Contrasting situations.

There's been a whale of a difference between the June of last month and this years.. The only similarity being the approach of a marriage in the family in the two years. Last year it was in August, and this year in June. Marriages are always a lot of fun, and so was it this time. A lot of fun, the main kalais being on Suren and Karthik, and with Anand, Ramesh, Utpala, Krithika, Heramba, Veena, Kripa all being there with all the uncles and aunts, it was a lot of fun. We all enjoyed ourselves to the maximum, and with the festivities in full flow, with the usual marriage quota of pulling one anothers leg. along with the quota of discussing stuff which people had missed out talking in the interim years, it was all fun and no boredom. There was definitely no matchmaking in the marriage as Shruthi had suggested generally happens in marriages. This was a typical Brahmin marriage in South India, one which started with the samaradhanai, followed by the naandi, and then the nichyathaartham, jaanvaasam, and then the next day beginning with the kasi yatrai, the garland exchange fun, the oonjal, the panigraha, the mangalya dharana and then finally the nalangu.. The best part of the marriage was definitely the O's, mostly aided by Suren, Anand, and me, and also Eashwar's cousins. There was our sastrigal, who conducted the rituals in full detail explaining in full the reasons behind all that happens in a marriage. Stuff like the Jaanvaasam is nothing but Jaahnu+Vaasam, which is knee+cloth which is generally why the feet of the mappillai are cleansed and clothed properly then. Then the garland exchange ceremony referring to the bride and groom, accepting each other fully, just as they accept the garlands, with all their defects, as two pure individuals.Besides all this philosophy, it was some fun for 4 days.
Now coming back to the constrast observed, last year, by this time, the elections were over in school, the culturals were on in full swing, and the IIT classes were pressing the panic button.
It was a lot of work and at the same time lot of fun. The rivalry between Vikku and me, slowly was widening into ugly terrains, with still our common interests for the school being maintained.
I was beginning to open up my bunking strategies to study, after an almost perfect attendance record in class 11. It was some thrill in bunking to study, and then making up for it in school. But at no point of time did I feel I had disrespected the school, or that I had disrespected the teachers. Sadly my comments in the newspapers left a bitter taste in the mouths of the principal and vice-principal.
Coming to the same time, this year, all I am doing is sleeping, eating, watching tv, playin Brian Lara 2005 and blogging. I haven't spoken to too many friends this summer, for whatsoever reason, and its been a holiday of solitude, long evening walks, a camp at BARC, and lots of other things too. Shreyas, the only guy I used to speak to every 5 minutes on the phone, is also in Bangalore now, and so it is going to be even more solitude and probably fun alone in the next one week. Probably I'll blog five times this week! Only God knows...
Adios till I blog next,
Ever yours,
GV/Chappli...