As he walked down the road, he saw a motley crowd sitting in a bus arrive at the main road. It was the groom’s party.

Rajjo was going today. It dawned on him that they were taking her away. He just sat there and watched the wedding party enter Rajjo’s house.

The phulkari dupatta still hidden under his mattress made him feel nauseous. He wanted to give it to her so that she would remember him. He ran all the way without stopping and fetched it, running all the way back, just in time to see her standing on the steps of the bus, waving at her family.

Sheru and the younger siblings watched the whole thing play out, sad that another member of their family would be gone.

Although he would miss Rajjo, Sheru was excited that the second-hand TV would be unwrapped and fixed now! Perhaps he could broach the topic tomorrow.

Now that Rajjo was gone, Sheru knew the third in line, Rano, was going to be a tantrum queen. He glanced at her. She stood at a distance from every one else. Like she was singled out by her immense grief at the turn of events.

Rano was numb. She stood alone at a distance – aloof – and refused to bid Rajjo goodbye. She knew that once the bus went out of the village there would be a distance between her and Rajjo. Grandmother was wrong on two accounts; Rajjo was not going to be all that she had promised, and Rano was not going to be a part of her sister’s life. Rano wanted to scream at her grandmother up there for being a fraud.

Just then she saw Karam running towards the bus as the bus driver had started the ignition.

Oh come on… that fool was going to get under the bus now! Perfect!’

As the others sprang into action to stop Karam from obstructing the bus, Karam simply ran up to the bus door.

‘Well, looks like he is going to climb in and go with her… this just gets better, thought Rano.

Karam climbed the two steps and reached towards Rajjo who sat there looking at him. He simply handed her the parcel. This time Rajjo accepted it with a smile. ‘Look after Rano,’ she mouthed.

Karam stepped out of the bus just as the driver started to drive, leaving behind a cloud of dust and sad people.

Long after the bus had moved away and the family had moved inside the house, Karam stood there smiling to himself. Perhaps this is where Rajjo’s story was going to end. Perhaps this is where he was supposed to say goodbye.

But he also remembered the last look she had given him before the bus had turned a corner. She’d looked out and stared at Karam. She’d looked directly into his eyes.

Perhaps this was not how it was going to end, and they would meet again. The question was for how long was he ready to wait.