The final push.

Dateline 20 May.

It was a leisurely morning. News came from all over. Mithun’s folks had started from Payyannur after 8 and the entourage consisted of a bus carrying 50 people along with Mithun, his younger brother and a cousin in an Innova, ahead of it.

Meanwhile, Seena, the beautician and her elder sister, Digna had missed the morning train and had to change three buses before being picked up at Kottarakkara in our car. Kala and Kannan with his family had reached by lunchtime and they were followed by Suma kunjamma and family. However, the crowd realised the scarcity of water and had decided to stay in one of the hotels at Kottarakkara and that decision of theirs saw me breathing easy!

The pandals were completed and the electricians had rigged up the lighting along with additional fans and circulators put in place. Seena and her sister had, meanwhile, arrived and begun earnestly to enhance the beauty of the bride-to-be!

And soon, it was past sunset and the evening reception had begun in right earnest. Though we’d expected a small local crowd of around 300, the final tally was just about 200. Consequently, there was wastage of food and I’d be kidding if I said that it didn’t bother me. Mithun’s maternal uncle and his family had fetched up at Kollam, by train and they’re picked up by Sanil and me. The drive through blinding rain was at high speeds Sanil had a tendency to go off the road, that saw me clutch on my  bucket seat quite often!

We didn’t know the exact strength of the passengers but the six of them were fully packed like sardines on the rear seat and it was almost a 45 minute drive! The hotel where they’re put up for the night had served them their dinner, on arrival. The Innova had already fetched up by then and we could brief them about the timings tomorrow, the plethora of traditional rituals right down to the sequence of the activities prior to the wedding, during the wedding and after the wedding!

Tailpiece.

It was a real late night! We did make a trip to the wedding hall to see the progress of work. The food makers were at it and the aroma was pleasing. The stage was set and it looked nice