Marriage

“Congrats once again, little brother”, said Arjun, as he hugged his brother, Vijay.

“Thanks a lot”, Vijay replied. After Arjun finally released him, Vijay again looked at the expensive digital watch that his older brother had just gifted him.

“I knew you would love it. And don’t think about the price! It’s not every day that my brother is getting married”, said Arjun.

“Yeah right,” said Vijay.

Not every day.

Most definitely not today.

Finally after his brother left, Vijay sat down. He kept looking at the watch. His mind was lost in many things. He suddenly realised it was time.

Time to move.

He took off the watch that he was wearing and put on the new one. He placed the old one on his desk along with a letter addressed to his parents which he had written the same morning. He looked at the time.

7:30 pm.

Wedding rituals were to start at 9.15. He opened the cupboard, took the haversack in which he had packed a few clothes and important belongings. He took off the ‘sherwani’ and put on a simple t-shirt, jeans and a black sweat shirt. He walked over to the balcony. He looked down. He suddenly realised that he was going to miss this place. His father’s bungalow. He started climbing down. He had been climbing up and down that wall since he was ten years old and now he could do it even with his eyes closed so the darkness wasn’t a problem.

 8:05 pm.

She was late.

Suddenly he saw her coming. She was still wearing the ‘lehenga’ that had been finalised.

“You didn’t want to change?” asked Vijay.

“Couldn’t. Far too many people everywhere and no time either”, she replied.

He pushed her bag into the rickshaw he had called and they got in.

“Station”, Vijay said.

Both the bride and groom at this particular wedding were heading to the railway station just an hour before the ceremony was about to begin.

 

Vijay looked across at the girl he was supposed to marry.

Neha Kakkar.
Their parents were very good friends and they had decided to start a business together which was now really successful. Since quite some time, it had been decided that they would marry each other.
Neha was crying.

“Don’t cry. We’re doing the right thing”, said Vijay, even though he didn’t quite believe those words himself. He held her hand tightly. He remembered the evening two nights ago.

 “And so I can’t marry you”, Vijay had said, after telling her everything. He had wanted to tell her all this right at the beginning, but he just couldn’t. Neha just sat down.

“We’re not as different as I thought we were”, Neha said. She proceeded to tell her about her past and how she had wanted to tell him everything too. “What do we do now?” she asked.

“Let me just take this all in”, said Vijay. He sat on the bed with his head in his hands. Finally he said, “I had planned to run away on the night of our wedding. Would you like to join me?”

 And here they were.

On a cold night. In a rickshaw.
Leaving everyone they loved behind.
Well, not everyone.

 The rickshaw driver had been looking at them through the mirror for quite some time.

“She looks like the bride. And you look like the groom’s friend. Or are you his brother?” the driver asked, smiling a little.

“Bhaiya, just drive and mind your own business”, said Vijay.

The rest of the journey was in complete silence.

 Finally they reached. Vijay and Neha got out of the rickshaw. He gave the driver a Rs.100 note and told him to keep the change.

“Which platform?” asked Vijay.

“Four”, Neha replied.

Vijay held her hand and guided her through the crowd to platform number four. Neha scanned the crowd and finally she saw him.

He had come. She had feared he wouldn’t.

Anil Roy. Her boyfriend since the past three years. He came towards them, hugged Neha and smiled.

“Let’s go Neha. The train has arrived”, said Anil. He took her bag. Neha looked at Vijay. She hugged him. She was crying a little but at the same time smiling too.

“Thank you so much for everything. Keep in touch”, said Neha.

“I will”, said Vijay.

 After seeing off those two, Vijay then went over to platform number 2, located the coffee shop that had been decided and took a seat at the table in the corner.

A girl had already been sitting at that table. Without looking up from the book that she was reading, she said, “Shouldn’t you be at your home right now, going through some wedding rituals?”

“I don’t want to be anywhere else right now, except with you”, said Vijay.

Catherine d’Souza smiled back.

Being a Christian, his parents had never really accepted her. But Vijay’s mind and heart had been set on marrying her since the day he had seen her for the first time. They left the café and boarded the train that had just arrived. It left five minutes later. He looked at his watch and smiled.

9:13 pm.