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MADHAV

I had recently turned twenty and since then my mom and bhabhi had started nagging about getting me married. today maa, bauji and me were going to see the girl whom i was supposed to marry. bhabhi and bhaiya stayed at home as bauji felt that it wouldn't have been wise to take so many people with us at once. we finally reached their home after a tiring journey. all i knew about the girl was that her name was Sitara and she was 17. i firmly believed that no one should marry before 18 but sadly my beliefs stood no chance infront of my bauji's order to finally take a bride. i hopefullu wont bed her before she turns 18 even though i know that would be definitely expected. their home was like any other traditional punjabi home you'd find in a village. they had a huge verandah surrounded by rooms. we were greeted by 2 men and 2 women once we entered. i came to know that they are sitara's parents and chachi chachi. i touched all of their feet in order to display respect. all of them gave me their blessings. then we proceeded towards a small living area with sofas and a table.

the women immediately started serving refreshments and the elders engaged in formal conversation. i was sitting their quietly and observing my surroundings. there were duppattas hung on the reop to dry, displaying strong feminine presence. i also heard the noise of children playing and discovered that one of them was sitara's brother and the other 2 were her cousins. all 3 of them greeted us shyly and were sent by their mothers inside the room. i was curious to set my eyes upon the woman who was going to be my wife. my mother understood my thoughts and whispered something in bauji's ear. bauji said to sitara's father "bhaisahab shubh kaam m deri kaisi, humari hone wali bahu ko bulaiye ab to" her father chuckled and signed something towards her mother. in 5 minutes, i heard the subtle noise of anklets and lifted my gaze in order to look at the most beautiful girl i had ever seen. she was all dolled up only for me with every strand of her hair neatly tucked inside the duppatta except one small curl fighting to get out of there. she was wearing a maroon salwar kameez. i didnt realise how focused i was till my mother patted my shoulder. sitara came towards us and offered chai to everyone beginning with my father, then offered a cup to my mom and then she nervously walked towards me, i was admiring her while taking the cup and she also looked up for a moment when our eyes met. she had the prettiest dark brown eyes and her skin was just perfect. her lower lip was fuller than her upper one and she had put some pink shade on them.

i was mesmerised by her beauty. she instantly lowered her gaze and a red tint appeared on both of her cheeks. she basically ran towards the table, put down the tray and turned towards my parents touching their feet for blessings. my mom said "hamare madhav ke to bhaag khul gaye, enni sohni kudi jo hamari nuh banke aa rahi" she smiled and so did i. later sitara was sent back inside the room and the elders decided upon a date. the wedding would take place after a month.

SITARA

i was called by my mother and handed a tray in order to serve tea to my future husband and in laws. normally i handled the tray with ease but today it had an extra weight of nervousness. i somehow managed to walk towards them keeping my gaze low. i first gave tea to my father in law, who seemed like a kind but authoritative man, then to my mother in law who seemed sweet and also complimented me on my beauty afterwards. and then i finally moved towards madhav, my future husband. he took considerable amount of time in picking up the tea and i glanced at him to see what happened. the moment i lifted my gaze, he was already looking at me with a sharp and tender gaze, it looked like he was memorizing every detail of my face. i felt timid and lowered my eyes immediately. god only knew how will i share a room with a man, sleep with him on the same bed, and do all other touchy things we were kept in the dark about.

i walked fastly towards the table, kept the tray down and bent to touch my in laws' feet. both of them gave me blessings and ammaji also complimented my looks, making me blush. i was asked to sit on the charpai nearby and thats when i looked at madhav properly. he seemed taller than me, around 5'11-6'0, his skin complexion was slightly darker than mine, he wasnt very lean nor very bulky, it seemed like he had strong arms. he had a very light stubble, and his eyes were no doubt his most soul trapping feature. he had the kind of lashes i dreamed about. i was definitely physically attracted to him. i looked at his hands and wondered how would they feel holding me. my thoughts were interrupted by maa asking me to go back inside.

the moment i entered in the room meher was all over me asking me a lot of questions. i told her everything including his mother's compliment. she looked at me teasingly and said "abhi tune munde k bhaag khole hain vyah k baad vo tere kapde kholega" i held her ear and said while smiling "MEHER chup karr kaha kaha se sunke aati hain tu ye sab". she replied "arey jananiyo ke sath thori der chup hoke baithegi na tereko bhi smjh aayega ye sab, preet bhabhi bata rahi thi baakio ko ki unko kapde nikalne m lajja aati lekin unke pati zidd karte aur jaise taise niklva hi dete"

i wanted to ask more questions but couldn't because before i could open my mouth chachiji rushed near us and planted a slap on meher's face. it seemed like she had heard a bit of our conversation. she started beating meher asking her "kaha kaha se seekh k aati hain tu ye sab? abhi 15 baras ki huyi nahi hain zyada jawaani chhad rahi hain teri? bauji se kehke sitara k sath sath trko bhi vida kr denge agar mko tere muh se ye sab sunai diya to kamini" meher kept crying and i tried to stop chachi but failed. hearing this maa also came inside and chachi told her everything. maa also slapped meher and then looked at me furiously.

she came towards me and landed 2 slaps on both my cheeks saying "terko pata bhi hain agar tere bauji ne ye suna hota to kya hota? tum ladkio ko zyada khula chorr kar glti kardi, dono ghar se bahar nikal k dikhao ab aisi taangein na todi to dekhna" even i started crying, then both maa and chachi went outside. thankfully chacha ji and bauji had gone back to the store otherwise the situation wouldve been 100 times worse. me and meher hugged each other and cried our eyes out. i tried to console her as it would be more difficult for her. i would leave within a month but she had to survive here longer than that.

after sometime we were called to have dinner straightaway, our mothers didnt ask us to help them in cooking and also made halwa which was our favourite. this seemed to be a silent apology from them. later we washed the dishes while our mothers went inside their respective rooms. after completin