Ten - Vivaan

"Oye! Mr. Majnu!" yelled a voice from the doorway, causing Vivaan to jump and look at his best friend standing at his bedroom door. But the happiness at seeing Adi in his house was momentarily forgotten because of his words.

"I was not doing anything even remotely related to Payal." He argued. "Nor am I a Majnu."

Adi simply waved his hand at Vivaan's bed, where a basket was placed, with things that would go to Payal's house as shagun tomorrow. His Ma-sa and Kaki-sa had taken Payal shopping with them to buy her outfit for the engagement. Payal didn't know, but Vivaan's aunt had sneaked a picture of her in the sari she had chosen. Vivaan was happy he hadn't checked his phone until he was done with his class. He definitely couldn't focus on his lunch afterward.

That sari was what Vivaan was staring at when Adi barged in. Okay... he had been thinking about Payal.

"Itna miss kar raha hai to call kar le usko. Why are you staring at the sari with a moony expression like a nineteenth century bridegroom?" Adi asked. (If you miss her so much, just call her.)

Vivaan fought the urge to brain his best friend with a pillow. "Kick that best friend sarcasm out before you enter my room."

"Comes with the package, brother." Adi said, gesturing to himself, like he was an advertisement for best friends. "You should be happy I decided to come and meet you today. Tum to mujhe sagai me invite karne se rahe!" (Its not like you are going to invite me to the engagement!)

"You know how it is, Adi." Vivaan rushed to explain. "We decided to keep it limited to family only because Payal's mother is currently on chemo, and her immunity is low. The less crowd there is, the better. Its also less pressure of preparation on them."

This had been a sore topic. Shortly after the date was decided, Payal's mother's weekly blood test revealed a white cell count high enough to start the chemotherapy again. This time it was a longer dose but with less tablets a day to reduce side effects. Vivaan and his family wanted to postpone the event until the dose was over. But Payal's mother refused to delay anymore. So the engagement was on schedule, but the guest list was cut short to only family due to doctor's orders.

"I know, Vivaan. I was just pulling your leg. But I demand a proper visit from both of you after the engagement." Adi reassured him.

"You know we will." Vivaan smiled at his best friend.

"Anyway, is that the sari your family is going to gift to Payal?" he asked, pointing at the sari Vivaan was earlier staring at. "Damn, that would look really good on her."

This time, Vivaan did throw the pillow at him. "Watch it!" he warned.

Adi laughed as he caught the pillow, just as Vivaan's phone rang. It was Payal – on video call. Vivaan smiled as he accepted the call.

"Hey" he greeted. Payal was at home, in her room, it seemed. She seemed ready for bed, her face scrubbed clean of makeup and her hair braided down her left shoulder. She always braided her hair before sleeping because she believed it minimized the tangles.

"Hi." She said.

"Hi Payal!" A voice behind enthused. Vivaan groaned as Adi adjusted himself so he could be visible as well. "So nice to finally meet you!"

"Um, Hi." Payal said uncertainly, no doubt wondering who Adi was and why he would be here at this time of the night.

"Payal, this is Dr. Aditya Verma, aka Adi. He's my best friend since med school because he's stuck to me like a leech, taking away my ability to befriend anyone else." Vivaan introduced.

Payal laughed. "Hello, Aditya" she greeted. "You were the one singing 'Manma Emotion jaage re' the day the date was fixed, right?" (Manma Emotion jaage re is a song from a popular Bollywood movie.)

Vivaan was surprised Payal remembered. They had barely discussed their respective friend circles yet.

"The one and only." Adi said. "But you can call me Adi. I'm only called Aditya by strangers and ex-girlfriends." He said, making Vivaan slap his forehead at his antics.

"Okay, I'll call you Adi then." Payal amended with an amused smile.

"Anyway, thank God, I was here and I could finally meet you. Vivaan may call me a leech, but he's the actual attention hog. If I hadn't hijacked your lovebird chat like this, he would never have let us meet." Adi continued.

"Lovebird chat?!" Vivaan sputtered.

"I have to say, you are much more forward than Vivaan." Adi continued, totally ignoring Vivaan. "A few minutes ago, my dear best friend was staring at your sari and giving a loony smile, obviously remembering you. You just video called him when you miss him. Much better."

