Our Bin Tughlaq Days

 

.A year or two after our wedding. We were invited by one of my ex-colleagues, Richa for dinner. We were living in a 2bhk flat in crowded South Delhi and Richa was living in a villa of a posh society at Faridabad.

 

It was winter time. The month of February, I think. We went pretty early as we had a plan to have a good appetizer time with nice chat.

 

Grand entrance, greenery surroundings, built in a piece of land with groves of some fruits and flowers, elegantly crafted landscaping. The villa had a lush green backyard, and the contemporary interiors were enhanced with refined finishes collected from all over the globe. The house featured superior craftsmanship and details such as genuine fieldstone foundations, a wood fireplace, an attached small plunge pool. The location of the society would appeal to anyone seeking to get away from the hustle and bustle, but maintain easy access to all the conveniences of urban living.

 

Richa’s husband had interest in cooking and so, he kept a huge barbeque maker in the backyard. The warmth coming from the mild fire, gentle touch of fog, soft Kenny G music and the hot barbeque with cold wine – all were trying to mesmerize me totally.  Me and my hubby were so impressed with the starter, dinner, ambience that Richa took us to show the society briefly – the swimming pool, squash court, club house, waiting lounge etc. The swimming pool was dry though, because of some repair work.

 

After having an awesome time, we bid farewell with a promise to meet them soon.

 

On our way, we were silent, but had a telepathy. I developed a desire to own such a house. And, he understood my silent desire. As this kind of house would cost many crores, it’s just not only out of scope, but not even near to our dream. He tried his ways, tricks to make me understand that wherever we had been these years, was not a bad place.

 

But, something was cooking in my mind. I found another way to get a bit of this kinda luxury. I thought - why can’t we atleast take a flat in rent in the same society! The island kitchen and the library were haunting my husband too as he loves cooking and reading books. Though he was not in full agreement, couldn’t say me “No” any more! Yaayyyy!!!

 

And, next day, I called up Richa. She was extremely excited and promised me to get a nice, rented flat for me.

 

We got one 3bhk with study flat at almost the same rate that we were paying in our current flat in South Delhi, just few thousands more for amenities and maintenance fee.

I was so impatient that immediately we shifted, within a month. In few weeks, we threw a housewarming party. I invited some of our close friends and south Delhi neighbours. They were awestruck by the facilities and large sized flats available at cheap rates. You know what? Two of them took the property agents contact number and shifted within the same month, another two families followed.

 

Wow! In no time, we had a good gang in few weeks.

 

In a month or so, the Faridabad summer started. It gradually became unbearable. We installed an AC, but there were long hours of power cut. Generators could not take the load of ACs. Water pumps stopped working. Slowly, I started realizing that there was a huge hair loss. I began my investigation and came to know that we always used to get tanker water and thus, the society service charges were more in summer. The distance from my home to office almost tripled while we shifted, earlier it was 8 km and now it was 22 km in one side. Icing on cake was, there used to be huge traffic jams because of Badarpur border flyover construction.

 

Come our anniversary. Month of July. Many of my friends wished to visit us and have a party. My husband also planned to cook so many dishes. We did all the shopping the previous day – chicken, mutton, fish, fruits, vegetables, eggs, sweets.

 

The D Day. We got up late as we had a disturbed sleep because of intermittent power cuts throughout the night. I went to the washroom, started brushing my teeth. The tap poured no water. I went to the kitchen, no water. Thank God, I kept few bottles of drinking water. Cleaned my tooth-pasted teeth to show my wide smile to husband while giving this news.

 

He almost jumped from the bed, wondered what to do!  We decided that in worst case scenario, we would order food from the nearby restaurant. I just tried to open the fridge to see from where to start, oh… inside the fridge, it was warm enough… we understood that because of the fluctuation of power previous night, some technical failure happened.

 

"Ting. Tong."

 

Our door bell rang. I knew that Dilruba was on time. I opened the door.

 

“Happy Anniversary, Didi!” And, she went straight to kitchen to wash her hand.

 

“What to do didi, no water?” I saw one muffled smile in Dilruba’s face.

 

“Just broom the house. Rest, I’ll see.”

 

Dilruba sat on the floor for half an hour after the dry sweep of the rooms. No TV, no radio, no water, so, she left promising me to come when I would call her once the water come in.

 

There was a fight between our society and the tanker owners regarding some price increase. Time was running...... our stress was increasing….

 

It was noon time, I opened the freezer, a brown drop of chocolate fell on my hand. Hmmm, yes, all the icy stuff melted…. I opened other sections; some weird smell started coming in….

 

I kept the brown bread on the island kitchen. Looked at the library which was standing tall.

 

I heard my hubby talking on phone loudly, “Sharma jee, do you have any flat available for rent, we want to come back…”

 

Sharma jee is the owner of our previous flat in South Delhi!

