A Highly Anticipated Letter

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A young woman, intoxicated in love, gazes lovingly into a letter from her fiance. From the reserve of her half-shut eyes and her coy hesitation in even holding the piece of paper, she seems to have waited a long while for it. And only an exceptional could make a damsel like her pine away like that. In the first full blush of womanhood, her fair body has the same sheen as the gold silk lehenga she is wearing or, for that matter, the sunset clouds over the hills in the distance. Her long, lean form is clasped in gold jewellery studded with rubies, matching the thick brocade on the choli as well as the skirt.

Her sister-in-law holds up the letter for her to read. Her equal in terms of beauty and allure, she is dressed equally fashionably in a brocaded lehenga of a post-bridal tint of pink. Like her husband’s madly-in-love and soon-to-be-married sister, gold and rubies grace her neck and wrists and earlobes. While her face is characterised by especial fulness of a mature, married woman, the younger one’s is a more angular, sharp-featured one.

On the armrest of the upholstered couch are perched a pair of doves. They have flown in from the distance to roost for the night, in a cozy alcove within their palatial home. Between the hills and the settlement is a line of lush verdure, indicative of a Northward location in the subcontinent.