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Saturday, July 3, 2010

An Indian Marriage Preparation

Just the other day one of our family friends' remarked, "Of all events, Marriage is the biggest event." The occasion was my daughter's marriage a fortnight ago.

Any marriage preparation starts after a firm conclusion that the search for the right person is over. And me thinks that finding the right boy or a right girl is itself a Herculean task- Be it a Love Marriage or an Arranged one. It requires courage guys...real courage. And then there are other tasks that await you soon after. For example the appropriate date and month. But wait! The real challenge makes its appearance now- which is designing and wording the Invitation Card. Somehow no colour looks good enough and no word captures the true feelings. Well, God sure knows how to teach us all a lesson! And so here I was now muttering secret apologies to all whose cards I had criticized in the past. Proof Reading was yet another crazy affair. I had almost failed to notice the spelling error in one particular name. I shudder to think of the consequences. Making a list of invitees called for a sound memory and a never-ending patience. As that meant, all 4 in the family sitting together and writing down names. I am glad, we paid heed to the advice of not posting the cards too early to the local people, as they would forget the date. This way, the attendance was real good.

And yet there were trying moments. As a middle aged woman I could no longer sit down crossed-legs, so much required in traditional Maharashtrian marriages. And so with the help and assistance of my bride-to-be daughter (also a physiotherapist), I practiced and did exercises of sitting down daily. I think the show would have been better had I had started earlier. I thank my husband who made up for my flaws. Anyway, have a heart guys! I was not all a picture of gloominess. I had my nose pierced so as to wear the nose-ring given to me by my mother. I did wear it on the day of the marriage. The pain was nothing in comparison with the joy and happiness around.


Further, I happened to do a lot of shopping with my bride-to-be daughter before the wedding. I consulted our Guruji (one who conducts ceremonies) at every point so as not to make mistakes. But, Gosh! On the eve of the D-Day, I realized that I had forgotten where I had kept what! That's when, I left everything to God. And, thereafter and allowed Him and Guruji to take charge of all things.


Nevertheless, the tension remained. I will, in fact, advice all young parents to be judicious about money from the start and not wait for children to grow up. It so happened that the hotel people came up with a still better menu just a week before the marriage; thereby increasing the expenditure unexpectedly. That's marketing strategy for sure! And that's the new game I guess.

Eventually if everything went well, it was because of our Well-Wishers, Friends, Relatives, Neighbours and everyone around who joined in to make this biggest event of our lives a great success. Sure enough, without their support and good wishes it couldn't have been possible.

A Big Thank You to all.

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