Aritaaku, Aakali & Aavedana - Part 1
Recently I was persuaded by my family to visit a reception of known relative’s son who got married to a Mallu girl. Nice looking pair and GOD bless them with more love and happiness. They happen to be far off relatives (to me) of my dad and best part is that most of them were well known to our family. A little slow in grasping those relations but with great long explanations from many people again and again, got to know most of the people and how they are related to us; it is like from every nook and corner somehow and from somewhere most of us were related and it is very difficult to remember them. Most of the faces looked familiar but getting them by relation is a tough task for me.
Ok now with the very confidence of having an early dinner I did not have anything that evening and started for the reception hall, owing to huge traffic, we got delayed by an hour and reached there by 7.30 PM. By then the hall was already crowded and buzzing aloud. The married couple did not arrive yet and I was seeing some familiar faces and getting along well. Right from the entrance, lift area, the welcome groups there were introductions going on and I was nodding my head, as if I have got the relation right. For the next one and half hour this is what went on…. I catch up with few cousins and spend some quite fun time. On one side I was getting damn hungry and my parents were not to be seen, cousins sitting beside were looking as if they were not interested in food and on top of it we did not yet meet the couple. Just when I sit and think all this I hear a call for my name and yes parents calling me for those precious moments on the stage with the couple. Best part here is.., the groom and I do not know each other and I ….Me……Raghu goes all the way to explain him how he was related to me; he happens to be my Kid brother (I hope this is correct because this is what I explain him hahahaha). My parents were in for the picture and I was running for the dinner table, again a small wait and then run for the dinner.
As my routine goes; I end up eating outside at least 3 days of the week and dinners are at office. On the way to the dinner room I was all excited because after long time I was at a Brahmin (Madhwa) wedding and that too in an Udupi hotel….it is like a good combination to have a nice vegetarian dinner. I enter the hall and see the usual buffet going on but in one corner I see empty benches & chairs and banana leaves (Aaritaakulu), seeing this my eyes go green and automatically was pulled towards the setup, as it has been ages that I have eaten in banana leave, my mind already releases pictures of hot white rice, tomato dal, hot ghee etc etc…the kind of hunger I had and with these images flashing I just felt like shouting out loud and jump out of joy. I make quick strides and find the greenest and biggest banana leaf, sit and eagerly wait for the serving to start. See my luck, as I had to accommodate an old lady I had to move two seats to my left and I end up getting small plate. I say to myself that it is ok and wait for the food to arrive.
Usually there is an order in which serving is done in our houses and as someone who is got used to it, was expecting the usual. I wait for ten minutes because the seats had to be filled for the serving to start….for me that was agonizingly long and my stomach’s growl was sounding louder than a lion’s roar. Unknowingly I was behaving like a kid who has never been to a zoo to see wild animals…I was behaving strangely; that was for sure because some pretty faces in the front row were seeing me and were smiling (which usually does not happen) so you can be assured of how I was behaving. From the far corner I could see people coming toward us to serve and I was glowing like a thousand watt bulb. I never knew what was coming on to the plate……
Contd.....
Ok now with the very confidence of having an early dinner I did not have anything that evening and started for the reception hall, owing to huge traffic, we got delayed by an hour and reached there by 7.30 PM. By then the hall was already crowded and buzzing aloud. The married couple did not arrive yet and I was seeing some familiar faces and getting along well. Right from the entrance, lift area, the welcome groups there were introductions going on and I was nodding my head, as if I have got the relation right. For the next one and half hour this is what went on…. I catch up with few cousins and spend some quite fun time. On one side I was getting damn hungry and my parents were not to be seen, cousins sitting beside were looking as if they were not interested in food and on top of it we did not yet meet the couple. Just when I sit and think all this I hear a call for my name and yes parents calling me for those precious moments on the stage with the couple. Best part here is.., the groom and I do not know each other and I ….Me……Raghu goes all the way to explain him how he was related to me; he happens to be my Kid brother (I hope this is correct because this is what I explain him hahahaha). My parents were in for the picture and I was running for the dinner table, again a small wait and then run for the dinner.
As my routine goes; I end up eating outside at least 3 days of the week and dinners are at office. On the way to the dinner room I was all excited because after long time I was at a Brahmin (Madhwa) wedding and that too in an Udupi hotel….it is like a good combination to have a nice vegetarian dinner. I enter the hall and see the usual buffet going on but in one corner I see empty benches & chairs and banana leaves (Aaritaakulu), seeing this my eyes go green and automatically was pulled towards the setup, as it has been ages that I have eaten in banana leave, my mind already releases pictures of hot white rice, tomato dal, hot ghee etc etc…the kind of hunger I had and with these images flashing I just felt like shouting out loud and jump out of joy. I make quick strides and find the greenest and biggest banana leaf, sit and eagerly wait for the serving to start. See my luck, as I had to accommodate an old lady I had to move two seats to my left and I end up getting small plate. I say to myself that it is ok and wait for the food to arrive.
Usually there is an order in which serving is done in our houses and as someone who is got used to it, was expecting the usual. I wait for ten minutes because the seats had to be filled for the serving to start….for me that was agonizingly long and my stomach’s growl was sounding louder than a lion’s roar. Unknowingly I was behaving like a kid who has never been to a zoo to see wild animals…I was behaving strangely; that was for sure because some pretty faces in the front row were seeing me and were smiling (which usually does not happen) so you can be assured of how I was behaving. From the far corner I could see people coming toward us to serve and I was glowing like a thousand watt bulb. I never knew what was coming on to the plate……
Contd.....
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