same runs down in my genes too. Aakash exclaimed, “Lucky you! We will be there on time!”
They were just about to depart and then suddenly Purvi introduced, “By the way, meet my younger sister, Poorna!”
Thirty One: The Cultural Evening
Purvi Continued, “Poorna, these are my best friends and friends of my life. Meet ‘Sumit’, ‘Aakash’, and ‘Anwesha’. Taking their care and every need is your responsibility. If I receive any complaint then I won’t give you the gift I had promised.”
Poorna still could not lift her face up. She had this feeling of guilt a little, more than guilt she had this feeling that they were the wrong people and it was okay to mess up with them. She somehow managed to look at them and said “Hi”. Exactly same was the situation with the other three. They somehow managed to face her and replied back “Hello”.
The three got into room. There was one separate room arranged for Sumit. There was one common room for Aakash and Anwesha. They were happy. Immediately they got fresh, the bed looked like heaven and they went to sleep. They sure did not forget to put an alarm for 6.00pm so that they can be on time for the 7.00pm cultural evening.
By 6.45pm they were in the hall. Mohit and Purvi introduced them to their family members. Everyone was occupying the seats slowly. The number of members in both their family was large. There was a crowd of 200+ with still 3 more days for marriage.
The cultural evening had performances from two teams. There was a famous musical troop in Manali called SAPNAA. SAPNAA is a team of 6 girls, Shweta, Aishwarya, Pooja, Nivedita, Akhila and Ankita. Any family function with a performance arranged from SAPNAA team was known to be a royal one. They used to have a mixture of performances comprising of folk songs, western, group dance and everything as requested by bride and groom. Purvi and Mohit had mentioned many songs and dances to be performed for the evening. They had dedication to themselves, family and friends. There were cheers and screams as the team performed. They had the slot from 7.00 to 8.30pm and they had set the crowd to dance.
Next was traditional performance from Manali – Pahari, traditional folk dance. The team was ready to perform.
The crowd finally joined them and they all enjoyed the performance. It was entire family dancing with joy. The day ended with delicious food and a good night sleep. Throughout the function, Poorna was trying to hide herself from the three!
Thirty Two: The Slap
The next day morning, Poorna was in Sumit’s room. Sumit was still sleeping. As soon as he got up, he saw Poorna sitting on a chair and waiting for him to wake up. He was not sure if she was waiting for him. He wanted to make sure if it was not a dream as she walked towards him. Sumit was not in good enough situations to get up from his bed. As Poorna was walking towards him he said, “Poorna, am sorry. We are sorry for whatever happened. Forget them all. It was not a good time.”
Poorna replied, “Yes. I came to say the same that I am sorry as well. I wish I would have not been so rude on you three. Am sorry that… I just screamed at you all. I would have done this as well that day…”
Sumit was staring at her deeply. Poorna slapped him lightly and left the room. Sumit was fuming. What just happened? Did she slap me? He shouted at her back while she left the door, “I will slap you too one day!”
Sumit was not able to recover what had just happened. He just rolled on the bed and hid himself in bedspread. He wanted to write a letter to devil. He wished if he was a wall. He wanted to ride a horse and go to a far far away land. He just wanted to go back home.
He relaxed and did not want to make any issue at the friend’s wedding. It was Purvi’s wedding. He had to be there for her and make her every moment special. He decided to keep this as a secret to himself and got up from his bed.
He got fresh and took almost 20 minutes to brush his teeth. He had many thoughts running in his mind. All of a sudden there was a loud noise coming from outside. It was like everyone out there were yelling and trying to escape from something! He could hear the screams. Just the screams and not any single other word or phrase!
Thirty Three: Family Games
Sumit rushed out to see what was happening and to his goodness it was family games. There was a tug of war going on between two families. Aakash and Anwesha were already there towards Purvi’s side. Sumit rushed back to his room, took a quick bath and ran out there. When he reached two wars were already over and both families had got one point each. It was the finale. Sumit ran towards Purvi’s side and saw Poorna standing nearby. He suddenly jumped towards other side and went to Mohit and said, “I got your back bro. Lets win this!”. On whistle the tug of started.
