AND THEN THEY SAY "I DO".....

"Just see....she has been in front of the mirror for half an hour now!!! How are the rest of us supposed to get ready on time?" complained a random aunty who was last seen hankering a flustered looking random guy to arrange for a car to take her to that new highend  beauty parlour in town.Meanwhile a gang of young girls stepped out into the chilly evening , all bundled in scarves and jackets, to make their way to another beauty parlour close by. And all this while there was high tension in that room full of aunties where everybody was sizing up the others' sarees and the jewellery they were wearing for the night.In this entire pandemonium, let's not forget the men...they were all sitting around a sigdi(a small fire to keep them warm) and downing innumerable cups of piping hot chai and munching on mattri achaar.While here the topic of discussion revolved around Kejriwal, Modi and the now almost defunct Congress, these innocent males were quite oblivious to the different sort of politics that was being played out in the ladies' dressing room.After all buaji had procured that saree from Bengal and mamiji had shown huge foresight when she bought that Kanjeevaram from down south.Suddenly someone happened to glance at the clock on the wall and then utter chaos ensued. The aunties now took it upon themselves to get their husbands and sons to put on fine clothes for the evening while the men reciprocated with embarassed looks which clearly said"why??nobody's going to notice us!!" . In this last hour before the function the ladies forget their enmities and come to the rescue of each other, helping here with the jooda and there with the kaajal.In this hustle and bustle suddenly somebody realises that the girls are missing , along with the bride, and then phones start ringing until somebody remembers that they are in the parlour and a car needs to go pick them up.But we all know that it's going to be a couple of hours till the girls make an entrance.

It is a chilly December evening but looking at the females one could easily mistake it for a June wedding in Delhi.While the men have been practical and donned suits and sweaters, the women would not make such an abysmal mistake and hide that beautiful Banarasi under a Pashmina.The drinks are already being served and the men receive warning looks from their wives to go easy on those colourful liquids, but for once they decide to look away.It won't be a long before an uncle gets really drunk and starts dancing all by himself up on the stage or before he starts cracking santa banta jokes, but for now things are under control.The D.J is already belting out dance numbers on the music system but there is a certain reluntance on the part of the ladies and the gents to occupy the dance floor.They are all waiting impatiently for the younger crowd.Suddenly there's a lot of cheering and laughter near the entrance....of course it's the bride and her cousins and friends.The girls look pretty in their pink, gold, yellow and blue lehengas while the bride walks in demurely, as tradition demands.The D.J looks happy as he starts belting out favourites with these ladies...and soon the dance floor is taken over by these young girls with their thumkas and nakhras.  One of the cousins is bold enough to walk over to the bar and get  a drink. For the younger ones she is already a hero. Then starts a highly intricate series of events where a didi is asked to go request a bhaiya to get  drink for them in what looks like a glass of coca cola to the moms and dads.When these drinks actually arrive , the cousins nonchalantly make their way to the bhaiya one by one and get their share of the "cold drink" ....bless these poor innocent souls!!!!

There's a commotion on the dance floor now...finally one of the uncles has had enough to drink and is now proceeding to enthrall one and all with his nagin dance skills.And that is the cue for the older ones to come to the dance floor and show their moves.This madness can only be broken now if they announce dinner. Because while weddings are supposed to be about the vows for ever after for the bride and groom, in india , for everybody else, they are about the food.After all, was the matar paneer matarry enough or the bhuna ghosht bhuna enough??

Of course there are other aspects to this sangeet evening, some new romances budding in young teen hearts, some phone numbers getting exchanged or even that look across the room for that special person, but the fun lies in listening to buas and mamis and chachis teasing each other good humouredly or one of the damadjis to suddenly get into one of their moods and start complaining about arrangements, the food, the crowd, the sky and everything under the sun.....but that's a story for later......