The earth was unusually going up and down and I was going up and down with it too.

I woke up with a startle and found three kids jumping on my bed all around me.

"Trish didi woke up!" they all shrieked and clapped as if I had just done a wonderful job that required immense talent and strength.

What a great start to the day!

Note the sarcasm, people.

"Trisha didi, let's play Barbie," the eldest one said, holding up her hand to show me a Barbie whose one cheek was punched in and had a leg missing.

Yes, that was one of my Barbies when I was about their age and I am pretty sure that they had removed it from the storeroom and injured the poor thing. The kids were my first cousins who lived in Mumbai too. Tanay and Tanya were the children of my mom's younger brother, aged two and five and then there was Aparna, aged four, the only child of my dad's younger sister.

They were really cute and all and they think I am about their age too, but just a bit too gigantic. They follow me everywhere around the house whenever they visit and I have to explain to them everything I do and they have to go through all my drawers and play dress-up with my clothes and attempt to tear all my books and try to annoy me in the best way possible. That's it.

Were they annoying?

No, they were not annoying at all! Who said they were annoying? They were too cute to be annoying!

"So didi let’s play!" all of them screamed again, continuing their jumps on my bed.

I could hear chatter and laughter coming from the living room. The adults! The sly adults who brought their kids and sent them away to my room saying-"Go kids, play with didi," (who was apparently sleeping but apparently no one cares). I wondered when they came home. I hadn't heard a thing, but honestly, even if there was a real earthquake and my entire building falls down, they will find me buried under all that debris and I would be asleep. Yeah, I am an amazing world-class sleeper.

I peeped into Rohit's room (that's my brother, in case I forgot to mention) which was adjacent to mine. He is two years elder to me but judging by his mental status, I think he is a toddler or even younger than that. It was empty, as I thought it would be as he always vanishes whenever some relative comes home.

"Let me brush my teeth first," I said grumpily trying to get up from the bed. But the kids kept jumping.

Finally, I struggled myself out and they all stopped jumping.

Thank you.

As I was reaching out for my towel that was lazily draped over my balcony's wall, Aparna reached there faster and came running towards me with the towel.

Oh! How sweet of her, I thought.

But instead of giving it to me, she wrapped it around herself like it was a sari and started to parade around in my room.

"Aparna, give it back to me!” I screamed running after her.

She was running faster than me all around the room while the other kids cheered her on. She climbed on my study desk and stomped on all my books. She climbed on my dressing table and kicked away all my stuff before running into the living room.

"Aparna," I screamed, one last time but I could already hear the adults asking her what happened. The kids ran after her and I sat on my bed, exhausted, looking at my room which was now a total mess.

***

"Mom, please!" I whined as I watched my mother pack the sarees, we were supposed to give the boy's family.

"No, Trisha. You have to wear an anarkali tonight too."

"But mom...," I wailed. This evening was the one where the girl's family has to go to the boy's house and see if the bride feels comfortable in her new house. The boy's family has to welcome us and give a feast and all. It actually happens the day before the wedding but in a city like ours, the traditions kind of get mixed up. If you know what I mean.

"What's wrong in wearing an anarkali? You look so pretty in one!"

"Yes, you do, Trisha." That was my brother.

We both looked up to see him leaning against the door frame, wearing a 'Simpsons' shorts and a T-shirt which had a skeleton kissing a girl dressed in skimpy clothes. My mom scrutinized his outfit.

I grinned. This was so going to be fun!

"You are not wearing that!" my mom said sternly, pointing to his outfit.

"Oh! Come on, mom! It's not like I am hurting anyone's feelings."

"You are hurting my feelings! Now, go, change!!" my mom all but yelled.

"Now how do you feel?" I asked him, still grinning.

He glared at me.

"But mom, I am eighteen! I am rightfully an adult and can choose my own outfit."

"Which fundamental right is that?" I squeezed in.

I received another glare.

"But you live under my roof! You are going to attend my family function! And I don't like you wearing that!"

"What's wrong with it?"

"What's wrong with it?? Where do you even buy such T-shirts from? God only knows," my mother mumbled.

"Why, mom? You want one too right," he asked raising his eyebrows and grinning.

My mom glared at him as I tried to hide my laughter.

"Go change!" she said in an even sterner voice and my brother walked back to his room, sighing.

"But mom, jeans is formal!" I said, continuing our argument.

"No, it isn't," she replied and muttered, " children these days," under her breath.

"You want us to wear formals, right? I will wear western formals, then."

"Trisha..."

"The one you bought for me on my birthday!"

"But..."

"The black one! You said you loved it!"

"But it's too short!"

"I will wear stockings."

"Promise?"

"Yes, mom."

She looked at me and I gave her my best 'innocent' face.

"Fine," she said after a while.

I squealed in delight and danced around the room.

"Now go change!" she ordered, and I ran to my room before she changed her mind.

***

I looked at myself in the full-length mirror. My wavy shoulder-length hair was let free for the day and the black dress looked perfect on me. I wasn't a fan of make-up and all, but I had still put kajal under my eyes which kind of highlighted my puppy-brown eyes.

And of course, I didn't wear the stockings!

I decided to let my legs free for the night.

***

"How come she gets to wear what she wants," Rohit groaned when he looked at me. I twirled around in my black dress.

"This is not even a formal!" he groaned further.

"This is known as a western formal," I replied, grinning.

"You get to wear western while I wear Indian!" he whined, indicating his black suit.

"That’s western too, you idiot!" I retorted. He glared at me.

My brother was wearing an all-black suit and he was actually looking pretty good. But again, he was my brother and he will always be ugly to me.

"Where are your stockings?" my mother asked me, coming out of her room, adjusting her earing.

"The black ones have gone for a wash," I lied through gritted teeth. A white lie, I assured myself when guilt overtook me.

"You have several other pairs," my mother argued.

"But they are not black."

"Wear pink then," my brother chipped in.

I punched him in the arm.

"Why do I even have to be there?"

"It's a family function!" retorted my mother before angrily walking out through the open door of our apartment.

***

We left our house at fifteen minutes past six and reached the house at half past six. My dad kind of looked like a fool when he realized that the house was not pretty far away, and we could have actually walked and reached faster because of all that traffic.

We had entered this very rich colony where there were these huge bungalows which had their own garden and pool and all. Obviously, these were rich people. The groom's family greeted us sweetly and served us mango juice. My family wasn't the only one there. I could see many people who were also there during the wedding and I remembered the makeup woman and the cameraman incident. I was eager not to catch anyone's eyes.

I was chatting with one of my elder cousins when I heard my name being called.

I turned around and Lord behold!

It was Arnav, the great!

"Hi!" he said looking down at me and then added, "You look gorgeous."

My cousin coughed behind me and excused herself away when I glared at her.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed at him.

"Well I am Sanju's neighbour," he said and then added, "Sanju, the groom."

I frowned.

"They invited us over."

The loudspeakers blared the latest Bollywood hits and some of the guests danced around. The ladies were on the upper floor gifting each other sarees and discussing life in general. The men were watching television in the grand living room and were doing small talk. Aparna and the other kids were running around. There were a few teenage girls, but they were all up, discussing sarees and I really didn't want to go there. I might fall asleep and that would be the second humiliating thing I would have done in this entire wedding.

"Want to go out and get some fresh air?"

"Yeah," I replied.

What better option did I have, really?