Seetha was the only person I knew when I came to London in 1984. Although she was in the same class as me in pre- degree and shared the next room in the Sadanam with my friend Prasantha, I didn’t know her well. She left for the Uk in 1977 midway through her pre-degree years.
Ten years later I find out that she is married to a close relative of ours and she had lost so much weight that I wasn’t sure if it was the same person. It turned out that it was her and we’ve been friends ever since. Her son is the same age as Kavitha and he is getting married today.
It’s been a while since I’ve worn a saree to an Indian wedding, so much so that I was quite excited this morning. There are a few weddings coming up this year and so I bought a couple of sarees this time when I went to India. I didn’t actually have much shopping time. One of my cousins suggested the ‘Silky Way’ boutique which is part of the Hyacinth Hotel in Trivandrum. I only had 5-10 minutes to choose and pay and I did just that. If I like something, it doesn’t take me long to decide and I was pretty happy with my choices. So today was the day I was going to wear one of them.
Seetha’s son is getting married to a Gujarati girl. We got to the venue a bit too early, even before the groom’s party had arrived. Anyway it meant we snagged a good parking space next to the venue and got it for free as well. Soon they all arrived. After the initial niceties, we all followed the groom into the venue.
After a lovely light breakfast the wedding function started. The bride walked in to the tunes of a lovely Hindi song. A song I had never heard before and didn’t understand but sounded just perfect for such an occasion. The wedding venue was not quite suited for an Indian wedding. The Mandap was on the same level as the seating and so we couldn’t see any of the function.
For me people watching was all what these weddings are about. The pretty dresses and Indian outfits. The blingest of the blings. My lovely saree seemed quite subdued in the midst of all this bling. We Kerala folk don’t do bling that well compared to our northerners.
All in all, the day panned out fine. The food was passable, the music wasn’t much to my taste, but it was enjoyable. The weather was good and it was nice to see my friend and watch all the lovely ladies and lads in their finery.
