Weddings ! Deliver me!!! – part 2

Missed part 1 of wedding chronicles ? click here.

The last time, I talked about the guests aka auditors,today lets take a closer peek on the bride’s side.

Weddings are supposed to be fun and frolic but all this comes at the expense of bride and groom ! They have to follow the idea of ‘No pain, No gain’. While everyone else is munching and laughing around, both of them have to fast since morning, sit/stand when told, bend zillion times on every arrival of relatives to touch feet (Oh,my poor back !),  smile with everyone and cameras clicking non-stop and finally when the rituals end somewhere early morning 3-4AM next day, who would have the energy to masticate even a biscuit !

The long line of relatives that arrive from far towns and villages, they stay with the hosts. Usually rooms/wedding halls are booked but if you have biiiiig house,that too is fine. So what are those relatives like ?

The All Knowers : The old aunts, grannies who are not interested in helping, they like to sit around the bride,gossip all day long, give instructions which makes it all hectic.”You are changing the age-old rituals !” “Girl(bride), don’t stretch your legs, relatives are coming, decorum is important”. All timid protests of body ache because of sitting like a statue faints. The bride has some girl friends too; its really a killjoy when they have to sit silently and listen to the all-knowers all day and helplessly stare at each other. 😥

The Temporary Kleptomaniacs: Believe me, they are from good families, its just that the occasion brings out the Cat-woman inside. An expensive looking lipstick or mascara left in washroom by chance, it vanishes in a matter of minutes .I have not been very fortunate, I lost two semi-expensive rings twice; I know the culprit but they are the daughters of sister of uncle of —– –, you get the idea. 😉

The Watch-women aka Observers : While relatives are chatting merrily in every room and enjoying the free food and ACs, the immediate family is frantically racing around, managing things. At that moment, you need some extra pair of right hands, so Enter the trustworthy observers, these ladies see that all the goods are in the right place, keep track of storerooms. This year, I attended a friend’s wedding and I was given a brief charge of clothes room, I had to make packets of several sets of attires to be gifted to groom’s family. Before aunty(bride’s mom) gave me the keys,she instructed me, ”NO ONE, not even a child should enter the room and make sure room is absolutely locked after you finish the work”. (Here,I am an adult ! Mom should see this 😈 )More than feeling proud over being given a charge, I ended in jitters over some invisible entrants !

The Loving Mothers: They have kids ranging from age zero to age 12 and it must be a difficult task to keep an eye on their heroic fights with one another and participate in the juicy backbites. But is it REALLY a matter of choosing ? In the end its all laughter express in room, hollers of tiny tots outside, stuffs ranging from flowers, sweets to decoration bits scattered around.

The Damsels in dreams : Be it the small town girls from restricted families or the working divas, they are dressed in colors and shimmers with a romance and thrill bubbling inside, what if they meet ‘The One‘ today or… even several gazes would be rewarding for so much effort in make-up and dressing! (google it to see the beautiful maidens!)

Weddings differ from region to region,class to class.What I am talking here is about middle-class weddings, so it’s not exactly what you see on Indian films where it’s a lavish affair.

What happens in the groom’s citadel ?? Coming soon… 🙂

Here’s the link to part 3 (the best part in the series) and part 4.