"Hello, yes we called for that. Yes, yes, send a copy of her birth chart please. We would like to compare it with Aarav's. Yes yes, we will send his too. It's good to get second opinion from another Pandit Ji (priest). Yes, we prefer to go with whatever dates Pandit Ji (priest) will...," Aarav heard his mother talking and he knew it would take her at least a few hours for the call to be done. Aarav just hoped whichever family member of Mahamaya she called had the patience to bear with it.

Sighing, he turned back to his laptop and continued doing his work, as efficiently as he could with his mother chattering in the background. It made him smile. He loved his mother too much to the point that things that were supposed to be annoying were not annoying.

"Her father sent her birth chart, Madhavi. You don't have to talk to her mother anymore, unless you plan to make her run for the hills to escape from talking to you," Aarav's father, Om muttered, looking at his wife.

Madhavi blushed in embarrassment as she said on the phone, "I'm sorry. I didn't realise we were talking since so long. I didn't know the time was slipping off so quickly," Madhavi said apologetically.

Mahamaya's mother, Indrayani said from the other side, "Oh, don't worry much about it, sister. Talking for hours is birth right of women anyways."

That made Madhavi laugh and she was about to get lost in the talks again till she saw her husband's face and said on the phone in a firm voice, "Yes, I'll send his chart and you can consult a pandit ji too and we will talk again. Yes, yes, bye bye."

The call was finally ended as Om muttered, "What Madhavi? You know we are supposed to get things ready for the marriage. We have to get the dates first so that we can estimate how much time is left for the marriage and you choose this time to have your long talks?"

Before Madhavi could open her mouth to apologise, Aarav said from behind, "Dad, let it be. It gave me some more time to work."

Om scolded gently, "Work? What will you do on your wedding day? Open up a laptop in the middle of the mantras (chants) and revolve around the fire with those wireless earphones or whatever in your ears or what? Marriage happens only once and ugh, you both mother and son can't understand how important this is."

Aarav quickly corrected his father cheekily, "You mean airpods, Dad?"

That made Om go off as he said, "What would you two take to go and get ready?"

Om found two faces looking at him sheepishly as they scurried off to get ready to visit their local temple Pandit Ji (priest), even though Madhavi was silently giggling at the scenes Om had created in her mind about her son's wedding. It was too hilarious not to laugh.

Om looked at her curiously, wondering what she found funny, till he remembered his words and smiled. Yeah, the words which he said perfectly described what his son would do.

Om then went on to fill water bottles from the earthen pot, while his son and wife got ready. He was already ready though, wearing a shiny grey kurta and white cotton pants with a white cap on his head so he was doing other works, collecting things which his family might need.

Earthen pots are mostly used in the villages till date because it keeps water cool, is better than fridge because the fridge makes it too cool and the water kept in an earthen pot is sweet somehow.

Om went to his shoe stand and found a kolhapuri style sandals there. These types of sandals are famous from Kolhapur, Maharashtra.

His wife got ready and came out. He could see that she had chosen to get ready in a shiny orange saree with green borders. Traditional green and golden bangles filled her wrists. She had worn a Marathi styled nose ring called nath, earrings and a short necklace with nuptial chain to complete the outfit.

His son came outside too as he wore a peach kurta and a pair of golden pants which creased at his ankles elegantly. Aarav chose for himself a golden coloured pointed shoe like footwear as his father handed him a white cap and muttered, "You need to cover your head when you enter a temple."

Aarav rolled his eyes and muttered, "Yeah, God needs me to be bare footed but keep my head covered? Whatever, I'll wear it, not for him but for you," his small speech followed, like every visit to a temple. He was an agnostic and didn't really believe in God. He just believed that he didn't know and he was satisfied with or without the existence of God.

"Yeah, I know you don't believe in God but at least thank him for what he has given to you," Om mumbled, shaking his head.

"Why? I worked hard to get everything, he didn't," Aarav stated, his voice a little higher.

"Alright, don't then, your wish. We can only advice," Madhavi said, trying to defuse the tension between them as she quietly whispered to Om, "It is his choice to believe or not, we can't force him and besides, he's a good human and a good son. He has given us everything we could ever wish for. Don't get so worked up."

Om took deep breaths and nodded. His heartbeat suddenly rose more and more as he was moving outside, like something bad was going to happen.

The three came out of the small one storey cottage. It had two rooms, one living room and one kitchen. His son had bought it because it was fully furnished and he wanted his parents to have a comfortable stay at their village.

There was also a local maid who would come every week to clean it and he would ask her to stock up the kitchen if they were going to visit. She could take home anything extra remaining in the kitchen after they were gone.

Their ancestral home was given to Om's older brother according to the will of his dead father. Om was very saddened by that first but was happy with the small cottage his son had bought.

Everyone got out of the house as Madhavi locked the steel lock of the main door securely and they sat in the car, Om and Madhavi at the front and Aarav in the back again.

In no time, they were in the temple. It was a very small temple as the trio removed their sandals at the start and walked barefoot to the temple, joining their hands.

"Oh, look who's here! It's our OmkArA with his family," a jolly old man exclaimed, looking at them as he guided Madhavi with the worship plate she had brought.

"My name is Om, not Omkara," Om said in a fake whining voice, making everyone laugh.

"Bus bus, sadaa sukhi raha," the Pandit Ji (priest) said as the three both bowed down to touch his feet.
(Always be happy)

"So, what reminded you of this old man?" Pandit Ji (priest) asked.

Madhavi smiled and touched Aarav's hair, saying admirably as he respectfully lowered his height so that she could do it comfortably, "We went to see a girl for Aarav yesterday and we liked her. We wanted to see if the birth charts match and if there are any upcoming auspicious dates for tying the knot."

Pandit Ji (priest) asked with a calm voice, "Can I see the birth charts?"

Om showed the photos of the birth charts as Pandit Ji (priest) took out a notebook and pencil and drew the charts. While doing some calculations on his fingers, he declared, "Don't go ahead with this marriage. Let alone eighteen, not even one Guna matches and it means that she has a divine match. If Aarav marries her, he will die or their marriage will be ruined in a short period of time. He can also die before the marriage happens because if he marries her, he is directly challenging the divine order..."

*****
A/N:
So, I don't know what these dresses or footwear types are called so I'm facing challenges to describe them but I hope you are liking this book.