Mirage (Part One)

It is a Sunday, the entire gully is bathed in light, filled with people in colorful dresses, loud and cheerful. And in the midst of all these is she. She was very happy about the attention that she is receiving, the night belonged to her. In a deep carmine pink daaman she looked like a little angel. Her eyes sparkled, her face was lit up like a diwali night, and she was so excited that her cheeks resembled the finest red rose one can imagine. She wanted to run around with her peers but her mother had told her not to, being the responsible girl that she is, she has resisted the temptation. It is an auspicious occasion and she was at the centre of it all. She has to be in her best behavior, she has to be in her best qualities, she has to do what the elders around are asking her to. Then came the part they all have been waiting for, the arrival of the groom. She is 12, and yes it is her marriage!

Until the week before last, she was just like any 12 year old of her village. Helping her mother in day to day chores, feeding her younger brothers, washing their and her clothes, and learning all that she needs to know to be a good house wife. She had no idea what being a wife meant, why or even she wanted to be one. She is going to be a wife regardless; it was only a matter of time (in 3-4 years give or take). It was the Saturday before last that her mother told her the news, her father has failed to arrange the money that he owed someone from the next village. Her mother took almost an hour to explain to her how her father had borrowed money for farming, how the rain gods where not giving them rain, how the crops where lost, how he was looking around for money to pay the debt back, and all. Throughout the duration of the explanation, she was thinking why she had to know all these, half of it made no sense to her; above all she had no money that she could give to her father. She would if she had, but she doesn’t have any. So she was listening, very quietly and carefully to understand what is it that her mother is expecting from her. She knows for sure her mother wants something; she has seen that look in her mother’s eyes. So she listened.

It took her mother another hour to reach that point. She explained to her how she, being the elder child of the family, has got the responsibility to save her father. She explained to her, how her marriage with someone from the other village is going to save her father. She had no clue what all those meant, but since her mother promised her a new pink dress, she agreed (it was not like she had another option). 

So here we are, her wedding day. She took a peek through a hole in the wall of the small room where she is getting ready. She does not know who her groom is. She checked out all the boys and young men among the party and even found a couple of impressive matches for her. She can only hope one of those two is her groom. Well, she will soon find out. She is exited too. 

The time has finally come and she was taken to sit beside her groom. She is shy and is keeping her head down. Once she sat beside her groom, the elder women around her are teasing her and asking her to take a peek at her groom, which she did after much hesitation. Once she did it, she could not take her eyes off for a while. The beauty and youthfulness of the groom prevented her from taking her eyes off; this was not the case here. It was rather the lack of those two factors that kept her eyes from moving. To her horror, she found a scary looking guy, who is older than her own father sitting next to her. That was her groom? She could not believe it, there was some mistake she thought, or maybe it is her would be father in law. She had to clarify it, so when her mother came near she asked her as silently as she could, ‘who is it, mom?’ There was no need for much explanation, her mother understood why she was in shock, but there was not much to be done. So she received a weird smile from her mother and a nod towards the old man sitting towards it. Oh, god! She closed her eyes as tight as she could, it might be a nightmare, nothing more. Once she opens them again, it will all be gone and she will be alone with her family. She opened her eyes, no, nothing has changed that ugly, cruel looking, old man is still next to her talking and laughing. She closed them again, tighter than the last time, tried to fade away the sound around, and opened eyes a second time. This time a perfectly spherical tear drop rolled down from her eyes to her cheek to her new dress.  

                                                                        (To Be Continued)