Luv (Un)Arranged (Luv Shuv #3)

Chapter 18

18

Song: Chhote Chhote Bhaiyon Ke

- Kumar Sanu, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Udit Narayan

Kriti

Mehndi Ceremony

A ceremony where henna is applied on the bride’s hands and feet as a way of wishing the bride good health and prosperity as she ventures into her newly married life. Scientifically speaking, henna’s cooling properties also reduce the bride’s stress and anxiety. Its long application process gives her some time to sit still and breathe.

The party plot that we’d booked for all our ceremonies was transformed from a large garden into a beautifully decorated mehndi-themed event space. Pink and orange decorative pieces hung from the trees along with yellow and orange marigold flowers.

I had brought my bright pink lehenga for this very occasion. I wore my mom’s diamond necklace and large earrings.

I was showered with rose petals by the women of Aakar’s and my family as I walked down the baby pink carpet all the way to the bold pink couch set up under a large tree, strung with flower garlands. Two henna designers sat on a chair facing the couch, ready for me.

Surrounding my couch were several other bright yellow, orange, and pink couches where the rest of the ladies would sit to get their mehndi applied to their hands. As soon as I was seated, the fifteen or so mehndi designers were upon us.

Stick finger foods like kebabs and mozzarella cheese balls, and mocktails like spicy guava and strawberry mint mojito were passed around by the servers.

Mehndi-themed Bollywood songs played in the background, bringing all the mehndi vibes.

My hands were about halfway covered in mehndi when the commotion at the gate of the party plot had us all looking up. One after the other, the men in our families started filing in, looking around at the decorations.

In the middle of them all entered Aakar, in a dashing light pink kurta and beige salwar. He had the sleeves of his kurta rolled up to his elbows, and the first few buttons of his kurta were unbuttoned. A silver chain rested on his bare chest, twinkling as the light fell just right on it. He looked downright sinful.

All the ladies cheered as Aakar made his way toward me, smiling at his sisters. The rest of the men made their way to their respective partners or the food counters.

As soon as he came near me, he took a seat on the arm of the couch, his eyes taking me in. Slowly.

Heat gathered on my cheeks at his perusal.

The songs suddenly changed from the mehndi playlist of a girl leaving her home and getting ready for the new venture in her life to popular Bollywood romance songs. We couldn’t help but chuckle at whatever sibling decided to mess with the playlist.

“You look beautiful,” Aakar said, still looking at me like he couldn’t stop even if he tried.

Blushing, I looked at my mehndi design. “And my mehndi?”

He turned to look at my hands to see the intricate patterns of peacocks and elephants. “Just as pretty as you.”

This man was going to kill me with compliments.

Just then, the server brought some mocktails and finger foods for the groom and placed them on a little side table beside the couch.

“Did you eat?”

I gave him the best puppy-dog eyes I could muster and showed him my hands. “No.”

“Oh no.” He clutched his heart and quickly grabbed the mocktail with a straw. Bringing the straw closer to my lips, he pushed a stray strand of my hair behind my ear as I took a sip of the refreshing strawberry mint mojito.

“There we go,” he cooed.

Woots and cheers rang from all around us.

“Watch them lose their minds now,” Aakar said, feeding me a kebab with his hand.

I chuckled as even louder hoots rang in the air.

“Do you want a little design on your hand, sir?” the mehndi designer asked.

Aakar turned to me with raised brows. “Are you getting my name written on your hand?”

When I nodded, he said, “Well, I won’t be left behind.”

Quickly, he brought his palm forward and placed it in the mehndi designer’s hand. “Just her name for me, please.”

The designer quickly wrote my name on his palm with a nice heart around it.

With my name etched on his palm, he fed me the mocktails and finger foods as all the people close to us spent their morning and afternoon getting their mehndi done as their own partners took some inspiration from the groom.

Haldi Ceremon y

A ceremony where turmeric paste is applied to the bride and the groom to prevent evil spirits from harming the to-wed couple. Traditionally, the bride and groom celebrate this pre-wedding ritual separately with their family members. Recently, they’ve started celebrating this ritual together to make it more fun and have pretty pictures.

