Its been a hectic long-weekend - there were two marriages in the family to attend - the first in Thiruvanathapuram (TVM) and the next in Kottayam. The children were going to be attending the two weddings so that was incentive enough for me to be around at these weddings. These days its a big deal if I get to spend a whole day with one or both the brats because they are the busy bodies and so it should be! Our daughter Ammu and her husband Arun headed to TVM via Chennai earlier so I had gotten to see them for two days in Chennai. Two days after they left for Kerala our son Ashwin showed up in Chennai after his leave from the Navy was approved just at the nick of time for him to catch that flight to Chennai. Haven't seen him in a long time so it was good catching up with him. He spends most of his time prowling the depths of the Bay of Bengal manning an Indian Navy submarine so it is kind of difficult to catch a peek of him even when he surfaces!
Arun, Ammu, yours truly, the bridegroom (Timki), Sudha and Ashwin
Marriages, like all marriages in God's own Country, are a raucous occasion for family and friends to meet and share experiences after sometimes 20 or 30 year hiatus! The colour and confusion of these occasions are actually quite enjoyable if you are not part of the organising. The girls look very pretty in their wedding clothes and can keep most men quite busy simply gawking at the PYTs! But every once in a while one has to be careful to look away so that those PYTs do not ask their friends 'what was wrong with that dirty old letch sitting in that chair over there?' In actual fact I was also casting my eyes about for a 'suitable girl' for that Navy brat of a son I have but those PYTs don't know that so I would qualify for a dirty old letch in their minds! Once in a while if I did spot a potential daughter-in-law candidate I'd sidle up to my son and ask him 'how that girl in white' was and I'd get a dirty look from my son as if to say 'give me a break Acha'!
All decked up - cousins from all corners of the country and overseas
When one sees the assemblage of some 500-600 people at these weddings, folks who have traveled from far and wide both from within and outside the country one can get a feel of the kind of money that gets spent on these weddings - not just by the bride's folks but also by those coming to attend the wedding. On a typical day when the stars are all aligned well there must be a few hundred such weddings taking place across the state I would estimate the total money churn to be of the order of about Indian Rupees 2 billion on just that day - in dollars that would be a cool 45 million dollars! And they say ours is a poor country! Maybe its a poor country with a lot of rich people!
The wedding stage all decorated and ready to receive the bride and bridegroom
