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| May 02, 2009 1:40 am |
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re: re: re: re: Childhood ..Summer Memories |
Avinash Gowardhan
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My favorite "Flower-Auntie's" Wedding
Enjoying summer holidays at our grandma's place at Khandwa was a yearly ritual, but this time (summer of 1955) our visit to Khandwa (a sleepy town famous for actor Kishor Kumar) was a special one. We reached Khandwa Railway station by Pathankot- Express via Bhusawal from Nagpur. Journey from Rly. Station to the Deo's Bungalow (grandma and mama's residence) used to be a memorable one by the Tanga (Horse driven cart). We saw that Deo's Bungalow was shining bright as it was newly painted for the marriage of our 'Flower-Aunty'.
She was a team leader of we total eight nephew-nieces ,the "Octave" and since her name was Suman we took it as our right to call her as 'Flower-Auntie' (Fa). We could also attribute that, She being the youngest of four sisters, the name "fa" also tallied with the 'fourth note' in sol-fa notation… (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, si).
For us marriage of favorite aunty was not a good news as we had seen in the movies about a daughter leaving her parents after marriage in a sad mood. We imagined that now we shall miss her forever and envied the lucky man of her life.
The bungalow was packed with relatives and we were about 'fifteen' in the age group of 5 to 19.The upper floor of bungalow was kept reserved for the Baratees(Bridegrooms Party). We all wanted to spend last 2-3 days with Flower Aunty (Fa) and to preserve the memories.
Next morning at the tea time, our 'Fa' threw a surprise with an announcement. She declared that "We all shall get what We want" as a gift from 'Fa' that evening from a famous Gift Shop of Khandwa. We couldn't believe as no one could imagine 'Fa's gesture. We all started planning and making a long list of gifts from Mouth organ, Football, Hocky stick up to Cricket bat. I was however thinking as how could she be so generous for all of us? Yes, She was almost like "A God of we small things" and gave full credit to her surname "Deo"meaning God itself. After whole day of planning and frequent changes in the long list of "Gifts of our choice"was finalised. The evening was memorable at the Gift Shop that too without the interference of our parents. We all returned jumping with joy. At night we were awaken at the thought of losing our Fa after marriage. Everyone was skeptical about the lucky groom who would take away our Fa after marriage.
The Baratee's arrived next evening and a small wonder! The bridegroom needed no introduction as we had seen him before at Nagpur with 'Fa' number of times and even had a chance to enjoy Ice Cream with them together. My elder sister told all of us that it's a Love Marriage. We were happy that now she will stay near us at Nagpur.
In no time we became friends with Baratee. The wedding was a grand show with special band-party from military town of Mohow. We were astonished to see the band party playing old and new film tunes and also some English songs. Their dresses in spotless white were a major attraction. Our group was given job of serving pan, flower- sticks and sweets in trays. Cigarettes were kept separately in tins of 50's in a separate tray.
We found some difficulty in serving cigarettes, as it was not in proper manners to serve cigarettes to our elder relatives. We immediately solved the problem. The Band- Party was our target. We offered them the expensive cigarettes from the tins of 50's and they readily accepted the 'smoke' and were ready to play the 'songs of our choice'. After the marriage this became hilarious comedy for all of us amongst elders.
The wedding was memorable in all respect. For our grandmother "Aaji", this was her last responsibility and the only son's (our mama) marriage was immediately after this. The name of bridegroom was "Pandharinath" and we started teasing him with the famous song of Lata Mangeshkar… "Pandharinatha zadkari aata… Pandhari soduni tula vinavite Rukhamai Vithalla" and even dared him to change her name as "Rukhumai"
The memorable wedding of our dear Flower Aunty ended over a sweet note as our dearest mama got married next week with a beautiful bride and the new 'mami' became our next team leader
Private Reply to Avinash Gowardhan (new win) |
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