 

My heart and mind felt as if the society is singing>>>>>>>> 

Happy Anniversary to US!!! #MyWeddingDiary

                                                                             ...........

 

Runaway bride took my boyfriend along...

 It was my sis’ wedding! I was damn excited….

Last few weeks before marriage, I kept visiting Fancy Bazaar regularly after class. Jyotirmoy  helped me a lot in choosing and buying my stuff, though bargaining was my own responsibility.  Thanks to my dear father for sending me couple of thousands for buying some Assam silk mekhela sadar.  

I bought one mekhela sadar set for the Wedding day, which was Navy blue with big golden polka all over. “It’s your marriage or Sis’ marriage?” Jyotirmoy kept teasing me all the time…. I bought this set, because Navy blue was Jyotirmoy’s favourite colour.  It’s been just few months, we had been going around. Shopping was a kind of dating for us. We would shop, walk till Naak kota pukhuri, eat chowmin and then catch the bus, and go back to the university hostel. I bought one simple Muga silk mekhela Sadar set too for the Juron. To match with both the dress, I had to buy lots of jewelries,  like matching bangles, necklace, finger rings, earrings, bindies…and for make-up …nail polish, blusher, eye-shadows…what not!!!  After all, I was the Bride’s one and only sister!

I called up my sister so many times if she needed anything, but always she said, “No!”…as if she was not excited at all to marry.  I didn’t see any enthusiasm in her talks… I knew that she had a boyfriend for many years, but as the guy was from different caste and had no decent source of income, my parents did not accept that relation. She fought for sometime with parents, but at last she gave up and agreed to marry this guy who was engineer in ONGC.

I reached home three days before wedding. Tent work was almost over. Mandap for Choklong* and pavilion for the bride for the reception was yet to be made. I took initiative of choosing flowers for those space. 

But, what I observed that there was no bridal charm reflecting in my sis' face. I tried to talk to her, understand why she was soo upset, though I was four years younger to her. She just cried in front of me at night, saying she did not want to get married. I infact scolded her if she was not ready for the marriage, why she said “Yes” to our parents, and now we had come to such a stage that we could not go back. 

All relatives started coming from near and far. I could see my sis smiling a bit, which made me a bit relaxed.

Juron* came next day morning, at around 10 am. It was an awesome Juron….Eleven beautiful Assam Silk and Muga Silk Mekhela Sadar, two gold ornament set, one silver set, twelve gold bangles, five beautiful gold finger rings….The juron awestruck all our relatives….everyone started saying, “Runu, you are sooo lucky, going to such a rich family….” But, I still could not see any excitement in her expression, though she tried to smile in front of everyone. 

In the evening, there was a musical celebration along with “Murot Tel dia” ritual. When the dusk came, the ladies went to collect water from the nearby river to bathe the bride. I had to hold the main water vessel. All ladies kept singing biya naam (wedding song) all the way….

We came back, two aunts went inside the house to take my sister out to the place where there was a small mandap, made of banana stem for bathing ritual. 

We kept waiting for half an hour…..my hands were aching, holding the vessel. I was not allowed to put it down. Some ladies got irritated…..

“Runu is not at home…….” One aunt came running……

“What???” All got horrified…..some got amused too ofcourse…..

I understood what might happened……I just wished her safety silently…..All guys started searching her here and there…..It was already dark. Some searched in the nearby well, some went to search in the pond….Number of Torch became uncountable….

Mom almost fainted……..Dad was crying whom I knew as a strong man……I just silently went to the room and started crying putting my head down on the bed……..

Few hours passed. 

Two of my aunts came to my room and just sat beside me. 

“It’s the matter of prestige of two families now...” One aunt initiated…

“Pradip saw Runu and a guy together getting into a bus in the mainroad. She eloped….She destroyed all your family’s reputation.”

“Your uncle informed the groom's family about the incident…..They are shattered…..”

“After a long conversation, they are proposing one solution…..If you agree…….They saw you in the Juron…..”

“What????” I was shocked….My head was spinning……

“Cool down Junu….you are matured enough……you understand everything…..Think about your parent’s condition…..You can somehow manage till some extent….” Another aunt said.

Mom, Dad and Uncle entered my room after sometime…..

Mom was still crying loud…..Dad too was crying…sat on the floor near me on his knees…

“She already cut my nose….You are the last hope, my love, please keep my prestige..….” My Dad’s cry became loud and louder….

All eyes were looking at me…….Jyotirmoy’s smiling face came to my front as hallucination……as if saying, “You will look extremely charming in the Navy blue Mekhela Sadar on your Wedding day!”

* Juron : A ritual when Groom's family comes to gift the Bride, before wedding, generally, one day before the D-day.
* Choklong: The main ritual of  exchanging vows, specially for Ahom dynasty.