By: Rhituparna Chakraborty
Lunch was served. Savita heard Sulakshana calling her. ‘Please come and have your lunch. After that you have to get ready as well,’ said Sulakshana. ‘After all it’s your great niece’s wedding today. You cannot afford to get late. Can you?’, Sulakshana continued with a smile. Sulakshana was Saurav’s wife. Saurav was Savita’s nephew, that is, her elder brother’s son. Savita’s elder brother Prabin was busy talking to the priest while sipping tea in the front yard. Savita beamed with happiness. She wanted to see Sunaina, her doll, her great niece as a bride. The entire household was busy. The pandal guys had already set up the Pandal. They had done a marvelous work with the decoration.
There were grandiose chandeliers, vivid flowers and pre wedding photo shoot pictures of Sunaina and Sumit.
The catering guys had arrived. Fragrance of caramelized onions and spices were emanating from the temporary kitchen outside. That kitchen was specifically for the wedding feast. The chefs from the catering company needed more space to cook because of their huge utensils. Cooking for the wedding feast had already started. Savita smiled to herself. After all it’s Sunaina’s wedding. Everything had to be perfect. Savita went to the small dining table in the kitchen. Sulakshana had served hot lunch for Savita. Savita took the piping hot boiled dal (lentil soup) from the bowl and poured it over the steaming hot rice. Sulakshana knew Savita liked her food piping hot. There was a boiled potato in the dal (lentil soup). Savita mashed it and added some salt and mixed it with the steamed rice and boiled dal. She had the meal nicely. She then called the house help. The house help came cleared the plates and served her water in the copper glass. Savita drank water and went to her room.
The beauticians had arrived to get Sunaina ready. Sulakshana and all the ladies of the household were super excited to wear their new chadar mekhelas (assamese traditional attire). Yesterday all the women who had come down for the wedding showed each other the mekhela chadars they were going to wear. They were vibrant and super gorgeous. Savita smiled at the chaos and confusion of all the ladies.
She arranged the end of the chadar (scarf) properly ensuring her head is covered as always, and went to her room. She had to get ready for the wedding. Evening was already setting in. The guests will start arriving in a while and the groom and his entire family, along with relatives and friends are already on their way. Savita’s room was at an extreme corner of the house. There were lots of rooms in this house.
It was bigger than a bungalow in a sprawling land. Since it was a village, there was a lot of space available to construct huge houses. Also, it was an ancestral home, hence the size. Since Savita’s room was at one corner, nobody used to flock much to that room. She closed the door of her room and stood in front of her closet. She then moved to the closet beside her closet. The other closet belonged to Sulakshana. Sulakshana used to keep her old clothes there.
Savita opened the closet and found a bright red and pink chadar mekhela. She took that out. Then she looked for jewelry. There were quite a few pink and red bangles kept in the drawer. Sulakshana rarely wore those. Hence she kept them here. At the lowest rack, Savita found a pair of bright golden flat slippers.
Sulakshana’s footwear size and Savita’s footwear size matched well. Savita stood in front of the mirror and wore the lovely red and pink attire along with the accessories she had taken out. She then took some vermillion from the round container in the dressing table and made a nice red big dot on her forehead. Once she was done with that, she wore those bright pair of slippers. She was almost ready. She put the end of the chadar (scarf) in her head as always, to ensure her head is covered.
She pulled the chadar a little below her forehead, as it was a custom not to show her face to strangers. She could see well but people won’t be able to see her face. She heard a lot of chaos outside. The groom and his entire family, friends and relatives had arrived. Sulakshana was busy running hither thither arranging things. Sunaina was sitting with her friends waiting for the priest to call her for the wedding rituals. Sumit was already there near the priest chanting hymns. Everyone was busy. Savita went ahead to the pandal where all the guests were seated. She found a chair beside one of the groom’s relatives.
Everyone was busy talking. Savita just sat there smiling, fixing her dress and ensuring the scarf covering her head does not come off. The silk mekhela chadar was slippery, so she was worried. Just then one of the waiters came and invited her and all the people sitting beside her to accompany him to the dining hall, as food was served. Savita got up with the rest of them and went to the dining hall. She found a nice comfortable place to sit. The waiters came and started serving food to everyone out there. The guy who was serving ‘hilsa fish’ in mustard sauce seemed to be in demand. He served Savita one slice of fish. Savita tasted a bit and said, ‘Can you give me one more piece please. It’s delicious.’ The waiter smiled and said, ‘Sure, why not?’. After sometime, some boys came to serve mutton curry and ‘Rohu Fish’ curry. Savita took 4 servings of mutton curry.
The taste was ambrosial. With every morsel of mutton, she bit a slice of raw onion. She loved every bit of the taste. Same was the case with the fish curry. Savita relished every crumb of it. She then went to the dessert counter. There were two counters. There was an ice cream corner and then there was a rice pudding corner. Today being Thursday, many people avoided non veg food. Some people say ice cream contains eggs, hence most of the folks did not have ice cream. Savita grabbed a bowl of ice cream and then two more and savored every spoon of strawberry and vanilla icecream. She then went out of the dining room and walked up to her room. Everyone was busy at the wedding, so she did not disturb anyone.She went inside her room and closed the door. She took off all the accessories and put them properly in the closet. She changed into her old chadar mekhela and folded the new chadar mekhela and put it perfectly in the closet... (to be continued in the next edition)