CATCHING UP!

CATCHING UP!

“I can’t believe it is finally happening!” said Simran.

“Yes, finally!” I said

A baby started crying in the background.

“Ughh..” her mother said, we all giggled.

“Suno (listen), I am going see you guys tomorrow,” the mother of the weeping child said and left the video conference.

“Bechari! (Poor girl) I told her a kid will be a disaster” I said pitying my best friend.

“Guys bring something traditional to wear,” Mansi said.

“You have told us that so many times,” Divyanshi replied.

It was decided then, everyone will reach Delhi, and then we will head to Masourie to spend the weekend. Its been nearly five since the gang met without husbands and kids clinging to our sides. Good old days, when there were no worries, no kids crying, no in-laws judging our every action. I couldn’t sleep that night, I felt like a teenager excited for a date.

I saw Riya getting off a white car, she kissed her baby boy and smiled at her husband, she wore a lemon yellow saare. I was leaning against my car, and my heart flooded as I saw my ancient best friend coming towards me.

“I missed you so much,” she said hugging me.

“Where are the others?” she asked.

“We will pick Pooja from the grocery store, she is buying us booze. Mansi, Divyanshi, and Simran are on their way” I said.

Soon we were in the car, ready for our long-awaited getaway. The credit goes to Mansi she was the one who planned this much needed weekend getaway. I mean I needed it so much, I needed to see those stupid faces. We spend most of our lives together, same school, then most of us got into the same college in Agra. After graduation, our paths separated but it never felt that way. When we were twenty-four Riya got married, then the next year Divi and our lives changed forever. No more late-night dance parties, no vacations. Then after a year both Riya and Divi got pregnant and things got even worse, by the time we were twenty-seven communication narrowed down to the occasional video and phone calls and we met each other only when one was in town. No one but life is to be blamed. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being twenty. People say we are very lucky to have spent so much time together, it was true indeed.

“Booze is here!” pooja said getting inside the car.

“Woohoo!” I said cheerfully.

The road journey was mostly taking how insanely perfect each others life was. It was concluded that my life was more perfect than theirs.

“No kids, no husband, “ Divi said

“No judgey in-laws” Riya continued

“And a perfect boyfriend” Simran added.

“Not to forget, her second book is going to come out soon” Mansi concluded

And hence my life was perfect.

“Door ke pahad door se suhane” I said.

“Nikal”(get lost) Riya said.

After hours of struggling with google maps, we reached our lodging. It was a small cottage with free internet and the worst beds. By the time we reached the cabin, it was already 4 and we were all dead tired.

“I kept asking you all to leave on Friday, now we won't be able to go for site seeing” I complaint.

“Thanks to Riya's mother in law,” Divyanshi said.

“She is a chudail (female demon)” I said.

“We have a lot to catch up on so go get in your pj's. I’ll get the booze ready” Mansi said, she sounded so cheerful. Who could say to our sweet Mansi?

We all got into our pj's and sat on the floor in a circle covering ourselves with blankets, for a moment it felt like old days like we were twenty again.

“So let's catch up,” I said

After half an hour of chatting about life, weather, in-laws, relationships, poop, kids, career, I noticed Mansi was quite in all that, which is unlike her.

“Mansa, everything alright?” I asked and everyone looked at her.

“Dheeraj is getting married tomorrow,” she said looking at her drink. Dheeraj was Mansi's ex-boyfriend who we all hated dearly.

“Oh! Poor the girl he is marrying” I said trying to be funny but the humor wasn’t my strong suit.

“Are you okay ?” Riya asked eying me.

“No” she replied simply “and I want to go this wedding and create a scene, any scene” she added

After a moment of silence, we all burst out laughing.

“She is funny,” Simran said. We all stopped laughing because we knew very well that our Bollywood fan Mansi Shukla was damn serious.

“No way! “ I said “I will not do it” I added

“He was a liar and he broke my heart, I want to crash his wedding and I will,” Mansi said resolutely.

“God she has lost it, is that even legal?” we looked up to the almost lawyer of our gang Divyanshi.

“No it’s not illegal, but I don’t think it is a good idea,” she said

“I need to do this” Mansi said with tears in her eyes.

“He kinda deserves it,” Pooja said

“Agreed” Riya added.

“Me too,” Simran said. They all looked at me,

“Fuck it,” I said.

So it was decided then, we were crashing a wedding and I will say the dialogue “Ye shaadi nahi ho sakti”

“Guys, since you all are pretty drunk I want to say something,” Pooja said pretty intensely.

We all looked at her face silently, we knew something was going on.

“I am in a relationship,” she said.

“ooh,” we said in unison, “I thought you’ll say I am pregnant and I don’t know who the father is,” Riya said.

“with a girl” she completed. There was complete silence in the room, even my sense of humor didn’t help me.

“We didn’t know you were gay,” Riya said.

“Bisexual,” I murmured correcting Riya.

