Actually, it had begun from last evening when Mohan and his wife, Asha had spent the evening with us. Incidentally, about 10 days back, they were with Savio at Chicago. It was nice to catch up with them and they did update us with all the things that mattered. Despite the earlier roll call, it was just the two of us from our class, along with our wives, to attend Vasu's son's wedding.
Vasu had passed into the mist of time two years back leaving Sujatha, their children, Raghunath and Parvathi behind. They are settled at Bangalore but Raghu is working for a logistic firm based at Madras. His wife, Vandana, too, works in a multinational IT firm there; incidentally, Vandana has her roots in Guruvayur.
* * *
We'd decided to fetch up at the Poonthanam Auditorium, at the eastern entrance of the temple, by 1000 hrs. On such occasions, I don't take the Chevy because the traffic is mad, there are two many one-ways and parking space is at a premium! So, it was Hamid who was our chauffeur; he'd come by about a quarter past 10 after I'd permitted him to have his cup of tea because he seemed to need it, probably, because of the flash rain that was on then.
There were three bad traffic snarls enroute and we were sitting on the edge of our seat because the invitation said that the 'muhurat' was between 1030 and 1100 hrs. We could not make it in our first approach because the entrance that we were looking for had a sentry, who was permitting no vehicle to enter the premises. The upshot of the whole thing was that we ended up making a full chukker of the temple and got dropped a bit far away from the auditorium.
Fearing the worst that we'd missed the wedding, a dejected Lekha and I approached the building when we saw Sujatha, Raghunath and Parvathi and the immediate members of the family, collecting up at the entrance to be received ceremonially by the girl's family into the innards of the venue. I can never forget the look on Sujatha's face on sighting us - as of having come across the people that she was really looking forward to and mind you, it's a great feeling. Mohan had reserved two seats for us in the auditorium and had given me a hint earlier: so, settling down was done in a jiffy.
Bindu, wife of late Col Ramesh, again a classmate of mine, was also sitting in the same row as us. We could witness the entire sequence of the wedding from our seats - what I meant was that there was no wooding of the view by the battery of photographers, intently copying every frame diligently.
When we finally got the opportunity to wish the newlyweds a long and happy married life and was photographed with them, it was well past noon. The next, in sequence, was the ceremonial lunch and it was there that we met our immediate neighbours - they were representing the girl's side!
Heartiest congratulations Raghunath and Vandana. May you get whatever you wish for on the long road of your life together! And may God be with you in all your endeavour!!
Tailpiece.
I'm sure (Vasu) Wing Commander Vinod Kumar Vasudev was around, watching every aspect of the wedding! Parvathi is gonna get married in Guruvayur, at the Hotel Devaragam, on 18 Oct '19.
Vasu had passed into the mist of time two years back leaving Sujatha, their children, Raghunath and Parvathi behind. They are settled at Bangalore but Raghu is working for a logistic firm based at Madras. His wife, Vandana, too, works in a multinational IT firm there; incidentally, Vandana has her roots in Guruvayur.
* * *
We'd decided to fetch up at the Poonthanam Auditorium, at the eastern entrance of the temple, by 1000 hrs. On such occasions, I don't take the Chevy because the traffic is mad, there are two many one-ways and parking space is at a premium! So, it was Hamid who was our chauffeur; he'd come by about a quarter past 10 after I'd permitted him to have his cup of tea because he seemed to need it, probably, because of the flash rain that was on then.
There were three bad traffic snarls enroute and we were sitting on the edge of our seat because the invitation said that the 'muhurat' was between 1030 and 1100 hrs. We could not make it in our first approach because the entrance that we were looking for had a sentry, who was permitting no vehicle to enter the premises. The upshot of the whole thing was that we ended up making a full chukker of the temple and got dropped a bit far away from the auditorium.
Fearing the worst that we'd missed the wedding, a dejected Lekha and I approached the building when we saw Sujatha, Raghunath and Parvathi and the immediate members of the family, collecting up at the entrance to be received ceremonially by the girl's family into the innards of the venue. I can never forget the look on Sujatha's face on sighting us - as of having come across the people that she was really looking forward to and mind you, it's a great feeling. Mohan had reserved two seats for us in the auditorium and had given me a hint earlier: so, settling down was done in a jiffy.
Bindu, wife of late Col Ramesh, again a classmate of mine, was also sitting in the same row as us. We could witness the entire sequence of the wedding from our seats - what I meant was that there was no wooding of the view by the battery of photographers, intently copying every frame diligently.
When we finally got the opportunity to wish the newlyweds a long and happy married life and was photographed with them, it was well past noon. The next, in sequence, was the ceremonial lunch and it was there that we met our immediate neighbours - they were representing the girl's side!
Heartiest congratulations Raghunath and Vandana. May you get whatever you wish for on the long road of your life together! And may God be with you in all your endeavour!!
Tailpiece.
I'm sure (Vasu) Wing Commander Vinod Kumar Vasudev was around, watching every aspect of the wedding! Parvathi is gonna get married in Guruvayur, at the Hotel Devaragam, on 18 Oct '19.
No comments:
Post a Comment