Debugging Weddings-1

With the wedding bells ringing all over braving covid19, I was there at my friend's sister wedding last Saturday. Global economy has taken its toll and every sector is badly hit. Like the blessing in disguise, wedding costs are now down to cost of a grandly given birthday party. With limited invitees and below par attendance from near and dear, 1000 pax grand gala mass event in convention hall turned into 100 pax classy event in mini-banquet hall. In the absence of band baazas and dhandias, an unusual silence prevailed, giving the driver seat to traditional Sannayi melams and vivaha mantrams. Suddenly, I realised I was attending a whole new wedding with the sounds of these reverberating all over. I heard the ayyavaaru chanting the below sloka which had a lasting impact on me as I read it only few days before on one of my colleague's wedding card: 

శ్రీరామ పత్నీ, జనకస్య పుత్రీ  – సీతాంగనా, యౌవన కోమలాంగీ

భూగర్భ జాతా  – భువనైక మాతా  – వధూవరాభ్యాం – వరదా భవంతు

What is a wedding* ? How to define it ?

Why is it so special ? Third most talked aspect in middle class life after good education and good job is a good marriage. They say marriages are made in heaven.. are love marriages included in it ? 

I have witnessed only two wedding ceremonies from close quarters but the sea of emotions, waves of crests and troughs involved in it are still afresh. I wanted to write what a wedding means to me..and what I have understood by seeing the families never-ending apprehensions before and at sigh of relief/happiness after the wedding. Mind you, the wedding couple will be in a complete different world and they are inspiration for both parties to toil all through the wedding day. 

Arranged Marriage:

The message which my grand pa passed onto my mom at her wedding comes to my mind now. "See Lakshmi, bonding between husband and wife is crucial for fruitful wedding. Everybody may not have the luck of love before marriage but still they have every chance of loving their better-half after the marriage in a subtle way." 

Yes, in a subtle way because of all sorts of responsibilities shared between the couple from then on makes the love/caring/affection/concern for each other reveal in a hidden way. It's visibility increases with two vitals called understanding and patience.

Love after marriage starts slowly but it thrives with time and grows bigger over a period of time. Wedding ceremony is a vedic seed sowing event in which both groom's side and bride's side unite to let the grooms sow the seeds of their wedding plant in the soil called family with the help of water called mantras and in the presence of invisible air representing our ancestors, god and goddesses. Slowly, the wedding plant grows and have its branches of trust built between the pair, the pair will have their children called flowers and fruits, thus it flourishes and gives shades of happiness for both sides of families and all the people associated with them.

I will continue pondering over this..

I am yet to write on emotional things involved on a wedding day, my take on advantages of love marriage. And are they really made in heaven ?

*Here, Wedding and marriage are used synonymously for the sake of better writing.Usually, a wedding is a ritualistic ceremony after which the marital relationship starts between a girl and a boy.  

In the journey of life..

To Mouth ulcer, 

"In the journey of life..." is such a phrase which can be beautiful and awful; it depends on where we currently are in our journey. All the toughest mountain passes once surpassed becomes an achievement and a life time memory but whilst going through them we may struggle and look downhill .

To err is to human and to dream is to human. Certainly, not everything we dreamt of is in our hands. Life drags them; it gives us hope and solace sometimes, thrill and pain the other time just to make us feel the sense of it. What is the fun if everything happens in a flash ? At times,when the journey once thought to be on a smooth highway turns out to be a rough ghat road; the best we can do is to decelerate, reduce the gear, apply brakes, control all other anxieties (of where are we leading to? what road is this?) and continue driving to reach our dream destination.

In this regard, nature provides us good examples. A tiger, even a mighty tiger must await hours and hours for its prey to become vulnerable and  hunting prone before the hunt actually begins. It is just like the long-lasting pre-production work done by Baahubali director Rajamouli before commencing the shoot. 

Trees in southern India have to survive in dry-deciduous forests unlike trees in tropical evergreen forests in the north and northeast. Lush green forests in south post June will have to shed its leaves after February to sustain the dry summers till the end of May. These dry deciduous never feel sad for the good fortunes of evergreens which experience rain for most of the year. In their journey of life, these trees prepare for adversities, consume less and continue their wait for the onset of monsoon i.e. for the life to thrive again.

A herd of thirsty elephants walks miles and miles starting March in search of water ponds. But the greatest happiness for them comes after the showers in June with the joyful bathing in water plenty rivers and lakes. None in this eventful planet goes without struggle and none ends their struggle midway !

All living creatures in this lovely world experience joy and happiness which is scattered amidst the pain and uncertainty. However bright the sun may be, he has to re-emerge from darkest of the clouds to shine again!

With love,

Dentogel