CHAPTER 38

437 31 5
                                    

This chapter holds a very important surprise!

Get ready to brace it!

______________*_____________

"Show me the Mastani section" I ask the attendant.

We're here shopping for Jaanu's engagement, that's due this weekend.

The last couple of weeks were almost depressing, with works that even a normal teen cannot do. I had another mental break down and my health condition was unstable.

I'm demanding a tuition institute, as I cannot cope with my studies on my own, but my parents keep refusing saying it'll wear me out further.

The only thing that was keeping me going was this Engagement.

I select a dark pink Mastani and try it out. It fits me alright.

I was not even in the mood for shopping, my physics assignment and chemistry homework clogging my mind.

I fall asleep that night after a lot of tossing and turning, and I when I do, I'm awakened by an inexplicable nightmare. I sit up, my heart palpitating. My father wakes up too, though I haven't screamed.

So I spend another sleepless night with my head against the headrest and dad beside me, hoping for a better day.

Which would be the next day certainly!

_________*_________

"Haan, I'm coming" I shout out to Lalitha perima.

"Yes, I gave it to Moorthy uncle and yes, Jaanu is in her room, getting ready" I say to Poorvi mami in a hurry, on my way to carrying a basket over to Rekha perima.

"Where did you keep the bag with Pooja things?" Amma asks.

Yes, you guessed right!

It's Jaanu's Engagement Day!

We're in the huge Party Hall that's getting filled with almost 350 people. And I'm running some errands for the elders helping with the arrangements.

Everything was chaos, everything was fun.

"It's on the chair near the stage" I yell over the commotion, dodging the kids that come running on my way.

"Please Harish Anna, tell him to stop" I whine.

Aadhi has got a DSLR camera from somewhere and is claiming to take natural candids while all his pictures were hilarious.

"Hi mami! How are you?" I greet some guests handing over the basket "Long time no see"

"Get over here girls" Meena mami calls beside Lalitha Perima.

The procession was about to start.

We pick a plate each (called Seer) and head out.

After a round of Nadaswarams and Mathalams, cousins and relatives, fun and enjoyments, pictures and videos, when we return to the hall after the procession, I'm exhausted.

All our cousins gather at the back of the hall in a huge circle, as usual, catching up on our lives, stoning each other and chatting our life away.

It is our thing. Did I mention that I have a plethora of cousins?

We take few selfies, managing to cover everyone in a single frame. That's when my phone pings.

I find a message from the Jerk.

"Dark pink suits you" it reads.

"I know" I send the reply.

Wait, what?

I'm blessed to be meWhere stories live. Discover now