The Madurai trip - Part II

For Part-I, please click here.

The day of the wedding, Monday, saw less of activity when compared to Sunday.

We got ready for the wedding and reached just in time for the Muhurtham (delayed becoz we had decided to give Jillu her b'fast in the hotel itself).

About the wedding

It was a Saurashtrian wedding and I was surprised to learn their way of doing things. The bride and the groom apparently arrange for their own halls and the rituals happen in their own respective halls. When the ritual involves both the bride and groom to be to-gether, then it happens based on the significance of the ritual. For eg, the engagement and the actual wedding of tying Thali happened in the bride's hall, whereas the reception happened in the groom's hall. And each party arranges for their own food for their guests/invitees. Bride's relations and friends will be catered to by the bride's family and the groom's guests by the groom's side. On the day of the wedding, only the groom is allowed to eat along with the bride in the bride's hall after the wedding ceremony is over. So each party takes care of their own guests, food, hall, gift etc.
I found this interesting and a nice idea, as this gives each their own flexibility related to cost, lavishness etc and also a major plus as there is no serious scope for politics (between the 2 sides) as is seen in so many of our weddings.

Sa-Re-Ga-Ma

Jillu was in a jolly mood and she was singing aloud all kinds of songs (rhymes, songs) that she knew, much to the amusement of various passersby on the road (we were shuttling betwen the 2 halls. Fortunately both were within walking distance of each other). However, she surprised me by singing even "Sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni-sa" :), though the "Sa-ni-dha-pa" did not come out correctly :).

Friends of all ages

She had made friends with a lot of her dad's friends. She started calling them by names and also, as is her habit came up with her own shortened versions of their names. Prem somehow became Priyammadha and then when we corrected her, it became PM :). Along with coming up with new names, she was also running behind every kid that she came across in the marriage hall and it became very difficult to keep track of her :). All kids were branded as either "Annaa" or "Akkaa" even if they were younger to her :) (we have not yet taught her "Thangai/Thambi"). Though, she called very small babies "Paapaa".

Sun evening

In the evening, we went to the "Thirumalai Nayakar" palace. Jillu was being troublesome before we started in the evening, So I told her we were going to see "The Maharaja" and just so that she could relate, I stupidly added "Kamsa Maharaja" paaka porom. (on the naive assumption/hope that there atleast will be 1 painting of some Maharaja there in the palace and any Maharaja could be called as "Kamsa" , Krishna's uncle). So she got that very well and my prayers were not answered as there was no painting miraculously hanging from the walls, though the palace itself was breathtaking and beautiful. I repeatedly had to divert her every time she asked me "Kamsa Maharaja yenga?" (vera yenna panna? as i said before, "Kai mel palan"). I felt very sad when I came to know that what has been preserved till date is only 1/4 of the original palace and the rest has vanished and become a part of the Madurai city :(.

We finished the tour of the palace and then we headed to "Koodalazhagar" temple. The temple was huge and awesome with separate prahaarams for Perumal, Thaayar and Andaal. In the Thaayaar sannidhi, Jillu again had the darshan of another elephant and this time she was watching the elephant with no fear but did not wish to go near it. After enjoying the peaceful serenity of the temple, it was time to head back to the hotel, for dinner and taking the train back to chennai.

Rayil Snegam -II

Yet again this time, one of our neighbors in the train was a kid and Jillu referred to him as "paapaa" even though he must have been nearer to Jillu's age. :). However, this time there was not much time for socializing as Jillu was very tired and the "paapaa" also looked to be worn out and was ready to sleep. However, still Jillu wanted to play with him, but the boy had already slept and I made Jillu sleep telling her that "paapaa" has already slept. (This did not change from the previous Rayil Snegam :) )

The 2 days just passed by in a blur too fast and was a welcome change of routine for me as well. 

I hope 2010 continues to offer me more opportunities to travel :)