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Purva silenced everyone with a gesture and sang the last two lines alone. My hands had not left my mouth since the song had begun. This was beyond anything I could have imagined.
‘I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more,’ sang Purva, pulling out the microphone from the stand and walking towards me, his eyes not leaving mine even for a second. ‘It’s the beat of a man who walks a thousand miles to fall down at your door,’ he finished with a flourish.
And then it was, for a few seconds, mad.
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sp; I was laughing and crying, and suddenly everyone had pulled the nearest person into an embrace. There was not a single dry eye and not a single face that did not bear a wide smile. I may not say this enough, but Dr Purva Dixit, you are, indeed, one special man!
The man I was about to marry was not the romantic sort, really. He was simply a hard-working doctor who would much rather be in the OT opening hearts than in front of a hundred people singing. Yet he sang for me! Not only that, he chose a song that he knew held special meaning for me and my family. He got both families to participate and managed to get more than thirty people to fall at my feet, not once but twice.
I felt like the luckiest girl on the planet.
10.17 p.m.
I was brushing away happy tears when I saw Pitajee sneak out of the group hug, phone stuck to his ears, his face white.
‘Is everything okay?’ I tried to ask over the din that surrounded us.
When Pitajee turned around to look at me, his eyes were large with amazement.
‘Kas…’ he was about to say something but seemed to change his mind. ‘Er … Mum wants me home, I think,’ he mumbled hurriedly. He looked around and, seeing Purva busy with everyone, pulled Vikram out.
‘Come with me please, Vik?’ he asked Vikram, who readily agreed.
‘Pitajee!’ I shouted, as someone pulled me back into the hug.
‘Kas, it’s fine, it’s fine,’ Pitajee shouted, hurrying away, a bewildered Vikram at his heels.
38
9 December 2013, 11.00 p.m.
I sat there wondering.
The day had been eventless, well as eventless as it could have been, given that it was my wedding day. I had had a meltdown early in the morning – the whole thing was getting a bit much for me – followed by some more puja and then hours in the parlour getting ready.
A lot of guests had left after dinner and many had commented on the … err … original orange-and-purple flowers used for the decorations
Purva and I were half married. The jaimala had happened with us airborne. Vikram had picked up Purva and some cousin hoisted me even higher. Eight feet up in the air, I almost fell on top of Purva, much to the sadistic delight of everyone else.
We spent two hours after that grinning like idiots for the photographers and then wrapped up by feeding each other. No accidents there, thank god.
Now, I had an hour to change into the yellow sari for the pheras. Panditji would use this time to get himself organized for the long night ahead of us.
However, my mind was elsewhere. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Pitajee had been acting very suspicious the whole day. Don’t get me wrong. Obviously today is a difficult day for Pitajee, yet something did not make sense. I was sitting in front of a mirror taking off my earrings, mulling things over, when Pitajee burst through the door, his eyes wide. ‘Where is Vikki?’ he blurted out.
‘Certainly not here!’ I retorted.
Pitajee was about to rush out when, displaying agility James Bond would have been proud of, I rushed ahead of him and spread my hands wide to block the door. ‘Don’t you dare move an inch,’ I said, jabbing a threatening finger at him.
Pitajee groaned loudly. ‘I am not in the mood for any drama, Kas,’ he said, half-cross, and that confirmed my doubts. Something was definitely wrong … and no, it was not Anu’s wedding. Pitajee would never be cross with me on my wedding day.
‘I will not move an inch. Not before you tell me exactly what’s going on,’ I hollered.
Pitajee paled and I knew I had hit the nail on the head. Something was going on. Before I could say anything, the door behind me burst open and Vikram and Purva tumbled in.
