Dear dost,
Let me get my facts clear in the beginning itself. I was planning to write this blog several months back ..in fact just after writing Part IV in April 201o. But I couldn't, due to some reason which I,myself is not aware of. Actually, I wanted to complete this episode before my marriage which happened in June 2010, so that after Neta's traumatic experience I can write about my own.
Someone had suggested that I complete this episode before the arrival of next generation of Neta's DNA, that deadline I obviously missed as Neta is a proud father of a sweet angel. I dedicate this blog to this little angel, ...........your father is a darling dear.....he is real gem, preserve him, adore him.
So, if you haven't read my earlier blogs, read those first before continuing here......As the events described here belong to a bygone era i.e. more than 02 years earlier...there may be some fluctuations in fact here and there..yes 02 years amount to passing of an era in a married life..ask any husband...
We, i.e,Budhau, Nitin,Abhay,Rajesh Pandey, Jamalpur ka yadav,Mota Naveen and yours truly reached at the Bride's home around 2200 hrs. on 25th May 2009.Date is more or less right if my memory hasn't been Gajnified yet. Yes, Gajni effect happens, like happened with Kalmadi in Tihar jail, now he doesn't remember the Commonwealth Games.
But no, I used to to be an average student in BHU...but not anymore because the competition has reduced....You boys are not living with me in Cuttack ..Here I am the boss.
So, we reached Bride's place after crossing several hurdles on the way.
Our vehicle was parked near a small pond, we had to negotiate our way through narrow pagdandi in between mud and slime, we avoided falling into the pond by clinging to a small wall on the pond bank.But, nevertheless all of us succeded in reaching at the front lawns of Neta's sasural. Budhau kept us entertained by mouthing classical swear words on the way.
Before stepping on the verandah, everyone was getting their feet washed by Bride's family members. May be, that was some ancient Brahmnical ritual, I am not sure. A gentleman offered a jug of water and volunteered to wash my feet but I flatly refused, what the fuck.......why should I follow this nonsensical tradition. It is derogatory, it stinks of racialism,where Groom's family is racially superior to that of Bride's family. I don't know how many of us got their feet washed by others, but surely some of us did.Very bad....never let your conscience die in rainy season.
We dutifully stepped on verandah, occupied a corner,away from family elders and sat on our haunches in a relaxed manner. We even stretched on the back to get some relaxation after that roller-coaster Jeep ride.Hot Coffee/Tea along with sweets and namkeens was instantly served. We ate some, threw some and distributed some.Cold drinks was also served to solidify the contents of stomach. No problem, anything and everything was welcome.
Some family elders went to the interiors of Bride's house to complete formalities/rituals. Budhau told us some non-veg jokes, Nitin sang songs, & everyone indulged in full-time bakchodi. We spent few hours like that on the verandah itself. Some of us including me were eager to go inside and meet Neta & Bhabhijee but this never materialized. Mota Naveen scuttled our plan and insisted on waiting for dinner to be served. Considering the dampness of the surroundings due to rain , we decided to kill the time at the verandah and didn't dared to move our butts.
Around 2330 hrs, we heard a rumour that dinner may be served in near future as the pre-dinner marriage rituals were coming to a close. We were excited again.
First wave of excitement was generated when we had arrived at Bride's place in one piece, yes there was a slight possibility that our vehicle got turtled on the way & we would have been admitted into a village Primary Health Centre with few fractured bones. What would have been the reaction of Budhau..."I told you so. This journey was doomed from the beginning itself." But, fortunately we avoided by sheer luck, what else.
We proceed to inner verandah and fixed ourselves on a Primary school-type Desk-Bench, waited eagerly for the food.
One mango pickle was served ......some time passed.
One lemon pickle was served........some more time passes...
One pumpkin pickle was served.....some more time passed.
One sweet pickle was served.........some more time passes.
One more vegetable pickle was served..........what the fuck is happening with us ? Since last 10 minutes.....fucking varieties of tasteless pickle is being served to us time and again..I lost the count thereafter and stated the proceedings with pickles.
But fortunately , regular dishes consisting of wheats, rice, vegetables, sweet dishes were served in large quantities. I counted the variety of dishes upto 21 but lost the count thereafter, after all I was supposed to eat them all. Some one rumored in the end that 56 varities of dishes were served.....may be..I don't know. This dinner ritual lasted for more than 02 hours. You can imagine the amount of food we had. May be, collectively we ate more grain than consumed by the whole population in a small country like Bhutan. Food was superbly delicious. Host were more than that. They fed us like kings, we ate like hungry dogs.
Your life is not complete if you have not participated in a food festival like this in my Mithilanchal area. You simply do not know what the term Hospitality means till you have visited a Hospital due to your stuffed stomach after eating in a marriage ceremony in Mithilanchal. You boys can never dream of such a scenario in a buffet-system powered marriages in our cities.
