House of a middle-class family; Delhi
"Hey! Where are you all? Wake up !! Are you guys still sleeping?? At 8:00 in the morning, Mrs. Sharma called out from the kitchen to wake up her children."
Outside, her husband Mr. Sharma was reading a newspaper sitting on a chair near the dining table. Mrs. Sharma came out of the kitchen and while serving breakfast to her husband, she said getting annoyed- "Look, these children are still not up and you are also not saying anything, today the groom's family is coming to see Shaina and there is so much work to do in the house and the kids are still sleeping!"
After seeing his wife getting anxious, Mr. Sharma explained calmly to her - "Hey! Why are you getting so anxious? There is a lot of time left before they arrive; I was told that they will come between 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm!"
Mr. Sharma knew his wife very well, that she has a habit of getting upset over the slightest thing, so even though he explained to her, the concerned expression was still clearly visible on Mrs. Sharma's face.
Mrs Sharma worriedly said - "The wedding proposal has come from a renowned family and I have heard that they are rich and famous, so there should be no lack of hospitality on our part!"
"There won't be, so don't you worry, just pray to God that wherever our daughter gets married, she should be always happy" - Mr. Sharma said again trying to convince his wife
The family introduction:
Mr. Sharma lives with his family in a medium-sized ancestral house, Mr. Sharma aka Mr. Suresh Sharma has a small happy family consisting of his wife Mrs. Rohini Sharma, and their 3 children!
The eldest daughter Shaina Sharma, (for whom the family is coming to see today) followed by the younger daughter Raima Sharma and then the youngest son Aarav Sharma, there were a total of 5 people in the Sharma family: Raima and Aarav both were still studying.
Last year only Shaina had completed her studies and was looking for a job for herself but she was not getting the kind of job she wanted anywhere. Her parents also seemed to have different plans for her. Shaina's parents were looking for a good man to get their daughter married to
And today, a wedding proposal from a well-reputed family came for Shaina. Even earlier there were 1-2 wedding proposals that were offered to Shaina but things didn't work out further. The Shekhawat family liked Shaina after seeing her photograph and decided to come to visit the family.
Whenever her parents used to talk to Shaina about marriage, she always tried to postpone it by coming up with excuses, claiming that it's too early, she doesn't want to get married so soon. But the real reason was something else due to which Shaina did not want to marry ever but she could not say this to her parents because then she had to tell them the reason as well.
In the matters of marriage, anyway, the girl's opinions are side-lined by the family. Even in this case, even after her refusal, her parents started looking for a guy to get her married to and the family who liked Shaina's picture were coming to see Shaina by 3:00 pm today, her mother informed her last night only. Shaina's mother was engaged in all the preparations and while working she once again yelled to wake Shaina and Raima, Shaina was up already and was lying on her bed with her eyes open or maybe she couldn't sleep at all at night Raima, on the other hand, was still sleeping.
Hearing her mother's voice again, Shaina got up from her place and took out the diary she had kept under her pillow, and put it inside the cupboard. After asking Raima to wake up she went to the bathroom to get ready and went downstairs. She started helping her mother in the kitchen without saying anything.
Seeing her, her mother said - "Hey, you are up, but where are your siblings? Haven't they woken up yet!"
"Raima was still sleeping, mom, I woke her up but I don't know about Aarav" - Shaina told her mother and started working.
After a while, Raima and Aarav also got up and sat on the chairs of the dining table with their father to have breakfast, Shaina served breakfast to both of them and started going back to the kitchen when her father asked her - "Where Are you going? You also sit with us and have breakfast!"
"No Dad, I don't want to have breakfast!" - saying that she started walking towards the kitchen, but Raima held her hand and said, "Hey, have breakfast, anyway you won't have time the whole day.
After listening to all of them, for their sake, Shaina ate a little bit with them , collected everyone's plates and went back to the kitchen.
Seeing her it was clear that she was not happy, she looked lost, there were tears in her eyes but her mother probably did not pay attention to her. While taking the breakfast plates from her hand, she told her- "Leave all this work today. Raima and I will do it, you go to your room and change clothes and get ready by 2:00 pm!"
"Why change clothes? What's wrong with these clothes, what else am I supposed to do more" - Shaina said a little irritated after listening to her mother
"It should not be just good, it should be the best, don't argue with me and wear a new suit" - Shaina's mother told her again
Hearing her mother's words, Shaina understood that it is useless to argue with her mother at the time because she will not understand and will force her to get ready.
Without saying anything, Shaina left work and came straight to her room. She was not in the mood to get ready, so she locked the door of her room and looked at the clock. It is currently 12' o'clock.
Shaina thought that there is a lot of spare time, she will get ready later the way her mom wants her to. While thinking all this she sat on the bed and got lost in her thoughts
Her sister was busy with household chores with her mother, and her father had gone out to get some items from the market. Overall, the preparations for the arrival of the guests were going on in full swing. By the time all the work was completed, it was 1:45 in the afternoon.
Shaina had not yet come out of her room, so her mother called her - "Shaina, are you not ready yet? Get ready quickly, it's time for the family to come."
On hearing her mother's voice, Shaina come out of the deep trance she was in and responded to her mother's voice "Yes, mother, I am ready, just 5 more minutes"
"Hurry up! "her mother hollered.
Hearing her mother's voice, Shaina got up from the bed and took out some clothes from the cupboard, and went to the washroom to change. After changing the clothes, she sat in front of the mirror on the dressing table.
10 minutes had passed and Shaina still had not come out of her room, her mother asked Raima to go and check whether Shaina was ready or not."
"Okay mother, I'll check" - Saying this, Raima went to see Shaina
When Raima reached the room, she saw that Shaina was sitting in front of the mirror after changing the outfit and was combing her hair looking lost.
Raima asked her - "Hey di, you are not ready yet; Should I help you with makeup?"
"Oh no! I don't wanna get any makeup done. It's alright" - Shaina said, refusing.
"I know! You look beautiful even without makeup, but mom has said that you have to be well prepared today" - Raima, while explaining to Shaina
"Dude, mom-dad doesn't get it, mama pa, I don't know why they want me to get married so soon" - Shaina said with a fit of slight anger and then became sad after thinking about something.
I know you don't want to get married right now, you might not be in that frame of mind; just don't think about marriage right now, they are just coming to see you today; there is still time for your wedding, now should I do your makeup?" - Raima advised trying her best to convince her sister.
"Yes, you are right, the wedding isn't tomorrow; just do the eye makeup but make sure you do it lightly - Shaina said, agreeing with her.
Raima did the makeup according to Shaina. After getting ready, Shaina was looking so beautiful that whoever sees her may keep on looking at her but one thing that was missing from her face was a smile. instead, there was sadness and uneasiness on her face.
Raima, teasing her sister, said - "Now you can't save yourself, as you are looking so beautiful that the groom won't be able to take his eyes off you, and he and his family would agree for the wedding.
"Shut up, you have started talking too much, if you keep this up, I'll ask mom-dad to look for your wedding proposals too " - Shaina said while laughing and threatening her lovingly.
"Oh no, sorry I was just kidding, how am I supposed to get married now, it's your time to get married, I have not even completed my studies yet, and anyway I am still young" - Raima said while pretending to be afraid of Shaina
"Okay! now you don't talk too much, I am not saying anything to mom and dad, I can see everything, now let's go down or else mom will yell at us '' - Shaina said.
"Okay, let's go," Raima said. The two sisters came out of Shaina's room and went to the kitchen, laughing and talking to each other.
To be continued....