First Meeting
“Knock, knock, knock…” Sameer stood behind his family, slightly nervous as he waited outside the house waiting to meet the girl who had saved his Dadi. A few days ago Sameer’s dadi had told him about a girl she met at the temple, who was kind enough to help her and save her life. In a record breaking time his Dadi had called around and found out about the girl. Sameer wasn’t too surprised because when Savitri Prithviraj Sehgal calls herself, she gets her answers quickly. The doctor who his grandmother saw knew the girl, she was the niece of one of her other patients and was visiting them in town. Sameer’s Dadi had gotten her family’s number and called to arrange a meeting. Sameer was slightly nervous as this was the first time he had physically gone to a girl’s house to meet her. In the past he had met girls at functions or office occasions where relatives tried to get him married to someone they knew. Sameer always ignored their advances, as fate would have it, the first time he had to meet a girl he agreed himself, he agreed for his Dadi and also to thank the girl for what she did. Standing outside Sameer was lost until his babhi brushed his shoulder, wiping off some dust from his coat. Sameer was dressed in a off white Jodhpur coat with black pants fitting perfecting over his long slim legs. He wore his watch and his brushed hair and clean shaved face finished his look, simple and classy, simply Sameer. “Nervous?” asked his babhi as she wiped the dust off his coat, “a little” he replied with a slight smile. “My devar has nothing to be nervous about, don’t worry I’m sure she’ll be great, if Dadi liked her there has to be something special about her” she said as the door opened. “Welcome, please come on in.” said the man behind the door. The family was led by Dadi, followed by Sameer’s mother, father and babhi. Sameer was the last to enter and before entering folded his hands and slightly bent his head to greet the elder lady and her husband. They looked at each other happily and then at Sameer approvingly. Motioning them to sit down, they brought snacks and tea and engaged in small talk about how Dadi met the girl, how she saved her life and so on. While they talked Sameer’s phone rang not wanting to interrupt them he quickly cut the call. The phone rang again and he cut the call again. As the phone rang the third time, the uncle insisted he take the call and that it might be urgent. Sameer got up and walked to the corner of the room but couldn’t hear anything on the other side “Hello, hello” he asked a few times calmly, “there is a slight network issue here, you can go up to the terrace there will be better network there” said the man. Sameer nodded to his Dadi as he walked towards the terrace. “Sorry we have a small home so sometimes the network is not that good” the man said hesitantly, “No worries at all ji” said Sameer’s mom, “the size of the house doesn’t matter, network issues are everywhere, its the people in the home that matter, right Mummyji” she asked looking at Dadi. “Correctly said, and your niece is a great girl from what I’ve seen” she continued as they got to know more about each other.
Sameer walked up to the terrace, trying to get a network signal on his phone he was unaware of the clothes that hung to dry. He stood in front of the railing next to the hung clothes, “Hello, hello” he asked on the phone, a few seconds later he heard a small “hello” back, it was a girl and the voice came from outside instead of his phone, Sameer looked around and said “Hello” again, this time he heard another “hello” and realized that it was someone on the terrace somewhere behind the hung clothes. He pushed the hung cloth away and saw another blue cloth hanging, he could see a small stool from the bottom and saw a girl standing on the stool, she had two silver anklets on. Sameer figured the girl must have thought he was talking to her and it was she who replied to his “hello”. As tall as Sameer was the hung cloth was tied up high, Sameer straightened his back and titled his head trying to get a look above the hung cloth and managed to get a glimpse of what stood behind. The girl stood on the stool with another cloth in her left hand and with the back of her right hand tried to move her hair out of her eyes, her hand covered her face and the slight wind played with her tresses as they moved around in front of her face. Trying to dip the cloth in a bucket which was placed on a table next to her she quickly lost her balance and trying to brace her fall put out her free right hand in front of her, the impact had pushed the hung cloth away and her fall was saved as she put out her hand on Sameer’s chest and used him as leverage to gain composure. Sameer stood still his torso slightly bent backwards as he watched her slowly try to stand back up only to have the cloth in her hand fly above her and her falling back. Sameer moved quickly and swiftly held her before she could fall. The cloth in her hand was now on her, so much happened so quickly Sameer had yet to see the girls face. He held the girl, she was slim, Sameer’s left hand was around her waist and it barely required any effort on his part to hold her up. Sameer freed his right hand from under the cloth and hesitated on what he should do before he slowly started to pull the cloth from the girls face. Normally he would be a gentlemen and after helping the girl would have quickly left the place, but he was oddly still there. The girl’s voice was sweet even her slight yell when she fell was sweet, her long wavy hair that danced in the wind and the slim waistline that Sameer currently held had all held him in his place. He wanted to see who this girl was, who had saved his Dadi and impressed her so much that she brought her grandson to talk about marriage with her. Sameer slowly pulled the cloth slightly grazing her forehead to reveal two big brown almond eyes. Sameer froze letting go of the cloth. The eyes looked just as surprised, frozen back at him, his touch made them open even wider, despite the surprise there was a slight shine to them, Sameer could see his reflection in her eyes. Her light kajal in her eyes made them even more beautiful if that was possible and the long lashes fluttered as she looked back at him in equal surprise. The eyes held Sameer’s gaze, this was the first time he had seen anyone’s eyes from this close by and the first time he had spent this much time looking into someone’s eyes. And yet this first time didn’t seem like the first, the proximity was new but the eyes, Sameer felt like he had seen these eyes before. “Ring, ring…” breaking their trance Sameer’s phone rang, as he stood straight, the girl quickly turned and left as Sameer answered his phone. By the time he looked up, the girl was gone. Finishing his phone call Sameer stood on the terrace for a few seconds to gain his posture, his heart and breathing were suddenly faster, he found it weird, never in his life had a meeting with anyone, let alone a girl affected him this much. There must be something about this girl he thought, babhi was right, if Dadi wanted him to meet her this fast, there must be something.
