Of weddings and wedded bliss....(part 1)

I dunno why I chose to write on this topic on this cool,windy monsoon afternoon when what I should actually be doing is , pull out my blanket and mulmul chaddars from my trunk, put on some soft ambient lounge tracks on this lappy (which sadly can`t protest when I open it in this kinda climatic conditions n open microsoft word while it dreads being subjected to a marathon typing spree, thanks to it being an inanimate,non-living object ) and taking inspiration from my roommates (who r curled up in yogic sleeping postures ), should prepare myself for an extended siesta.
Perhaps I can attribute this behaviour of mine to last night`s all-girls`- adda session where we all (12-15 of us) huddled infront of a comp (wishing that it would magically enlarge its proportions from a measly 17” monitor to a more suitable 29” ) watching the wedding video and photos of my friend (lets name her ‘J’) and wingie who got married this summer.
There was something about those photographs which brought a smile on each of our faces everytime a new pic flashed on the monitor.The colour of all those pics were predominantly magenta,orange,hues of gold and silver and of course the obvious-Red, with splashes of rich shades of green,purple and turquoise thrown in.The pics were such happy ones filled with smiling people;overweight aunties in their best kanjeevaram brocades and silks,balding uncles in smartly-tailored-to-hide-paunches suits,young girls in embroidered lehengas and salwar-kameezes and the baraat guys in blazers (even though it was a summer wedding !) and sherwanis.I often feel if u have to show a firang something which can cast a lasting impression of India on his mind,then show him the pics of a typical Indian wedding or better still a live version of The Great Indian Wedding Extravaganza.The oft-repeated phrases of “Indian Culture and Traditions” would literally come alive and speak for themselves.
I`ve personally been very unlucky of not having been able to attend a single family wedding till last year,which was when I was right in the middle of my dear didi`s wedding.Right from the sending-of-invites,shopping excursions phase to the vidai and subsequent hosting of receptions(a total of 5 ! whew!!), I saw and co-managed it all.That was when the enormous significance of the term ‘Marriage’ dawned upon me.

One thing I really like about Indian weddings is-its ritualistic nature.Yes,it might seem surprising and very off-putting to most of u,but I think each of the rituals involved have an old-worldly charm of their own.Different communities,different rituals; and different ways of conducting similar rituals.For example the Punjabi bride dressed in colours of Red and Gold, comes to the Jaimaal stage accompanied by her brothers who hold aloft a phoolon ka chaddar ,while a Gujju bride will don a Red and white saree or lehenga.A mandatory accessory for a U.P bride is an enormous nath (or nosering which I find amazingly sensuous) while for a Punjabi would-be bride it’s the chuda (Red and ivory bangles).For a Bong bou it’s the shakha-polla (red and white bangles again but made of glass and shells ) and I guess for every bride the presence of squiggly,round rings on her toes.

For the young folk its mainly the pre-wedding rituals which are more of fun than the D-Day itself (what with most of the weddings going on till the wee hours of the morning!). The haldi,mehendi,sangeet ceremonies are like little family get-togethers where u get awakened to the presence of other cute looking guys in ur community and where moti aunties-turned-matchmakers pester u with envelopes full of eligible (but mostly dumb looking) guys` photos and biodatas and tell u a 101 advantages of tying the knot early in life.But u r subjected to all this only if u fall under the unfortunate age-group of 18-24.For the lucky ones aged 17 and below, ur free to bitch and gossip together in groups and decide on mehendi designs,nail-paint and lipstick shades for the D-day and of course the cut and style of ur lehenga and the embroidery on ur choli which you`ll be wearing for the wedding.But if ur not so lucky then u might be sent on never ending trips to the kitchen to get rooh-afza or tropicana or whatever and mithai and serve the guests who keep on flowing in from morning and don’t show any signs of flowing out (yes,if it reminds u of a typical example of a sink (yes the physics wala sink u moron!) ,ur very right!!).