Fortunately, nothing of this sort happened ......we woke from the dinner table...yes dinner was so long some of us may have slept few hours if we wanted........washed our hand by a glossy detergent and disembarked from the lofty verandah.
We returned to our previous corner for some after-dinner Paan-supari and other digestives. By that time, Neta's marriage ceremony was over. I decided to meet the newly-wed couple and proceeded for other entrance to the house accompanied by friends.
A messanger was sent to call Neta......he appeared in few minutes in a bright-yellow silk kurta. But this bugger disappointed us ....Bhabhijee was tired and unable to meet us due to some post-marriage religious rituals.We were told to wait till the morning hours. We clicked few pictures with Neta on my 02-year old Nokia N 73. Pictures are still good.......may be I will share some of them in near future through Facebook/Orkut.
Me, Abhay, Nitin and few others wanted to wait till next morning but Budhau and some others had reserved seats in a railway bogey to New Delhi next morning. So, we decided to leave the Bride's villages after exchanging pleasantries/abuses with Neta.
A hunt was launched to locate the driver of our Rath/Bolero. But, it is not easy to find a drunk driver during unearthly hours. But, we persisted, so another driver was found who can take us back to Darbhanga. GPS-aided devices were not available at that time, otherwise we would have found our beloved driver. So, we bid goodbye to Neta, advised him to kill the cat on the very first night. You never know the habits of cats, they are so mischievous. So, bachelors are advised to kill the cat on the very first night. It brings good luck .
Around 0400 hrs on 26th May 2009, we started the journey back to Darbhanga.
Boarding the vehicle was easiest part, for next 03-04 hrs everyone took turns to sleep like a log in the fast-moving vehicle. I captured few more snippets on the way. Budhau & Naveen snored like tired prostitutes after a hectic night shift.
Travelling through countryside in early morning hours is a pleasant experience except few ugly sightings on the roadside. You may find men & women of various sizes relieving themselves near a highway. People feel pleasure in doing the shit-work on the road. May be fast-moving vehicle stimulate them to have a whole-hearted shitting experience.It is also good for constipation,I guess.
But,this fact also highlights our poverty in ugly terms. Even after 64 years of Independence, we are unable to provide decent toilets to our people.
We stopped at a roadside Dhaba somewhere in Madhubani. Drank few glasses of tea,watered the roadside grass as urinal was missing..hopped again and reached Darbhanga Hotel by 0800hrs on the same day.
Took bath,refreshened ourselves and Neta joined us for lunch at a nearby decently -decorated restaurant.Again, food was devoured like animals.
Marriages are meant to be a treat for food - lovers. We ate anything and everything available in Darbhanga district for those 02 days.
It was fun.
It was sheer pleasure to attend Neta's nuptials .
Thereafter,everyone packed their bags, Budhau abused some unknown entities.....and Delhi group departed for magnificient Darbhanga railway station.
I & Nitin decided to visit our homes and reached Imposing structure of the same railway station. Found a train on the platform,asked passengers about the destination, changed train on the next station Samastipur and reached home by the next morning.
This trip was fun unlimited. However one fact still disturbs me that we were unable to see Bhabhijee. In fact, Neta should take the blame. He was the host.If he wanted,we would have met Bhabhiee on that day. It has been 02 years since then.
During 30 yrs. of my existence on planet earth, I must have witnessed 20-odd marriages but for the first and only time I didn't see the bride.
Happy coincidence.
Next time,this happened I got married.
But,this indeed was a cool trip with bosom buddies.Few weeks back, I saw Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Though our trip from Darbhanga to Neta's sasural and back wasn't scenic like the countryside in Spain but our experiences were somewhat similar. May be someday, we can plan a no-strings attached trip with some of you to a faraway place just by ourselves...no spouses allowed.
So,Here concludes my journey to Neta's nuptials. I learnt just one fact, Journey is important,destination is just a comma in the course of a long journey.
We have to enjoy the journey till it lasts or till we have the will to undertake it.
That's it from my keyboard.
Love & warm regards
Dear dost,
Let me get my facts clear in the beginning itself. I was planning to write this blog several months back ..in fact just after writing Part IV in April 201o. But I couldn't, due to some reason which I,myself is not aware of. Actually, I wanted to complete this episode before my marriage which happened in June 2010, so that after Neta's traumatic experience I can write about my own.
Someone had suggested that I complete this episode before the arrival of next generation of Neta's DNA, that deadline I obviously missed as Neta is a proud father of a sweet angel. I dedicate this blog to this little angel, ...........your father is a darling dear.....he is real gem, preserve him, adore him.
