The Story Of 3 Knots - Part 3

I had barely caught 40 winks when I heard some knocking at the door. To my surprise, it was the bride who woke me up. We walked around the venue to find that flower arrangements were extremely beautiful. I bid adieu to her and went back into the room but hardly anyone had woken up.

I was apparently not supposed to have my breakfast and I wasn't in any mood to argue with anyone about it. So my roomies went out to get some biscuits for me and also left me something so that I could "release it in peace" one last time as a bachelor.

I took more time than usual to get ready this time. Squeezing myself into the traditional attire was a different experience. Abstaining from desserts for a couple of months had helped in a way. A colleague of mine later described it as the "Prince of Persia attire". Yes, I guess I would prefer that name. After I got ready there were quite a few people in my room. The purohit came and started talking some nonsense.

They walked me to a small temple in the Choultry and RLG uncle was supposed to hold an umbrella for me as we walked. But in spite of numerous people telling him he wasn't doing it right, he made sure that he was completely protected from the sun while I wasn't. He still gets trolled about it even today. After some other people made me very uncomfortable there with some rituals, we went inside onto the dais. 

The purohit's assistants held a white cloth up to obstruct my vision and gave me a mixture of Cumin and rice. I asked him what the whole thing was all about and he said that upon releasing the cloth whoever manages to put these on the other person's head first gets to take control in the marriage. I asked him "What if we both do it at the same time?" He said " I've never seen that happening in my life"  to which I replied " It's going to happen today and you'll tell your grand kids about it ". After giving so much of a build up to the scene, I don't think I need to tell what happened next.

After uttering some gibberish to which the purohit himself didn't know the meaning, it was time for the 3 knots. Strangely enough, the photographer was the only person who knew the meaning behind the knots. One dedicates a knot each to Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. Though being an atheist, I was finally happy to know the meaning . As I went in to tie the knots, I told all the ladies around me to stand back and not do the usual  ನನ್ದೆಲಿಡ್ಲಿ  while tying the ತಾಳಿ . While I was tying the knots, I could hear the words "Oh Sh*t, oh Sh*t....." and I knew exactly who was saying it. As I looked around after this, I could see waterfalls in pretty much every direction. I was extremely surprised to see so many people shedding tears but couldn't control smiling at the myriad of emotions around me .Yes, lame jokes again came to my rescue and my FIL was the only person supporting me.

I was supposed to show my wifu a star in broad daylight outside (note that sun doesn't count) and I just showed her the large bee hive over our heads. What followed next was the boring ceremony of holding a coconut underneath a milk bucket till the cows came home. Must say, some oldies were very excited to splash the milk all over our hands and clothes. Luckily Mr and Mrs Spoke helped us to wrap it up. After an extremely tasty lunch, it was the moment that movies, serials and ads love. The actual departing scene which didn't really see any tears but just seconds later all those emotions bursted out on either side.

What followed this was a long, hardly any words spoken in the car, journey back to Bangalore. This is one of the very few regrets I have of the whole event. I could have surely done better to cheer my wifu's mood during the journey but I just didn't. Sigh.

After getting back home, we both headed to Leela Palace for the ahem ahem consummation. It was funny to see relatives wishing us "All the best" before leaving. I still think of that incident and laugh. OK I'm not even that drunk to go into details about what happened thereafter. 

Its been wonderful 3 parts even for me. Must say, the brain stores some intricate details even without your knowledge. I realized that while writing these 3 parts and reminiscing the moments. Hopefully, I'll come back to read this again in 40 years' time when my wifu changes the wifi password to our wedding date. 

P.S - Its 10th February 

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London Bangalored

The blog has been dead for quite sometime now. All thanks to the terrible service of my broadband partner Virgin Media and mobile partner Three and not to forget my fake laptop charger which finally gave up amidst the numerous twists and cuts and even sparks at times.

But then again I have to blame my lazy ass as well. I'm still going through the honeymoon period in my new job and I still get back home before the sun sets(which may not well be the right measure to use in this season). So far so good and I'm still carrying my own lunch and still haven't metamorphosized into one of those stereotypical health conscious people running to Sainsbury's or Tesco to grab lunch or just feasting on salads to stay fit.

Aha. Now why did I actually bring up the topic of fitness. I have about 6 months to go to do something about it. I sure can't adopt the above method. Something hardcore and old school, like.......hmmmmm...lets c...Yoga?? Naaa. Not my kind...Classical Dance??? Noooo way..Watching all of that "Underworld Flashback" on Suvarna has made me think about "Gardi" as well. In fact that is the perfect option, but where can I find one here. Damnn..Just when I finally make up my mind, the universe deceives me. Never mind. Dieting is still not an option and abstinence from meat will never even have the balls to even crop up on the list. So that leaves me with running. Should ask silent to gift me a pair of running shoes. After all I'll not be only person admiring the fit new me!!!

London might be well known for Buckingham palace or Tower Bridge or Big Ben or London Eye or even for its bad weather, which in my position, using theory of relativity doesn't really seem that bad. But for me its the tube system that astonishes me everyday and have become an ardent admirer of the way it functions. The first underground tube started in London more than 100 years ago and we are still in the process of erecting pillars in Bengaluru. I honestly hope everything goes well with "namma metro" and that it becomes a pride of the city.

Meanwhile I see striking similarities between London and Bengaluru. For starters, both the cities are heavily populated and the local population is a major minority. The no of desis in London are proportional to the comrades from up north residing in Bengaluru. The number of Polish and other European people are proportional to the thambis and annayas in Bengaluru. Just like its hard to hear any Kannada in garden city, its actually quite hard to listen to a proper Londoner's English anywhere. Sounds crazy but its actually true.

Nevertheless its quite ironical to celebrate Independence day from the land of the people from whom we actually took it. So happy Independence Day to everyone for being independent about something and for planning to become independent in atleast one more thing.

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