"I was not giving a loony smile; and I was not staring at anything in particular!" Vivaan groused. "But I will give you a head injury if you make one more embarrassingly false claim about me."

"There you go Payal. Now he's threatening physical violence." Adi pointed out, unperturbed.

Payal laughed. It was her signature laugh, the one that made it feel like multiple bells were tinkling together. Just like her name.

"Alright you two." She said amusedly. "Vivaan, he's your best friend. Itna haq to banta hai na?" she asked. (He has this much right at least, won't you agree?)

Adi whooped. "Thank you for taking my side, Payal!" he said. "Now, I'll leave you both alone." And he was out of the room, before Vivaan could find something to hit him with.

"Not fair. You're supposed to be my fiancée. Why're you taking his side?" he asked sourly.

"You have such a great best friend. Why didn't you ever make us meet before?" Payal countered. "And don't tell me you didn't have the time."

"You also never made me meet Rohan. If I hadn't come to your office the other day, I wouldn't have met him either." Vivaan argued.

"That's different. Rohan doesn't exactly approve of you." Payal said softly. "He's happy, because I am happy. But he doesn't think you're the best choice for me." Her expression drooped a little.

"I don't understand though. I haven't even met the guy properly, and he thinks I'm not the best choice for you?" Vivaan asked. Rohan hadn't just disapproved. He was positively hostile with Vivaan in about 2 seconds of meeting him.

"I didn't share your dilemma with him." Payal said slowly. "But he's smart enough to figure that the reason we're waiting to marry is because we're unable to give time to one another. And he feels that given our professions, that is always going to be the case. Eventually it will lead to resentment. He thinks its inevitable that we will fall apart, especially once the families come into picture." She explained.

"So, our relationship is like a timebomb." Vivaan summed up. "We will explode one day."

"No we won't" said Payal, in a vehement tone. "We asked for time to ensure that situation doesn't happen. Besides, I believe in fate and destiny too. What I feel for you despite so many hurdles coming between us hasn't gone or lessened even a bit. The more I get to know you, the more I-" she cut off suddenly.

"The more you?" Vivaan prompted, knowing she was unwilling to admit out loud, what her gestures so often conveyed.

"Um, what I meant is, this, us – it has to mean something. We met for a reason." Payal tried to divert, a cheeks colored a deep red.

"What does it mean to you, then?" Vivaan asked, refusing to get diverted.

"You already know." She said, her cheeks still brightly colored.

"We're getting engaged tomorrow." Vivaan coaxed. "Itna haq to banta hai na?" he asked, stealing her line from earlier. (I have this much right at least, won't you agree?)

She looked down, hiding her smile. "The more I get to know you, the more I like you." She said so softly, it was almost a whisper. But Vivaan heard it, causing his heart to beat faster at her admission.

"Thank you for telling me that." He said finally, just as the sound of a door opening came from her end.

"I have to go. Goodnight." She said hurriedly, jumping at the first opportunity to end the call quickly. Vivaan laughed. Payal was impossibly shy when it came to discussing anything related to their relationship.

"Goodnight, Payal." He whispered to blank screen, before clearing his bed off all the gifts and shagun and laying down to sleep.

***

The engagement was going to be a mix of both traditions- Marwari and Gujarati.

In Vivaan's family, the ceremony was called sagai or mudha tilak. The bride's family visited the groom's house, wherein the bride's brother applied a tilak on the groom's forehead and fed him sweets, officially accepting him as the son-in-law of the house. Meanwhile, the groom's sister did the same for the bride. Rings and gifts were also exchanged in a similar manner.

In Payal's family, the ceremony was called gol-dhana. Here, the bride's family visited the groom's house and a mixture of jaggery and coriander seeds (called gol-dhana) was fed by the bride's family to the groom's family and vice versa, making the relation official. Then, a ceremony called chandlo-maatli followed, where the bride's father applies tilak to the groom and presents him with small pot (called maatli) to the groom, accepting him as the son-in-law of the house. Rings are then exchanged between the bride and groom; and gifts exchanged between the families.

