Chanda insisted on driving Lakshman’s new car— a white Volkswagen Ameo—from their home in Vaishali Nagar to the Cafe Coffee Day outlet at Yudhister Marg that was about twenty-five minutes away. “You’re driving really well nowadays, Chanda,” complimented Lakshman from the back of his car.
They gave the car to a valet and walked into Hotel Shikha to find an empty table in a corner of CCD. Lakshman insisted on getting their orders—two cappuccinos and a strawberry smoothie for Chanda.
Lakshman sat down across the couple who were seated on a sofa and cleared his throat, smiling.
“Okay, Lakshman, do tell. What’s cooking?” asked Chanda, grinning at him as she took a sip of her smoothie. Though he was the quietest of the Maheshwari siblings, she of all people knew when he was up to some mischief. Though rare, he loved to have his fun.
“I’m getting married next week, in secret.” Lakshman sat back to enjoy his coffee as he watched Chanda almost choke on her next sip.
Ranveer patted her back even as he turned to give his brother-in-law a mock glare. “Why the cloak-and-dagger?” he asked outright. As far as he knew, Mohan and Meera were the most outgoing parents. He couldn’t understand why Lakshman needed to be secretive.
Lakshman grinned. “I know what you mean. But a marriage takes two, right? Ruma’s parents wouldn’t hear of it. We…”
“Wait a minute. You said Ruma. Would that be Ruma Malhotra?” asked Ranveer, his face widening in a grin.
Lakshman nodded. “Yeah.”
Chanda raised a small fist to hit him on his shoulder, before getting up and hugging him close. “Congratulations Lakshman, even if I’d like to kill you for all the secrecy. It’s obviously Ruma who you’ve been meeting on those visits to Delhi.” She tried to glare at her brother, but failed as a happy smile insisted on breaking out on her face.
Lakshman hugged her back. “So, it’s like this. Ruma’s grandmother insists that the only way Ruma could become mine is if we get married in secret, before the engagement they are planning for her with Bunty Vaswani.” He grimaced as he mentioned the name that he had begun to vehemently dislike.
“Have you decided where? I suppose it’ll be in Delhi, right?”
Lakshman nodded again.
“Let’s do it at our place,” said Ranveer, “unless you’ve fixed up elsewhere?” He raised a dark brow at his brother-in-law.
“Not yet. I don’t think Ruma or her grandmother has thought of a place either. Are you sure?” He was so glad of Chanda and Ranveer’s support.
“Yes, man, of course. Congrats bro. You guys rock!” he grinned.
“I hope Ruma’s grandmother will get hold of a panditji for the ceremony. I’ll take care of the rest of it,” said Chanda.
“One important thing though. This is between only the five of us, okay?” said Lakshman, his eyes shining with mischief. He was enjoying this secretive adventure too much. He wasn’t worried about his parents. He knew how to cajole them into accepting his wife when the time came.
Chanda nodded vigorously, loving it as much as her favourite brother. She was also confident that they’d be able to bring the family around.
“You guys are just amazing,” said Ranveer, shaking his head. “Why not tell your parents? They are pretty cool.”
Brother and sister shook their heads. “Of course they are,” said Chanda, “so cool that they’ll land up at Ruma’s place, asking for her hand. They can’t believe that other parents could be tyrants. I’m sure Lakshman’s trying to avoid exactly that.” She turned to look at her brother who nodded his head in agreement.
“Exactly. Mamma and Pappa think that all parents give absolute freedom to their kids.” He shrugged. “I’m confident they can be brought around. They know I’d never hurt them.”
Ranveer nodded in understanding. He adored the Maheshwari family—all of them. He gave Lakshman the “thumbs-up” and said, “So give me a date and we’ll organise stuff. And do you have a plan after the wedding?”
“July 21. It’s a Thursday. We go on a honeymoon immediately after that. Ruma goes back to work on the following Monday morning and I’ll be back in Jaipur. She’ll continue to live with her parents. They are planning her engagement on August 20. We’ve a vague plan in place. I’ll be gate-crashing the event. Let’s see.” Lakshman shrugged, not appearing too worried.
Ranveer shook his head, grinning. “You’re enjoying this.”
“Of course I am,” said Lakshman, grinning back.
