The Navratri Diaries: Day 1

My very first story.... hope you like it...

Atlast. Navratri had begun. I couldnt be any happier. Pretty normal for you to wonder why a guy should be so happy about Navratri. Well would you believe if I told you our family custom?
Ours is one of the wealthiest families in the city. We have had this custom from about 200 years ago.  Every boy in the household aged between 12 and 24 is supposed to spend the Navratri days as  a girl. Unbelievable, isnt it?

We are a family of 4. My Dad is an Engineer, my Mom is a housewife but before getting married she was a Hollywood Makeup Artist. And me and my elder brother.

You would have guessed it by now. Yes, my brother and my father have also spent their Navratri dressed as girls. I havent seen my father dressed up but my brother..... HE IS DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS. He is super slim and not that tall. He is sixteen now studying for the board exams. Enough introduction. Shall we go into the story now.

Day 1:
Mom woke me up pretty early.  I was ready for the grand day. My first venture into the feminine world. I was happy. Four years ago when my Mom told my bro about this custom I was scared for some unknown reason. But seeing how awesome my brother looked after his first makeover I was amazed. And its my turn now.

Mom took me into her bathroom. She took out a tube from the mirror cupboard.

"Whats that Mom?".
"Hmmm, its Anne Frank".....

Whatever that meant. She applied it all over me. Then she told me to take a bath in the shower. Aaaah, Roca shower. Almost like one's under a waterfall. Then through the steam i saw something. Hair going toward the drain. My hands flew to my head. Phew ..my hair was still there.

I came out of the shower. My mom was waiting with.... what was that.... A BRA?

" Mom ?," I asked. "Some hair was going into the drain. But didnt seem like it was mine" And I noticed something... where was the hair on my arms and chest? Yes I was just twelve, but still then I had some hair.

"Well Karthik, thats what Anne Frank is for. You are glowing smooth now... Come here" Mom said.

She had a bra and panty set. Well I never expected this. True, me and my brother had spent the past few weeks shopping clothes with my Mom. But I never remembered buying this.

'Pink Color. Oh great', I thought.

I managed to wear the panty Mom gave me. Soft. Super soft. Then Mom told me to turn around with my back to her. She put the bra on me and hooked the back.  Then she went back to her bedroom and brought in a carton box. I looked in and WHAT? FAKE BREASTS?

A question came up to my lips.

"Why are you so enthusiastic about dressing us up Mom? You went as far as to buying fake breasts.".

Mom smiled. "Brings back many great memories to me. Makeup is a form of art. Doing it for others, especially my own sons, gives me immense happiness".

Mom was happy. What more could I want?

"Anything you tell me to do Mom, I will do it."

Her smile widened. She inserted the fakies into the bra. They felt almost real.

She took me to her dressing table. It looked like a beauty store to me. She took out a cylindrical box first, took out the paste in it and put it all over my face. The box was labeled "MUA Foundation" or something... then a weirdly colored powder.... my face was so smooth now. She took out a long black pencil, sharpened it and drew my eyebrows into shape. Then came kajal, mascara and eyeliner. Then she glued some fake lashes to my eye. She took out a palette, put a small brush on it and painted my eyelids a light violet. Oh gods. I looked awesome in the mirror. She took out another two palettes, took a bigger brush and applied it all over my cheeks. Suddenly my cheeks looked a bit pinkish, the palette lid said 'Lakme Artist: Blush '.

Atlast the lips. My mom took out a dark pink lipstick and applied it. She also used some lip gloss and another pencil called a 'Lip liner' (by now you would have come to know that I had zero makeup knowledge.)....

Mom had done an awesome job. She says its the simplest thing she had ever done. WHO IS THAT GIRL IN THE MIRROR?!"..... Awesome.

Mom opened her wardrobe and took out my newly stiched pattu pavadas. She took out violet. Naturally. Violet was her most favourite color. It even had some glittery stone work done on it.

I wore it. The rush of adrenaline when your body suddenly touches the silk. Awesome.

Well I was almost ready. Mom brought out a case. Fake Diamond jewellery set. She loved it.  Mom attached the clip-on earrings and the necklace went around my neck. Another box had anklets and bangles in it. Matching bangles. I wore nearly 10 on each hand.  The anklet sounded great too.