Being traditional to the core, Dadi-sa insisted that they follow the old culture where the bride cannot visit the groom's house until after marriage, nor could she view the groom's mudha-tilak. Vivaan and his father had protested that with an engagement that was going to last as long as theirs, this was an impractical custom to follow. Besides, as per the customs on bride's side, Payal had to be there for the ring ceremony.

"But did you even ask the two people getting engaged what they want?" Vivaan asked his grandmother, when she put her foot down. "Payal and I know each other, we like each other and are getting married to each other. She will eventually be a part of this house, and not just that, she will be a part of my space, my room, and my life. Why can't she see what is eventually going to be a part of her life?"

"Rituals are rituals." His Dadi-sa said. "And both you and that chori will follow them."

"What about Avika then?" Vivaan asked, referring to his cousin Aryan's wife. "She didn't have this restriction."

"Uski baat aur hove. Va byaah tay hone ke pehle se iss ghar me aati thi. Par byaah tay hone ke baad se, byaah hone tak, ek bhi baar na aayi." Said Dadi-sa. (Her situation was different. She used to come to the house even before we decided to get her married into this house. But after the marriage was fixed, she also didn't step into this house until after marriage.)

"And at that time also I had said it was a ridiculous thing to do!" Vivaan exclaimed. "Dadi-sa, we can't blindly follow any ritual just because it exists. Payal and I have a long engagement ahead of us. Until then, we won't include her in anything that happens in our family just because she can't enter her husband's house until after marriage. You tell me, how does this make sense?" Vivaan argued.

"We can't have it both ways either." Aryan said, stepping up to support his Bhai-sa. "You tell me and Mansi that we have to call her Payal Bhabhi-sa as she is Bhai-sa's to-be-wife. But why can't Bhabhi-sa see her own home and her own family before marriage?"

However, Dadi-sa was adamant on her demand and said that at least until the engagement, it must be so. And so, it was decided to hold the event in a hall instead of the Mehta house, and for the duration of mudha-tilak, Payal would have to cover her face with a veil; and a screen would be put between the two of them.

"I'm sorry Payal." Vivaan had said that night, when he called her and told her about the decision. "It's ridiculous and-"

"It's a tradition." Payal cut him off. "Tell me Vivaan, is it in the shastras that you can only use the right hand to do the puja?"

"No, but-"

"Then why do we always say 'forward your right hand'?" she cut him off again. "Left hand is also okay, right?"

Vivaan frowned. "But ever since I was a child, I have seen only right hand being used. So, I use my right hand." He said.

"Exactly. Traditionally, our elders have always used the right hand. We respect our elders, so we forward the right hand always; even though we may not respect the tradition. Vivaan, Dadi-sa has always seen that the bride does not enter the groom's house until after marriage. For her, it's a tradition and she has placed her belief in it. We may not respect the tradition, but we respect Dadi-sa. So we should follow it, right?" Payal said.

Vivaan considered her point. It did make sense in one way. Then he remembered her words.

"Dadi-sa." He said.

"What about her?" Payal asked.

"You referred to her as "Dadi-sa", just like I do." Vivaan elaborated.

"I did." He could hear the smile in her voice. "That is how the elders in your family are addressed. So why should I address them differently?"

"It's not a compulsion. You don't have to –" Vivaan started.

"I know." She cut him off, again. "But I want to. I'm not just accepting you in my life; I'm also accepting your family. Their traditions are now mine to follow."

Her words caused a deep stir within his heart. She had wholeheartedly accepted his family. So much that she addressed the elders the same way he did. Could she be any more perfect? He remembered how, when his Baba-sa had first told the family that Payal was not from their community, he had been worried about her not adjusting with his family. He couldn't have been more wrong.

"Vivaan?" Payal asked, when he didn't answer.

"You're amazing, Payal Shah" He said. There was a silence at the other end. He imagined her blushing at his words. What wouldn't he give to see her face right this moment!

"I'll call you tomorrow." Payal whispered after a moment.

"Payal." He stopped her from disconnecting the call.

"Hmm?"

"I think I'm falling for you." He said the words before his brain could filter them.

A moment of silence. Then: "I think so too."

Despite Dadi-sa's temper tantrum, that night was one of Vivaan's best nights.