Our families decided to celebrate the Haldi ceremony together. Aakar claimed it would be a lot more fun to have the ritual together, and we would also save some money between the two families by sharing the expenses for the ceremony.

All the guests had arrived when Aakar and I made our entry wearing our yellow clothes. I wore a white blouse with full balloon sleeves and a flowy bright yellow skirt. Considering we would be drenched in turmeric water and milk, people rarely dressed up too much for this ceremony. Aakar, too, was wearing a plain yellow kurta, again rolled to his elbows.

The theme of the whole ritual was yellow. Literally, every relative of ours had been requested to wear yellow-colored clothes. And everyone had delivered on their promise.

The party plot had again been redecorated and transformed into a yellow wonderland. The stage was set under the giant tree with hundreds of yellow marigold garlands hanging from the branches. Two big decorative shallow pots were set on the stage with a small sitting stool inside each one.

The moment we stepped on the stage, we were both led to sit in separate pots on the little stools. The ladies of our families walked to the stage and stood in front of us.

For the next half an hour, we did the ritual ceremony that came before the tumeric-applying thing, as per the instructions from the ladies. After that, each of our close relatives came to us and applied a bit of tumeric paste on our face and hands, wishing us luck and best wishes for our wedding.

It felt like I was floating as one after the other, our family, our closest friends, and our elders, applied turmeric paste to our face and hands as we were showered by their goodwill and blessings. Everyone’s eyes shone with happiness, and their joy poured through their being.

Once everyone had a chance to peacefully apply the paste on us, the ladies of the house gave the go-ahead, and all my siblings and cousins, Aakar’s siblings and cousins, and all our close relatives were upon us with large buckets of warm milk and turmeric.

Aakar quickly pulled me into the same large tub so we both sat together. The moment the buckets full of milk and water showered over us, he pulled me into his arms.

Everybody’s hoots and cheers surrounded us as they poured bucket after bucket of milk and water upon us, showering us with their love, joy, and blessings.

The photographer went crazy as he clicked picture after picture of Aakar holding me close to him, him laughing at me, him wooting with everyone, and making me laugh and my heart sing.

Sangeet Ceremony

A ceremony where the party really begins. It’s the time for the families to come together, have fun, dance, and eat good food. It’s the evening to break the ice between families or maybe have a dance-off between the families.

I wore a blingy silver sequin lehenga for the sangeet ceremony while Aakar wore a dashing black kurta and dhoti-style pants. For the life of me, I could not stop staring at him. He looked like every girl’s dream man in that outfit.

Every event had me and Aakar doing an entry walk, with fireworks around us, and Bollywood music playing in the background. I’ve been feeling like a Bollywood heroine with the amount of attention and cheers we were getting these days.

The night was young, and every person wore a wide smile. As much as the constant makeup and getting ready was exhausting me at this point, it was all worth it to see our families having fun together.

Once we took our seats in front of the stage, Abhi and Ria got on the stage, Abhi in a sparkly navy kurta and Ria in her bold emerald-green lehenga. With a flourish, they started introducing all the uncles and aunts, including Aakar’s mom and dad, as the six of them got on a stage.

The stage lights started to transform and the song “Gallan Goodiyaan” started to play, and the six of them started to rock the dance floor. Everyone wooted and cheered, Aakar and I standing up and clapping for them. None of them were perfect, with the men forgetting half the moves, but it was hilarious, and everyone was having fun.

The next were my parents, who chose a romantic song “O Maahi” and, if I must say, completely rocked their performance. Not a single mistake or misstep in their dance.

The next were Sam and Akira, who came out with a bang, performing to “Kala Chashma,” with Akira wearing a bold pink lehenga and Sam in a beautiful black kurta and pajama. By the end of their performance, every one of them had joined into the dancing, considering how fun the song was.

Meera and Luke danced to “Aaj Kal Tere Mere Pyar ke Charche,” bringing in the old Bollywood vibes, getting all the older generations to sing and dance along. To everyone’s surprise, Luke lip-synced the hero’s part, garnering loud cheers and praises.

