The D-day arrived closer. We were invited for the Mehendi ceremony by the bride's side giving us a wake up call saying 'Oh yes..Raghu's wedding is only few hours away'. I would rate this as one of the BEST Mehendi ceremonies that I've been a part of till date. The cherry to the pie was when we got to know that the professionals were called all the way from Namma Bengaluru to decorate our hands. We entered and saw Chitra's hands and legs beautifully decorated with a great Master piece. Her hubby's name was hidden in her Mehendi on one hand and a lovely couple was drawn in the other.Aishwarya and me did not spare even the men putting Mehendi. We were constantly entertaining them talking about Bangalore, the unique delicacies and destinations in Palakkad and they shared their experiences so far in Palakkad. One of the best jokes I've heard till date was from them. In the railway station, they asked an autodriver, "Bahar ka raasta kahaan hai?" and the driver not knowing Hindi innocently replies, "Yahaan koi bar nahi hai"!!
The Mehendi session was coupled with some amazing songs chosen by Shruthi and a well planned photo session. We finally managed to strike the correct pose that the photographer was instructed to take by Chitra.. :P Now if the Mehendi was this memorable(that too without the hero,Raghu), I can't wait to tell how interesting the wedding was! Too much happiness is not good. So we got a perfect balance to it over some petty issues that evening from the elders which I guess we kids(hero included) battled out by expressing our anger in the terrace to each other.
The next day was when we had to go to the hall for the Vrutham(We've managed to make tons of pronunciations for it pre-wedding). What followed was rituals,customs and traditions..The Nischiyatathram was scheduled that evening and on demand I wore a saree. I still do not know how to take the comments I got from the elders for wearing the saree.They were all certainly happy but then I could sense a smirk and few of them actually told me that very soon it is your turn to be sacrificed(as a few people put it). We visited so many temples in the village with all of us walking behind the groom's car. I managed to do all this circus in a saree. It felt great to be doing small things in the ceremony right from smearing sandlwood on Chitra to giving her those heavy, cutely gift-wrapped box of goodies. The photo session followed the ceremony,somethng I am sure Raghu loathed. But he just managed to put that smile on his face as he had no choice. He again showed me how important it is to stand up for yourself if you think you are right. Amidst all traditions, we got to spend some quality time with our cousins. My sister and me still managed to sneak sometime in between with the busy boy to commend,gossip and bitch about both people and things. Guess that was the last night of his bachelorhood which we really wanted to treasure. All those late night calls and pulling his leg about zillions of things in private would soon cease. But there is always light at the end of the tunnel. This guy who always claimed to be a kid is now going to have some added responsibility.We finally bid our goodbyes at midnight and went to the annex to catch some sleep.
We don't know about the groom, but we had a sleepless night; not because of nervousness like he would have, but because of all those mosquitoes and the biting cold in a place like Palakkad which did not spare any of us. We all wanted the night to end soon and put an end our miseries. Ravi joined us that morning. We managed to get up and get ready soon to arrive in time for the entertaining part of any wedding. The Kashi Yatra, the Malai Maathal and the Oonjal followed. God, Raghu was in a state that we could never have expected to see him in.I am still waiting to commend your costume designer and make up artist! With kajal and forehead full of a zillion things, around 4-5 kgs of garlands all over,he had a manage a smile for the cameras. I can never forget the local accent(which I was missing in Palakkad) in which your friends described your make-up."Yen maams,nyapakaa idhiya?" :P The next few hours were filled with rituals and customs. It was even more difficult to see Chitra's state with not only heavy garlands over her, but also a heavy,pretty hairdo and heavy sarees draped around. The time had come and our big brother tied the knot with ofcourse our help :P
The wedding was followed by some chit chat in the afternoon after which we had the entertaining Nalangu. Guess this is another place we unite customs with some fun. The scenes of Chitra saying "Please come" in Kannada (not knowing what it is) to invite her hubby for the games and singing an awesome song perfectly suiting the occasion certainly showed she had won half the battle. The games were fun filled with some Antakshari in between. I surprised myself by singing some Bollywood songs in public. I am someone who is horrible even as a bathroom singer. Kudos to the audience there for bearing with me(though I was soft enough not to shoo anyone off). That marked the official end of the wedding ceremonies. It was time to get back home and catch some sleep. I was half dead that I could not even participate in the conversation between Ravi,Vijay and Aishwarya. I just occasionally managed to say "Laugh Laugh" whenever I heard them laughing.
It was the closest I have got to see the emotions of people in a wedding. The groom's feeling of accepting a new responsibility, the bride's feelings of accepting a completely new home leaving behind all those people who were so dear to her, how the two families accept each other and welcome the new bride home. The experience was certainly priceless.
I thought this was the end to the celebrations, but what followed was even better. We were all making plans for a good outing. Something that was pending for a long time was "Meenvallam" and I am so glad that we all made it happen atleast this time. The long rickety drive on the pathetic roads leading there pulling each other's leg was awesome. The memories of climbing the rocks to reach the waterfall, doing all sorts of circus to get there,trying a hand at stone-throwing in water, the photos we managed to click there will be cherished for a long long time. The big brothers took care of us so well. They managed to complete the trip with some toddy which did not taste that great. We also went to the usual "Malampuzha Dam" which is a toursit attraction in Palakkad. I still wonder what is so special there. Nevertheless we managed to walk in the hanging bridge,having ice cream and have a long walk around the park leaving the newly weds alone for sometime. Too much good is not good. The bad in my life came in the form of VII semester results.I was extremely unhappy with the 79.3% that I got as it was the first time ever that I got below 80% in engineering.Everyone around made me feel good by saying that it is a par score, and relatively it was a very good score but I was very displeased with myself. I still am. But the happy atmosphere around made me forget about my results for sometime then.
That pretty much summed up our trip in God's own paradise Palakkad.Pulling each other's legs and bidding our goodbyes, it was time to get back home.I was equally excited about getting back home and going to college to see how it is to be in the final semester. For the first time ever, I got my hair straightened(thanks to Meghana) and walked late to class(my new temporary hairdo being noticed) losing my first hour attendance. But it was again a hectic day. I got back home and it was time to pack up to go to Mysore for the reception. We reached there the same day and spent some family time together.
The next morning was another special day for the couple. I was lucky enough to accompany the groom to check out the reception venue and get small things straight to make sure everything is in place. It was really heart-warming to see this guy so responsible and arranging something like this single-handedly.I also accompanied the bride to get her ready and look her best at the reception. My day was made there itself. But what followed was even better - the reception. Ravi had successfully managed to convince all the other cousins to make it to the reception and yes, they made it on time(actually much before us).Again, the routine collection of gifts, clicking photographs and pulling Raghu's leg followed. The cake cutting and the dinner was mind-blowing. The next day was full of bidding good-byes, first to the guests and then to the couple. An eventful week has passed so quickly and it was time to get back to the usual routine.
Going back to college after bunking for more than a week felt great. The feeling of being in the last semester started sinking in. The moments spent with friends these days seem priceless.The week also saw us attending placements,writing the GATE not so well,meeting up at Harish's place for a great lunch marathon, running here and there to complete a synopsis for the project, bunking classes and sitting in the canteen pulling each other's leg(mine the most)and worrying about other things like the future,seminar,project,elective,revaluation etc.
I got to capture all these moments probably in my diary by asking my friends' to document their experiences with me. I am so certain that the next few months will fly so quickly that all the fun we are having with each other now will soon tranform into memories which we can only think about and smile to ouselves.
