, putting on the jewellery she was supposed to wear in the morning. He sat up on the bed and scratched his unmanaged hair. 
"I changed sides because…"
"Of my anklet. I figured. I forgot to remove them." She spoke. "Good that you are awake. I was waiting so that I can call Sajja Ma once you are in the washroom."
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing. The saree looks uneven. She got up to display the bottom to him. "Doesn't it?" He nodded. He was about to step out of the blanket and walk to the washroom when he stopped.
"Wait." He said as she was about to dial Sajja. "I forgot something." He went to his luggage as Ajabdeh sat back down on the chair near the dressing table.
"I… got you a ring for the wedding." He said sheepishly, putting the boxes on display in front of her. 
"There are two of them." She pointed out.
"Yes. We do have a ring ceremony before the Wedding." He clarified. "That didn't go quite well the last time." He bit his tongue. "I shouldn't have mentioned that." Ajabdeh smiled. 
"Well, I am aware of it." She held out her hand making him look up at her. "Go on." She spoke. 
He took the ring from the box and put it on her ring finger. 
"Is this your choice?" She asked, inspecting the ring. He nodded. 
"If you don't like it…" he stopped as she shook her head.
"No, I like it. Yours?" She asked, pointing at the other box as he nodded. 
Pratap stared at the ring on his finger where he held the tan lines of scars for a long time and sighed looking up at himself in the mirror of the wash basin. To new beginnings.
"So what did you see?" Jaivanta asked Sajja, making Udai frown a little uncomfortably towards her. 
"The bed was wrinkled, and the pillows were there. And… some of her bangles she said broke by mistake." Sajja smiled at Jaivanta.
"All is well I suppose." Jaivanta inferred. "Go ahead and prepare for her proper welcome to the Sisodiya Mansion." Sajja nodded with a smile.

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