The Chennai trip
Me and three more friends went to a colleague's wedding. The bride was a colleague too = Dove marriage. Christian wedding in chennai. I thought I might as well shop for some DVDs on the way back...
So reached around noon, had one a/c room ( Did I mention chennai weather / environment sucks?! ) so bought not so chilled beer. Then left to the church. Reached right on cue. Bride arrives. I was *almost* mouth wide open. I know the bride. So it was a li'l hard to recognize it was really her. Bridesmaids were full ready with their respective partners. Groom was inside by the time the bride arrived. Amid a li'l chaos the bride enters with music in the background...........
I set foot inside and I was ......enchanted! Probably the only word that can describe close to what I felt. The ambience, decorations were all in place. What is the thing in a church that makes me feel enchanted? ......was what I was thinking....and started to observe logical reasons to the question. The white paint with mellow yellow bulb lights sure makes a helluva difference in a large hall! Then comes the artificial flowers decorated with makeshift 'doors'. There were three leading to the altar. Orange colored. Again, perfect color combo for a large space. The chandeliers were also awefockingsome. I was happy I figured out the reasons, at least part of them. The cermony began.......
They exchanged vows. Probably the only part I disliked about the whole thing was when the priest made it a point to repeat the line 'I always say there is a difference between a family and a CHRISTIAN family' three or four times in a span of a few minutes. What the!?!? was what I was thinking. A family is a just a social unit living together, mostly relatives most of the time according to our country. What can be the difference now , huh? That apart, it was an awe-inspiring experience.
Vows exchanged, it's legal now. Both of them seemed so happy, I was trying to decide for whom I felt more happier. The bride, who's a close friend of mine or the groom , whom I've known for more than five years now. But I was happy for THEM.
Next came the hall where they cut the cake, have their first dance etc..(Is there a name for this place/ritual now??).
The cake was cut. There was a local band (kicktheass!) who played 'only you' by the king himself. They played all the songs they did purrfectly. Bridesmaids+partner started. Groom n Bride joined. Slowly swaying to the music.......bride's head on the groom's shoulder......that must've been such a nice feeling....I moved inside the dancers n captured the bride n groom dancing for almost the whole song. I was gradually too far as I had to come out of the crowd. Nevertheless, I captured their first ever dance together.
One funny thing happened next.....Groom gets up to thank everyone involved. Knowing him, he had just the right words to say to everyone. "Last but not the least, the extraordinary woman I've known in my life, k..." was his last paragraph. After he was done, a family friend announced that it was the bride's turn and said 'We don't want the groom to have the last word, do we?'. I laughed. I was completely immersed now, peeking from behind the crowd. Bride gets up n says 'Thank you for letting me have the last word'...a pause..laughter again. Then she just finished her part of thanking the ppl involved.
The band started some peppy songs. ALL the gals there seem to know salsa! I was so surprised to say the least. A couple were easily the best. Their daughter used to come n pester them by pulling her mom's hand. It was nice to watch.:)
Then came the hard part....drinks on the house! Yep, that was the hard part....unbelievable but true. We were sweating under the humidity at 9 in the early night...and no beer! But obviously a good decision as beer would've got over very very very soon! tehehe ;)
Tried a li'l whisky with coke, one sip and I couldn't. My friend tried vodka with sprite, same status. So had some dinner n headed back to our lodge.
And oh yes, we were supposed to go shopping the next day. We found we just had money for lunch n to head back to our homes. So cancelled, searched for beer as cold as possible, one bottle and slept amongst our sweaty pillows!
One more thing.....while on the train, the TC had a tiff with some guys who were next to us. He came to check our tickets n started muttering aloud...(in tamil) 'these ppl sir, they think they can get away with anything. Some guy says he knows Mr.X, Y n Z. So I told him to keep his 'contacts' with him as it is of no use here.' I said 'Yes, it's like the joke in the tamil movie 'I know the DIG very well.................(all men around including constables show respect).........but the DIG has no idea who I am!' lol! It's funny in tamil, believe me. Everyone around us laughed. My friend asked the TC 'Sir, will the train stop anywhere for like around ten mins?'. TC 'No, it won't. Why?' . Friend 'Nothing sir,just wanted to know'. Me 'Sir, won't the train stop for a few minutes somewhere along the journey?'. TC 'Sir, why do you want to know?'. Me 'Dumm sir, dumm'. TC 'You wanna buy or smoke them?'. Me ' I have. But want to have a smoke sometime along the way'. TC 'No problem sir, you can go to the loo and smoke there'. Me (fullto respect n all now)'Sir, am asking your permission to go n have a smoke in the loo now'. TC (impressed!) 'Sure sir, go ahead. Please don't embarass me further!'. hawhawhaw. Had my smoke, came back n slept.
Phew..am damn sure I had a whole lot to describe but just can't get them right. So that was our chennai experience.
