HARIJAI SINGH PART 4

CHAPTER 42
My “Nikah” at Saharanpur was a gala affair. My in-laws side had
seen to it that the marriage ceremony was a grand show. After
all, their NRI son Zaheer from New York is a pride possession of
the community.
Money was no problem for the Khan family. Their relations had
come from all over India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. So powerful
were the Khan family bonds.
From our side, it was a low-key presence – my parents and a
couple of my father’s close friends.
We treated the whole show on a lowkey. There was no
excitement. No execuberance. Just a routine matter in
deference to my wishes.
I could feel my father did not like it, but he preferred to take it
easy and went along without showing any anguish on his face.
But I could feel his reservations. My Amma did hint about my
Dadaji’s reservations, but she managed to take him along.
I could hear some murmurings among my father’s friends.
“I don’t know why she should have decided to play with her life.
She could have got any brilliant Hindu boy. I don’t know why
she should have staked our religious feelings in this gamble”.
That was Jamnadas Lahori, Dadaji’s old friend from our native
place of Larkana in undivided India.
He was very fond of me. I could feel his inner resentment,
though in person he tried his best to hide his feelings.
I know how to take things in stride. I wish to move on in my life
on my terms,realising fully that it a big gamble. Even my heart
of hearts does not endorse it.
147