***

Instead of going ring-shopping together, Vivaan and Payal had decided to buy each other's ring. The simple reason they gave their families was that they didn't have the time to go shopping together. But privately, he knew that Payal actually wanted it this way. She loved such gestures – where no words were required, just the gesture would convey the feeling.

She had sent a picture though – a simple design. A simple golden band, with four small diamonds embedded in the middle, forming a square. The ring looked graceful, but would also not bother Vivaan. He would only need to take it off before a surgery. The ring he had chosen for her slightly fancier - a delicate gold band, with a crest forming a flowery vine pattern right at the middle, and tiny diamonds glinting in the shape of two flowers.

He had also decided not to color coordinate their outfits. He chose his clothes when he went shopping with Aryan just two days back. It was also Aryan who decided to help him get ready.

"Aryan, there is no necessity for this!" He whined as Aryan applied some kind of powder on his face.

"Bhai-sa, you have to match Bhabhi-sa's beauty. That is no simple task." Aryan teased.

"But I don't have to dress up for her! She's already seen me at my worst!" Vivaan argued. His face felt like another layer was stuck onto it. It was annoying.

"Oh really? Has she also seen the zombie?" Aryan asked.

"Yes, actually." Vivaan said, remembering the first time he had called Payal. "The first video call I had with her was at 6 am in the morning – I was on a night shift and she had slept only four hours."

"Ohho. Very nice. Very open you both are, to each other." Aryan teased.

"Will you just get done with this torture?" Vivaan groused.

"Easy tiger." Aryan said, mock stern.

"Wow Bhai-sa." Said Mansi, entering his room. "Aryan Bhai-sa has done a great job! Now you can stand beside Payal Bhabhi-sa and it won't look odd." She teased.

"Careful Mansi. Bhai-sa doesn't need to be self-conscious." Aryan continued teasing.

"Both of you, please shut up." Vivaan groaned. It wasn't enough that he was dying to meet her and talk to her, his siblings were somehow making it harder for him.

Aryan and Mansi just laughed.

The journey to the hall was not very long, but the wait after reaching the hall definitely very long. Vivaan was not allowed to come out of his room until the arrangements were completed. When he was finally allowed to come out, all he could see was beautiful screen - an opaque cloth painted with the scene of a marriage happening. Someone was sitting behind it – Payal.

Once he was settled on his side of the screen, Aniket and Rohini came over to him with a tray containing his tilak and the array of gifts. Aniket applied the tilak and presented the tray of gifts to him with a smile. Vivaan felt his own wide smile while accepting the tray.

"Now I'm supposed to feed the sweet to you and call you... what was it Rohini?" Aniket asked teasingly, as he broke off a piece of the sweet in his hand.

"Welcome to the family Jamaiji." Rohini said, causing all the elders to laugh.

Vivaan bent to touch Aniket's feet but was immediately stopped by him.

"No, Vivaan." He said. "Payal never touches my feet either. You both don't need to." He pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you Bhaiya." He said using the same term Payal used to address her brother. "Thank you, Bhabhi." He addressed Rohini as well. They smiled, and then retreated to the other side of the screen. Avika and Mansi took Payal's tilak to the other side and repeated the ceremony. Vivaan could imagine Payal's blush at being addressed as "Bhabhi-sa".

Then the gol-dhana began. This was the first time Vivaan was meeting Payal's extended family. Her father's younger brother and his family lived in Ahmedabad, along with her grandmother. They had come down to Mumbai for the engagement. They were just as well spoken and genuine as the rest of the family.

The plate containing gol-dhana was brought in and the first to exchange the mixture were their fathers. Then their uncles fed each other, followed by Aryan and Aniket feeding it to each other. Once the male members on each side were done, Vivaan's mother and Payal's mother fed each other the mixture of jaggery and coriander seeds. This was followed by their grandmothers, and eventually their aunts. The ritual ended when Avika and Rohini fed each other. Each elder had to bless Vivaan and Payal individually due to the screen, but Vivaan knew that Payal had bent forward to take each elder's blessing, as that was the custom in his family. Her complete acceptance of his family customs still warmed his heart.

