A Memorable Trip !!! - Day 2

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful .. sounds cliched, doesnt it? :-) .. But it was a beautiful day. I had a long night and slept like a log. So, I was up by 6 am. The house was already abuzz with activity. As soon as the bride finished her morning ablutions, I went into the bathroom, bathed and got ready.

Then the make up lady came and began to dress up my friend. I watched the whole process. It was nice to see my friend getting all decked up. Later, I was asked to go downstairs and have my breakfast, which was aapam and vegetable stew. My friend's relatives sure are considerate. They made vegetable stew keepin in mind the fact that I am a vegetarian. :-)

After breakfast, I went back to my friend's room to watch her being dressed and adorned with jewels. It was nice to see my friend as a bride. I was actually amazed at the transformation. My simple friend, who never wore any ornament was suddenly adorned from head to toe in gold.

After she got dressed up, relatives started pouring into the room to have a look at the bride. The eyes of her parents misted with happiness to see their daughter enter the threshhold of matrimony. After a brief photo session, all of proceeded downstairs for a prayer before proceeding to the marriage hall.

The prayer was interesting and an elaborate one. It lasted for close to 15 minutes. The bride was made to sit in the chair and she was flanked on both sides by her father and mother. All the relatives gathered in the hall and participated in the prayer. Noone recited the prayer aloud except the bride's father.

After the prayer, we pushed off to the marriage hall in large cars. The marriage was a unique and something like I have never seen before. The hall was a large one with a stange upfront. All the women sat in the back rows while the men sat in the front rows. The bride sat in the back rows with us. A table and few chairs had been set up on the stage. Slowly, the bride's father, the groom, immediate relatives of the bride, and the high priests from the mosque occupied the chairs. The Holy Quran was opened and verses were read from it. The marriage was over in ten minutes, and the bride never once proceeded to the stage. All the while she sat back with us.

After the wedding, the party gathered downstairs for the wedding feast. There were separate sections for vegetarians and non vegetarians. I sat in the vegetarian section and ate the traditional sadhya - the Kerala feast. Later, I hung about the wedding hall with my friend's cousins and indulged myself in my favourite pasttime - people watching. :)

After some time, I looked around for the groom's parents and his family. To my surprise, I was told that according to tradition, noone from the boy's family will attend the wedding. I found it a little odd and amusing.

Anyways, the bride and groom soon left for the groom's house and I returned home with my friend's parents. I bathed and got ready for my train later in the evening.

My friend's father dropped me at Alwaye station and waited till I boarded my train and bid him goodbye. Very nice people.

I had a great trip .. and returned with loveley memories !! :)

A Memorable Trip !! - Day 1

Last weekend I was at Kerala. The main objective behind travelling to 'God's own Country' was to attend the wedding of a good friend of mine. So, I packed my bags and was ready to leave on Friday. I boarded the Alleppey Express at 9 pm, and thence began one of my most memorable trips.

I was travelling alone, and so took extra care of my baggage and tickets. But journey was a little tedious as I had a very noisy family as my co-passengers. Also, as soon as the train crossed Tamil Nadu border, my mobile lost its signal. There was absolutely no connectivity in Kerala. This upset me a bit as I was worried that my friend's parents may be trying to contact me. Also, I was not sure whether to get down at Ernakulam Town (my destination) or at the previous station Edappally (as instructed by my friend). But, I decided to keep my cool and enjoy the beautiful landscape of Kerala as the train hurtled through the State. I kept a watch out for Alwaye as that was the station preceding Edappally.

The train was running late. I got down at Edappally station at 10.30 am. The station was deserted as Edappally is a small town. I walked down the length of the platform and enquired about a phone booth so that I could call my friend's parents. The people directed me to a telephone booth at the other end of the platform. With a deep sigh, I started walking down the platform when people called me. I turned back to see my friend's mother and brother rushing towards me. I was very happy to see them.

The scenery outside Edappally was breath taking .. I could not find an inch of space without a fresh green tree or bush .. The 5 minute journey to their house was also pleasant.

I was warmly received at their place. My friend was overjoyed to see me, and showed off her mehendi on her hands. She introduced me to her cousins, after which I went for my bath. After bath, I was called down for breakfast. Since they were Muslims, I decided to respect them, and so wore my dupatta Muslim style and did not keep a Bindi. They were also considerate to my feelings and respected the fact that I am a vegetarian. We had Idlis and Sambar for breakfast.

The day went on swiftly and my friend's cousins engaged me in lively chat, especially after they learned that I can speak Malayalam. :-)
A purely vegetarian lunch was sent for me upstairs as the other people in the house were eating meat downstairs. My friend was nice enough to eat a vegetarian lunch to give me company.

Towards evening, we got ready for the reception. More and more people started streaming into the house for the reception. I too got ready and went down with my friend's cousins. The highlight of the evening was the appearance of Malayalam actor Mammooty. He is an uncle to my friend and had been invited to the reception party. It was nice to see a super star in person. I was thrilled beyond words. But the actor stayed only for 5 minutes.

The reception party was great but also exhausting. For dinner, there were a number of meat preparations, and so I could not eat anything. I ended up eating only ghee rice, which was very tasty.
Two of my friend's cousins, Kunju and Malu, became attached with me. At night, before I slept, Malu even drew a mehendi design on my palm, and the two stuck to me calling me Chechi, which means 'elder sister' in Malayalam. All of this affection and warmth felt too good.

That night, exhaustion and happiness lulled me into a deep sleep.