“Didn’t Ruma talk to her parents? Okay, strike out the question. Of course she must have. Can’t imagine parents interfering so much in their adult children’s lives.”
“I’m glad of Daadima’s support in all this. And she’s planning to get some reinforcements from Mumbai. Her husband’s brother—Mr. Raj Malhotra—and his family. They are hoping that he and his son Akshay will make Ruma’s parents see sense.”
“This surely calls for a treat. Let me get some dessert.” Ranveer got up from his seat. “What would you guys prefer?”
“I’ll have an ice-cream,” said Chanda.
“I’ll take a bite from hers,” said Lakshman, not a fan of sweets. Ranveer nodded before walking to the counter.
Chanda looked at her brother. “Thank you Lakshman. I’m thrilled I’m going to be there at your wedding. We’ll make it a memorable affair. I’ll get together with Ruma about the little things that need arranging.”
He hugged her. “I need one more favour. I want to buy Ruma some jewellery from Ram’s showroom. Only…”
She nodded. “No issues. We’ll go there directly from here, pretending to buy jewellery for me.”
“You want to go jewellery shopping?” asked her husband, having returned with their orders.
“Yes,” she said, hooking her arm into his, “for Lakshman’s bride-to-be.”
15
Chanda stopped at the reception the next morning to talk to Ruma. She hugged the older woman, whispering in her ear, “Welcome to the family.” She smiled when colour bloomed on Ruma’s face. “Two things. I’m playing messenger girl from your boyfriend. Will give you a call closer to lunch. Let’s meet in Ranveer’s cabin.”
Ranveer walked up behind his wife and put out a hand to shake his receptionist’s hand. “Congrats Ruma. I’ll be sorry to let you go from RS Software, but I’m glad you’ll be family.”
Ruma felt absolutely touched by their words. She smiled at them both shyly, nodding. “Thank you so much.”
It was past twelve when she left her post to meet Ranveer and Chanda in his cabin. “Sit down,” said Ranveer, showing the visitor’s chair next to Chanda.
Chanda lifted a shopping bag that was on the table and handed it to Ruma. “Go on, open it and see what it contains,” she smiled, rather proud of her brother who had bought a sari as well as jewellery for his bride.
Ruma was pretty excited as she pulled a cardboard box out of the bag. Opening it, she gasped. It was a Benarasi silk sari that was in a shade of mango yellow. The border and pallu had both maroon and green and was worked over heavily in gold zari. The sari was heavy and came with a matching blouse. There was more. She found a large jewellery box. Her eyes went wide when she opened it. It contained a multi-layered kundan necklace of diamonds with a circular pendant that had an uncut ruby the size of a pigeon’s egg at the centre. It was surrounded by concentric circles of emeralds and diamonds. A pair of matching jhumkas was part of the set as was a broad bracelet. There were four pairs of gold bangles, two set with diamonds, one with emeralds and diamonds and the fourth with rubies and diamonds. There was also a matching maang tikka. Ruma was completely overwhelmed.
She turned to look at Chanda, turning emotional as she hugged her sister-in-law-to-be. “These are too beautiful. I need your help. I can’t take these home. Can you please keep them for me till the wedding?”
Chanda nodded. “Yes, of course. You just take the blouse material with you and get it stitched. Oh, by the way, I don’t know if Lakshman told you. Your w
edding will be taking place in our home.”
Ruma nodded. “Yeah, Laki told me. I don’t know what to say.” Her smile included Ranveer. “Thank you so much.”
Ranveer grinned. “Don’t. We’re family. We’d like to meet your grandmother. I hear she’s quite a feisty lady. Do you think we can arrange something this week?”
“Of course. I’m sure Daadima would love to meet you all.”
“Why don’t you bring her home for lunch on Saturday?” suggested Chanda. “You can check out the wedding venue at the same time.” She caught Ranveer’s look and said, “Oops!” with a smile in her charcoal eyes. It had been Ruma that Lakshman had been entertaining at their home on that Sunday when Ranveer had taken Chanda out for the day. That had completely slipped her mind.
Ruma turned a fiery red. She nodded slowly, not meeting Chanda’s eyes. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”
Chanda put her hand on Ruma’s that was on her lap. “I hope you are up to some teasing. We siblings are all the same, we so love to pull people’s legs.”