Atlast. The wig. It was a bit advanced. It is designed so that it doesnt fall from your head. Some velcro tactics. Mom placed the wig on my head and did a single braid. She was an expert at this.  She attached the nethichutti that came along with the necklace. She went to the refrigerator and brought out strands of the fresh jasmine. She pinned nearly four yards of jasmine to my braid. It felt extremely awesome with so much jasmine falling over the shoulder. She applied nailpolish to all my nails.

I was done.

I was amazing. It felt like a totally different dimension. The jingling sound of the bangles, anklets, the feeling of my nethichutti on my forehead and the smell of jasmine, the feeling of the fake breasts, this is what it meant to be a girl.

Mom kissed me on the cheek. " My second daughter. I will call you Anjali. You are such a cute darling".

I felt something weird when I looked at myself in the mirror again. My wienie was sticking up. Ooh. That had never happened before.

Anyways, I kissed Mom back. She had made me beautiful.

I raced into the hall. Bangles and anklets jangling, jasmine dancing on my shoulder and I threw myslef on the couch. It was a holiday. So I switched on my TV, booted up my Xbox and inserted my Max Payne 3 DVD.  The intro played. Suddenly a voice yelled "TURN DOWN THE VOLUME KARTHIK!!".

My brother.

His name is Anirudh. Mom had purchased pavada dhavanis for him this year as was the custom.  I decided to take a look at him.

I went up to his room. He was a computer geek like me but always tops the class. He is pretty serious about his board exams. And he was studying now. Poor guy.

I went into his room.

OH MY GOD!! HE LOOKED A LOT MORE AWESOME THAN ME! He was wearing a frilly cream colured dhavani and a golden pavada. He was wearing covering jewellery. His long wig was in a braid, jasmine adorned and even had a kunjalam at the bottom(three balls of hair tied at the end of a braid.) His lips were cherry red and his eyes were beautifully kajal rimmed. Last year he was cute. But this year.... he was sexy.

"You look beautiful bro." I complimented.

"Thanks. I did it myself this year".

He did it himself? Awesome.

The doorbell rang. Yes I was expecting this. A challenge to my looks. I need the visitor to think I'm a girl.

I raced to the door. The camera screen next to the door showed a girl that I knew very well. My classmate-cum-crush Sanjana.

I braced myself and opened the door. She was dressed just like me. All traditional in a green pattu pavada. Her hair was in a double braid. She was so cute. One of the reasons I had a crush on her was because she was a hardcore video game fan. And she was pretty close to my family as our mothers had been friends in their school days and she knew about our Navratri custom.

"Uh...yes, who do you want?" I hid back a chuckle.

"Um.... is Karthik at home.... he told me to come today...and uh ... WAIT A SECOND..... Karthik you devil, its you! Oh my god arent you a darling"

I grinned "Heh I fooled you."

"You certainly did." Saying so ,she kissed me.

Score!

"So " I said , blushing ," come in"...

"I have to admit Karthik you look so cute and perfect. I am so jealous"....

We sat on the couch. The Max Payne main menu was still there.... I gave Sanjana a controller and I took mine. And we were playing for hours on multiplayer. While one part of my brain was concentrated on the game the other part was taking in the awesome girly feeling. My jasmine was so sensuous, my lips tasted sweet and the weight of my wig..... glorious.

It was nearly five in the evening when we put our controllers down. Mom came up to me. She was dressed in an awesome magenta silk saree and the most perfect makeup. "We are going to the temple Karthik. Hello dear Sanjana you want to come with us? "

"Hi Aunty" said Sanjana "Yes Mother would be leaving for the temple too in a short time. We can go together."

"Alright I'll call your mom up dear... Karthik come with me" Mom called me.

We went back to her dressing table. Mom gave me a touchup. The air conditioning in our house was perfect and I didnt even have a single drop of sweat. My Mom called up Sanjana's mom to come over.

My brother came down the stairs. He had changed into a red and creme pavada dhavani. Sexier than ever.

And so we went to the temple. Hardly anybody recognised us as boys. We had dinner out at a restaurant and went home. The best day ever.

I will post Day 2 soon.