The Big Fat Punjabi Wedding and Xmas cheer!
I am in the midst of a big fat Punjabi wedding, just
the kind Karan Johar tries to sell to millions of cinemagoers, but we have all
the melodrama, clothes being stitched, darned, taken out as they miraculously
got tight, hair being fashioned in the latest designs, and trust me the time
these girls take to do their hair is not funny but it still comes across as messy.
In our time (yes, I’m old with all the shades of white hair) we were made to
dress up in suits that were fixed for us, with gota tikkis on them, and hair
was oiled, braided so tight that even air could not pass through it .The only
concession to fashion was bangles and a parandi. And, if you were old enough
you were given your mother’s smallest gold loops to wear so that you would look
all dolled up.
These days, the decorators tried to sell us themes, flowers,
canopies, umbrellas, and some innovative smart kid tried to sell us the Modi
–demonetization package. He told us about solar lights, flowers that could be
recycled and virtual cards that would lower the cost.
I must say they do come up with everything. However,
what takes the wedding to the next level is the word co-ordination, We
literally coordinated everything from the flowers to the clothes to the
traditional boxes, and out went the budget .The key word here is color has to
be taken into mind, it has to be the subtle English pastel rose for the boxes
as we were drinking high tea in Dorchester, to the bright yellow reminiscent of
the mustard fields of vibrant Punjab for mehendi and the sophisticated golden
or ivory for the wedding. It’s like the Punjabi in us, just went out of control
over one word, what will people say, and there you have it. Demonetization is
the new annuls horribilis for the year 2016 but I think it skipped the wedding
chapter. We just got bigger than ever.
The best part of the weddings is how one family member
will get upset with another and a whole family saga is written, and that is how
history is made.
I have this habit of posting, chronicling the wedding
in my own way, posting pictures and trying to convince my better half to smile
and that its ok to do so. The stiff upper lip persists, however. Taking
pictures in our finery and posting them, and then discussing the colors fashion
is the best part and getting to hear from a sister that its my 200th
suit is all part of it.
However, we all came to a consensus that the late
night anxiety ridden, depression induced, stress ful, guilt ridden besan eating
chai sessions were the best. The bonhomie of those late night masala chai,
fuelled by gossip, with mind you the latest Turkish soap opera playing (that is
a standard at our house) with the entire house surrounded and engulfed by fog
has set the standard for all weddings to come. And the chaos, next morning of
applying what else make-up plus the confusions of missing thermals and getting
ready on time, with tempers flaying is what we Punjabis are famous for. In fact
given the mix even the hot water geysers acted up and threw in their fit of
tantrums, they just refused to work, the solar water system was elusive and we
kept on packing ourselves with enough inners to rival the advertisements shown
in television. I must say they are misleading; none of us looked that svelte
wearing them, just more and more boxy! And, to cap it all the wedding season is
not complete with out the NRI who is
full of life and thinks everything is nice , but in our wedding this
time suffered from the worst case of Delhi Belly that even left us ironclad
Indians afraid. Thus, we friended all kinds of chooran, hajmola and pudin hara,
we are all popping these drugs that are working wonders and raising the temperature
wherever we go.
The cheer is there and today the bazaar is full of
Christmas cheer and on the traffic lights one of the young hawkers shivering in
her thin clothes wearing a bright white red Santa cap was trying to sell me balloons
in her chaste Punjabi Hindi mix.
And she sold all her balloons to all of us, embracing
the holiday cheer and spirit and the festivities continues and it leaves a warm
feeling in the heart when one knows in spite of divisive politics we still celebrate
all function irrespective of religion …and it continues with wishes and the
light is brightest in the hearts of the poor as seen in the next village to
ours where the church is lit up with the best laser lights and the colors of Christmas
cheer .
