Those Tumultuous 20 Days

The year has finally come to an end, so has my bachelorhood. December was quite a month to remember not just because my wife won a "Masters" in managing the household, but also because the last 20 days of that month witnessed so much action, much more than what I have witnessed in last the 20 months of my life.

The landing

First my brother landed from the U.S. on December 5th. Then began the rush to get his visa (his visa had expired) renewed on December 7. Once that was successfully completed, it was time for him to introspect on his decision to say "yes" to his bride-to-be. He finally said yes on 8th. Then began a mad rush to arrange for his engagement ceremony that was to be held on 9th. By then my would-be-bhabhi, Tripthi, and her family had landed in Chennai.


The drive

My first trial-by-fire had begun after my dad wanted me to take by bhabhi and her family to T.Nagar (the most crowded and lousiest place to drive during peak hours) for shopping in the evening. My situation was no better since I had just learnt how to drive two weeks ago and I now faced the prospect of driving a fully loaded vehicle in peak hour traffic. I ended up becoming deeply religious by the end of our journey. I thanked my stars after we reached safe, except for a bruised ego and a few scratches on my vehicle.
On 10th we had a satyanarayana puja at home, a long ceremony held by the groom and the bride's families at least 10 days prior to the marriage to seek the blessings of the almighty.
December 11 we were busy packing up our bags. While on December 12 it was journey time for us to Hubli. We reached on December 13th and began unpacking, a process which took 24 hours, considering the number of suitcases, jewelery and the presents that were stocked in them.

D-day minus one
December 14th morning me and my dad woke up at 3:30 a.m. to pick up four different sets of guests coming from four different directions in three different modes of transports. We reached the station at 4:35 a.m., only to realise that the train would be at the station at 6:30 a.m. and that there was some kind of communication gap that ended up in us coming two hours earlier at the station.
By 12 pm we had collected all our guests and "deposited them safe" in the hotel rooms that had been booked for them prior. At 6 p.m. some of the ceremonies were held prior to the big day. We slept at 11 p.m. that night, tensed and knowing not if things would go the way we had planned.

D-day:
Since some of the ceremonies had been held the day before we woke up late at 5 a.m. and began to get ready. Mangal's relatives began to trickle into the hotel lobby for the traditional welcoming ceremony even as hotel guests and the staff stood gawking at me like a caged animal in a zoo.
Since we reached the wedding venue after a heavy breakfast I feared the proceedings would put me to sleep. However, much to my relief, the ceremonies went smooth, thanks to the priest who kept us awake with his light hearted banter and jokes.
But as I had been warned earlier by my already-married friends and cousins, the wedding ceremonies went on till 3:30 pm. I had no option but to continue smiling and welcoming guests even as my stomach continued to growl for attention.

D-day + 1
Finally the ceremonies were over, but we still had to visit a temple in Ankola that was nearly 135 kms from Hubli, to visit our kula devata (family god, roughly translated). We took at trip on December 16th. Awesome sight and good darshan and a good 7 hours later, we returned to Hubli, exhausted but thrilled to have visited the place after nearly 19 years.

Honeymoon
Finally it was journey back home on December 17 with my wife and family. We reached here the afternoon and started off for Ernakulam on 17th night for our honeymoon in Idukki district of Kerala. We returned from the trip to Chennai on 24th morning for our reception that was to be held in Chennai on December 25th. On December 27th I was back on duty.

Good ol' days of yore
In 20 days I had covered almost 8-10 remote locations in three states. Most of all I felt it was the grace of god that nothing went wrong during my trip and during the wedding or reception.
My happiest moments, however, were reserved on the day of my reception when I met some of my friends from the present and the past. Every time I met someone from the past, old memories clouded my mind; those days in school, college, or my postgraduate diploma institute or the things I did as an NCC cadet in college. Truly memorable 20 days of my life.