Priti Mehta

Priti Mehta is the second child and eldest daughter of Kabir and Mitra Mehta, an Indian merchant and his wife. Their family was wealthy and well-respected within their community. The love that they shared for each other was deep. They were the family that everyone wanted to be. Until they weren’t. When Priti was four years old, her younger sister was born but what should have been a time of celebration morphed into a time of mourning when her mother died due to illness. This quickly changed the Mehta family from the family everyone envied to the one they all pitied. Priti barely remembers the time when her mother was alive but she was old enough to remember the shift that happened when she was gone. Growing up without her mother was difficult but her older brother, Nikhil, made sure to take care of her and their younger sister, Kalini, whenever their father had to be absent for work. Due to the role Nikhil took on in their family, the bond that Priti shared with him and Kalini was special and strong. When she was ten years old, she found an older girl, one the same age as her older brother, who took Priti under her wing. The girl, Chaitali, became Priti’s closest friend and confidant. She taught her how to cook her favourite dishes and how to do the gorgeous mehndi that adorned their bodies during celebrations. In return, Priti taught Chaitali how to ride the horses that she loved so dearly. When she got older, Priti took any chance she could to suggest that her friend and her brother should become closer, whether it was actually going to happen or not. As time passed and the Mehta family healed from their tragedy, they rebuilt the reputation they once had and soon, Nikhil and Priti became the marriage market’s top prizes. However, Nikhil had other ambitions, ones that set their sights on England. Excited to see what the English marriage market had to offer, Priti eagerly agreed to go with him, the prospect of finding a European husband being too good to pass up.

## Personality

Priti is a girl of few opinions. Don’t let that fool you, though. When she does express her opinions out loud, she makes sure everyone knows her stance and that it isn’t changing. She just usually prefers to follow her father’s teaching of keeping her thoughts to herself. This does change depending on the company she’s in. Around men, she’s more likely to stay off to the side and watch, making observations for herself and going along with the more generally accepted opinion. In the company of women, however, she’s more vocal and openly expresses her opinion more. Priti is a creative-minded individual, a trait which is often nurtured by her love for mehndi and doing designs of her own creation on both herself and others. She is a loyal friend and family member who trusts easily in hopes that it will make it easier for those around her to trust her in return, even though it might make her naive. Her family is the most important thing to her and to her, a blow to one of them is a blow to her. This also goes for her closest friends. Due to her family’s status within their community, Priti ensures that she always has a strong air of confidence around her whenever she leaves the house and has a tendency to think very highly of herself.