I actually wanted to name this post " The big fat Mallu Muslim Wedding" but fearing that some people may take unnecessary offense I chose another appropriate title for it! I knew that the day would come when I would witness the wedding of one of my classmates but never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to come this soon!
The Wedding of my batchmate, Kadhij Fathima to Dr. Mohammad Meeran took place in the very beautiful town of Trivandrum in God's Own Country! 19th of May was the actual Wedding Date but seven of us Kaarthik, Vetri, Vignesh, Balaji, Iniga, Anusha and myself got there a day i advance. The guys were booked into a hotel while the girls stayed at the bride's home!!
Before I got into describe the ceremonies let me tell you a few interesting things. Of the five of us guys who went four had never talked to Kadhij much before. Infact the first time she talked to me was when she invited me to her wedding last month. Another interesting fact which my friend pointed out was - even to our close relatives' weddings we'd go and land just in time for the ceremony but here we were a day in advance to celebrate the marriage of a friend. Well thats the power of our batch spirit, I guess !!!???
After freshening up on 18th morning a vehicle was arranged to take us to the majestic Padmanbhaswamy temple and then after a not so eventful trip to a museum we were whisked away by the same vehicle to Kadhij's home. Her dad was at the door giving us a warm welcome and he asked us to wait for five minutes so that the groom can come and the lunch would begin!!
I had to keep chanting " Selva! Be Decent! BE DECENT!" to prevent myself from vociferously reacting to the delicious smell of chicken fry and mutton gravy that was forcing its way into my nostrils! All five of us were quite restlessly waiting for the bride-groom to arrive! He came an hour later and after a quick "Hi" to him we pounced on the tables! A sweet named kinatheppam really stood out among all the dishes served.
Then we learnt that the evening there was going to be the mehendi . So we thought of making alternate plans but finally decided to return to the house after freshening up at the hotel on Kadhij's request!!!
We returned at six thirty and little were we prepared for what we saw. The tables were set with the Night's dinner and there stood Uncle asking us to have our meal. We told him that we'd have it later. Then we were shown into the house where we took a photo with Kadhij and conveyed the greetings of all the people who had wanted me to wish her. All my initial thoughts that she was too young for marriage disappeared the moment I saw her happy and cheerful and excited about her Big Day!
Then we went for a more-than-sumptuous dinner after which we witnessed a portion of the mehendi function! Unlike in the North here it was a very simple event without all the girly singing and dancing! The bride sat in her sofa while all the ladies gathered took turns to go sit next to her and keep a dot of mehendi on the leaf she held in her hand! We bid good bye to all of them and left the house.
The Wedding as such took place in "Trivandrum Club". We reached there well in advance and had a light breakfast and were treated to delicious Pista kheer!
The groom arrived and the ceremony started at around 11:30 am. The first to speak was a Mallu religious guy who shared some very interesting points on Islam and marriage. Would love to share those with you on another occasion. Then two more people gave speeches which were rather dull. Jerin sitting at my side had to point out that we were not supposed to clap to prevent me from applauding a guy after he finished his speech!
The Ceremony began - the Groom sat opposite Kadhij's father and an elder sat in between them reading out the scriptures and asking both of them to repeat. Then, it happened all to suddenly and before we knew it the wedding was over and all the men in the hall were hurrying towards the dining hall. The elder just declared that Mohammed Meeran was asking the hands of Khadij Fatima in marriage in exchange of 35 sovereigns of gold!" Both the groom and the bride's father were asked if they were willing and they both said,"Yes!" and lo! The wedding was over!!
Then Kadhij was brought out from her room and like our customs they were given a glass of milk which they were asked to share and they were asked to exchange garlands and other rather usual formalities.
Then all of us from our batch who had come to attend the wedding went up together and gave our gift and took a photo with the new Husband and Wife! Here too I proved my knack for doing things which should not be done by shaking hands with the bride, which I guess is not the etiquette in a Muslim Wedding! But I came to know of this only when Jerin pointed it out to me after we came down the stage!
Well, you guys would've guessed what would've followed next - an awesome wedding banquet!!!!
With the traditional Mutton biriyani, mutton kurma, Chicken fry et al , it was simply too good and we loaded ourselves upto for the next two days! lol :-) We concluded the lunch with delicious Vannila Ice Creams served there!
Thus ended the Wedding of the first of my batchmates! Fun in its own way! Wished all of you guys could've come, not only to share in her joy but also to share in the excitement we guys felt!
Keeping my fingers crossed about who is next in line to get married!!!!
Bye bye for now!!!
P.S : She was later sent off to Thenkaasi, the groom's town. May she have a Happy Married Life!
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