Little Girl's Wild Side

"Why are we doing this anyways??? Why can't we just go to a register office and get married. It less time consuming... less messy... very cheap and gets the job done just the same." Sindhu grumbled as she let her head rest on the wall behind her.

The engagement ceremony had just started. One hour into the function, Sindhu snuck out and of course dragged Gautham with her. When he asked why she brought him with her, she shamelessly said, "Of course you are the scape goat for when we'll be caught."

The whole thing was arranged in a high end hotel. The whole place was bustling. There was a stage in the center of the hall.

The stage had a two seater chair for the to-be-married couple. The stage was decorated with flowers all over while a chandelier hung from the middle of the venue. The whole place looked bright and glittery the exact things Sindhu hated.

There were rows and rows of chairs arranged in front of the stage for the guests. And the venue was brimming with guest half of whom Sindhu did not recognize. That was without taking into account Gautham's side relatives. There were just way too many people around. And each wanted a piece of her today. People who knows her and who doesn't know her, everyone was congratulating her. She was not being ungrateful but the whole thing was exhausting especially when you do not believe in any of the rituals.

"And why does this shit weigh so much!!! What's the point??? Why do I have to dress up and go in front of all those people?? Am I a doll?? " Sindhu continued her ranting pointing at her dresses and jewelry.

It was customarily for the bride-to-be to wear a dress given by the in-laws at the start of the ceremony after receiving their blessing. And of course she should also wear all the gold jewelries given to her as a gift to her for the marriage by both the family. And similar things will apply to the groom-to-be of course.

That was the whole reason how Sindhu was able to sneak out. She fooled her stylist to wait outside when she changes and then snuck into the adjacent room and escaped. She came straight to Gautham's room and dragged him out to the terrace in his half dressed up state.

After this, there will be a ring exchanging ceremony. And then after that, the pandit will set the auspicious date for the wedding, which of course was decided beforehand. After that, he will gather the relatives of both the family and read out the invitation as a form of announcement. And then after that all people will come to stage as each family at a time and give the couple their blessing.

(Note: I do not know much about all the technicalities that take place in an actual wedding. I do not know how many of you know how a south Indian wedding actually happens but let me tell you, the list of rituals are endless. I do not even know 1% of it. So I tried my best to simplify and explain things on the surface without going in too deep into the whole process.)

"Don't all girls have a dream of a grand wedding???" Gautham asked curiously.

"That was a long time ago. When you are young it is hard to decide on what really matters. But now I will settle for a grand marriage than a glittery wedding." Sindhu replied.

Gautham did not understand right away. It took a while before he could decipher what Sindhu meant.

Then he asked, "What's wrong with having both???" Gautham asked once again.

"I guess I can. And maybe there was even a time when I genuinely wished for both. But then I grew up and the whole ceremony seemed like a waste of lot of time and money. The fact of the matter is, if a person genuinely cares about you, he is going to bless you well regardless of the arrangements and the people who can only appreciate the grandeur of the decorations is going to wish you with their mouths and not with their hearts. So what is the point anyways??? If you give the girl the money spent on marriages, she won't even need a husband in the first place." Sindhu said. Gautham frowned at the reference but before he could oppose it, they heard voices from behind them.

"They are actually here Pritham." Adithya exclaimed.

"Does your mum have some special powers??" Pritham asked to Gautham surprised.

"So it was your idea. Naughty girl. No wonder Aunty said straight away you guys probably sneaked to the terrace as soon as she came to know you guys were missed. We were about to call the security people to conduct search." Pritham said giving an accusatory look at the soon-to-couple.

Sindhu brushed him off nonchalantly. She lifted her heavy lehenga skirt with both her hands and started walking grumbling something unintelligent under her breathe. Typically girls have to wear sarees as per custom but Sindhu being a rebel she was, she asked for a lehenga. And Renuka being the person she was indulged Sindhu. But in order to amuse herself, she got the lehenga in that one color Sindhu least likes- pink- just to spite Sindhu. But the lehenga actually looked rad on Sindhu. So nobody saw the sneak attack by Renuka except for Sindhu. Sindhu somehow brought out the childishness in Renuka. The bickering and teasing continued endlessly to Govind's absolute delight. He was the one person who saw through the pettiness of those two adults for the trust they had built between them in such a short period of time.

The boys looked at each other in silent agreement and followed suit behind Sindhu without complain. They did not want to get on Sindhu's bad side especially when she was not on her best of moods. They learnt the hard way that she holds grudges. And her revenge was scary.

One time Adithya ate an ice cream meant for Sindhu. She did not react much then so Adithya thought he got away with it. But boy was he wrong. Sindhu tied him up to a chair when he was napping. Then woke him up with ice cold water and made him watch Sindhu eat a big tub of ice cream right in front of him while he was still wet. He was down with cold for straight four days after that while Sindhu gloated on her revenge.

In spite of it all, Adithya and Pritham liked Sindhu. There was something in Sindhu that was so hard not to like in spite of all her craziness. Maybe her charm actually did come with her craziness.

One thing Gautham was never able to figure out was why Sindhu was so reserved around her own family and relatives?? Okay she was not exactly reserved per se. She will laugh and joke around and do everything with her family. But with him, his family and friends, she was eccentric. On the surface there won't be anything apparent difference in her treatment. But he always had a feeling something was missing in Sindhu whenever she was around her own family.

Gautham got his "If you hurt my sister I will have your head" speech from Aarav just yesterday. And to Gautham's utter surprise, Aarav warned Gautham about how Sindhu ends up not talking to anyone for days together when she gets upset or moody.

Gautham had seen sides of Sindhu but as far as he saw, it was hard to imagine her without talking- that too for days together.

Anyways after their little adventure to terrace, the day went out in a blink. Sindhu's cheeks hurt from all the smiling she had to do. Her whole body ached for some rest.

And of course Gautham heard an earful from everyone for the little adventure seeing as Sindhu shamelessly pointed fingers at him just like she said she would. All except Aruna fell for it. But even when Aruna knew, she did not come to defend Gautham. So all Gautham could do was accept his fate.

The most pathetic part was he did not even have the heart to try and get back at Sindhu. And his friends being the assholes they were, just kept snickering from behind him every time someone scolded him or teased him.

Once the whole ceremony got over, Sindhu first wanted to stuff herself with food but right then the photographer suggested they could take some couple photos now that the relatives have at last let them be but she did not bother with him. Wait, that's not accurate. It's not that she did not bother him but rather she threatened him into letting her go. The poor guy almost peed his pants when she showed him her fighting skills in a video shot from when she was back in Bangalore when she participated in underground fights just to spite John. And Gautham looked at the whole scene transpire and saw his own future bleakly in front of him with invisible tears adorning his face. Even the photographer also gave him a pitiful look.

But once the photographer let her go, she happily hopped towards Gautham with a big smile. That was the first real smile for her that day.

"You look as if you were released from a prison or something" Gautham said with a smirk.

"Come on, I am starving." Sindhu exclaimed and dragged him towards the pantry but Gautham held her back and dragged her in the opposite direction.

"Gautham, I am serious. If I don't put something in my stomach right now, I am going to end up eating you." Sindhu said irritated.

"Really?? Show how you will eat me???" Gautham teased and extended his hands towards her mouth.

"Don't play around Gautham. I am tired and hungry. I barely have the energy to stand straight with this dress." Sindhu said with a pitiful face changing tactics.

"I know. Got to this room, I kept a change of clothes for you there. You go change I will get you food okay." Gautham said caressing her head and gave her a pair of keys.

Sindhu's expression brightened up in just the next second. She gave him a tight hug and then took the keys and ran off with a big smile.