So, if you haven't read my earlier blogs, read those first before continuing here......As the events described here belong to a bygone era i.e. more than 02 years earlier...there may be some fluctuations in fact here and there..yes 02 years amount to passing of an era in a married life..ask any husband...
We, i.e,Budhau, Nitin,Abhay,Rajesh Pandey, Jamalpur ka yadav,Mota Naveen and yours truly reached at the Bride's home around 2200 hrs. on 25th May 2009.Date is more or less right if my memory hasn't been Gajnified yet. Yes, Gajni effect happens, like happened with Kalmadi in Tihar jail, now he doesn't remember the Commonwealth Games.
But no, I used to to be an average student in BHU...but not anymore because the competition has reduced....You boys are not living with me in Cuttack ..Here I am the boss.
So, we reached Bride's place after crossing several hurdles on the way.
Our vehicle was parked near a small pond, we had to negotiate our way through narrow pagdandi in between mud and slime, we avoided falling into the pond by clinging to a small wall on the pond bank.But, nevertheless all of us succeded in reaching at the front lawns of Neta's sasural. Budhau kept us entertained by mouthing classical swear words on the way.
Before stepping on the verandah, everyone was getting their feet washed by Bride's family members. May be, that was some ancient Brahmnical ritual, I am not sure. A gentleman offered a jug of water and volunteered to wash my feet but I flatly refused, what the fuck.......why should I follow this nonsensical tradition. It is derogatory, it stinks of racialism,where Groom's family is racially superior to that of Bride's family. I don't know how many of us got their feet washed by others, but surely some of us did.Very bad....never let your conscience die in rainy season.
We dutifully stepped on verandah, occupied a corner,away from family elders and sat on our haunches in a relaxed manner. We even stretched on the back to get some relaxation after that roller-coaster Jeep ride.Hot Coffee/Tea along with sweets and namkeens was instantly served. We ate some, threw some and distributed some.Cold drinks was also served to solidify the contents of stomach. No problem, anything and everything was welcome.
Some family elders went to the interiors of Bride's house to complete formalities/rituals. Budhau told us some non-veg jokes, Nitin sang songs, & everyone indulged in full-time bakchodi. We spent few hours like that on the verandah itself. Some of us including me were eager to go inside and meet Neta & Bhabhijee but this never materialized. Mota Naveen scuttled our plan and insisted on waiting for dinner to be served. Considering the dampness of the surroundings due to rain , we decided to kill the time at the verandah and didn't dared to move our butts.
Around 2330 hrs, we heard a rumour that dinner may be served in near future as the pre-dinner marriage rituals were coming to a close. We were excited again.
First wave of excitement was generated when we had arrived at Bride's place in one piece, yes there was a slight possibility that our vehicle got turtled on the way & we would have been admitted into a village Primary Health Centre with few fractured bones. What would have been the reaction of Budhau..."I told you so. This journey was doomed from the beginning itself." But, fortunately we avoided by sheer luck, what else.
We proceed to inner verandah and fixed ourselves on a Primary school-type Desk-Bench, waited eagerly for the food.
One mango pickle was served ......some time passed.
One lemon pickle was served........some more time passes...
One pumpkin pickle was served.....some more time passed.
One sweet pickle was served.........some more time passes.
One more vegetable pickle was served..........what the fuck is happening with us ? Since last 10 minutes.....fucking varieties of tasteless pickle is being served to us time and again..I lost the count thereafter and stated the proceedings with pickles.
But fortunately , regular dishes consisting of wheats, rice, vegetables, sweet dishes were served in large quantities. I counted the variety of dishes upto 21 but lost the count thereafter, after all I was supposed to eat them all. Some one rumored in the end that 56 varities of dishes were served.....may be..I don't know. This dinner ritual lasted for more than 02 hours. You can imagine the amount of food we had. May be, collectively we ate more grain than consumed by the whole population in a small country like Bhutan. Food was superbly delicious. Host were more than that. They fed us like kings, we ate like hungry dogs.
Your life is not complete if you have not participated in a food festival like this in my Mithilanchal area. You simply do not know what the term Hospitality means till you have visited a Hospital due to your stuffed stomach after eating in a marriage ceremony in Mithilanchal. You boys can never dream of such a scenario in a buffet-system powered marriages in our cities.
Fortunately, nothing of this sort happened ......we woke from the dinner table...yes dinner was so long some of us may have slept few hours if we wanted........washed our hand by a glossy detergent and disembarked from the lofty verandah.
We returned to our previous corner for some after-dinner Paan-supari and other digestives. By that time, Neta's marriage ceremony was over. I decided to meet the newly-wed couple and proceeded for other entrance to the house accompanied by friends.