Ruma smiled. “Yeah, I know. I think Laki’s probably the quietest of the lot and still he…”
Ranveer laughed. “You got that in a nutshell. Welcome to the Maheshwari madness.”
Chanda gave him a mock glare. “Very funny.”
Ruma laughed, feeling truly happy. She couldn’t wait to get married to the man of her dreams. And the secretive nature of the event excited her no end.
“And Ranveer, on a different subject, about my job. I hope you wouldn’t mind my continuing to work for such time till I shift to Jaipur. I…”
“Of course. And I understand you don’t have a fixed date. Not an issue,” Ranveer assured her.
“Actually, I’m hoping to join cake decorating classes as Laki is planning to take me as a partner in his business. I…”
“Wow! That’s just awesome,” said Chanda. “He must love you absolutely if he’s doing that. I’m impressed,” she winked at the other girl.
Ruma turned red again, smiling at the compliment and continued, “The classes are from 3 to 6 pm four days a week. I’m wondering how to deal with it. If I quit the job now, my parents will want to know ‘why’ for one thing. And I’ll be forced to spend more time at home which I want to avoid at all costs. Could you please help me out here?” Ranveer was boss as well as family now and hence Ruma had no qualms asking him.
“Let’s do one thing. We’ll scout for your replacement immediately and take someone on board. You can train the person in the mornings and she can takeover in the second half. While you get your afternoons free, the company wouldn’t suffer when you leave in a month or two or three. Works?”
Ruma gave him a wide smile. She could have hugged him. “That’ll be perfect, Ranveer. Thank you so much. You don’t have to pay both of us. I can…”
“I know you’re going to be one rich woman, Ruma. But that doesn’t mean you’ve to work free for RS Software. And after all, you’ve been with us right from the beginning. Do something. Write an email to me, copying Abhimanyu on it, resigning your job. You don’t give a reason as we don’t want to spread word of your upcoming nuptials. I’ll take it with the HR from there.”
“That’ll be awesome, Ranveer.” She got up to take their leave. “I’ll bring Daadima to your place for lunch on Saturday. Thank you again, both of you.”
Chanda and Ranveer got up too. Chanda hugged Ruma, saying, “Looking forward to it. See you.”
16
Guess who was there at Ranveer-Chanda’s home on Saturday to greet Ruma and her Grandma? It was none other than Lakshman. He greeted Grandma before pulling Ruma into a bear hug, kissing her on her blushing cheek. “All set for the secret wedding, sweetheart?” he whispered in her ear.
“Oh yes,” she replied enthusiastically, giving him a brief kiss on his lips. He hadn’t breathed a word to her about coming over. “I love you,” she whispered back, smiling up at him.
With his arm snug around her waist, and another around Grandma’s shoulders, Lakshman led the two women into the living room and introduced Ranveer and Chanda to Grandma.
They all sat down to lunch, discussing the details of the wedding. “I’ve organised for an Arya Samaj Pandit to perform the wedding. He’ll bring all the materials for the ritual,” said Chanda.
Ganga nodded her head. “Thank you Chanda. I’m glad you’re taking care of it. If we approach our family Pandit, talk would get back to Ruma’s parents immediately,” she smiled.
“I guessed as much, aunty. You don’t worry about anything. It’ll be the five of us. Will any of your friends be coming, Ruma?”
“Yeah, two of my besties.” She’d known Sandy and Tammy since nursery.
“Right. That’s the venue, ritual, clothes and guests taken care of. We’ve organised lunch through a caterer we know. Anything else?” asked Ranveer, referring to Chanda’s checklist. The two of them had picked Lakshman from the airport that morning and had gone shopping for the bridegroom’s clothes—a resplendent churidar-kurta in cream and gold.
“Do we hire a beautician, Ruma?” asked Chanda.
Ruma shook her head. “My friends and I’ll manage. The lesser people who know about the wedding, the better. What say?”
Lakshman nodded. “Absolutely. And you look gorgeous anyway,” he winked at her, even as she pouted at him.
“The muhurat is at 10.30 am. You’re welcome to come the earlier day itself…”
Ganga thought for a minute before turning to Ruma. “Do you think it makes sense for you to be here from the earlier night? I’ll come in the morning. That way, we both won’t need to leave the house together in the morning, facing unnecessary questions. What say?”