There were huge screams of support and laughter’s of joy. The two families were doing their best to pull the other side down. It was looking like it was never going to end. Both the families were balancing each other with the full and pull strength. The loud music was making it more interesting. The judge, Mohit’s grandfather announced that one more minute of balance, we declare this as tie!
Sumit sure did not wanted this to end as tie. It was like a revenge game to him. There were around twenty seconds left to declare a tie and Sumit put all his strength. Don’t know where it came from, that one moment and Mohit’s family started jumping out of joy. They had won. Mohit’s family had won. Due to the push strength and imbalance Purvi’s family were towards Mohit’s family. Mohit was hugging Purvi and he kissed her as well on her forehead. Also, Poorna was in Sumit’s arms. He pushed her aside and started dancing out of joy. Aakash and Anwesha hugged each other as well as it was more of fun to them than the matter of winning.
The ground was next up ready for the next game. There was a small stone ball kept (like the one used in shot-put) and it was decorated with woolen art, definitely not easy to guess how much it weighed. The task was to throw it to the farthest distance with three rounds.
First up were Mohit’s father and Purvi’s father. On count of three, they both used all their strength and threw it high. Oops, it was just below and beside their leg. Both. It hardly moved like 100 meters. Sumit was now sure on how much the stone ball weighed! Definitely not easy.
Next up were Mohit’s best friend Umair and Purvi’s cousin brother Rahul. On three, they both threw and Umiar had got it at 200 meters and Rahul had it barely 100 meters. It was clear win for Umair. Mohit and his family were dancing for the loud music. They all hugged Umair and carried him on their shoulders. It was a dance of joy and fun.
The last set was a challenging one. Purvi asked Sumit to go. Mohit immediately complained as Sumit was at their side in tug of war, he now has to participate from the same side. Not at Purvi’s side. Sumit was more than happy to agree to this.
There was Aakash and Sumit against each other. Sumit clearly knew he would win. So did Aakash. He clearly knew Sumit would win. He could not beat the gym guy. And guess, what happened? Exactly the same. Sumit had it around 200 meters and Aakash had at 100 meters. More over Sumit had confidence that even had he lost with little difference, the team would have still won.
Poorna was Fuming. There was second reason for Mohit’s family to rejoice. It was the second win. They all hugged each other. The sports were taken sportively. Families needed the reasons to rejoice. It was around 11.00am and the plan next was to visit the temple.
Thirty Four: The Temple
There were 04 buses ready to take them all along with 03 special cars. It was to take the blessings from Hidimba devi temple. It is an ancient cave temple dedicated to Hidimbi Devi, sister of Hidimba, a figure in the Indian epic Mahābhārata. The temple is surrounded by a cedar forest at the foot of the (Manali) Himālayas. It was a family tradition to take the blessings at temple. The family had arranged a pooja at the temple. They all prayed for all the good at wedding. Mohit and Purvi took blessings and so did everyone else.
They all spent some time amidst the cedar trees and took a few snaps. They took a family picture of all 200 plus people gathered together. It was time to retu
rn back and finish the lunch.
At evening 6.30pm, Mohit went to Purvi’s room and blind folded her. He said there is a surprise for her. All the family members and friends were waiting too. He took her to the place which was in the home premises itself. Purvi was standing in front of it and so were all others. Mohit slowly opened the blind fold and Purvi slowly opened her eyes!
Thirty Five: Rise of Surprise
Purvi was eager to know what the surprise was. As she slowly opened her eyes, the surrounding got calm and silent. The murmur disappeared. Felt like there was no one around. As she opened her eyes, she was right in front of a stone frame covered with red curtain. There was no one around. It was only she and Mohit. Mohit asked her to pull down the curtain from the stone frame.
Purvi agreed and pulled it down. As she did there was release of white dove and pigeons and she saw the carving “PURVI’s – school of dance and arts”. Her name was carved in glitters and it was shining bright and bold. She immediately hugged Mohit and was in joy of happiness. She had tears and it was like never ending. She said, “I don’t know how to thank! We are building our dreams!”.