Walking back down to the small living room where his family sat, Sameer saw his family look at him with a surprised face. The lady and man who sat there looked at him slightly worried and shocked. Sameer was confused why they were looking at him like this, noone saw what happened up there, and even if anyone did nothing that big had happened for them to be so shocked. Sameer cleared his throat before asking “is everything alright”? His family erupted in small laughter looking at each other, the lady and man smiled hesitantly looking at each other worried. “What happened” Sameer asked as he walked up to his family. “Well, you tell us” replied his Dadi. Sameer was truly confused. “It seems like the girl has already left her mark on you” laughed her babhi looking at his mother “right mummy” she asked. “That too very well” his mother replied. “And also on the perfect spot” his father joined in as they all laughed. Sameer was confused by their jokes and sensing this his mother pointed at his Jodhpur coat, Sameer looked down and was shocked to see a blue handprint on his left chest pocket. Sameer recalled when the girl had put her hand on him bracing her fall, he recalled seeing her hands colored when she was moving her hair with the back of her hand but didn’t notice the handprint until now. Sameer was embarrassed, he felt like a child who walked home dirtying his clothes. He asked the man for a restroom and quickly walked away trying to clean his coat. It was pointless as the color had seeped in his jacket and the water only made it darker. Deciding it was useless he walked back outside where the lady and man apologized, asking them not to worry he sat down and avoided looking at his family knowing well that they would only start laughing again. Sameer was always well kempt, so sitting with something like this on his jacket didnt feel like himself, that too when he was here to see a prospective bride. Bride, he played the word in his mind, before he went to the terrace he was only here to thank the girl who saved his Dadi, he know suddenly caller her his bride, shaking his head he got out of his thoughts. He wanted this to be over quickly so he could leave, he was embarrassed and so unlike him. He sat straight, his eyes shyly looking around the home. The family talked as they waited for the lady to bring the girl. Lost in his thoughts he didnt notice when the girl entered until his babhi slightly nudged his arm to get his attention. He looked up and saw the same two silver anklets, slowly making his way up he saw her hands, her fingers holding the tip of her dupatta, he looked up to see her slim neck and pointed chin and he froze. Sameer looked at the girl bewildered, shocked, amused. It was an altogether weird feeling. He was shocked to see the girl in the blue saree walking down the stairs and sitting in front of him. The girl who he had seen cry a few weeks ago on the street was sitting in front of him. He was shocked to see her but happy to see her doing fine, or was he happy to see her in front of him? Sameer didnt bother with what the difference was. Before the girl came down, the lady and man had explained to Sameer and his family how she was married before. They explained how the situation was not her fault but rather her family’s. They explained how her family had always used her to save themselves in difficult situations and how she being selfless as she was would always agree to their demands in her blind love for them. They explained how she had gotten hurt multiple times due to others and this time too it was the same situation. The lady was the girls Mami and possibly the only one who thought about her alone without any ulterior motives or any bias reasons. Her Mami knew how selfless she was and wanted to find a family and guy who deserved her gem of a niece and not someone who would again use and hurt her. Her Mami claimed that her niece was a diamond and wanted someone who would value her. Sameer’s family was touched to hear about the girl and looked at Dadi with appreciation, Sameer’s Dadi knew that the girl was divorced when she spoke to her Mami on the phone but still asked to meet her because of who she was. They weren’t offended with the girl being married before, they were here to meet the girl, not her past. If one looked carefully they could see the slight smile on Sameer’s face. Sameer was happy that the girl was alright, he still didn’t know the reason but figured her crying that night must have been due to her husband, that’s why he wasn’t with her that night. Sameer was relieved that she was fine, several times since he last saw her, thinking about her would make him wonder if she was alright, she was the first girl who Sameer that thought about like this. Sameer brought his eyes up and looked at the girl, she sat with her hands in her lap finger fighting nervously. She wore her hair down with some pinned to back so they wouldn’t fall to her face. She wore big earrings and a simple necklace. The mangalsutra he saw that day was replaced with a simple necklace and the red bangles were replaced with silver bracelets. Even in her nervous state she seemed more relaxed than the other night where she seemed like she carried a big burden. Sameer was happy to see her in a better place and hoped he could make it more easier and peaceful for her in the future. He had begun thinking about her even before meeting her, maybe Dadi was right he thought, there’s something about this girl. Maybe he thought, just maybe she might not be a bad choice as a life partner. But Sameer was a practical and intelligent man, he wouldn’t just make his life decision like this, the fact that his Dadi and family liked her, seeing their approving glances at him definitely made the decision easier, but he would decide only after talking to her. Sameer’s family understood that and asked the couple to let Sameer and the girl talk to one another. As the home was small, the uncle suggested the girl take Sameer to the temple across the street, where they could talk and decide what they wanted to do.