The stage was all set. It was going to be a big occasion in the lives of Chhabdas. They were a renowned and a much respected family in Andanabad. And they had waited for this occasion for long. It was the wedding of the eldest son from the third generation of the Chhabda family, Soham. After months of preparations and arrangements, time had come for the celebrations.
Soham, a highly successful IT engineer was marrying Renuka, an IT engineer from Lambana. The wedding was scheduled to be held in Lambana. And the reception was slated for Andanabad, Soham's home town. The decorations were arranged, the band-wallahs had been called, the transportation arrangements had been done, the menu items for dinners on all days had been decided, invitation cards had been prepared and distributed to as many friends and relatives as they could remember, the so called customary "lena-dena" of gifts and money had also been done and the red carpet was now laid perfectly for the celebrations of the beloved son of Chhabda family.
The entire clan had reached Lambana and now it was the marriage day. After all the regular customary procedures, time had come to take off the marriage procession. Many more relatives had reached Lambana. And there were polite complaints coming since morning, "Where is tea?", "The cushions are not soft enough", "The rooms shouldn't be so clean, it doesn't look like marriage", "Why did my husband's brother's wife's sister's maternal uncle's daughter get 50 bucks more than me?", etc. The complaints were reaching to Mr. and Mrs. Chhabda's ears through very well calculated mediums of transport. People kept passing on the comments and always took care to tell it to only those who they sure shot felt will take those complaints to the person under their microscopic lens. There was always one common statement to follow those comments, "But it is fine, please don't tell them. Such things do happen in marriages. We have not come here for roaming around, we have come to attend the holy occasion of marriage and such things do happen in marriages."
Everyone was getting ready for the big night. Gentlemen were running from one place to other to get their wives' clothes ironed or to get milk for their children or to buy the forgotten sox pairs for themselves. The ladies had gathered in one room and were busy assisting each other in the make-ups and side by side commenting on various issues ranging from some particular neighborhood lady fighting for 50p with vegetable vendor to their son or daughter not eating bitter gourd with curd. Children had no feelings for or against anyone and continued to run and jump around carefree, sliding and skidding on the marble floors, jumping on the mattresses and breaking every breakable thing around. The young guys had their usual never ending chats about girls, gadgets and drinks going in one of the corners.
Soham, his handsome brother Aditya and their family members were getting ready as early as possible so as to avoid any more delays and thereby to avoid bitterer comments from you know who. With the prevalent pressure quite easily visible on their faces, the Chhabdas were making sure everyone looked happy and that no one seemed to have any hidden harsh feelings for them. On the other hand, others made sure that they gave the perfect looks to them whenever their turn came.
The marriage procession was one more occasion when Chhabdas made sure everyone gets involved in shaking their legs with big smiles on their faces. And so did everyone. Dance is an integral part of Punjabi weddings. The groom Soham, a dance lover, also got his chance to shake legs with various people, making them happy at getting an opportunity to dance with "The Groom". At the marriage party, Chhabdas kept running around to make sure all guests looked happy, completely forgetting their own happiness for that sake.
The case was the same at the reception party in Andanabad. Running around to make others happy and hiding the tension and pressure they put on themselves just for the sake of others. Money was also splashed like a free flowing water-fall on dinners, parties, bands, rotating on the heads of important people while dancing, the lena-dena to make the guests happy, etc. But that is how the Big Fat Punjabi weddings are supposed to be. They are meant for others and not for those who are actually getting married or their families. The show-shaw, dance-shance, lena-dena, khana-pina, ho-halla, kudna-shudna, gana-bajana, etc are all integral part of these weddings and so it was in Soham’s wedding. After all, weddings are meant to be made in heaven. And guests will always find one reason or the other to whine about, after all that is how the human race moves ahead. :)
But, most importantly, wishing a happy and successful married life to Soham and Renuka. The fault-finding, whining and crying are never going to halt, we just need to learn to live with it.
P.S. The characters are purely fictional and any resemblance to anyone is purely coincidental and should be ignored with.
