As I passed by the verandah, I saw her playing Lagori in her cute ponytails dancing along with her while she dashed by her opponent. She was so fair even the angels might get jealous of her, skinny in such a way that I wanted to make her sit down and make her eat to her heart's content. "Krishna, what are you doing there? We need to move quickly. Your father and my mom both are cranky. Also, your father is leaving today. Move your feet quickly." as my furious second cousin snapped I was taken back to reality that I was here to make an attendance at a funeral. That day I promised myself that I would go back to find her and bring her in my life for good.
I never thought I would meet her on her birthday and I would be invited for the same as I was still staying with my Aunt. I was told her name was Radhani which meant 'prayer', her name is as beautiful as she is. I was so eager to meet her that I took a shower in the early hours of the evening, got ready, and wore my newly stitched checkbox shirt and bell-bottom pants. I hand-picked some flowers from the garden and made sure that they were neatly arranged.
As I walked towards the venue my heart was pounding so hard that I was sure everyone could hear it. As I stepped inside the house, there she was standing gracefully in her peacock green color skirt blouse with her two-plated pony-tails which were dangling with the beautiful flower of rose to the side of the ear. Today, she was looking explicitly beautiful. That's when my brother caught me staring at her and teasingly said," Krishna, this is her elder sister's house. You need to behave. If you have something which needs to be addressed we can talk about it at home. You also need to understand she just turned 18 and you're 19 years old. You need to be well established before you dream of anything."
With that said, I blurted out," I am anyway going to shift to Mumbai, Work with Baba, and make sure that I can provide for my family. You need not worry about what is possible and what is not. I just know what I feel and I am surely going to act on it before anyone else does." This sudden surge of anger and heroic speech made me realize that I am down bad for her and I am in no capacity to talk to her today. Even If I do I might faint.
As I was in the middle of my thought which was running amok in my head, I heard someone calling out my name, " Krishna! Krishna!! Back to earth! Jai Jinendra! My name is Deepak. I am Radhani's Nephew, also we are of same age. I was told by your aunt that you would be coming by today, so thought of introducing myself." As Deepak completed his introduction, my inner thoughts were like ' This is your chance to make an impression. Let's Go!'
With that, I introduced myself to him with the best attitude, " Jai Jinendra Deepakji!! I am Prakash's cousin, visiting him for a few days, and then I shall return to work with my father in Bombay. It was nice meeting you. Also, I have got these flowers for the birthday girl. It would be great if you can pass it to her." With a nervous heart, I passed on the flowers that I had picked, Deepak had a soft smile playing on his face, as he shifted to Radhani and said, " Masi! look you got beautiful flowers for your birthday" and she turned her head to Deepak and smiled at the flowers which were passed to her and turned away. That smile can kill a lot of people and I would be the first one to die. The whole evening I made sure I was mentally present there.
The next day, my father showed up at my aunt's place and I was ready to tell my father that I wanted to get married. Before I could say something, he said " Krishna, pack your bags We are leaving for Mumbai today evening. I have got a perfect job for you." and with that, he left to greet his sister and her husband. As they finished greeting each other my brother said," What are you going to do now? Is your love story going to end here with this or you are going to work it out?"
His words were ringing in my ears and made me so angry that I just went ahead to speak with Father, " Baba! We need to talk. I want to get married. I like this girl Radhani and I don't know what else to say. I just know I want her to be a part of our family!" I had my eyes shut tight as I knew my father would be displeased and his anger would speak harsher than anything else. But to my surprise, everyone was laughing, and when I looked around my aunt said," Beta, we know 'cause your brother filled us in with what had happened the other night. Your Mom and other siblings are already on their way. So let's see how things unfold."
I was smiling and feeling so embarrassed on my sudden outburst than ran out of the house. But I heard my aunt calling up Deepak's Mom for the visit, " Shakutala ben is your youngest sister's wedding finalized?" As she received the response, she answered back "We are planning to visit you today in the afternoon post lunch. We can discuss the details face to face if it's okay with you" With that out of nowhere I suddenly felt so nervous at the thought of meeting her again but at the prospect of me being her life partner.
Post Lunch standing outside Radhani's sister's house I had a surge of running away but then I gathered my courage and confidence and walked in this visit surely changed everything the way everyone around me looked at me was more like judging me if I was eligible enough to be Radhani's life partner or not. My mom asked Radhani's sister about her family and background that's when I understood that she is the youngest among her siblings who were in total 6. She has completed her 11th grade and is here for vacation. That is when out of nowhere my sister Samiksha asked if they could meet Radhani. My sisters, aunt, and Mom were guided inside and I was left alone with the men of both the houses and the other boys.
After some Tea and snacks, my Mom gave her approval to my father and I was still waiting to sneak a glance at her wanting to know what is she doing and what her voice would sound like and all sorts of things. That's when I heard everyone whispering to each other something and I could pick up that something was going on but what that was difficult to figure out. That is when both of my sisters giggling came to me and said, " Your Radhani is beautiful and gentle also she doesn't know how to cook so how are you going to figure that one out?"
That is when it got me thinking 'My Radhani? when did she become mine? weren't we here to talk about marriage?' and with that my thoughts went on hold as Deepak spoke " Krishna before you could even be my friend you are now my Masaji. I hope you will look after my Masi and take care of her." As he completed his statement I could see a smile but also tears welled up in his eyes. Looking at the situation there were mixed emotions around me, to which I assured Deepak, "Don't worry, I promise to take care of her and be there always even at good times and bad times. Thank you for trusting me with her" at the end of the statement I could see that Radhani was sneaking around to steal a look of what I look like and that is when I was asked to sit down next to her so that these guys can quickly organize a short engagement ceremony and at the same time wedding date was finalized to 12th December 1988.
This date has been my life-changing date when my one-sided love story was fulfilled with love and support from the people around me.
Thank you for coming into my life Radhani!!