Recently, I happened to attend a welding-ceremony, oops I mean the wedding-ceremony. Since I was from groom's side, so I got a chance to be a part of the "Baraat". Isn't it surprising that in India one can go and attend a marriage ceremony even if he is remotely related to the groom. In fact, I know few folks who could attend any marriage party without being related to anybody in the entire marriage (sweet old college days ) :-D
When I reached the venue, the Baraat had just started. The first thing that I spotted that the foremost entity in the Baraat was the generator. For a moment I felt that the "someone here is from Indian railways" ( that explained the diesel engine at the front). Another interesting observation was that all the gents were dressed with coats and jackets whereas none of the ladies was wearing any kind of warm clothing. It seemed, that the winter was here only for the masculine gender. Coming back to the Baraat, I saw a "bandwagon" being dragged at the front, then after some gap few gentlemen were dragging themselves, then after some gap ladies party was dragging themselves. It seemed that the suited-booted gentlemen were little scared to get close to either the bandwagon or the ladies group. In the last, after a gap of few feet, a decorated car was being dragged. You might think that I'm overusing the word "drag", but this was what I felt after seeing everybody's expression. Probably the groom also felt same as me because his face wore expressions that said "Allow me, and I would dance on everybody's behalf".
I was starting to think that this is going to be a borrrrinnnng ceremony, when I noticed a car, parked a little behind, under a tree, in the dark! I went nearer and found that the youth that was supposed to be with the Baraat, was busy with the "kaarobaar" (car-o-bar). "Oh, that's why the Baraat is moving sluggishly. Young India is busy here" I thought.
20 minutes later, the same Baraat was totally changed. Young Indians have merged with the Baraat. The gaps between the bandwagon, gentlemen and the ladies were gone. Most of the guests were displaying their dancing abilities to the fullest; few of the gentlemen and not-so-gentle-boys were performing the evergreen 'Nagin' dance, some people were busy with the fireworks, a middle aged uncle was waving a bundle of notes, the poor kids and the band players were eying the bundle greedily, couple of guys with overdose were puking here & there and rest of the youth was shunting between the Baraat and the car-o-bar. The liquor quality was very effective and supply was probably unlimited because soon the songs changed from "ये देश है वीर जवानों का (ye desh hai veer jawano ka)" to "तैनू दूल्हा किसने बनाया (tainu dulha kisne banaya)", and "बहारों फूल बरसाओ (baharon phool barsao)" changed to "मुन्नी बदनाम हुई डार्लिंग तेरे लिए (munni badnam hui darling tere liye)".
With all these happening events, the Baraat took nearly 1 hour to cover a 500 meter distance. I thought "Not bad". Why? Because it was much better than taking 2 hours.
Bride's side was fully prepared to tackle all kinds of scenarios because I could see slightly hidden lemon-slices kept by the side of a table.
Soon after, the groom and his kins got busy in the rituals and everyone else got busy in the usual stuff.
Elders got busy in talking, accompanied with intermittent (and growingly impatient) glances towards the dinner table, where the food was yet to be served.
Ladies got busy in chit-chatting, accompanied with intermittent glances towards other ladies' jewelery and deliberate display of their own jewelery.
Dudes from younger generation got busy in talking (about the girls), accompanied with intermittent glances towards (of-course) the girls.
Girls from younger generation got busy in talking about something (trust me, I tried but couldn't hear), accompanied with intermittent glances towards the dudes.
Only crowd that was focusing on just one thing were the kids, who were dancing on colorful dance floor. I can't resist to mention that 'Sheela ki jawani' was the most repeated dance track. Kids seemed to enjoy the track, but not as much as their Dads :)
Thats it, since I didn't know anyone else so I hardly stayed there for 5-10 minutes after Baraat's conclusion and then moved back to home.
I lied above - I waited for full 35 minutes for the food, and left the place only after I had tasted* everything on the menu.
* People who have been with me for quite sometime know it very well that I never eat in any function, I just taste (please don't discuss about the quantity)!
When I reached the venue, the Baraat had just started. The first thing that I spotted that the foremost entity in the Baraat was the generator. For a moment I felt that the "someone here is from Indian railways" ( that explained the diesel engine at the front). Another interesting observation was that all the gents were dressed with coats and jackets whereas none of the ladies was wearing any kind of warm clothing. It seemed, that the winter was here only for the masculine gender. Coming back to the Baraat, I saw a "bandwagon" being dragged at the front, then after some gap few gentlemen were dragging themselves, then after some gap ladies party was dragging themselves. It seemed that the suited-booted gentlemen were little scared to get close to either the bandwagon or the ladies group. In the last, after a gap of few feet, a decorated car was being dragged. You might think that I'm overusing the word "drag", but this was what I felt after seeing everybody's expression. Probably the groom also felt same as me because his face wore expressions that said "Allow me, and I would dance on everybody's behalf".
I was starting to think that this is going to be a borrrrinnnng ceremony, when I noticed a car, parked a little behind, under a tree, in the dark! I went nearer and found that the youth that was supposed to be with the Baraat, was busy with the "kaarobaar" (car-o-bar). "Oh, that's why the Baraat is moving sluggishly. Young India is busy here" I thought.
20 minutes later, the same Baraat was totally changed. Young Indians have merged with the Baraat. The gaps between the bandwagon, gentlemen and the ladies were gone. Most of the guests were displaying their dancing abilities to the fullest; few of the gentlemen and not-so-gentle-boys were performing the evergreen 'Nagin' dance, some people were busy with the fireworks, a middle aged uncle was waving a bundle of notes, the poor kids and the band players were eying the bundle greedily, couple of guys with overdose were puking here & there and rest of the youth was shunting between the Baraat and the car-o-bar. The liquor quality was very effective and supply was probably unlimited because soon the songs changed from "ये देश है वीर जवानों का (ye desh hai veer jawano ka)" to "तैनू दूल्हा किसने बनाया (tainu dulha kisne banaya)", and "बहारों फूल बरसाओ (baharon phool barsao)" changed to "मुन्नी बदनाम हुई डार्लिंग तेरे लिए (munni badnam hui darling tere liye)".
With all these happening events, the Baraat took nearly 1 hour to cover a 500 meter distance. I thought "Not bad". Why? Because it was much better than taking 2 hours.
Bride's side was fully prepared to tackle all kinds of scenarios because I could see slightly hidden lemon-slices kept by the side of a table.
Soon after, the groom and his kins got busy in the rituals and everyone else got busy in the usual stuff.
Elders got busy in talking, accompanied with intermittent (and growingly impatient) glances towards the dinner table, where the food was yet to be served.
Ladies got busy in chit-chatting, accompanied with intermittent glances towards other ladies' jewelery and deliberate display of their own jewelery.
Dudes from younger generation got busy in talking (about the girls), accompanied with intermittent glances towards (of-course) the girls.
Girls from younger generation got busy in talking about something (trust me, I tried but couldn't hear), accompanied with intermittent glances towards the dudes.
Only crowd that was focusing on just one thing were the kids, who were dancing on colorful dance floor. I can't resist to mention that 'Sheela ki jawani' was the most repeated dance track. Kids seemed to enjoy the track, but not as much as their Dads :)
Thats it, since I didn't know anyone else so I hardly stayed there for 5-10 minutes after Baraat's conclusion and then moved back to home.
I lied above - I waited for full 35 minutes for the food, and left the place only after I had tasted* everything on the menu.
* People who have been with me for quite sometime know it very well that I never eat in any function, I just taste (please don't discuss about the quantity)!
