Harrowing Tale of a Wedding Party
Indian weddings are very cordial and flamboyant affair. Careful planning and money go into making them successful, which means avoiding a fiasco. The close relatives of both the parties undergo countless difficulties to ensure that the wedding is highly spoken of for years to come. Also, the larger the turn out, the greater is one’s social standing.
In the olden days, when parties entering an alliance lived in the same town or village, the marriage procession proceeded from the boy’s house to the girl’s place amid a lot of fanfare. The wedding expenses are on the girl’s side and the boy’s relatives make it a point to manage a large turn out at the wedding and make things cumbersome for the girl’s side. These traditional pranks put the patience and sociability of the bride’s family to test.
I shall share an incident of one wedding party that had some great plans of putting the bride’s side to test. The girl's family lived in a city and the boy's family was from a small town. The townsmen found an opportunity to torment the urbane. The boy’s parents had booked train tickets for a party of 70 men and women. They consisted of relatives, family friends, and groom's buddies. There were also thumb-suckers and some of them in their incorrigible age.
None of them failed to avail themselves of the generosity of the boy’s father. It would be an excursion involving no expenditure, with a good number of tantrums from one's side. Everybody assembled at the platform and was very excited about the journey. It was a group booking so the entire coach was reserved for the wedding party.
The day of the journey arrived. They faced great difficulty in finding their coach. It was the last coach connected to the train and was standing beyond the plinth of the platform. People walked down the bare stony track to board the train. Eventually, they settled on their berths. Noise and laughter filled the bogie.They were least aware of what the journey had in store for them.
The coach stood so lonely at the end of the train that people fancied whether it would manage tug along with the engine. But, a slight tug at the coach assured them that they were passengers on the same train.
Men got into relaxed clothing and they formed groups at playing cards. Women were engaged in juicy gossip and children were scurrying from one compartment to the other playing hide and seek. The bridegroom’s friends were carrying drinks with them in Pepsi bottles and had occupied berths at the front end of the train so that they could escape the notice of the elders. The groom envied them and regretted for being the centre of attraction. He would be called often by his folks and had to eke out a smile at their poor jokes.
There were men who derived great joy in showing off how widely they had travelled by giving out the names of stations and the time it would take to reach the next station. It formed a respectable part of their knowledge base. Women felt immensely happy for their knowledgeable husbands. Children also looked up to their experienced fathers. Only college-going boys were not a part of this knowledge exchange. They were busy hitting chances with girls of their age and deemed themselves as their caretakers. These boys occupied the side-berths in order to have a wide angle of the neighbouring compartments.
The train whistled at an approaching station. People were ready to take a break from their long sitting, women started counting their children and issuing orders to their husbands to buy some odds, and boys stood at the door to walk down the platform. The train started slowing down and stopped with a slight jerk. When these people looked out, all they could see were tracks winding across the parallel route – the platform was a very distant sight from where the coach stood. An uneasy hush fell in the coach and people realized that they were an abandoned lot in the train and the next 18 hours would not bring them any pleasanter sight.
It was a 2nd class compartment, adjacent to an AC compartment, and there was no connection between the two. Even the pantry staff neglected this coach. The folks were unprepared for such a thing. They relied totally on the munificence of the boy’s father and those who had children carried only milk, which was fast running out. A protest was in the offing but was controlled for the fear of offending the boy’s family.
The train whistled again. It was time to depart. The train had picked up speed when the coach crossed the platform. The station was a mocking sight to these people who left their homes to be a part of a long merriment at other’s expense. As soon as the station was past, people slowly raised their murmur in the form of inquiries. After doing the rounds in the coach, the queries piled up before the boy’s father who was helpless himself but held himself morally responsible for all this. Moreover, he had two business partners who were to join them at the next station.
As they approached the next station, hope gripped the hearts. The father was instructing his friend on the phone to walk down to the last coach and that he would have to hurry with the old man. This gentleman was asked to buy some milk, bread, jam, fruits, mineral water bottles and paper soaps for the fellow passengers. The other man was quite old and so couldn’t carry the oddments and walk fast at the same time. So, he was spared the burden and was advised to walk briskly to the coach. He made it and the train started moving. The other guy had a tough time carrying so many things. When he saw the train picking speed, he was aghast and stood motionless. The folks were screaming for him to run towards the coach. There were a few asking him to board the nearest coach but their voices were drowned in the clamour. He managed to throw some loaves of bread to them and waved at them very sadly.
