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First time!

Just on the brink of nineteen, it was her first time. It just had to be special. So she stood grumpy in front of her cupboard flipping random clothes on her bed.

"That's a nice pile of kurtas there," said her mom as she entered the room.

"They are all useless," she lamented.

"What exactly are you looking for?"

"Something nice... Something right for today... Something that connects me to my culture and country."

"I see... C'mon then... " her mom said.

Her mom opened up her own cupboard wide for her. It was full of sarees, colourful and well organised. She smiled and reached out for one in her favourite Indigo.

"Aah," her mom said. "Perfect that you chose this."

"Why?"

"Because this is an Ajrakh print saree, hand printed on the soils of Kutch, soaked in the waters of the arid lands and covered in patterns with natural dyes. What else will connect you more to your culture and country?"

Happy and satisfied, she left draped in her mother's love after few minutes. The seething heat and long queue didn't deter her and she patiently waited for her turn to get inked. Finally she stood at the booth, having ID verification done and extending the index finger of her left hand.

The guy was over enthusiastic about the job he had just landed. She was his first "customer" you see. He had just replaced a guy who had been on work since the morning.

And then he meticulously started painting her finger with the tiny ink brush and kept progressing down the finger. She wondered what he was up to. He probably would have painted the whole finger had her mom, who was right behind her, not exclaimed "itna?" She watched amused as everyone around her started laughing including the guy and her mother .

All things done, she stood behind the selfie booth, holding the saree pallu. Her mom clicked her pic and smiled and said, "Well, the flip side of this weird inking is that anyone can now make it out from a distance that you have fulfilled your duty to the nation." She beamed as she flashed her overtly inked finger.


© Nishtha Khurana, 2018. All rights reserved. The text as well as the pictures are both subject to copyright and are the property of the author. Please do not copy or reproduce without permission.


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