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Fairy Tale of A Village Girl

He is a third generation heir of famous Patel family in Pune, India. His family has made a name for themselves in restaurant chain business. They have also many franchises in different cities of India. He is proud, cold and highly intelligent. Everyone thinks in his big family that he can bring greater prosperity to the family after two generation of hard work. He has just completed his masters in management from one of the most reputed universities in India. He is a dream husband for many girls and dream son-in-law for many business class families. The only flaw in his personality is that he is a person with a traditional cultured view about family and relationships. Well, it is flaw according to modern thinkers and the girls mostly. His mother is afraid he will be taken advantage of because he is too emotional. And then the person who takes advantage of him is his grandmother, whom he loves and cares about the most in the family. She has promised a relative in the village that she will set up a marriage between their families and now her most favorite grandson has to do it for her. His dream of a fairy tale love gets shattered just like that. She was a hard working girl in her family. She has passed 12th grade with first division from the government school in the village. When she was 10 years old she was told by her grandmother that her marriage was fixed in a family in the city. She has learned to cook food, have been extra attentive in her studies and also tried to learn English well because she wanted to make her husband proud. She completed her education of up to 12th grade at the age of 17. After that, she could not go to college because the city was far from her village and because of being everyone's darling in the family they did not wish to send her away. It was already decided that at the age of 20 she will be married and she will go to the city. So, everyone in the family said that she can do college at that time. So her last 3 years from the age of 17 to 20 in the village were gone while learning to cook food, doing vegetable gardening and serving her elders and dreaming of her husband. Will he look like one of those actors in movies? I should perfect myself in cooking and learn how to respect elders, what if I embarrassed him in front of his family and relatives? I should take care of myself and not get any wound or scars while doing garden work or cooking on the stove, what if he finds me ugly? In the summer of year when she turned 20, her family received a call that people of boy's family are coming to see the girl and fix the marriage date and the boy is also coming. She felt like her dream is going to come true. She felt shy, self-conscious and dazed all the time. Finally, her dream of fairy tale love and the valiant prince is going to come true.

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73 Chs

Marriage Rites - II

After few minutes Varsha is seated beside Akash on the designated place. And the priest also came and took his seat after that. One lady helper is sitting beside Varsha and one helper is sitting beside Akash to help in performing the rituals according to the priest's instructions.

Songs are stopped and rituals started. Groom and bride prayed to god together with their palms joining in front while the priest chanted the Mantras. People observed and the happiest are the two grandpas and their expressions are captured beautifully by Kripa.

After prayer came the ritual of gifting the daughter in which parents of girl joined in the ritual and they held the hand of their daughter and passed into the hands of the groom with the chanting of Mantras by the priest.

Mother of Varsha and Varsha herself could not stop themselves for tearing up and mother of Varsha said to Akash in a whisper "Please take care of our daughter. Never let her cry." Akash smiled at her mother and then looked at Varsha and seeing her emotional state thought "So dramatic."

Then came the ritual of circling around the fire while joined to each other and taking the vows. For this ritual, one side of the groom's sash is tied in a knot with the lapel of the bride and they will circle around the fire while the priest chants the Mantras. After each circle, the bride and groom will take their vow. There are seven circle and seven vows for them.

For three and a half circles groom took the lead and for the rest bride was in the lead while the priest chanted the Mantras. After every circle bride repeated the vows after the priest and the same for a groom for his vows. Finally, this most important ritual of the marriage ceremony is done.

Kripa recorded everything and whispered into the ears of Akash "Now I pronounce you husband and wife. You can go ahead and kiss the bride" which brought him a glare from Akash and Kripa laughed.

Varsha looked at the person beside Akash and seeing how close he is to Akash she could guess that he must be his best friend. Kripa sensed her gaze and then looked at her and said with a smile "Sister-in-law! I am Kripa, his best friend. He is a fool when it comes to interacting with people, so it's better if you don't mind his actions sometime." Varsha could not stop from smiling and Akash rebuked "Keep away from here."

Kripa teased and laughed "Wow, so protective of the wife. Keeping other men away. Very good. I like it." Akash turned his head straight and stooped responding to him. Even he can not understand what has happened to his friend. He used to be very calm and less talkative than today.

Next came the ritual of applying vermilion on the middle line of the head where hair is parted just above the forehead. Akash did the vermilion application on Varsha amid the chanting of Mantras. Circling the fire together seven times and applying vermilion are two most important rituals of a marriage ceremony and after these two it can be said that they are married. Ring and other jewelry are worn by bride and groom while getting ready for the ceremony. Ring of groom comes from the bride side and ring of girl and necklace comes from groom's side.

Kripa laughed and said while recording "Now I pronounce you husband and wife. Now.." before he could continue, Akash hissed "Stop there or I will break your damn camera." Varsha smiled and even Grandpa who is sitting behind them at a small distance could not himself from chuckling. There is no ritual of kissing the bride in Hindu marriage but it is embarrassing because many people know from movies what are the words going to be next. Akash glared at his friend and seeing his smirk felt the strong urge to wipe it off with a fist.

Priest gestured toward one of the helpers and said "Please distribute the flower petals to everyone." and then he announced loudly "Now everyone will come one by one and rain flowers on bride and groom and give his or her blessings to bride and groom for their better future."

After that priest chanted the mantras of giving the blessings and all the people came one by one and they rained the flower petals on the new couple and gave their blessings. First people from gents side started coming. Most of the elders gave their blessings to the newly wedded boy and girl.

"Live long and happy life," Varsha's Grandpa said lovingly while putting flower petals on their heads.

Grandpa of Akash also gave his blessings "Live happily and loving each other."

"Live prosperously and have beautiful children," few elders said

Next women also came one by one and gave their blessings. All people some silently and some vocally gave their blessings. Everyone gave them the blessing to live long and happy together. Many ladies gave them blessings to have many children as well.

Finally, Kripa who is still recording came laughing and said while raining flowers on the couple "Now I will summarize all the blessings. Live long, be happy together, remain prosperous and have a lot of naughty children."

It made Varsha giggle and Akash scolded while waving his hand toward Kripa in dismissal "You are not an elder. No need of your blessing. Go away, you fickle bachelor." Which made many people laugh.

The main rituals of marriage are complete. Akash sighed when priest announced the completion of marriage rituals. Varsha felt happy but remained discreet due to the sorrow of leaving her parent's home and some due to the mood of Akash.

So, tell me how did you like about learning the marriage rituals in India in the humorous way? Varsha is happy and Akash is irritated and depressed.

Next will be how they will set their boundary. Just few more chapters before we start new volume about the struggle of Varsha in her new environment.

Please provide your feedback and reviews.

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