The milk had run out and kids were hungry. The constant motion of the train, which seemed fun in the beginning, was now disturbing them and they started weeping. All the provisions that were hidden deep inside the luggage was brought out and the children were consoled that at the next station someone would get them milk and biscuits.
Men started cursing the Railway department, brought the government’s policies in question and ranted the railway ministry. Women were sighing too. The young boys could not find a better opportunity to strike a conversation with girls. It was time to rise to the occasion and prove themselves as the men of the hour. The groom’s friends were oblivious to all this and were snoring away to glory having emptied their Pepsi bottles. The bridegroom, along with his father, was managing the volley of questions from the distraught relatives and family friends.
It was decided that at the next station some of the men would walk up to the platform, buy stuff and then board the nearest coach and join them at the next station. The younger ones offered to run errands for the passengers but were admonished by their fathers severely before the girls. They retracted in a corner insulted.
When the train stopped, a few men jumped out. They ran towards the platform. The stones laid on the tracks bruised their sole but they kept pace. But, it was a big station and the train halted longer. Everything was purchased without bargaining and they also made it to their coach.
As if to cheer up the neglected folks, a small coach was joined to this coach. For the next two stations a guard was appointed to signal the train driver by waving a red and a green flag. The fellow pitied at their plight but could not help them much as he was to accompany them only for the next two stations.
In the meantime, people had visited the washroom and the taps ran dry. The stench of toilet filled the coach. The cleaning staff never bothered to refill the water-tanks. When the guard alighted from the coach, the crowd screeched at him to order the railway authorities to refill the tank. He dared not to antagonize them and nodded in obedience. But, the train started moving again and he turned away his face while abuses were hurled at him.
Time had slowed to a crawl for these folks. Their plight was similar to shipwrecked sailors dying to set foot on land. All of them bore a hassled look on their face. 18 hours later, after spending a sleepless night, they reached their destination in the morning. They never expected that the train journey would suck their energy and water down their spirits. When the girl’s party welcomed them at the station they couldn’t reciprocate their warmth. The bride’s father grew panicky with this behaviour. Only after he learnt of what they had undergone did he take heart and drove them quickly to the hotel.
Word spread among the girl’s side, which amused itself at the plight of the groom’s party. The hunters were hunted down! The bride and the bridegroom were to leave for their honeymoon two days later and the wedding party was to return the next day. Their tickets were booked in advance for an 18-hour return voyage!!!
In the olden days, when parties entering an alliance lived in the same town or village, the marriage procession proceeded from the boy’s house to the girl’s place amid a lot of fanfare. The wedding expenses are on the girl’s side and the boy’s relatives make it a point to manage a large turn out at the wedding and make things cumbersome for the girl’s side. These traditional pranks put the patience and sociability of the bride’s family to test.
I shall share an incident of one wedding party that had some great plans of putting the bride’s side to test. The girl's family lived in a city and the boy's family was from a small town. The townsmen found an opportunity to torment the urbane. The boy’s parents had booked train tickets for a party of 70 men and women. They consisted of relatives, family friends, and groom's buddies. There were also thumb-suckers and some of them in their incorrigible age.
None of them failed to avail themselves of the generosity of the boy’s father. It would be an excursion involving no expenditure, with a good number of tantrums from one's side. Everybody assembled at the platform and was very excited about the journey. It was a group booking so the entire coach was reserved for the wedding party.
The day of the journey arrived. They faced great difficulty in finding their coach. It was the last coach connected to the train and was standing beyond the plinth of the platform. People walked down the bare stony track to board the train. Eventually, they settled on their berths. Noise and laughter filled the bogie.They were least aware of what the journey had in store for them.
The coach stood so lonely at the end of the train that people fancied whether it would manage tug along with the engine. But, a slight tug at the coach assured them that they were passengers on the same train.
Men got into relaxed clothing and they formed groups at playing cards. Women were engaged in juicy gossip and children were scurrying from one compartment to the other playing hide and seek. The bridegroom’s friends were carrying drinks with them in Pepsi bottles and had occupied berths at the front end of the train so that they could escape the notice of the elders. The groom envied them and regretted for being the centre of attraction. He would be called often by his folks and had to eke out a smile at their poor jokes.
There were men who derived great joy in showing off how widely they had travelled by giving out the names of stations and the time it would take to reach the next station. It formed a respectable part of their knowledge base. Women felt immensely happy for their knowledgeable husbands. Children also looked up to their experienced fathers. Only college-going boys were not a part of this knowledge exchange. They were busy hitting chances with girls of their age and deemed themselves as their caretakers. These boys occupied the side-berths in order to have a wide angle of the neighbouring compartments.
