It's the annual festivities of a goddess's temple nearby, the preparations of which had begun a couple of months before. And as I'd said earlier, we'd specifically come down here to be part of the grand spectacle. It would also give mom to interact with the many people with whom she was looking forward to meet, so I reckoned.
The lengthy procession that consisted of a variety of bands, six caparisoned elephants, about 41 tableaux and men and women in their colourful clothes worn for the occasion holding colourful umbrellas, took about 31/2 hours to pass through one point. And since our house was by the roadside, we'd a ringside view of the entire show. The sheer vastness of the canvas and the spectacular display on order made it an unforgettable event and I was glad that we could make it!
And it was a never ending stream of guests. It's great meeting each one of them but one interaction did indeed moisten my eyes. Sumangala, from the neighbourhood, had come into our house when she was in class V and used to help my mom in her chores while going to the same school as my sisters - in fact, she's family. My dad, mom and me, quite later though, used to vie with each other to present her with gifts.
But the relationship had suffered a jolt when her elder sister fought the infamous panchayat election - which my mom had lost by a paltry margin and no, it wasn't Sumangala's sister who'd won but someone else. She'd left our house soon after and we never saw her till date and today, she confessed that the reason was that she used to deliberately avoid coming before us. And then the floodgate of her tears just seemed to burst open!
It took a while for her to be pacified and all of us admitted to the fact that we'd missed her all this while. Well, certain relationships are meant to be for keeps.
She's promised to be in touch with us from now on.
Tailpiece.
A day well spent, in the final analysis!
The lengthy procession that consisted of a variety of bands, six caparisoned elephants, about 41 tableaux and men and women in their colourful clothes worn for the occasion holding colourful umbrellas, took about 31/2 hours to pass through one point. And since our house was by the roadside, we'd a ringside view of the entire show. The sheer vastness of the canvas and the spectacular display on order made it an unforgettable event and I was glad that we could make it!
And it was a never ending stream of guests. It's great meeting each one of them but one interaction did indeed moisten my eyes. Sumangala, from the neighbourhood, had come into our house when she was in class V and used to help my mom in her chores while going to the same school as my sisters - in fact, she's family. My dad, mom and me, quite later though, used to vie with each other to present her with gifts.
But the relationship had suffered a jolt when her elder sister fought the infamous panchayat election - which my mom had lost by a paltry margin and no, it wasn't Sumangala's sister who'd won but someone else. She'd left our house soon after and we never saw her till date and today, she confessed that the reason was that she used to deliberately avoid coming before us. And then the floodgate of her tears just seemed to burst open!
It took a while for her to be pacified and all of us admitted to the fact that we'd missed her all this while. Well, certain relationships are meant to be for keeps.
She's promised to be in touch with us from now on.
Tailpiece.
A day well spent, in the final analysis!
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