The First Night 5

The First Night – An Indian Phenomenon

The First Night concept is uniquely Indian. Parents arrange most of the marriages in India. The betrothal ceremony takes place soon after to announce the good news to friends and relatives. In a society where the mixing of sexes is minimal the young couple get little chance to meet. During the engagement the young man may visit his girl in her home, and maybe take her to a movie or two. Nothing of note can happen in these closely monitored meetings. The wedding follows, and then the First Night. What is it like for two people, who hardly know each other, to be locked in a room, and expected to make love? Thousands of couples cope successfully, and joyfully, with this situation every day. It is unlikely that any two of these bedroom dramas are the same. This is a sample.

* * *

Arjun lay stretched on the sofa of the hotel room where he was to spend the night with his newly wedded wife. Though they were middle class his father-in-law, as per custom, provided a room in a five star hotel for his daughter's nuptials. Arjun's wife, the dainty Minita, had locked herself in the bathroom for a bath and a change. He needed a bath too for the day was hot, and the line at the reception long. His legs were stiff, his arms sore, and his facial muscles taut from forced smiling.

Arjun, in his visits to her home during the engagement found her a very quiet girl, almost timid. He decided that he would draw her out, and proceed gradually, without hurrying her in any way. In his innocence he did not know that the magic thread that he himself had tied round her neck hours ago had transformed her beyond recognition.

The bathroom door latch clicked, and then opened slowly. Minita sailed out. In a light blue sari she was a stunner. Arjun looked at her gaping. His bride laughed. For the first time he was hearing the tinkling sound of her laughter. It was thrilling.

"Hitch your jaws up, Arjun, and go for your bath," she said. "I'll keep hot coffee ready for you." Arjun felt silly that he should have gaped so obviously, and surprised that the girl who expressed herself mostly by gestures during the engagement should speak so forcefully. He had his bath, and when he came out he found that as promised she kept hot coffee with just that amount of sugar he preferred. He wondered how she knew that he needed only one teaspoonful.

Soon the waiter left after clearing the table. Arjun closed the door and pressed the knob to lock the door. He looked up and down the wall and the ceiling. He had heard of secret cameras placed strategically in these bridal suites to capture the moments of joy in tape that later would wend their way to the blue market. He had heard of an instance when years later the same couple, now in need of stimulation to get their act together, were watching a blue movie. They thought the scenes were familiar, when then jolted up in their seats—they were the young stars of that porn movie. Arjun inspected the ceiling and wall as a matter of course. He did not think that these stories were true.

Minita was on the sofa looking pensively at the pattern on the tablecloth. Arjun sat by her side and took hold of her hand. She grasped it, and turned and smiled.

"You must be tired," he said.

"I am, of course. But I am not sleepy," she said and giggled. "You?"

"I am not tired at all." He kissed her on the cheek. She turned her face to show the other cheek. He kissed that too. She pouted her lips, and he gently touched her lips with his."

"I like your spirit," said the bridegroom, not quite sure that it was really happening. "You are not like most girls who act prim on this day."

"How do you know?"

"I have been told that on this night girls would act as if they are not interested, and force the man to make all the moves."

"You have been told? I suspect you told that to yourself." The words were aggressive, but her voice was soft, and her eyes glittered with mischief.

"I think the last thing you said is closer to the truth," he admitted and laughed. Even in this very short conversation he became aware that he was not equipped to outtalk his bride. He decided that the only way he can be a dominant male is by action. Accordingly he removed the pallav of her sari. A magnificent valley came into view. A chain, one of the many she was wearing, was dipping into the valley. Gingerly Arjun gently pulled it out. The pendant was wet with sweat. He wiped it and placed in on her chest. He undid one blouse hook, and looked at her. She lay placidly. He undid another hook. He hesitated. To reach the third he had to work beyond the bulk of her breasts. She smiled, and by a shake of her head asked him to proceed. He removed the last hook, and opened out the blouse flaps to expose the bra.

"Why that wry smile?" he asked.

"I was wondering how you are going to proceed. You smiled too, why?"

"I was wondering once again if all brides on the first night are like you. I imagined most would be shy and reticent."

"What is your preference?"

"What I have got undoubtedly. Now as for your question: I am going for it boldly." He did. He embraced her and kissed her on the lips. She responded. As he was embracing he worked on the bra hook. It did not yield. In his haste to deal with the hook he lost concentration for the kiss.

"Arjun?"

"Yes darling."

"You started a kiss. End it first." He looked at her and shook his head uncomprehendingly. 'All girls cannot be like this; this must be a unique specimen' he said to himself. They hugged and kissed. It was a prolonged affair more with the tongue than with the lips.

"It was good Arjun," said Minita handsomely. She turned to show him the back. He worked on for a while. Finally he got it done.

"My mother and sister with a flick of the finger remove it, why do I find it so difficult."

"May be you need practice." But Arjun was not listening. He lifted the bra cups up one at a time. He leaned back and said "Wow." His girl indeed had a magnificent pair. He ran his fingers over it, and with the index finger flicked the nipples. He looked up at her. She was smiling broadly.

"You are an absolute darling," he said and kissed her. He tried to cup her breasts. He failed. His hands were not large enough.

"Done?"

"Not quite. May I suck?"

"Of course honey." He sucked moistly. She turned and showed the other one. He sucked that too.

"Am I doing it well?"

"How would I know? It is 22 years since I suckled." She laughed, one again the tinkle set his heart racing. She might not remember the days when she suckled, but the book her mother had given her to read, 'What Young Brides Ought to Know,' devoted a whole paragraph to sucking. Arjun still had miles to go.