“Yes Daadima, since you rarely stay out at night, it’s best you come in the morning as we don’t want to raise any suspicion. I’m anyway going to tell them that I’m out of town for four days. So, I’ll be here the earlier night.” Ruma’s eyes shone in anticipation. “Will you be able to get out in the morning? What if…?”
“You don’t worry about that. I’ll manage,” said Ganga, with a determined lift to her chin. She was enjoying this too much and planned to see it through.
Ruma turned to Chanda and said, “Thank you Chanda. It’d be best that I come here the night before the wedding. It’s really nice of…”
Chanda raised a hand to stop her mid-sentence. “I thought we’re a family? Don’t keep thanking me for everything,” she smiled.
After lunch, Lakshman took Ruma upstairs on the pretext of showing her his wedding clothes, leaving the others to discuss the finer details. He pulled her into his arms the moment he shut the bedroom door. “I love you, Ruma. Been missing you badly,” he said, smothering her lips with a deep kiss. Silence reigned in the room as their tongues mated. His hands moved restlessly at her waist, lifting her kurti to caress her waist above the flared cotton skirt she was wearing. “Did I tell you how sexy you look?” he whispered in her ear, tracing its shape with the tip of his tongue.
Ruma shivered, her nerve-ends alive, turning her head to give him better access. “Tell me more.”
He continued to whisper, telling her what all he wanted to do to her during their honeymoon. She almost swooned in delight, listening to him making verbal love to her. Her breasts were taut with desire while the tight buds grazed against his firm chest. Lakshman could feel her reaction against his body and took care to keep his hands at her back.
“I was planning a honeymoon in Kasauli. We’ll leave immediately after the wedding lunch and catch a flight to Chandigarh and take a cab to Kasauli, spending three days and nights there. We’ll take a return flight on Sunday evening, first stop at Delhi where you get off, and I’ll take the same flight to Jaipur. Works for you?” He didn’t much care for the idea of her having to go home on her own. But then, he wouldn’t be able to escort her to her home anyway. Though the secrecy was fun to an extent, it was also a strange experience for Lakshman as he’d never felt the need for it, ever before.
&nb
sp; Ruma lifted her head that had been buried in his shoulder, to look into his dark gaze. “I suppose. Though I’m going to miss you terribly after that.”
He ran a hand through her soft, silky hair. “Not for long. And that’s another thing. How are we going to break the news to your family?”
“We aren’t. Daadima’s going to handle it. She’s planning to invite you to my supposed engagement to Bunty. Close relatives of ours from Mumbai, will also be there. She plans to take their help. We’re hoping when presented with the news of our marriage, in front of so many relatives and friends, my parents will have no choice but to accept it.”
“But won’t it get too awkward that way? What if your parents feel too ashamed and get angry because of that?” He didn’t much care for this kind of drama.
“Let’s go down. I’ll let Daadima explain it all to you. I think she knows her son best.”
“Sure. But give me two more minutes before that,” requested Lakshman, bending down to capture her lips in a fiery kiss.
17
The house was filled with soft shehnai music that played from the hidden speakers in the living room. Ruma was getting ready in the room next to Lakshman’s, with the help of her two friends.
She was sitting on a small leather stool in a yellow petticoat of superfine cotton and a bottle green silk blouse with a slim golden zari border at the neck and the edges of the sleeves that reached below her elbow. Her back was almost bare except for an inch of silk material that covered her bra strap.
Sandy was applying foundation to Ruma’s face and back while Tammy opened out the silk sari and spread it on the bed, ready to be draped around the bride. The jewellery was also set out next to the sari.
Lakshman walked in just then, already dressed up. “Hey, aren’t you ready yet?” His eyes met Ruma’s via the mirror as he gave her a small wink.
She turned around to look at him, her mouth wide. “Laki, you make an awfully handsome bridegroom,” she winked back. He looked good enough to eat, his longish curls brushed back neatly, his face clean shaven except for the luxuriant moustache that she adored. His kurta of dull gold fit snugly on his broad shoulders that needed no padding, falling down to below his knees. She hugged him close when he walked up to her. Looking up into his black gaze, she promised, “I’ll be down in fifteen minutes.”
Flaming Sun Collection 2: Marriages Made in India (Box Set with 5 novellas) Page 20
