The journey was arduous, first 12 hrs in train, then 6 hrs in a typical desi bus. Every part of my body, moving in a harmonic motion, like those art-pieces, which move neck and trunk due to breeze of air, seen in drawing rooms at the top of old B&W tv sets. It was a bit weird, waiting in a stranger city for my friend's brother whom I didnt know ofcourse. Did I do the right thing to come here ?
A car stops," Shalab bhaiya.." and zoop.....I am in a home full of guests, everybody is busy making the arrangements, sounds like, "where the hell is the electrician, just cut-short his payment"......"who kept these food items outside, when would these people become responsible" ......"arre..somebody call the groom, we are already late ..." are filling the vaccuum. Did I tell you, I am here to attend a marriage ?? Oops...sorry. Actually recently I saw the movie, 27 dresses and was ready to take up the role of best-man and to my surprise, got the chance pretty soon....And here I am in midst of all the action.
However, I was allowed to take some rest, which I desperately needed to rejuvenate. I was moved to the guest house. It was nice, a personal A/C room after 20 hrs of journey, what more one could wish for. But no, some people have itchy-hands, and so.. I poked the care-taker, a hand grenade which was waiting since eterniy to explode and I, I just pulled out the safety-pin. And by the time I realised, it was very late. It seemed as if he was waiting for a victim to tell his stories, one after another. At the end, he left as a happy soul and I was declared, brought dead !
When I reached my friend's home, the stage was set for the semi-finals, I mean for the "Tilak ceremony" and my friend was ready to face his in-laws, though it was a friendly match, still the tension was on and thats what was making it more interesting. However, everything was going well until an uninvited guest showed up, the Indra dev..and we started running for cover. When we reached safe hide-outs, we realized that somebody else also needed cover from rain, so we ran out to get cover for them, the food counters. Since it was a homely affair, we were responsible for the arrangements, or rather irresponsible as by the time we reached the counters, gulab jamun was practising swimming, may be to beat Phelps and dahi-wade were looking damn relaxed like happy buffaloes in a village pond.
The next day was the D-day(I dont know, why do people call it D-day and not J-day!). Anyways, my friend was getting all the attention, he ever wished for and all the tension that he never wished for.... And me, I was busy with his family members, cracking jokes and planning for the shoe-exchange deal(an integral part of marriage) until I was called to take care of the groom's life's most crucial makeover. We tried different formations of stole with sherwani and then settled for one approved by groom's mom. And quite unlike 27 dresses, I din't even get the time to get my clothing from the guest house, chosen for the occasion, but there is where reel life differs from real life !
Like any other marriage procession, we tapped the roads of Jabalpur on some Indian and some Indianised numbers and reached the marriage hall. But looked like we had swam across the Narmada, to reach there. And I can bet, any deodorant company would have feared to claim their product's success against our sweet-sweat's salty-smell ! And hence to ensure comfort of the bride-side, we took a break(without any kit-kat.....). When the show started again, I found myself with a mike in my hand and a camera staring at me as I was the host for the evening. A live event coverage....and broadcast on a big screen so that everybody could share their thoughts, comments, compliments and wishes. This idea took birth in wicked mind of mastermind himself, the groom. But its success lied in my big mouth... and fortunately, it came out pretty well. But believe me its not that easy to concentrate & talk sincerely to elder aunties, when you have so many pretty young faces around. Although I took utmost care, not to leave anyone unattended, at times I felt my legs betraying me and walking in opposite direction to mine, but then duty comes first !
During the big-feast and during the entire proceedings, we got so many compliments for the unique idea(at least in Jabalpur..). Everybody was appreciative of our efforts for making the evening special and thus I was very eager to see the recording. So after all the marriage hustle, I went up to the cameraman and asked him, when can he get me the tape as I had to leave the next day. He just smiled, and plainly said,"Never". I said Ok, and started walking, then I realised he had said never! What does that mean? I turned back with a big question mark on my face. And got the reply which left me with a foolish smile on my face, a smile of mixed emotion....
Did you guess it ? Yes, absolutely right, he just broadcasted it, did not record ! It was not recorded because one of our friends had instructed him to just broadcast it and not record as he did not want me to shell extra money, so nice of him naa.....true friends you see !