After them came Aakar’s friends who danced to “Maahi Ve” from Kal Ho Naa Ho . Because Aakar’s friend Zayan was like the seventh wheel in their group, Ria seemed to have joined him as a partner.

The moment they all walked off the stage, the music of “Tenu Leke Main Jawanga” started to play, and from beside me, Aakar stood, surprising the ever-loving shit out of me. The moment he started to dance, my jaw dropped, and I was on my feet cheering him on.

Every time the song talked about the hero taking away the heroine and marrying her, Aakar pointed at me. At one point, he literally ran off the stage and toward me, and got down on his knees, making me dissolve into a puddle.

His performance had everyone around us jumping up to dance once again with loud cheers and hoots. The moment he was done with his performance, it was my turn.

I’d picked “Nachde Ne Saare,” a song that I performed with Rati and Kartik. It had taken some cajoling from Rati and me, but Kartik had relented and joined in learning the performance. Midway through my performance, Aakar could not hold himself back and jumped on the stage and started to dance with us.

All his siblings, Meera, Luke, and Ria were quick to follow, and soon, every single relative was dancing and cheering.

We all danced and danced, one song after another, celebrating the night and the new relationships we were forging.

Wedding Ceremony

A ceremony where the husband and wife tie the knot with the blessings of their parents, their elders, and God, after which the bride leaves her parents’ house—her house—to go live with the groom and his family. Not all families have their bride live with them these days. In the times when the groom lives away from the family, the bride goes to live with him, forming their own nuclear family .

“Oh my god, didi. Aakar Jiju danced for like half an hour in the baarat. All his friends and family kept dancing and dancing. Even we joined in. The ceremony finally began after the priest insisted loudly that the auspicious time was passing by the minute. It was so much fun.”

Rati kept her commentary going as the photographer clicked my solo pictures. Meera stood near me as she righted my clothes each time the photographer asked me to turn this and that way.

“Did the ceremony finally begin?” asked Meera, tired of waiting for the groom's side to arrive and finish their dancing.

“Yeah. Aakar Jiju finally sat in the mandap with Maa and Pappa and began the ritual. They should call you to join them soon.”

As I posed for more pictures, Kartik came running to call us. I walked down the aisle to the mandap with Rati and Kartik as both of them clutched my hand. My heart felt like it was shattering and bursting, and I tightened my hold on their hands. It felt like I was telling them goodbye right here, as if they were finally letting me go. I blinked rapidly as my eyes filled with tears, refusing to let them flow.

Aakar’s siblings held a cloth in front of him, preventing him from getting a look at me. I hugged Rati and Kartik, letting a tear fall as I finally reached the mandap. The moment I stood in front of Aakar, the cloth separating us, the priest gave his siblings the go-ahead to remove the cloth.

Instantly, the cloth separating us vanished, and Aakar stood in front of me.

In his white sherwani, his beard groomed and hair styled to perfection, he looked unreal. His eyes took me in, and he clutched his heart, making everyone laugh and me blush.

We were each given a flower garland to put on the other. Once we stepped closer to each other, I reached forward to put the garland on him. But all his siblings and friends lifted him off the ground.

Not to be left behind, Kartik and all my distant cousins rushed on stage to lift me.

Laughing like lunatics, we put the garland on each other.

When we walked around the holy fire, hand in hand, promising our vows to each other, I smiled and rejoiced as our families showered us in flower petals.

And when I hugged my family goodbye, I didn’t shed a tear in fear or loss or regret. I shed tears of farewell to my relatives, I hugged and kissed Rati and Kartik, I cried in my father’s arms because I was going to miss him the most, and I shed tears of forgiveness to my mother because she was the reason I was marrying the man of my dreams.

I cried a river for the end of my time with my world, my family.

And when Aakar hugged my family, when he told my father he’d take care of me, and when he pulled Kartik and Rati into a hug and told them to come visit us all the time, I smiled with hope for my new life.

A life with my husband and his big, loud family.