Lost and found

My legs, my feet, all hurt so bad that I cant taken even a step without a wince. Sis' engagement went on brilliantly yesterday, though we lost and found some two lakh worth jewellery amidst tears and prayers, fought with the hotel management over arrangements and nearly choked the bride and groom (hence) with smoke and sandalwood.

We questioned all our faith in God when we lost all the jewelery that sis had carefully colour coordinated, learnt to wear a brave face and get going with the rituals, found out the strength that an extended family alone can instill at times of crisis and deposed our faith back in God when we found the jewel box intact but misplaced.

We all wore colour-coordinated clothes and I got a grand aunt got very emotional because my tissue sari happens to be an exact replica of her muhurtam sari. And here, I was thinking that I bought something offbeat! I think Jeej sneaked some of our plans to his folks, because they also came dressed in a colour theme and many of the men wore kurtas made of some paper-like material. How they rustled as they carried the "seeru" and what fun we would have had if it had rained.... hee, hee!

All those picking up of relatives, styling garlands, decorating the house, packing, talking, managing the dining hall, playing sis' page girl made me feel like Maa Multi-taskeshwari. I liked my "moggus" in rice flour and rangolis with flowers because they turned out pretty well for a first time.

I slung a camera on my neck the entire time and clicked away to glory. And when the big fat Indian family sat to watch it on TV back home, we had a huge time making fun of each other. My photographic skills need some rehab, but I am all spurred to make that home video.

Oh God, Oh God, Oh God..... please let me be six again.

But seriously, I have to get used to being grown up now - every second person asking "when is yours?" certainly helped - because I saw that I am no longer what my younger cousins are now: playing in the lawns blissfully unaware of the chaos inside; sneaking into the dining hall for ice creams and gulab jamuns; or battling parental and "relative" pressure to choose offbeat courses.

Thank God, I have an elder sis, because when she does the growing up act, I have time to get ready. But do I want to be a bride?

Mad and Silly

~~
There was no flowers, the stars didn't cross,
but giggle and gurgle, we whistled a tune,
madly, silily, madly-ho!

salt tasted sour, the bitter gourd sweet,
the sun went nuts and the moon stole treats,
but we were in love, madly, silily, madly-ho!

we lolled in the hay and lots and lots played,
sailed in the breeze and said go-ahead,
silily, madly, silily-so!

so one dozen people with two hundred heads,
said lets have fun, come lets fave hun,
silily, madly, silily-ho!

so clippity-cloppity, carefully tread,
with sandalwood paste on your forehead,
for there is a ring and lots and lots bling,
nitter-natter, in-laws chatter.

Mr. Footloose and Ms. Fancyfree
madly, madly, madly-ho,
will step into the typhoon to savour the brew,
silily, silily, silily-so!

so what is up is a storm in a teacup,
a raucous ruckus, a chaos insane,
call it fate or the engagement,
but the little devil found the perfect angel.
~~

- all rights reversed to The Tenth Rasa - An Anthology of Indian Nonsense.

though I put it together, lines and phrases are borrowed from The Tenth Rasa. It is truly a book to keep. I can never write something poignant when it comes to sis and nonsense suits her best. Btw, this goes in my sis' engagement e-mail invite and she is Mad and the Devil.

Autumn leaves and siblings sensibilities

My sis is going to fly the nest. This realisation dawned on me stupidly late, just today morning - after many weeks of talking and preparation for her engagement - and it settled uneasily in my stomach as I woke up from one of my many dreams about her wedding.

In my dream, I was torn between taking pics of cousins singing together and decorating the hall. Should I get the hall ready and miss my cousins' singing together or catch the moment when it lasted and delay the decorations?

Some stupid dream like that and I woke up with the sick feeling that we may never get to share the same roof again. This time when she leaves, it wont be like one of her business trips around the world, when we get to know everyday, no matter whichever part of the world she is, what she ate for dinner and if she reached her hotel room safe.

There wont be any, "eM will be back in two weeks and then we will decide on the colours for the room". There wont be any e-mails about day-to-day affairs like rats found in her cupboard and brother's deploring marks. Will we then talk stuff like, "how are you?", "everyone is fine here"??.

oh my god, Oh My God, OH MY GOD!! Everything is gonna change forever and I don't want it one bit. I want her here and have become a sudden supporter of aunt's plans to get eM and Jeej to stay in our ground-floor.

Until yesterday, I was spouting all neutral comments like "Jeej needs his privacy" and "eM should be independent". No more of all that bull. I just want my sis at home.