Once the blessings were completed, Payal's father stepped in, and applied a tilak on Vivaan's forehead. He then placed a maatli in his lap and the gifts of the groom over it. Feeding him a sweet, he smiled and announced to the people present there that he accepted Vivaan as the son-in-law of the house, thus completing the ritual of chandlo-maatli.

Vivaan smiled and bent to take his father-in-law's blessings, followed by his mother-in-law, who was sitting in a chair beside Dadi-sa. Sitting up, he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"I will never leave your daughter alone, Ma." He said. The teary smile she gave him was enough confirmation for him. She ran a hand lovingly over his head before saying a barely audible "thank you".

Once the greetings and congratulations had died down, the screen was taken away; and Vivaan saw Payal for the first time that day. She was dressed in the same sari sent by his family as shagun. A sober orange color, with a darker red colored pallu in the bandhani style print. Like the ladies in his family, she had draped the pallu respectfully around her shoulder. A mix of the styles of both families. As for her make up, it was the same minimal make up she put when she went to work. Her hair was in a fancier style, but still sober. She was also wearing the jewelry gifted as shagun by the family.

And she looked beyond beautiful.

She seemed to be looking at him with same awestruck expression that he was feeling at that moment, and he was glad he had let Aryan play doll with him.

She smiled then, seeing his expression and she seemed to glow with that smile. She forwarded her left hand, a feeling of rightness settling over him as he held it. He slid her ring onto her finger; while the audience around them erupted into applause. As she slid his ring on, the applause doubled and all around them, their families hugged one another, celebrating their engagement, their happiness.

Heady with the realization that they were engaged, Vivaan took her beringed hand is his. She looked into his eyes as he held their entwined hands up, their rings glinting on the opposite sides.

"First step to being official, complete." He whispered, a huge smile on his face.

She nodded, smiling just as hugely, as celebrations raged around them.

***

It was after dinner that Vivaan messaged Payal discreetly.

V - Come to side of the garden behind the hall.

Her response was immediate.

P – Too many people.

V – Really? We are engaged now. Allowed to spend as much time together as we want.

P – Sure, but I don't think this counts.

V – What doesn't count? Me wanting to be alone with you?

P – Yes. The elders are here.

V – And we just got engaged.

P – Behave!

V – No. I'm coming in if you don't come out now.

A moment of silence.

P – Okay. Give me 5 minutes.

Sure enough, five minutes later, Payal appeared near the bushes where Vivaan was waiting.

"This better be important. I made the excuse of a work call – at 10 PM! Dadi-sa was livid. How dare I leave the utterly fascinating company of so many elders planning our future together-"

Vivaan cut her off by gently pulling her into his arms and wrapping her up in a hug. Even surprised, Payal didn't hesitate to wrap her hands around his back. Vivaan sighed as her usual lavender fragrance invaded his senses, all the tension and nerves and exhaustion from the day uncoiling and vanishing.

"You okay?" Payal's voice was slightly muffled.

Unwilling to move from his position, Vivaan just moved his face to whisper in her ear. "Yes, I just wanted to do this from a very long time now."

She shivered in his arms – she never seemed to be able to get used to his proximity – as she laughed. "You've hugged me before."

"No." he disagreed, still whispering in her ear. "I've never hugged my fiancée."

She pulled back enough to look up at him then, their arms still around each other. "Happy engagement, Mr. Fiancé." She laughed saying it.

Vivaan laughed with her. "Happy engagement Ms. Fiancée." He wished her, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, and leaning in to kiss her forehead, which he knew she loved. Her eyes were closed when he pulled away, a slight smile on her face.

"Come on." He said after a moment, letting her go and taking her hand.

"Where?" she asked.

"This garden has a favorite spot of mine." Vivaan explained. "I found it at a wedding reception party a few years ago. It's a perfect bubble of solitude. Just me and my thoughts."

"Why are you making me invade the privacy of you and your thoughts?" Payal asked, amused.

Vivaan felt a swell of adoration as he looked at her smile. "You're in them already, all the time. You are a part of them, in fact. A welcome invader." He said, seriously.

