COVER STORY
Hina went to the market with Ammi, ready for anything, but little prepared for what would actually happen. They spent hours going down narrow passageways lined with row upon row of bridal wear shops. Ammi had her own method of looking around a bridal wear shop. She would enter, Hina following her, and take a quick look at the big displays. Soon enough, one of the shopkeepers would attend to her and she would spend the better part of the next hour getting him to show her bridal dresses. Hina did not know what Ammi was looking for. Hina sat silently, looking at the closely worked bridal dresses as they were presented one after another, and just when it would seem that their search was about to end, Ammi would excuse herself from the current shop and head into the next one to repeat the process all over again.
By the end of it, Hina did not want to look at a bridal dress ever again. Ammi seemed thoughtful. She had not committed to any of the dresses but she had looked at a good number of them. They headed home, where Hina barely got to enter her own room for a moment of rest before her phone rang. It was Amani, calling Hina over to her house to show her the shopping they had done for Gohar. Hina dragged herself over to Amani’s house, melting out of the car at the front door and sliding up the front steps. Amani excitedly brought Hina into her own room, which was filled with bags upon bags of shopping.
“Just look at all this lovely stuff we got,” Amani said gleefully, picking up a dress to show Hina and pointing out a set of jewellery at the same time.
“Maybe Hina’s tired,” Gohar said, looking carefully into Hina’s lifeless face.
“She can’t be too tired to look at your shopping,” Amani said. “You should always be ready to look at shopping!”
“No, really, Amani, I think Hina really is too tired,” Gohar said, at which Hina fixed her with a stern glare. Gohar went quiet.
“What have you been up to that you’re so tired?” Amani asked. “You told us you were on market duty with your mother. Did you get anything good?”
“Ammi looked at all the bridal stuff on the market today,” Hina said. “She didn’t decide on anything though.”
“She must have just wanted to get a good look to start with,” Amani said. “You can’t rush something like a bridal dress.”
“Maybe she was looking for something in particular,” Gohar said. “She might just want to keep looking until she finds it.”
“I really don’t care,” Hina said, leaning back in her chair with her arms hanging down on both sides. “It takes way too long for her to decide, whatever she has in mind.”
Amani and Gohar stared at her.
“It’s a bridal dress, Hina, not a common one,” Amani said. “You can’t blame your mother for taking her time.”
“I’m sure whatever she gets will be beautiful,” Gohar said, her face shining.
“Didn’t she ask you what you wanted?” Amani asked.
“Yes,” Gohar said, smiling. “I asked for pink.”
“Oh,” Amani said. “You really want to wear pink on your walima day?”
Gohar nodded. “It’s such a lovely colour. It’s my favourite.”
Amani nodded along with her. “You’re going to wear bold red on your barat anyway, so yeah, why not go for a softer colour the next day?”
“How do you know I’m going to wear bold red on my barat?” Gohar asked.
“Come on, Gohar,” Amani said. “It’s not a barat without a bold red dress.”
“I actually asked for deep red,” Gohar said. “I thought it would look nicer.”
“You’re making a mistake,” Amani said. “You’ll regret it when the day comes. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you about it.”
Gohar shook her head. “I’m quite confident in my choice, thank you,” she said.
“Aren’t you little Miss Confident all of a sudden,” Amani said. “I think getting engaged to Ray has worked wonders on your personality.”
Hina suddenly thumped the table, making their glasses shake. “Let’s waste less time on conversations like these and talk about something that really matters,” she said.
“Oh, really?” Amani said. “What matters more than Gohar’s wedding?”
“My own wedding, of course,” Hina said, making Amani laugh and Gohar go wide-eyed.
“Hina, everyone in this room is getting married,” Amani said. “Your wedding isn’t more important than anyone else’s. How about we let Gohar have her time in the spotlight? It’s only fair after what she’s been through.” She proceeded to pull up a shopping bag and hold out its contents to Gohar. “Remember when we saw these in the store window? We thought they were perfect,” she said.
Hina stared at the wall, gripping her glass extra hard, letting Amani and Gohar’s conversation flow around her while she remained cut off from it, sitting in her own shadows.
***********************
“Look at this.” Ray answered her usual knock on his door with arms outstretched, showing off the clothes he was wearing.
“Nice suit,” Hina said, entering the room and looking for a place to sit.
“It’s not just any suit,” Ray said. “It’s my wedding suit.”
“Way to ruin the moment,” Hina said, settling onto the sofa and looking for the TV remote.
“You still owe me a congratulations on getting married,” Ray said, adjusting his tie. “Now you can add some compliments for my wedding suit to the bill.”
Hina looked at him with a cross look on her face. “Why is your tie pink?” she asked.
“To match with the bride’s dress, what else,” Ray said happily.
Hina smacked herself on the forehead. “All of you deserve each other,” she said. “What with Ammi looking up and down the market for a bridal dress, Gohar up to her ears in shopping and you wearing a pink tie, there isn’t a sane person left in my life.”
Ray sat down next to Hina in silence for a few moments. Then he said, “You know, Hina, when it’s your wedding we’ll be doing all of this and more for you too,” he said gently.
“I don’t even want to think about it,” Hina said.
To be continued...