A Red Lehenga For Malati

Komal was thrilled because she was attending her best friend's mehendi and sangeet ceremony in the evening. She designed the lehenga herself, selecting the cloth, stones, and jari herself for her friend's lehenga.

 After admiring her creation for the last time, she packed it properly before locking the door. She had to haste because all the family members had already arrived at the ceremony.

She stayed back because she wanted to give the final touch to the lehenga. She needed to get to the venue before lunch so that the would-be bride could get her lehenga ready for the evening ceremony.

  Komal started her scooter by making sure the lehenga was properly placed in front of her. She had to cover 32 kilometers along the Mahanadi river to reach the venue. She could not understand why people choose venues at isolated distant resorts for these types of functions.

She was so happy that she could even hear her singing in her heart.

She suddenly noticed that, while getting the dress ready, she had not marked the black cloud covering the sky. The rain started as soon as she reached the road along the river bank. 

She could not let the lehenga get wet in the rainwater, so she looked for shelter. Finding a tea stall on the road, she stopped there. It started to rain and while she was keeping her scooter on the stand, it made a hole in the ground below. She sheltered herself inside the tea stall's thatched roof.

There were only three wooden chairs and a small wooden table in the tea stall. While making herself comfortable on one chair she kept the lehenga bag on the table at that instant for a fraction of a second she felt something odd as if something shook her. She got her posture and looked around. She couldn't see anyone on the counter, which had some biscuit packets and tea preparation utensils.

 'Maybe nobody stops here for tea. Very old shop.' she thought to herself by observing the utensils which seemed somewhat unused. Suddenly a girl peeped from the corner behind the counter. She was doing something under the counter table. 

" Oh hello. I was searching for my earrings under the table" the girl said.

" hello is it your shop?" Komal asked.

" oh no no it's my father's "

Komal observed a simple but beautiful girl with a mesmerizing smile and two bright blue eyes, who was the same age as her. She was wearing a green churidar kameez.

"Can I have a cup of tea? It's raining heavily and I can't go as this lehenga will get wet. Today is my friend's mehendi cum sangita and she is going to wear this in the evening."

The girl smiled and turned the stove on, putting the kettle over it she started to prepare tea. 

Komal observed the scenery around the tea stall, a small tea shop, the river was flowing on the back side just close to it, pink sky and heavy rain and water dripping from the peepal tree in front of the tea stall. What a romantic scenario.

 "Wait! A pink sky with rain. How usual.' She kept thinking.

" Didi tea" The girl brought tea in a glass and interrupted Komal's thought process.

As the small table was covered with the lehenga bag, the girl put the tray on another chair.

While sipping the tea, Komal felt as if someone was watching her from behind the peepal tree. She turned her head to watch properly, but no one was there.

'Is there anyone behind the tree?' She thought to herself.

 " This is a very lonely place. How can you work here alone? " I asked her inspecting the surroundings. 

" Na, my father is here also. He has gone to our home to bring some milk".The girl said.

" Are you gifting this lehenga to your friend?" She asked looking at the lehenga bag.

" Yes, I stitched it, all designs with stone and Jari are also mine," I said proudly. 

" Didi, Can I see it, please." The girl said with a smile.

" Ohh, Why not ?" I finished my tea and opened the bag.

There was laying the red-coloured lehenga with yellow, and green stonework with white and yellow Jari finishing.

" Didi, it's very beautiful. I haven't seen any lehenga with this colour combination" she said sliding her hand on the lehenga. 

" You have chosen excellent fabric also."

I felt proud of myself when I saw sparkling in the girl's eyes in admiration of my lehenga.

 " Didi, if you don't mind can I have a special request " she asked.

"What is it?" I said putting the lehenga back in the bag.

"Didi, my marriage is in next month. Can you make a similar lehenga for me.? I will pay whatever it costs." The girl said.

" Ohh! See I am not a professional tailor. It's my hobby. I have stitched this for my friend out of love."

" Please didi. " She told me with folded hands.

"Okay, I will try but can't give you a guarantee."

 " Thank you didi" 

" What is your name?"

" Malati"

The rain had stopped.

"Thank you, Malati. If you were not here, I could not remain here for this long". 

 When I left on the scooter, Malti stood there weaving me.

When Komal hardly passed 100 meters the weather suddenly changed. To her surprise, it was sunny weather everywhere. She reached the venue before noon.