The train whistled at an approaching station. People were ready to take a break from their long sitting, women started counting their children and issuing orders to their husbands to buy some odds, and boys stood at the door to walk down the platform. The train started slowing down and stopped with a slight jerk. When these people looked out, all they could see were tracks winding across the parallel route – the platform was a very distant sight from where the coach stood. An uneasy hush fell in the coach and people realized that they were an abandoned lot in the train and the next 18 hours would not bring them any pleasanter sight.
It was a 2nd class compartment, adjacent to an AC compartment, and there was no connection between the two. Even the pantry staff neglected this coach. The folks were unprepared for such a thing. They relied totally on the munificence of the boy’s father and those who had children carried only milk, which was fast running out. A protest was in the offing but was controlled for the fear of offending the boy’s family.
The train whistled again. It was time to depart. The train had picked up speed when the coach crossed the platform. The station was a mocking sight to these people who left their homes to be a part of a long merriment at other’s expense. As soon as the station was past, people slowly raised their murmur in the form of inquiries. After doing the rounds in the coach, the queries piled up before the boy’s father who was helpless himself but held himself morally responsible for all this. Moreover, he had two business partners who were to join them at the next station.
As they approached the next station, hope gripped the hearts. The father was instructing his friend on the phone to walk down to the last coach and that he would have to hurry with the old man. This gentleman was asked to buy some milk, bread, jam, fruits, mineral water bottles and paper soaps for the fellow passengers. The other man was quite old and so couldn’t carry the oddments and walk fast at the same time. So, he was spared the burden and was advised to walk briskly to the coach. He made it and the train started moving. The other guy had a tough time carrying so many things. When he saw the train picking speed, he was aghast and stood motionless. The folks were screaming for him to run towards the coach. There were a few asking him to board the nearest coach but their voices were drowned in the clamour. He managed to throw some loaves of bread to them and waved at them very sadly.
The milk had run out and kids were hungry. The constant motion of the train, which seemed fun in the beginning, was now disturbing them and they started weeping. All the provisions that were hidden deep inside the luggage was brought out and the children were consoled that at the next station someone would get them milk and biscuits.
Men started cursing the Railway department, brought the government’s policies in question and ranted the railway ministry. Women were sighing too. The young boys could not find a better opportunity to strike a conversation with girls. It was time to rise to the occasion and prove themselves as the men of the hour. The groom’s friends were oblivious to all this and were snoring away to glory having emptied their Pepsi bottles. The bridegroom, along with his father, was managing the volley of questions from the distraught relatives and family friends.
It was decided that at the next station some of the men would walk up to the platform, buy stuff and then board the nearest coach and join them at the next station. The younger ones offered to run errands for the passengers but were admonished by their fathers severely before the girls. They retracted in a corner insulted.
When the train stopped, a few men jumped out. They ran towards the platform. The stones laid on the tracks bruised their sole but they kept pace. But, it was a big station and the train halted longer. Everything was purchased without bargaining and they also made it to their coach.
As if to cheer up the neglected folks, a small coach was joined to this coach. For the next two stations a guard was appointed to signal the train driver by waving a red and a green flag. The fellow pitied at their plight but could not help them much as he was to accompany them only for the next two stations.
In the meantime, people had visited the washroom and the taps ran dry. The stench of toilet filled the coach. The cleaning staff never bothered to refill the water-tanks. When the guard alighted from the coach, the crowd screeched at him to order the railway authorities to refill the tank. He dared not to antagonize them and nodded in obedience. But, the train started moving again and he turned away his face while abuses were hurled at him.
Time had slowed to a crawl for these folks. Their plight was similar to shipwrecked sailors dying to set foot on land. All of them bore a hassled look on their face. 18 hours later, after spending a sleepless night, they reached their destination in the morning. They never expected that the train journey would suck their energy and water down their spirits. When the girl’s party welcomed them at the station they couldn’t reciprocate their warmth. The bride’s father grew panicky with this behaviour. Only after he learnt of what they had undergone did he take heart and drove them quickly to the hotel.
Word spread among the girl’s side, which amused itself at the plight of the groom’s party. The hunters were hunted down! The bride and the bridegroom were to leave for their honeymoon two days later and the wedding party was to return the next day. Their tickets were booked in advance for an 18-hour return voyage!!!
Comments