A messanger was sent to call Neta......he appeared in few minutes in a bright-yellow silk kurta. But this bugger disappointed us ....Bhabhijee was tired and unable to meet us due to some post-marriage religious rituals.We were told to wait till the morning hours. We clicked few pictures with Neta on my 02-year old Nokia N 73. Pictures are still good.......may be I will share some of them in near future through Facebook/Orkut.
Me, Abhay, Nitin and few others wanted to wait till next morning but Budhau and some others had reserved seats in a railway bogey to New Delhi next morning. So, we decided to leave the Bride's villages after exchanging pleasantries/abuses with Neta.
A hunt was launched to locate the driver of our Rath/Bolero. But, it is not easy to find a drunk driver during unearthly hours. But, we persisted, so another driver was found who can take us back to Darbhanga. GPS-aided devices were not available at that time, otherwise we would have found our beloved driver. So, we bid goodbye to Neta, advised him to kill the cat on the very first night. You never know the habits of cats, they are so mischievous. So, bachelors are advised to kill the cat on the very first night. It brings good luck .
Around 0400 hrs on 26th May 2009, we started the journey back to Darbhanga.
Boarding the vehicle was easiest part, for next 03-04 hrs everyone took turns to sleep like a log in the fast-moving vehicle. I captured few more snippets on the way. Budhau & Naveen snored like tired prostitutes after a hectic night shift.
Travelling through countryside in early morning hours is a pleasant experience except few ugly sightings on the roadside. You may find men & women of various sizes relieving themselves near a highway. People feel pleasure in doing the shit-work on the road. May be fast-moving vehicle stimulate them to have a whole-hearted shitting experience.It is also good for constipation,I guess.
But,this fact also highlights our poverty in ugly terms. Even after 64 years of Independence, we are unable to provide decent toilets to our people.
We stopped at a roadside Dhaba somewhere in Madhubani. Drank few glasses of tea,watered the roadside grass as urinal was missing..hopped again and reached Darbhanga Hotel by 0800hrs on the same day.
Took bath,refreshened ourselves and Neta joined us for lunch at a nearby decently -decorated restaurant.Again, food was devoured like animals.
Marriages are meant to be a treat for food - lovers. We ate anything and everything available in Darbhanga district for those 02 days.
It was fun.
It was sheer pleasure to attend Neta's nuptials .
Thereafter,everyone packed their bags, Budhau abused some unknown entities.....and Delhi group departed for magnificient Darbhanga railway station.
I & Nitin decided to visit our homes and reached Imposing structure of the same railway station. Found a train on the platform,asked passengers about the destination, changed train on the next station Samastipur and reached home by the next morning.
This trip was fun unlimited. However one fact still disturbs me that we were unable to see Bhabhijee. In fact, Neta should take the blame. He was the host.If he wanted,we would have met Bhabhiee on that day. It has been 02 years since then.
During 30 yrs. of my existence on planet earth, I must have witnessed 20-odd marriages but for the first and only time I didn't see the bride.
Happy coincidence.
Next time,this happened I got married.
But,this indeed was a cool trip with bosom buddies.Few weeks back, I saw Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Though our trip from Darbhanga to Neta's sasural and back wasn't scenic like the countryside in Spain but our experiences were somewhat similar. May be someday, we can plan a no-strings attached trip with some of you to a faraway place just by ourselves...no spouses allowed.
So,Here concludes my journey to Neta's nuptials. I learnt just one fact, Journey is important,destination is just a comma in the course of a long journey.
We have to enjoy the journey till it lasts or till we have the will to undertake it.
That's it from my keyboard.
Love & warm regards
Budhau & Naveen snored like tired prostitutes after a hectic night shift. .. Hilarious Figure of speech but i really loved it Dilip. Ha Ha Ha ...
ReplyDeleteGood One .. I read it and tried to picturize as much as i can. But i am really sad that u guys did not make it - to see Bhabhi Ji.. :(
After reading this, i will love to attend Mithilanchal -56 Bhog marriage :).
Keep writing buddy.
Shashi
Hi Dilip
ReplyDeleteIts been an honour reading this ..blog and dedicating it to a daughter is really emotional ...The way its written i was able to visualize the whole marraige ...as SKp pointed out "Budhau & Naveen snored like tired prostitutes after a hectic night shift. ." amazingly hilarious man ....
I missed the marraige should have been there ...
Still not able to meet bhabhi ji :):)
Kuldos to your keyboard !!!
and of course thank you for those rare pictures
ReplyDeleteexcellent!! piece of writing again........i hve also seen ZNMD somedays back but, urs story nd the way of storytelling is a better one.....plz keep sharing ur other moments.......waiting for some more fresh stuffs....
ReplyDelete