Chapter 1: chapter 1

" you just obey my words and that is that," a voice thundered into the phone."You cannot force me over this biji," the younger voice replied back with just as much intensity."Don't try my patience young lady and change your tone,"  Biji said with gumption, "I don't care for it too much so reserve it for your poor parents," she said."Biji, I am not getting blackmailed into  saying yes to some willy-nilly guy you have found for me," the girl replied, "I don't want to get married yet, besides he is going to be no better than the ones you have made me meet before. The rowdy good for nothing types with no class, no values and names that make me want to take up issues with their parents. So please spare me I will get married if and when I find someone who I can tolerate and vice versa," she said firmly."That is never going to happen. I am done taking your nonsense Mowri," Biji said angrily, "you will follow what I dictate till the time I am alive. At your pace you will remain unmarried forever, you are what, twenty nine, there are other girls in the family I need to settle before I close my eyes for good. Your parents are useless not that the others in this family are any reliable," she said wondering how she had such useless people as part of her family. "If not for them be kind to me. I have already said yes to the family on your behalf. They will be coming tosee you tomorrow evening you better show me your face first thing in the morning," she finished in a tone that suggested no further arguments."You cannot do that," Mowri said offended  that her grandmother had already said yes to this family without even consulting her. "I just did," the older woman replied unapologetically, "and you better be on your best behavior no more shrewish showstomorrow," biji said, "I have some other guests turning up too.""Who else have you invited for the debacle tomorrow?" Mowri asked."Sameer," Beeji said, "this guy from Delhi. Apparently Kulraj is in love and would only get married to him," she said and rolled her eyes, "He is a Punjabi or so I am told. He iscoming with his family too. So if not for your sake at least for Kulraj's sake, behave," biji warned."Beeji I am not coming only," Mowri said cheekily, "so everything will be quite peaceful," Mowri said stubbornly."Don't make me come there and get you girl," Beeji said, "you better be here or pay the consequences. I can't have the eldest daughter of the family remain unattached and wed the younger daughters. You do know relatives and neighbors have been commenting on how you haven't gotten married yet, now people we don't know have also started asking about you. Whether youlike it or not you have to come," she ordered."I don't care about anyone Beeji, besides it is too short a notice," Mowri protested seeing no way out. She knew going against one of pbiji's orders was practically committing suicide. No matter how stubborn she wasBeeji was just doubly so. "I have to apply for leave. And I can't do that now, so ask them to come another day," she said."Mowri Vij," Beeji said, "I was not bornyesterday. I have survived endless famines and storms, and my lousyfamily so to speak, get it. Tomorrow isSaturday. Your college is closed. Take the first train in the morning you will reach Ambala in four hours. If there is a train strike get the first bus out of there, if it breaks down geta taxi, if nothing works for you I will send Kuldeep to pick you up. I want to see you here before noon and that is that," she said and kept the receiver down."Bee..." Mowri started when she heardthe distinct buzz at the other end whichsuggested her wonderful grandmother had hung up.Mowri threw her phone on her bed in an attempt to vex some of her frustration and then rubbed her face with her hands.Raj Kaushal Vij, her grandmother, wassynonymous to Hitler only thing poor man didn't survive the second world war while she did. Matriarch of the Vij family she expected everybody to follow her dictates and everybody did including her who was the supposed rebel in the house. She didn'twant to get married to some guy they had found for her. Again. Why couldn't they let her be? She hated meeting these good for nothing, macho figures who thought they were god's gift to mankind. Damn. But she will have to be there no matter what. Sheknew biji, that old fox will do everything possible to get her to be there hadn't she already done that. Throwing Kulraj's name in the middle.Mowri already knew Kulraj was in love with this guy Sameer, she had met last summer in Delhi during another cousin's wedding.Kulraj had always been closer to her than her own sister Simrit ever had. And Preeti had always been the baby of the family though both Preeti and Kulraj were only  months apart in age. Preeti was more focusedand now she had joined Papa's business too.So, Sameer and his family were coming with a formal proposal tomorrow. Good for Kulraj.She had made the dragon of the family agree to this match. But why was the girl so eager to get married? She was all of twenty four.Mowri gave up thinking about an answer to that question. She was sure her aunt Nimmi was behind this hurried decision. Her onlygoal in life to see her kids married. With that aim in mind she had already gotten Kuldeep married so now it was Kulraj's turn. Mowri sighed.Her father Amardeep Vij was a businessman.He had his own sugar mills. While hermother Roop was a homemaker with a lot of nervous energy. Mowri had two younger sisters Simrit and Preeti. She wasn't close to Simrit she never had been. Simrit's vanity and zero intelligence had always made Mowriwonder how she would live her life. But she was living a wonderful life. It seemed men did like girls like her more than girls with brains. She was beautiful no doubt about it.Delicate in build, with beautiful features and a sugary sweet temperament. They were sodifferent from each other nobody who saw them together would ever say they were sisters. Well she refused to say that too noW.As for Preeti she resembled both her and Simrit. Physically she had taken after Simrit but brain wise she was so much like her. Mowri smiled. She was such a sweetheart.Since she had a joint family her uncle Nihal and Aunt Nimmi lived with them. And their two kids Kuldeep and Kulraj. They had a huge ancestral haveli in Ambala. Kulraj had taken after Nimmi in looks and sensibilities.They resembled each other so much they could pass off as sisters with a huge gap though. While Kuldeep looked so much like his father. Her family was weird with theirpeculiarities and antics.      But right now she should worry about her situation. Here she was preparing to get herself admitted for a Ph. D in English literature and there her family was getting ready to wash their hands off her. God onlyknew what idiot they had chosen for her. Mowri knew no matter what, there was no excuse big enough for biji to relent and she will just have to go. She will deal with them once she gets there. Frustrated she openedher laptop to get the train schedule. Who would travel in a Punjab Roadways bus? She will have a chronic back pain to last her a lifetime in four hours. Trains were much simpler.What she didn't know was that this trip to Ambala was going to change her life forever...**********