When she reached there to her surprise, the venue gate was closed and nobody was there. She tried to call, but her mobile didn't have any charge.

Being confused she stood there for some time, then decided to return to her village. Many possible scenarios clouded her mind while driving back to her home.

When she reached her home, many people were gathered at her house. 

Someone saw her and shouted, "Komal comes"   and all her family members, parents, grandfather, brothers, her friend's family, her relatives, and her neighbors all surrounded her asking her where about.

Komal couldn't understand anything. 

" What happened? Why were you all here in my house? Why were you not at the venue? She asked in utter surprise.

" First tell us where were you for two days?" Her mother asked sliding her hands on Komal's body as if she wanted to know if she was okay or not.

" I went to the venue but no one was there. So I am coming back from there." Komal was in shock now to see everyone tense.

"See I have your lehenga" she showed the bag to her friend. 

"Komal my mehendi was on Tuesday, and today is Thursday," Her friend said holding her tightly.

Komal felt a dizziness ." What?"

" No way, I became ready and took the lehenga to go to the venue. It started raining on the half way so I stopped at a tea stall by the river, drank tea talked with a girl, and went to the venue when the rain stopped."

" Nothing happened in between. And when I reached the venue there was no one. Please believe me." She told cring.

"Which tea stall?" Her father asked.

" That one by the river. You can ask that girl Malati." She said continuing to cry.

" There are only two tea shops on the river way. Let's go and ask." Her father said.

Komal along with all present there went in search of the tea shop.

They reached the first tea shop along the river.

" No, it is not. It was a little bit old-fashioned, not like this one. No chip bags were hanging like this on the front of the shop." Komal told.

When they were searching along the river road Komal marked an area and told everyone to stop.

 "On the back of this peepal tree, there was a tea stall. I could exactly tell where was the shop. But I don't know where it vanished right now." 

She said in amazement looking everywhere.

"Look, look my scooty tire marks. It was raining so it is right now also there ." Komal said pointing towards a tire mark on the side of the road.

" Here ?" her grandfather asked.

"Yes, here only. I don't know where the tea stall went. The girl, Malti asked me to bring a lehenga for her."

"Malti?" her grandfather repeated.

"Was she fair in colour, with two big blue eyes?"

 " Yes, how do you know?"

" Was she wearing a green churidar kameez?"

"Yes, yes, dadaji how do you know?"Komal asked again.

" Oh my God. This is impossible "Her grandfather fainted saying this. They immediately took him to the hospital. 

After coming to sense he called Komal near him and asked

" What did Malti want from you?"

" A lehenga for her marriage. She said her marriage is after one month"

" Now, all of you listen" dadaji called all the family members. 

" Before my marriage to your grandmother 51 years ago, my marriage was fixed with a girl in our village named Malti. She was the most beautiful girl in our village, the daughter of the tea stall owner by the river. Malati was a friend of my sister your"s late bua-dadi. The stall was exactly at the same place Komal has shown us today. Malti's description is also the same."

"What happened to her?" Komal's mother asked.

" She was drowned in the river by the side of the shop."

" How?" mother asked again.

" Nobody knows. She used to help her father at the tea stall. Just one month before our marriage, one day her father went to their home for some work, and when he returned he found Malti's body floating on the river. On that day she was wearing a green churidar kameez. One of her earrings was also not there." Dadaji continued.

" She was so happy for our marriage. Malti wanted a nice lehenga for our marriage reception of her choice. That evening both our families went to meet in the market so that we could buy her lehenga. How could she kill herself? How could she drown as she was an excellent swimmer? Somebody must have killed her."

"And because the area was so empty, no one had noticed anything."

" For someday police searched for any foul play then closed the case."

" so you are telling Komal she has seen a ghost." her mother said.

"Yes. And that explains her time gap in reaching the venue. As ghosts can shift time."

" Oh my God. She wanted this lehenga dadaji" Komal told loudly while standing up.

"We have to give it to her" She added.

By then words had already spread through the entire village.

All the village went to the riverside where Malti's father's tea stall used to be.

Both Komal and Dadaji floated the red lehenga in the river.

Komal could visualize Malti wearing a red lehenga and felt a sudden shudder going through her body.

Komal frequently had dreams in which Malati was wearing a red lehenga while strolling along the riverbank and then drowned in the water while still wearing the lehenga.