With all this wonderful fraternal thoughts, I tried to snuggle up to her in the morning, but she almost pushes me down. Wait, what was I even thinking, she can get lost to Bangalore. Actually, Bangalore is too close to Madras, she can go to any Pallatur* and cut potlakaya** all by herself and I couldn't care less.

Pity, the wedding is six months far away.

Autumn musings

But with Diwali around the corner, some showers and a small depression in the bay, we have had some great weather, and it makes me feel all waxy, poetic and lyrical.

eM, who now has a season called autumn in her life, sends me beautiful pics - trees ablaze with yellows and oranges; a silent stream strewn and mellow yellows strewn all over her university town. Its looks like the trees have come alive just to add colour to the drab cement and concrete.

In the meanwhile, bougainvilleas are blazing pink all over my Madras, and the weather is perfect to perch by the window sill. But I am at office and I have to pretend to work. So I settled down to read Thekambattu and fell in love with their village. Wish Sunder and Sonati can write more.

Other nice reads today morning, as the boss thinks I am seriously at work, include one on writing via As I Please; and Shutter Sisters via eM.

For all in Madras, enjoy these rare bouts of gorgeous weather.

*&** are the telugu equivalents of Timbaktur and snake gourd

Expo spam

The Big Fat Indian Wedding - Update 1.1.

I was right in lying low about the wedding expo business. Mad, Jeej, thathaya and ammama dropped by at the organiser's office to be treated to an hour long lecture about Country Club Resorts. They got the dinner set but nothing more because the other gifts are for married people only. Pray tell me, why would married people come to a wedding expo? Oh, for their kids??

Am surprised that Mad didnt roast them alive or file a PIL. My sis is after all the fire-spitting dragon who managed to get an Apollo doc state in writing that he had utterly blundered. This was when the apollo doc performed the wrong surgery for my grandfather, which was followed by a long corrective surgery and treatment at Vijaya, but that is another story.

Anyways, I must pat myself for not having fallen to these Country Club guys. They are the only people who can compete with Airtel in calling me up every three hours.

The Big Fat Indian Wedding - Part 1

When I was twelve, painted film posters caught my eye. Amul ads at 18 and glossy models at 20. But now, all that catches my eye are wedding planners, bridal collections and flower decorators. No, I am not getting married, but my dahling sis (Mad) and best friend (Egg) are.

So naturally, even some cheap A3 sized, torn poster of a wedding expo at the Chennai Trade Centre, caught my eye right on. Vivaaha it said and featured a hennaed north Indian bride. Even before I could tell Mad, Egg buzzed me that she was going for the expo. But Mad cannot just do something about her wedding just like that. Even if you have all the 5Ws and 1H clearly written on the back of your hand for thathaya's cross questioning, you cant get past his big O - opinion.

He waved us away with a, "We are anyways going to do things our way, what is the point of all this expo business?" But Mad is a style conscious bride. She fought her way and I lobbied heavily - for the car and for her fiance (JJ) tag along.

Now, as Mad is dutifully following the wedding band, albeit her own way, she is the favourite grand daughter at home. And I become the villain, for putting evil ideas in her head.

So by the time Mad told me that the car had broken down on the way back - that is after seeing the bare three stalls and one stray mehendi designer; after having to wake JJ after a late night shift to act chauffeur, after forcing uncle to join the trail, after getting brother to tag along the party under the midday sun - I decided in my best interest not to get back home in a hurry that day.

This was the second time one of my bright ideas did not take off. The first was to have the engagement at the gorgeous Dakshin Chitra (actually Mad's, but you know the dahling vs. the rebel grandkid routine by now); it was dropped because imposing toll-gate fee on guests would'nt have been very polite. So as JJ came home for dinner and wedding plans abounded over the weekend at home, I avoided all talk like prickly cactus.

It was getting difficult, not to intervene when thathaya almost hired the local ruffian-temple swindler for a priest and fixed a photographer who used Word Art on albums and forced couples to bare their teeth. But I managed to hold on.

But yesterday at office, Mad calls me to tell that JJ has won three gifts from one of those three stalls at the expo - a dinner set, a goa luxury holiday and a family trip to VGP. Whoa! "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," I bounded back home early to tell this to thathaya, but he was at puja and my better sense prevailed. Now I am waiting for my moment until JJ confirms its authenticity and tax details.

And until then, I have upped the ante against the idea of hiring traditional jewellery for the engagement from one of thathaya's entrepreneurial nieces.