Payal blushed, his favorite expression. He watched as her cheeks were infused with a reddish-pink tint, making her seem even more beautiful. They reached the end of the pathway and Vivaan was faced once again with his favorite spot. It was a small round corner filled with Raat Rani bushes. Raat Rani flowers bloomed only at night, and filled the atmosphere with their sweet fragrance. The area was open to the sky, of course, which was a clear night sky today, with stars and a crescent moon shining down on them. Vivaan's favorite part was that unless someone came in through the pathway, no one would notice someone in here. The perfect place to be when you wanted some peace and quiet.

Beside him, Payal gazed around her in wonder, frequently closing her eyes as she inhaled the sweet fragrance. A breeze blew through the space then, and she opened her arms wide, as though welcoming the breeze as it played with her hair. The pallu  of her sari, which now hung down her left shoulder instead of being draped around her right shoulder, fluttered in the breeze, gleaming different shades of red and orange in the muted moonlight. The sight was like a siren call to Vivaan.

She turned toward him then, a small smile on her face. "This is so beautiful!" she exclaimed happily.

And Vivaan watched her, he couldn't help but agree how beautiful she was, especially all decked up as his fiancée.

He sat down on the grassy ground, patting space beside him, gesturing her to join. She obliged sitting down beside him, stretching her legs out and taking her sandals off. Gently, so as to gauge her reaction Vivaan stretched his arm out and placed it around her shoulder. She stilled for just a moment, before looking at him with a wide smile.

"Dr. Mehta." She said, her voice mock-stern. "What are your intentions with me?"

Vivaan laughed. "Nothing dishonorable, my lady." He said, taking his hand off. He lay down on the ground, one hand beneath his head, the other stretched out. "I just wanted to gaze at the stars with you for a while."

She seemed to consider it. This wasn't much different from how close they were usually, but it was still a step forward. Lying down beside her – or even better, with her in his arms – was something he had actually dreamed of. In a respectable way, of course. But he knew she was a lot more cautious. So he left it to be her choice.

But to his utter surprise – and happiness- Payal lay down beside him, placing her head on his chest, like a pillow. "I'd love to star gaze with you." She said softly, snuggling into his side "Except that this is Mumbai, and the sky is not exactly clear." she pointed out.

"Watch the night sky with me then." Vivaan laughed, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, adjusting her to a more comfortable position.

They lay together for some time, pointing out the stars which were visible and recounting the stories they knew and heard as children. It was unconventional to celebrate something this way, and Vivaan knew they would have to return soon; but this stolen moment with Payal was exactly what he wanted - a perfect ending to one of the most important days of their life.

Glossary

Majnu -  reference to the male lead in the famous poem Layla- Majnun by Nizami Ganjavi. This is a tragic love story of Layla and Qays. The depth of Qays' love for Layla and his obsessive effort to woo Layla caused the locals of his tribe to give him the name "Majnun" - which means "a crazy person" or "to be completely possessed". Majnun or Majnu has become a common reference to a person madly in love.

Shagun - the term literally means "good omen". "Shagun" is a term used to collectively refer to the gifts given to the bride and groom by their prospective in-laws or even their elders. It is mostly given during the pre-wedding rituals. It usually includes sweets, clothes and jewelry.

Shastras - literally, a sacred scripture, or a set of rules. Hindu vedic texts, such as the Vedas and the Upanishads, when collectively referred are called "Shastras".

Puja -  the act of performing worship. The term is used unanimously for any act of worship performed in Hinduism.

Tilak -  literally translated, "Tilak" is a mark made on the forehead using either chandan (sandalwood) or kumkum (turmeric mixed with slaked lime). It is mostly a straight vertical line on the forehead for men; or a small circle for women. In this story's context, Tilak also includes the gifts that are given after performing the tilak.

Jamai - Gujarati term for son-in-law. The suffix 'ji' is as added as a form of respect.

Bandhani -  a style of print adopted predominantly in Gujarat. This style involves tying the cloth at several points tightly with a thread, and then dyeing it in different colors, to produce different patterns depending on the manner in which the cloth is tied. It is also called "tie and dye" method. This is entirely manual and involves a lot of skill.

Raat Rani -  also called "lady of the night" this is a plant whose flowers bloom only at night, and spread a sweet, powerful fragrance when they bloom.