The Big Fat (South) Indian Wedding - Part II

So we're finally here. In the village(unlike the Shyamalan movie, this one is a bit less interesting, which doesn't say a lot about it). We manage to get 4 autos and fit 20+ people into them. To sum this ride up in one word, the word is: PAINFUL. I do NOT wish to expand on that *shudder* word.

Yay! We've reached. My brother gets scoldings in very clever ways devised by my mother. Check this out:

• Wow! I don't need to iron my sari because you've done it by sitting on my lap!!
  

This statement means: "My sari has so many freaking creases someone might as well use it as a rag!!".

Man, the moment you enter the hall you're seeing yellow everywhere. That's because of the excessive gold ornaments. Not only that. Every female family member starts comparing by weight the jewellery. It's a horrifying experience. What's worse, I've absolutely NO interest(see how I put "no" in caps!?!) in such crap. But all the EDMs want to see something dangling on my neck because "I'm a girl", so I gotta.

Numerous sub-functions take place in the marriage. Something where the groom goes out of the hall and the bride's father needs to bring him back and convince him about the "pleasures" of married life, hope you catch my drift ;) And one where the bride and groom sit on a swing and all the EDMs sing songs. But all said and done, I do enjoy all this stuff. It's nice and mushy :)
A typical south indian marriage has a lot of delicacies to offer. I love the vadas(the Indian Doughnut, if you will!), puli inji(Tamarind and Ginger and Chillies in a gooey, spicy liquid), payasam(sweet). But that's about it. The rest of the stuff isn't really appealing to my taste buds. But it's "not manners" to leave food on the leaf, so I gotta eat everything. I've got a policy about food I don't like to eat. I'll eat it, BUT it'll be the first thing I eat. I finish it off at the earliest because I don't want to see it sitting on my banana leaf menancingly. This is where my dad comes in. He's got a policy about food I don't like to eat. He knows I don't like it, SO I've got to have it atleast twice. So by the time I finish one serving of avial(any vegetable you find in the kitchen, throw it in some coconut milk and *ta-dah*) I've got another waiting on my leaf. Ah, the joy.

There's this particular sub-function I would like to mention called nalungu. After all the smiling and marrying that the bride and groom have to do, it's time for fun and games. Now, there is this one game where a ring is thrown into an urn containing milk. Both bride and groom put their hands into it and the one who finds the ring wins. Now, it's amazing that almost every time the bride finds it first and, get this, she lets the groom win. Why!?! Why would anyone do that! Because they want their husband-of-few-hours to win, showing that they're a subservient Indian woman. Sheesh! Everyone present at the function now sings songs, and it turns into a competitive antakshari(Indian musical game) between the bride's side and the groom's side, showing that though both families have spent time and money on an event that will make us one big family, we still want to kick each other's ass when it comes to singing songs from forgettable movies.

Finally the marriage has come to an end. The bride and groom go off happily with the various gifts that they've received. And the other families go off happily thinking about who's gonna get married next and when the whole family can get together again. Hmmm...maybe I like marriages after all :)