The event called Marriage!

I had to keep a promise; a promise to write or rather blog about the two marriages that happened in the recent past. The most recent being that of a cousin.

It all started with..hmm the bride hunt-an aunt playing the broker for the time being.
"I have some body who would fit your choice cant we talk to them ??" All the other details were looked into by the family elders and decided to go and see her and okay her.

I also happened to be part of the group that went to see for the second time, she came across as a very nice person, "domesticated" if you were to describe her in local parlance. A very through professional; of course she had to be so, as she was a doctor!

The marriage was fixed for the the last week of March. The getting ready part of it started well before January, painting the house, misc chores, shopping and the inviting relatives and neighbours.
I think shopping for marriages to be one big issue taxing my brains and patience considering the amount of choices to be made keeping in mind the tastes and preferences of others, the amount of impact on the pockets that your selection could make, colour combination, and many other features.
This time it was one big Saree showroom in Kochi that was targeted, 8 hours in a shop, where, the ladies standing there would like you to stand and make you hold the saree for all other relatives to see was exhausting. Not to mention the amount of time spent on deciding which one was good for a particular occasion. All done and set, it was time for the return journey with a promise that I would help my cousin sister with the arrangements and other paraphernalia.

A traditional hindu wedding here in my part of the kerala is a simple affair The priest doing some part of the chanting of Hymns and asking for some to be repeated by the groom and the bride, some by the bride's father and later asking for the blessings to the newly married couple from all those present at the occasion.(The finer details are not given here for that it would need a lot more to be written)

The wedding day was a very bright and sunny day. And summers are kerala are supposed to be very humid and sweaty. A very typical wedding day, with lots of photographers, videographers making it nearly impossible for those present to witness even a single ritual being performed on a raised dais.

If any one of those numerous photographer's present could not capture the exact moment he would ask it to be done again so that he could capture that in an appropriate angle. Which meant the bride would have to look down and accepting the varmala or the garland and the gold necklace which would from now on be a indicative of her married status.

The event was fully documented in still and video to be viewed for the rest of their lives.
The next important event being the feast. the moment the gates to the dining hall were opened, in this case barely minutes after the wedding there was a huge rush to eat and leave the scene as soon as possible. Which meant only close relatives and those unable to make it to the first trip viewing the rest of the rituals.

Sitting right next to people who I think were starving for this feast for last couple days was a tiring job. I had barely finished eating the first round of dal and rice that the person sitting to my left demanded the third round of curries, while serving that person the overzealous volunteer served me a good amount of sambhar which landed right into my small apportionment of dal and rice mix, forcing me to eat dal and sambhar mixed rice, quite to the amusement of my cousins.
So the next time the glutton sitting beside me asked for something I kept an eye out and making it a point to covering my banana leaf with both my hands signaling no to the new item. So far so good. I was eating in peace till the volunteer came fetching some new item on the menu.

Alas, I was tricked again, this time the vermicelli sweet dish diving right into my jagerry sweet dish. And forcing me to pick out pieces of ada from the mixture and eating them.

A nice day out barring these small inconveniences.

(Another take on this can be found here.Nariyalchutney)