Chapter 9

Janna Desai sat at a cafeteria table with Joshua and some of his plant nerd friends. They were laughing at some obscure joke about plant cells. She was an accounting major and couldn’t follow it all.

She looked at Joshua. There was something about him. He was a small young man, fairly average looking. His skin was tanned from long hours in fields and gardens, but otherwise he was very white bread. He did have some of the features of an Indian man. Not that she was hung up on that. Her mother might prefer it, but they were in America now. She was second generation. She had been to India a few times, but this was her home. She looked like an average, pleasant young Indian woman, but she was totally Americanized in accent and outlook.

Joshua smiled at her, acknowledging that he appreciated her patience with the plant nerd humor. Later they would have some time alone.

She had first seen him on the Quad. He was sitting on a bench, deep in reading. When she walked by she noticed that he smelled nice, not the usual thing you notice. He had a pleasant sandalwood smell. It caused a generalized feeling of sensuality in her that she found surprising. It wasn’t in any way tawdry, just pleasant, like earth, and children, and happy days of healthy pleasure.

She wasn’t one to throw herself at men. She walked on. But she was always on the lookout for him. He was often in the library or on the Quad. She managed to sit near him several times.

One time he looked up and caught her looking at him.

He smiled.

“My name is Joshua. You?”

“Janna.”

It was odd. She felt perfectly at ease. He always put people at their ease. It was that way with them from the beginning.

They just fell in together. He was polite, smiled a lot, in a shy sort of way. He was not the kind of man she would have thought she would fall for, not flashy in any way, or her image of a strong man. But he had his strength, she knew. And even now, sitting at the table, she felt a deep, pleasant sensation.

He was a conservative man in a way, didn’t keep trying to get her into bed. It wasn’t that he was repressed or puritanical in any way. They had spent many long hours caressing quietly, watching a video, or walking, or just alone in her dorm room when no roommates were there. Maybe he was just cautious. And she was in no hurry either. She couldn’t quite figure him out, but she fell deeply into his world.

Her father liked him completely. Her father was a software engineer, and Joshua seemed to know a lot about it. They could talk for hours, with Joshua coaxing out one more detail or concept. Her father was really a quite brilliant software engineer.

Her mother was reluctant, but Joshua was such a polite young man, always pleasant and paying careful attention. And he was a good student, in the sciences, apparently with good prospects. What was not to love?

Apparently his parents were dead. That was a strange thing, but it happens. He had had a rough childhood, but had turned himself around. There was some mystery about it. She didn’t press him.

They were on the Quad one day. It was early spring, a little cool, but the sky was bright blue.

“Would you join with me?” Joshua asked.

She was astonished.

“Join?”

He actually flushed and looked a little disconcerted, something she had never seen in him.

“Marry. Life partners.”

“You want to get married?” she asked, smiling.

“Yes, that’s what I’m trying to say. Would you marry me?”

“Yes,” she said quietly.

And that was it. They planned it for after they both graduated, which was just one quarter apart. He wanted to take her on a long honeymoon, then they would settle right here. He had some ideas for a business.

George walked into Ruth’s office, holding an envelope. She was holding a similar one.

“Did you get one too?” she asked.

They compared the invitations.

“Apparently Gordon and Phil got them too. They just called.”

“Are we going to a wedding?” George asked, smiling.

“You bet.”

The wedding was held at a Hindu temple in Columbus. Ruth, George, Phil, and Gordon all arrived together. They were greeted by Joshua himself.

“Thank you for coming. As you know, my parents cannot be here. Please come this way. If you would, can you be a part of the groom’s party?”

They all smiled awkwardly and agreed. There was a white canopy outside the temple with a small fire burning at the front and center of it. Joshua led them to a staging area away from the seating in front of the canopy.

“This is where the groom’s party will enter from,” Joshua said and asked them to sit.

He went over to a middle aged black woman in African dress and they walked back together.

“I would like you to meet Phyllis Sanders. She is acting as my mother since my mother can’t be here. She helped me to my new life.”

“I think I have met you,” Phyllis said to Phil. “I see you found Joshua.”

“Yes, you were very helpful,” Phil said uncertainly. She was the social worker that he had interviewed in Tampa. He wasn’t too sure of his ground.

The rest of the staging area had some student friends and some of his professors. Everyone was in good spirits and seemed to be happy to be there. It was a beautiful early summer day.

Joshua was wearing a kafni, a long tunic hanging down to his knees, over a dhoti. He was holding a garland of flowers and a coconut.

The priest and the bride’s party were gathering at the seating area in front of the canopy.

Joshua walked to the front and Phyllis organized the rest of the groom’s party into a procession and they started walking toward the canopy.

Joshua was greeted by Janna’s mother. She applied kumkum to his forehead. He bowed to her and gave her the coconut. She and Janna’s father escorted Joshua and his best man to the canopy. The rest of the groom’s party sat down.

Then Janna came out of the temple escorted by her uncle and some flower girls. She carried a garland of flowers and wore a red and white sari part of which was draped over her hair. She was very happy. Joshua smiled at her.

The priest announced that they were there to join these two in marriage, and Janna and Joshua sat down facing each other under the canopy.

A small chorus sang slokas for unity and a good marriage. Janna and Joshua stood and each placed the garlands on the other. They sat back down and there were some readings.

Then Janna’s mother and father came up. Janna’s mother washed Janna’s hands and feet. Janna’s father washed Joshua’s hands and feet. They stood up again.

Janna’s father then faced the audience and said, “I, Yogesh Desai, son of Satish and Prachi Desai, approve of the wedding of my daughter, Janna Desai, to Joshua Green.”

Joshua and Janna faced each other.

Joshua said, “I, Joshua Green, take you, Janna Desai, into my heart as my wife.”

Janna said, “I, Janna Desai, take you, Joshua Green, into my heart as my husband.”

The priest spoke some words and then Joshua and Janna exchanged rings and the priest put a rope around their necks. They sat side by side and Janna’s father put Janna’s hand on Joshua’s.

Phyllis Sanders came forward and sang a song for the new married couple. They then circled the fire four times, Joshua leading and Janna leading in turns.

They sat down, both hitting their seats exactly at the same time. There was laughter in the audience. Whoever had sat first would have been the boss of the marriage. Now it was both.

The priest spoke some more words. More slokas were sung. Joshua and Janna sat side by side and appeared the perfect couple.

Ruth and George looked at each other in amazement. Phil was sullen. Gordon actually seemed touched.

Later at the reception, when George congratulated Joshua, he asked him what his plans were.

“The wedding night,” Joshua winked.

George had to laugh. It all seemed surreal, but it was a genuinely joyous occasion.  There was much laughing and celebrating. Joshua was perfectly natural in this setting. This was not what George had in mind when he thought of an alien invasion, but he knew in a deep sense that this was the essence of it.