Nurungukal…2…contd…

     Many of us are very inquisitive about the proceedings of a marriage function. I have heard many a time people critically commenting on the correctness of the sequence of events. Sometime on the positioning of the bride before the nuptial knot, Whether she should be on the right side  till the nuptial knot is made  or the correct custom is to keep her on the left side of the groom from the very start. Or there was a lapse in the way the father of the bride offering  her to the groom. All this happens because there is no pattern set by an institution, as in the matter of other communities and no authorised person to conduct the ceremony. In our case , I have seen on many occasions the couple succumbing to the instructions of the camera man. At one instance even the nuptial knot had to be retied  on the demand of the camera man as he failed to get a good shot at the first try. On another, he even ventured to arrange the frill and pleat of the saree of the bride at places, which normally a lady is allowed to manage.  In another case the couple was asked to re-do one or two steps again and again just for the convenience of the photographer.

         Now a new breed known as event managers have appeared. They own the last word in what ever happens during the function. The magnitude of their roll and events depend on the bulge of the purse of the parents. From a to z every thing will be taken care of by them, even a marriage function at a distant destination.

          The other day we were received and ushered in by two beautiful girls whom I have not seen in any of our family circle. With folded hands and Namaste they flowed in style before us  like a pair of air hostess. Many such girls were positioned at all the strategic places, even on the stage  and they were the best attractions  than the best attired guests.

      One by one the camera crew with back packs and long baggage entered and encroached the space below the stage. There were about twelve of them standing in a row on the stage like a wall, obviously showing their posterior to the audience and some of them were holding huge umbrellas  obstructing what ever little gaps through which the crowd strained their necks to witness the proceedings. The concerted efforts of a host to  crack the wall were in vain  and we were satisfied with a grand view of the changing positions of the “buttock wall”.

            Helplessly I derived  solace in remembering my roll as a boy in sprinkling the rose water on the bride groom party and distributing lemons to the guests during the wedding  function of my sister a few decades ago.