Rumali Roti, Chicken and a Marriage

The Climax

It should have been good. I could still replay the guy sitting to my right licking his fingers finishing the remnants of his kheer (a sweet dish with milk as the main ingredient). He was still smacking his lips enjoying every moment of its sweetness. He was drunk at the wedding which I thought was not allowed.

The Muslim wedding always ends with a meaty meal. I would like to specify that we four of us were pure vegetarians except one.  Eating in a Muslim wedding where beef would also served it would not be right so, we are purely a vegetarian group. Cattle have been regarded sacred since the Aryan times to this very day. Slaughter of cattle is still avoided in Hindu sentiments, but, there are still oddities.

I had the dry rumali roti with the jam like stuff served and with spicy chutney dripping with oil. We quietly dabbed with our share of rumali roti while the table was shared by five others. The table was supplied with a regular share of colored chicken. Every plate which came to the table with chicken was light brown, dark brown or green in colour, or, I would have been imagining everyone of them to be chicken. The big bowl with green stuff was mutton as explained by our host. The mutton looked designer like with a light green colour with whites in between them.

A little before the dinner the Qazi declared the document signed by both the bride and the groom to be legal and they are bound by the holy Koran as husband & wife. Three words of kabool(I do) finish the wedding.

Celebrations Begin At The…

 One could guess when the oldies stood up after the maulvi declared, the groom could very well be mobbed by usual Muslim hugs and handshakes. But, wait, an exodus just slipped to the dining hall. We arrived intentionally late to make up to the host at the dining hall only to find that we arrived too early for even the bridegroom to arrive. The wedding card said 19 30 hrs. we got here at 20 00 hrs. It was 21 30 and the bride groom was yet to arrive. One could console oneself that we are running with HST(Hyderabad standard timings) which says 3 hours before the intended moment. The groom arrived with strings of flowers in white hung from his turban till his knees. I wondered whether he could reach the podium. A man in white shirt lifted the hefty groom, magically transporting him to the podium. Somebody still led the groom to his seat which was decorated in kingly style.

The Partition

We did find out that the Muslim marriages have two entrances. One for the women folk and other for  men. Large curtains separate the men and the women in the seating arena while the children are allowed to move between both.  The bride and the bridegroom never meet until their marriage contract is signed and declared by the maulvi. Many of whom I know had seen only photos of their brides before their marriage and every other detail is handled by their families. A marriage in India is mostly seen as a union of two families through two individuals than individual union considered in the west. But, times change and so do perspectives.