The priest conducting the marriage ceremony started the incantations, the penultimate part of the ceremony. Naani wondered whether the man sitting next to her was the youngest brother. From what she’d been told, he was 25, had a Master’s degree and had impressed his father with his business sense. He was also his mother’s favorite son, not unlike most other youngest sons. He was going to inherit a large portion of the family business. Naani would have a good life. Not easy but good. It wouldn’t be easy living with the parents-in-law and all their children and grandchildren. But there would be four other daughters-in-law in the house to share the work. Her husband would eventually get his inheritance, and she would enjoy her old age. But she could be sitting next to the elder brother, Naani thought. She’d heard that he was 45, had quibbled with his parents and worked for the government. Those government jobs didn’t pay much but he would survive in the joint-family till his parents lived. After that, he would have to make do with his inheritance. That would not be much because he didn’t work for the family business. Naani would have a wretched life. “Would the groom please stand up,” the priest’s voice rang out amid a clanging of bells. Naani had seen many marriage ceremonies. She would be part of many such ceremonies in the years to come, but never like this, never with the thick silk veil barricading her from the rest of the people. As she felt the groom get up, she started sobbing. “Shh. It’s not time yet,” she heard her mother’s hoarse whisper. She clenched her teeth and forced the sobs into a whimper. She felt a piece of cloth wrap around her face over the veil. Someone slowly lifted her veil and her neatly combed hair saw daylight for the first time since the ceremony had begun. She shivered. She could hear loud cheers for the groom. She felt the vermillion powder fall on the part of her hair. As her veil fell down, she hugged her mother and started crying uncontrollably. “I don’t want to go, maa. Please let me stay here. I won’t cause you any more trouble. Don’t send me away, please.” “You are a daughter. You have to leave.” Her mother managed between her own hysterical cries. Naani kept hugging her mother but her mother just lay there limp. Soon, her eldest brother came up to her and called out her name in a faltering voice. He wasn’t crying, but Naani could hear the searing pain in his heart. He lifted her up and carried her on his back to the car waiting to take her to her husband’s house. All around her, Naani could hear only sobs and cries. She cried louder to drown out the world outside her veil. Two children tried to start a conversation with her during the car ride. Naani kept quiet, unable to utter a single syllable. She couldn’t tell if there were more people in the car besides the two children. She wondered if her husband was in the car. When the car stopped, the children grabbed her hand and led her away from the car. They walked seven paces and stopped. “This is grandma,” the children said in unison. Naani dropped to her knees and touched her mother-in-law’s feet with her forehead. Her mother-in-law grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up. As she got up, the mother-in-law removed her veil. Naani looked at her mother-in-law’s glowing face for a moment and lowered her head. “You are beautiful, more beautiful than I expected. Welcome to your home!” Naani felt faint. As she looked around, she realized she was in a crowd of strangers. She could not make eye-contact with anyone but everyone seemed to be trying to smile at her. She felt helpless; she did not have her mother or one of her brothers’ wives by her side to tell her what to do. She followed her mother-in-law into the house, trailed by countless children. They took her to a big, expensively decorated room. The smell of fresh paint nauseated her. The children sat around her, quiet and expectant. Her mother-in-law smiled at the children and told her, “These are your nephews and nieces. I haven’t seen them this happy in a long time. Treat them like your own children.” The afternoon turned into evening and Naani was led to the wedding reception. She couldn’t keep track of the people who brought her presents. Everyone made a comment about her beauty but none were willing to talk to her about anything else. She tried to look around between engaging the guests. She could not find her husband.