“Wow! That’s something” Simran said

“Aunty knows?” Divyanshi asked

“She found out, their reaction was the worst. They are calling me sick and whatnots” Pooja said in a low voice. It's still a strange thing for our elders to accept, they don’t understand it and so they reject it.

“They’ll be fine. They will eventually understand,” I said patting her shoulder.

“We are with you, always,” Simran said cheerfully

“My parents are ashamed of me, my life is a mess,” Pooja said

“Talking of messes, have you ever cleaned human shit? I have been for the last year and now my mother in law wants another grand kid” Riya said making a funny face.

We all laughed.

“Who am I a baby producing machine, and don’t even get me started on her logic behind doing so,” she added.

“Tell us,” I said.

“It is, the kids can use each other's books when they go to school, that old miser” she added sounding ridiculed.

“What the hell,” Divyanshi said giggling.

“I wish I didn’t marry,” she said,

“Yeah me too, do you remember how much I cried on her bidai” I said and everyone started to giggle.

Nostalgia hit us all hard this time. I knew during Riya's wedding that everything will change now, and it precisely did. My illusion that everyone’s life was perfect except mine was crumbling down, I realized that everyone was fighting a battle.

It was Simran who spoke next.

“I think I did a mistake, leaving my old job to pursue dancing, “ she said

“Oh come on, at least you are following your passion,” Diviyanshi said reflecting on her wounds. She wanted to become a lawyer, but then marriage happened, thankfully it was her own choice. She thought it would work out, she’ll continue studying but we all know such a thing does not go well for Indian women. I wanted to advise her against it but our girl was in love.

“Passion doesn’t pay bills,” Simran said deeply.

“Hey, if you need financial help we are here,” I said studying her face

“Yep, I know,” she said silently, I knew she wouldn’t she was too proud to do that.

“Tell us about your upcoming book,” Mansi said changing the subject

“I haven’t written anything,” I said vaguely.

“You sent us a snap of your draft” Riya reminded.

“Yes I did, I burnt it,” I said choking on my words.

“What! Why?” Simran exclaimed

“It was about me and Arav, our love but it is over now so what's the point,” I said trying to hold my tears.

“No way!” Divyanshi exclaimed.

“He got a job in London, he said long distance wouldn’t work,” I said

“Nine years, I haven't dated anyone but him. I thought he was the one,” I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore. “He said I need not make a mess out of this break-up, that this getaway would help,” I said choking on my words.

“ He left, nine years, and just in a moment everything is over,” I said weeping like a teenager crying over her first breakup.

“That ass hole, loser, he will rot,” said Pooja agitated.

“Fuck him,” Riya said holding my hand.

“He doesn’t know what he lost,” Simran said.

“Let’s tell him, then,”Mansi said,

“No way, “ I said.

“Oh shut up! He will reap what he sowed, Let’s make a Whats app group, add him and tell him” Divyanshi cried.

What happened next was the silliest thing one could have done, part of it was because of the alcohol, and part of it was the heightened emotions we all felt. A group was made, he was added and insults were hurled. He blocked us all.

“Who needs men anyway,” I said and we all laughed and drank, we slept on the floor hugging each other.

The next day we woke up with a heavy head but a lighter heart, but our minds were too occupied to think of any of that. It was the day when we're supposed to do the most Bollywood thing ever. The day passed in planning and anticipating what would happen. I even practiced the dialogue “Ye shaadi nahi ho sakti” a couple of times in front of the mirror.

We wore our best traditional Indian saares and lehengas. We all looked hot. One thing I was sure of was that this adventure would be a tale we will tell our grandchildren. Simran was worried that someone will recognize was, but I was sure no one could. In an Indian wedding where there are more than 500 guests who would care about five women sneaking inside the wedding.

That’s exactly what happened, we got inside and no one even noticed. Soon we were standing near the mandap and saw him sitting beside his wife to be, with some ridiculous song playing in the background. It was my turn to say the dialogue but I got so nervous that I blurted out something that no one seemed to notice.

“Let’s leave, “ Divyanshi said soflty and we all moved towards the dance floor, we needed another plan.

“So my suggestion is, let’s eat food and leave,” Pooja said.

“Yes let us have food and then give the lifafa (envelope with money) and leave,” I said.

“Seriously! Lifafa!” Mansi exclaimed.

“Lifafa with a 10 rupee note with a message on it,” I said.

So the lifafa was prepared, inside it was ten-rupee note with the words, “ FUCK OFF. THIS IS YOUR WORTH”. It was a mean thing to say, but he was a mean man, a liar, cheater, and manipulator, so I found it to be fair.

We waited for the marriage rituals to get over, ate some free food, and then as soon as the couple started receiving guests we went to them.

“Hi,” Divyanshi said, he had a funny expression on his face.

“Here our blessing,” Mansi said handing over the envelope. “Have a great life,” she said and left.

I saw his pale face and said “You won’t loser,”

We all laughed our way back to Delhi, it was time for us to say goodbyes.

We left with a promise that we will do this again.

“Until next time,” we said and went back to our not so perfect lives.

BY,                                                                                                           TINA FREESE.