Luck By Chance...

Aranya sat in her room fuming and flaming. Her mother came in and took out a blue salwar from her closet, “Beta this one would be perfect. Hurry up, the guests are due any moment .“,she said and rushed up to the kitchen. Everyone seemed to be busy or at least Aranya felt so. Mom had been busy tidying up the room since early morning and now she seemed even more busier in the kitchen. Dad was working on mom’s instructions rushing down to get whatever mom asked for. Nobody seemed to give the slightest importance to her say. This whole affair seemed completely ridiculous to her.
It all started with Rama aunty’s proposal. Rama aunty was their neighbor, a lady in late forties but she was more famous as the over-enthusiastic matchmaker to every prospective girl or boy(I mean the ones who had attained their marriageable age) of the colony. Anxious mothers, waiting to get their son/daughter married off, always looked upto her, but the young people couldn’t withstand her. And it had to do with much more than her being a matchmaker. She was a lady always in lookout for gossips. Any small piece of news she came across and the next day it would be talk of the colony.
And Aranya was her latest target. The other day she had come up to Aranya’s parents and talked of a Mr Xyz she had “at hand” who could be perfect for “our Aranya baby” . Aranya knew nothing of this till she came back from college. And when she learnt that her parents were more than interested and already invited the boy’s family the next Sunday, she was flabbergasted. “But mamma how can you get me married off ? I cant even think of marriage right now. Who bhi ek anjaan ladke ke saath!!! Kabhi nehi.. “,Aranya shouted, fighting back tears. “Beta, me and your dad never knew each other till we got married, but has that been an issue between us. And whats the problem in talking to them,kya pata tumhe ladka achha lag jaye”, mom said and left.
Aranya went by the window side and stood there. This whole idea of arrange marriage seemed so abnormal and unfeasible to her. How could one spend a larger part of her life with some completely unknown person? And she had her dream to chase,a goal to reach,what if the other person didn’t really approve of that? Recently she had a split with Sameer on these grounds only. Sameer and Aranya had been going steady for the past two years. Sameer was an IT professional working in one of the top MNCs . They had shared dreams , small and big. Both of them were quite happy with this relation until one day he got this call from USA. His company would be sending him away to USA within the next six months and Sameer wanted to get married before that while Aranya wasn’t ready for it. Both of them had their own grounds and none of them would bend for the sake of the other. They had a huge fight and stopped talking .Their ego prevented them from calling up each other . But Aranya missed him dearly. At the same time she wouldn’t call him. It had always been Sameer who broke the ice after a fight and even this time she had expected him to be the one to make peace. Although she knew this whole issue was mainly because of her fault but she would none the less agree to it but herself. Had she wanted she could’ve got a solution to it but she was adamant. Everyday she used to dial Sameer’s number but immediately cut the call,”why should I call him. If he doesn’t miss me then why should i?”,she murmured to herself. Silence, to her, seemed the best revenge. A drop of tear fell down her eye. Already she was upset about her break up and this “arrange marriage” issue seemed to upset her even more.
“Naa jaane ladkewale yeh ladkewale kya kya puchhenge, Beti tumhe kya kya aate hain, khana bana sakte ho, Yeh kar sakte ho, Woh kar sakte ho,bla bla bla..mummy agar koi mujhse aise sawaal karein toh main tabhi wahaan se uthkar chali aayungi.”, Aranya said to her mom angrily. Her mom just smiled.
Finally it was Sunday . The house has been cleaned and Aranya’s parents were looking over the last minute details before the guests arrived. “beta hurry up,the guests are due any moment. Quickly tie your hair and put some kajaal.”,her mother said and rushed backed to the kitchen. Just then the doorbell rang. By her father’s voice Aranya could make up that the guests have arrived. She felt like running away. Instead she went to the dressing table and loosely tied her hair. But she wasn’t in a mood to put on the slightest bit of make up.
She could hear the excited voice of Rama aunty speaking in her shrill voice,”wait till you see our Aranya. She’s an angel. All the goodies you see,she prepared it herself….”and she kept talking. She looked up and saw her mother standing at the door, calling her. She dragged herself unwillingly to the drawing room and sat on the sofa opposite the boy’s parents. She purposely tried to avoid everyone’s gaze and her eyes were fixed on the mattress instead. As if she had silently promised herself not to look up to anyone.
Aranya had tried to look as much unkempt as possible. Her hair was loosely tied and she wore a dress that she had long back relegated to antiquity. But what she didn’t realize was that her attempt to look careless and unkempt was actually serving the purpose of heightening her beauty and elegance. Suddenly she could feel the boy staring at him. Trying to ignore it she looked up straight, face to face with the boy’s parents . She had a distant feeling of seeing them somewhere, in some photo or whatever but she couldn’t remember. Now she stole a sideways glance at the boy and she was shocked. Now she knew why they seemed so familiar. She looked at him again, and saw him staring at her unabashed, a wry smile at the corner of his lips. It did not fit at all. She couldn’t believe the guy’s guts. How could he behave like this, that too with their parents sitting around them . She had an overwhelming urge of crying out loud,not because she was sad or unhappy or upset with this alliance, but because she was face to face with Sameer after almost two months and his smile had taken away all her anger, her complains, everything. For now she just wanted to hug him tight. Sameer winked at her avoiding everyone’s eye and her cheeks turned a bright hue of red. “Aranya why don’t you two go to your room and chat among yourselves. What will you people do sitting here with a bunch of old people?” Sameer’s mother said. “no aunty its ok, I mean..” Aranya started stammering. When her parents also said the same she had no other option. She slowly moved towards her room, Sameer at her steps. Tears streaked down her face. But she didn’t know if they were tears of happiness, or grief, or relief, or simply an expression of her anger melting down. “I’m sorry my baby, but just don’t leave me this time. We’ll sort things out”, Sameer whispered into her ears as they entered her room and shut the door. She tried to speak Sameer sealed her lips with his..the still and softly breathing silence suffused and submerged them.. After all, all arrange marriages weren’t that bad. Some had lots of love involved and even more coincidence……