Last Friday was quite an eventful day, both in terms of fun and fatigue. I woke up early morning at 5, the last time I remember doing something like that; it was exams. I mean, I really hate waking up so early. Imagine, missing out on 3 more hours of sleep. Anyway, due to unavoidable marriage situations, I had to just resist the temptation to sleep and get dressed up, while asking myself various questions. Why would people keep marriage ceremonies between 7-7.30 in the morning? Shouldn’t they think that the invited guests would need some time to travel all the way to the venue and then find the Kalyan Mandap? What would happen to people like me, who stay so far away from the venue, how would I manage to reach in time? Sometimes, it feels good to crib; I mean there should be some incentive for all the trouble I was taking. Pondering over all those questions I finished all my morning activities and got dressed up. In a rush, I gulped down a glass of milk (of course breakfast was a no no so early in the morning), took my handbag and started on the quest of finding the place where my teammate was to get married.
Like I have stated earlier, I need to walk a mile to catch an auto. On the way, I could see the onlookers gape at me. I was at a loss and was wondering why I was being subject to so many stares. I soon realized that I was in this chimtak* salwar suit, all pinkish since the dress color was dark pink. How I wished I wasn’t dressed up so brightly for this wedding. Imagine me on the road at 6 in the morning all ‘dressed’ up, I guess people could easily see a dark pink object coming from the road far off itself; obviously it would call for more than stares, maybe even laughter. However, I started feeling better as soon as I realized that I am not wearing a sari, something which I had decided the previous night. Also, the dress was a sleeveless one so, that much of bright color was reduced by the simple fact that there weren’t any sleeves. I have this habit of consoling myself, when I think that I have made a fool of myself. That’s exactly what I was trying to do by thinking about the sari, and the sleeves while trying to escape from that area.
Like I have mentioned earlier, my bad luck can sometimes be really bad, that I had to walk quite a bit to finally sight an auto. Regardless the high rate quoted by the driver, I jumped inside the auto bypassing the bargaining process for the first time. I know it sounds uncanny but there were two very important reasons for that. The first one would be the obvious need for me to escape from that area. It is better to pay a little higher and reach the venue safe and sound and of course in time; that would explain the second reason. I was surprised when I reached the landmark given my S (another teammate with whom I have to go for the wedding) at 6.45. I walked leisurely towards her house thinking that I managed to reach earlier by 15 minutes. She greeted me at her door still in her nightdress making me wonder what on earth I was doing there. She reassured me that we could leave for the venue in another half an hour and off she went to get ready, leaving me with biscuits and tea. Meanwhile I browsed through the net and listened to songs in her comp trying not to even think of the sleep I missed out by rising and shining so early. Don’t get the wrong idea, she had asked me to be at her place by 7, so that we could walk to the venue which is just 5 minutes away from her house.
At 7.30, we reached the venue and end up walking briskly in order to see the “Thaalikettu” (main function), although the literal meaning of the word would be chain tying. The function got over soon and we met the couple and gave our wishes along with the gift. I was looking forward to having something as I was beginning to feel hungry but when my teammate suggested that we push off to office, I kind of agreed and left for work We reached office at 8.30 and like I had expected we were the first to enter our floor. By 10, I was too hungry to even gaze at the computer screen so I ended up ordering a sandwich from the eatery, which normally I hate. There is a saying somewhat like this, “When a tiger is helplessly hungry, it might even end up eating grass”. I wonder if actually there could be a saying like that though I kind of liked the comparison of the tiger to me. Anyways, I got back to work and relentlessly finished some bit of work I had. Trust me, it is very hard to work on a Friday normally itself, let alone forget the office annual party which was scheduled to begin at 7 pm the same day.
To be continued…
*Chimtak- very brightly dark and eye-catching
Like I have stated earlier, I need to walk a mile to catch an auto. On the way, I could see the onlookers gape at me. I was at a loss and was wondering why I was being subject to so many stares. I soon realized that I was in this chimtak* salwar suit, all pinkish since the dress color was dark pink. How I wished I wasn’t dressed up so brightly for this wedding. Imagine me on the road at 6 in the morning all ‘dressed’ up, I guess people could easily see a dark pink object coming from the road far off itself; obviously it would call for more than stares, maybe even laughter. However, I started feeling better as soon as I realized that I am not wearing a sari, something which I had decided the previous night. Also, the dress was a sleeveless one so, that much of bright color was reduced by the simple fact that there weren’t any sleeves. I have this habit of consoling myself, when I think that I have made a fool of myself. That’s exactly what I was trying to do by thinking about the sari, and the sleeves while trying to escape from that area.
Like I have mentioned earlier, my bad luck can sometimes be really bad, that I had to walk quite a bit to finally sight an auto. Regardless the high rate quoted by the driver, I jumped inside the auto bypassing the bargaining process for the first time. I know it sounds uncanny but there were two very important reasons for that. The first one would be the obvious need for me to escape from that area. It is better to pay a little higher and reach the venue safe and sound and of course in time; that would explain the second reason. I was surprised when I reached the landmark given my S (another teammate with whom I have to go for the wedding) at 6.45. I walked leisurely towards her house thinking that I managed to reach earlier by 15 minutes. She greeted me at her door still in her nightdress making me wonder what on earth I was doing there. She reassured me that we could leave for the venue in another half an hour and off she went to get ready, leaving me with biscuits and tea. Meanwhile I browsed through the net and listened to songs in her comp trying not to even think of the sleep I missed out by rising and shining so early. Don’t get the wrong idea, she had asked me to be at her place by 7, so that we could walk to the venue which is just 5 minutes away from her house.
At 7.30, we reached the venue and end up walking briskly in order to see the “Thaalikettu” (main function), although the literal meaning of the word would be chain tying. The function got over soon and we met the couple and gave our wishes along with the gift. I was looking forward to having something as I was beginning to feel hungry but when my teammate suggested that we push off to office, I kind of agreed and left for work We reached office at 8.30 and like I had expected we were the first to enter our floor. By 10, I was too hungry to even gaze at the computer screen so I ended up ordering a sandwich from the eatery, which normally I hate. There is a saying somewhat like this, “When a tiger is helplessly hungry, it might even end up eating grass”. I wonder if actually there could be a saying like that though I kind of liked the comparison of the tiger to me. Anyways, I got back to work and relentlessly finished some bit of work I had. Trust me, it is very hard to work on a Friday normally itself, let alone forget the office annual party which was scheduled to begin at 7 pm the same day.
To be continued…
*Chimtak- very brightly dark and eye-catching
4 comments:
Ha haha.... believe me I can totally identify with the morning blues. Thankfully most Bengali weddings are at night and so I make myself useful at that time, only if I've had my dosage of 14-18 hour uninterrupted sleep sometime that week. Good post: will be looking forward to the next one :)
Hey thanks Sudipta. :)
I always had this wish to attend a Bengali wedding but missed it even when my close fren Sudeshna got married. I know it is one fun occasion since I have heard a lot about it from her. Probably my wish will be granted in your wedding. :)
Oh yes, ma'am... I'll keep that in mind whenever it happens! :)
cool, you made my day! :)
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