my dad patted comfortingly on my shoulders.he was feeling all that a girl's dad would have felt at that moment.proud,happy and relaxed after the hectic five months preceding the wedding.
congratulations poured in and everyone shook hands with everyone !!
me and S were back to the final set of rituals.my mami slipped the 'metti' (silver ring) on my toes.we then performed the 'sapthapathi' ,the 7 important steps.each one signified a commitment to support each other through happiness and sorrow,health and illness and so on.i stepped on the 'ammi' (the grind stone) and saw the star (din mein taare!! )..or pretended to see the star 'arundhathi'.
coming down from the mandapam,we performed the namaskarams to everyone.it was almost a chase down at the end,with people hurrying for lunch and we hunting them down with 'akshadhai' ( the sacred rice) in hand ;-)
we were now led into the groom's room for 'grihapravesam'. this was because my in-laws home was not in chennai and the change room was now my 'new home' !!!.almost all the ladies present crammed themselves into that room. the power was not restored in that room yet and it was a stampede in the dark. more paal and pazham followed.
went up for lunch and another round of food-phobia continued with me eating as little as possible.i think the payasam was good.anyway,i finally retired to the cool comforts of my room.shut out everyone from there and unloaded the weight off my head.changed into another saree,this was my 8th in 1 1/2 days (what a feat!! ).i dozed off with random thoughts running on my mind.
people started knocking and i was out of my sleep in 10 mins.i looked on as my friend(sree) and sis folded up the sarees and clothes lying around.my cousin sriram came in.i still feel bad that the only time we could meet, happened to my wedding.we have conversed so much on emails and chats that i found it strange that i couldnt think of anything to talk about then.
he declared that the crowd was too old for him,to which i could agree,but that he was enjoying being at a wedding for 2 days for the first time.showed me a gadget( guess it was an mp3 player),to which i managed to show some interest.( he couldn't have chosen a worse person to show it off).
time for another change over,this time it was the 'nalangu'.this was supposed to be a relaxing event,after all the tiring rituals over 2 days. however it turned out to be a never ending one.
with people looking at us from all sides and my athai and dad's mama sitting beside us to instruct, the nalangu began.
it was fun to begin with, me and S rolling the coconut and then trying to take it from each other's hand.we then broke the 'appalams' over each other's back.then came my most dreaded moment,the one where the bride had to sing.i had often wondered in the past few months over how to tackle this and my reactions ranged from walking out to just staying silent.i couldn't do any of that now.to add to my misery,my mil was a trained classical singer,and most of my in-laws family could sing.
i did learn to sing for 3 years,but all that was less than a memory now.well, i managed to mumble out 'muda karatha' and before anyone could realise what i sang ,i ended it with a sheepish smile. now all the athais and paatis were asking me to continue in a louder voice. to my relief my mil came to my rescue and asked S to sing. he 'sang' paartha mudal naale,in his loudest voice and no one wanted to him to carry on.still i admired his courage.
people then started singing,dancing and performing skits that it began to resemble an school day performance.i thought i could doze off by just sitting there.finally,it was over to our relief.
wishes and goodbyes followed.things started to sink in as people began to leave one by one.a pang of loneliness hit me,not sure why.i felt all alone among new faces. i would not be going back to my home now, i had a new home,new amma and appa,new chithis and athais.everyone was showering love but i felt sick. sick of this whole stuff and of leaving my home,my dad and mom and sis, my cupboards and everything.
wonder how guys feel during this time,given that most couples stay away from both their parents now a days.S told me later that he did feel strange but it was not that bad.i was emotionally drained.
1 comment:
me and S were back to the final set of rituals hehe the way you were trying to stifle your laughter at S's way of chanting.. I got it all on the cam :)
we have conversed so much on emails and chats that i found it strange that i couldnt think of anything to talk about then. Well one thing I remember was that the whole conversation went in English! And we did have a great time in there :)
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