"My blouse and bra are rubbing your face. If you permit me I'll remove them." She did. She did not trust her husband to remove them without tearing her blouse. Arjun removed shirt and hugged her. His bare body against her bare body created a feeling that was most delicious.

"Would you like to see me sit erect?" she said.

"What's that for?"

"To see if they are sagging. I believe you men look for signs of virginity on this night."

"How do you know? I suppose like me you have been telling that to yourself."

"No, from the book 'What Young Brides Ought to Know'"

"Well, I was not thinking of that at all." She sat erect. Arjun held her breast as if he was weighing them.

"Ones the size and magnificence as yours are bound to sag a bit." He smiled.

"What's that for, that smile?" she asked.

"We had a classmate in college whose big breasts pointed upwards. We called her helium."

"What happened to her?"

"I don't know. Selling balloons probably."

She lay on the cot. He was now kissing her abdomen; he was nudging her umbilicus with his nose, and he was exploring the region below. Minita sucked her tummy in and pulled down her sari as low as it would go. Arjun's lips followed till it smacked into the tucked in part of the sari.

"How are you going to deal with this little problem?" she asked. Arjun knew how.

"My way is the direct way," he said. He pulled out the tucked in pleated portion of the sari. The skirt was underneath. He undid the tape and pulled both the skirt and sari down. He was happy to note that Minita was not wearing knickers. One more tug and he would expose the pussy. He hesitated. He looked up. She was smiling. No blush, no turning away of the eyes, she met him eyeball-to-eyeball and smiled almost defiantly. She lifted up her rear and helped him pull down her sari. This amount of cooperation he had not anticipated. In his pessimism he had expected her to open tiny windows to show her body, one part at a time, but this girl without a murmur was allowing him to strip her naked.

Arjun was wondering whether he would be confronting a hairy pussy or a bald one. This one was as smooth as glass. In his extensive study from pictures he had downloaded from the Internet he had in his mind's eye the perfect one. Minita's was close to perfection. Mound that bulged more than one would anticipate in one so slender, just that gentle swelling at the top of the cleft to indicate the clit hiding under its hood, and the leaves guarding the cleft suggested, but not seen. He looked up. For the first time he found his wife coy. She was looking away, but darting brief glances at him, and she was blushing all over.

"Does my looking at you this way make you feel uncomfortable?"

"You like it, and that makes me feel good."

He took her at her word.

"Like it?" she asked so softly that she was hardly audible.

"Very much." His voice was hoarse. She bent her knees and spread out her thighs ever so slightly. She turned her head away, but her eyes were on him. She was blushing again. They made eye contact. She smiled, not a coy smile, not a mischievous smile, but one brimming with affection. It was at that moment that he felt one with her. Gingerly he took her hands towards the pussy and touched it.

"It is smooth," he said. 'You must have shaved this afternoon,' he said, but to himself. "It is smooth," he repeated aloud.

"Your tennis playing hands are not," she said.

"My left hand is no better," he said. He paused. He got an idea. "My cheeks? I shaved this afternoon. It must be as smooth." He looked at her anxiously. Would she be offended at his boldness?

"Why not?" she said.

He bent down and rubbed with his cheek. He went further. He spread out the lips and keenly inspected the clit. He wanted to kiss the clit, but at the last moment his courage failed him. He removed his pants and knickers. He looked up. Her eyes were on his cock.

"Do you want me to wear a condom?"

"You decide."

"I think I would wear one."

"Please do." He took out a packet from his shirt pocket and opened it. He was about to unroll it when she spoke.

"I think the foreskin has to be retracted first."

"Oh! How do you know that?" said Arjun.

"I read it in the book. How did you not know?"

"I have never used one before." Suddenly he realised that she had caught him off guard. In future when he bragged about how greatly girls in the college admired him it was bound to sound hollow. Smart kid, undoubtedly.

"You must lend that book, later that is." he laughed, and she laughed.

She was reclining on the cot. He crouched in front of her. He retracted the foreskin and placed the condom on the tip, ready to unroll it. He looked up. She was smiling. She came forward, stretched her hand out, and grasped the shaft. She brought her head down to the tip and kissed it. She then helped him unroll. He kissed her on the lips, and on each tit, and the belly button, and then he gently spread out the lips and kissed the love button. She stretched on the bed and spread out her thighs, and bent her knees with feet in the air. Other men may have had to prise open the thighs of their darlings forcibly on this night of nights, but not lucky Arjun. He was on top of her. She held his penis and gently inserted it into her vagina. As he pressed she jerked back as if in pain. He was now fully in. Her eyes were closed. He touched her lips with his. And suddenly he got into frenzy. He was pumping and she was responded to his rhythm. As he was ejaculating she held him tight with both arms and legs, and her counter pressure to his final thrust was something he long remembered. Arjun did not know if she had an orgasm. He lay on her for a while, and then he rolled over. They lay hugging each other.

"I want to wash," she said. He released her. She washed and came, and he went to wash. When he came he noticed a smear of blood on the sheet. He looked at the spot and then involuntarily he turned to her. She pouted her lips and shrugged her shoulders at the same time. There was a smug smile on his face. His wife was a virgin indeed.

"In some cultures they hang out the sheet to let the neighbours know that the girl who has come to live in that community is an acme of virtue," he said. Minita's capacity to tease was by no means over.

"If they examine the blood," she said, "they would know that meat and eggs are not the only things the barn yard fowls provide for the comfort of men and women." She laughed and hugged him, and he, after a momentary pause, joined in the laughter, and hugged her with equal warmth.