Ashish called to inform Manjiri's, his younger sister, marriage date has been fixed. Wow it was a great news. I knew Manjiri in pictures and on chat but we had not met face to face. I was happy not only for her but also for two other reasons. Her marriage not only gave me opportunity of a vacation from boring office work but also gave me chance to meet lot of known people with unknown faces. So even before Ashish's formal invitations my plans were set from June 16th to June 19th.
First I planned to book flight tickets (Did not book for first 23 days and later it was too much to afford), later I decided to go with three tier AC(Indian Railways, carries millions of people across India but leaves millions behind as well) and finally I managed to get a sleeper class ticket. I was happy as I was going out of city after a long time. I boarded the train and settled myself. Within few minutes, malodorous smell started overpowering my thoughts but that smell was just a matter of few hours because one needy couple exchanged their seat with mine. So the rest 20 hours were away from smell and less painful due to my stock of magazines and books.
I got down on Chalisgaon and from there I took a state transport to reach Aurangabad ( What a tiny city, does not even have a junction. Shhhh). Reached Ashish's house at one o'clock in the night. I hoped for a nice and warm welcome from my new and old friends but hopes make man lazy... Instead of asking me to rest, I was asked to help in creating a pictorial for Manjiri. Shhh, kaise kaise dost hai mere. All of us put lot of efforts and these efforts resulted in a pictorial which was liked by everyone.
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| Pictorials which has all memories related to Manjiri |
Next day started with Haldi Rashm (Turmeric program). According to Ayurveda, turmeric augments the skin's glow and in ancient time beauty parlour options were not available with brides so this tradition stuck to our marriages ;) (Haldi Rashm is one of main traditions in north as well). So Bride and bride's parents faces were colored with turmeric by aunts and other relatives whereas we all painted our faces without much assistance.
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| All of us with the color of turmeric |
After coloring all, it was time to showcase the enhanced beauty. Bride and uncle/aunt were the honorable guest, so they were given wooden stool to sit and all senior ladies cooperated to rub their turmeric but we were left stranded ;).
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| Royal Bath |
Above mentioned behaviour was not taken so lightly(Hee hee hee, I bet it was not :P) and unexpected idea clicked to one beast. That small idea turned out to be a devil act for 2 complete hours. We all wanted to give a royal bath to everyone so all of us took responsibility and opened the water tank which had at least 8000L clean water. First we took bath then all male member of the family were given water treat and at last all ladies met with the same fate. There was water all over the house except the kitchen and water tank with 8k L capacity, was now empty. Our satanic act was synchronized with awesome sangeet given by Shahnai Vadaks in the picture.
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| Musicians |
After an unprecedented and extended session of Haldi, it was time for Chudi (Bangles). Manjiri had to chose bangles of a fix color and wear them as a marriage token but Madam was more interested in talk than concentrate on picking up the right set for her :).
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| Phone nahi mila baad mein tooo Manjiti ka kya hoga |
Next was chalk (In north it is called as Chalk), where ladies taught her, how to grind wheat using grinding stone. I do not think this tradition signifies anything anymore.
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| Manjiri Learning tricks of the Trade. |
Then she finished a few other customs and was asked to rest from all the tiring activities of the day. But her Aai and Baba were still involved in Pooja, which took more than 2 hours to complete.
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| Pooja's Material |
There was plenty of time before actual ceremony so few of us went for shopping and eating. There I met one Marwadi bhai while buying a Pooja lamp. During the bargaining session he disclosed his native location. Even though we related so closely, Rajasthani Rajasthani Bhai Bhai, he did not give any more discount (700 Rs discount on 2200). On this shopping spree I got little more essence of Aurangabad and marathi cachories ;).
In Maharastra marriage is a two days affair. Both sides stay in the ceremony hall overnight and ceremonies go till first late night and complete in the next afternoon. People at bride side have to welcome the people from other side So we all packed our bags and marched to marriage hall. All the arrangements were checked and completed. Barat reached at the venue at 7PM. All the ladies, standing at gate for hours, were eager to welcome Dulhe Raja but Dulhe Raja was most comfortable in the bus. But finally the wait was over and he got off the bus :(
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| Show-Man |
As soon as Mr. Vinay stepped out, ladies attacked him with their Pooja Thalis. After the warm welcome, light snacks were arranged which was followed by dinner. Dinner was a nice photo sessions for us.
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| Manjiri n Vinay waiting for their dinner and posing for photographers i.e. me |
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| Whole Nautakni party with 2 elements missing Ashish n .. |
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| Ashish got some time from his busy schedule |
After the dinner it was long session for different sorts Poojas, Rashams and activities. Manjiri decided to wear South Indian attire for this night. She was getting ready where as Dulhe Miyan was waiting for Manjiri to join him in Mantap. Manjiri was looking pretty in south Indian sari and make up.
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| Manjiri: Mausiiii Something is missing |
After her make up she came to mantap and took her place next to Vinay. Now you wonder why was Vinay so impatience to see her?
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| Here is our pretty gal. |
After this I lost track of events because my camera's battery was over and everything was quite a family affair. Manjiri and Vinay were surrounded by all important relatives near the Agni. After hours of Pooja sessions, the day one came to an end at 1 o'clock in the night. It was quite a tiring and long day for each individual. But it was nice fun to be part of such a nice family and marriage.
I am sure I can not finish the entire shadi in one page so I will pause here and start the second day in next page.
