ArpitGarg's Weblog

Whenever I attended a wedding and was subjected to a barrage of vintage marriage songs, there was this one song that always caught my attention. It goes like, “Mera yaar bana hai doolha, aur phool khile hain dil ke, meri bhi shaadi ho jaaye dua karo sab milke…” (My friend is the groom, I am happy from my heart; pray that I too get married). Also the traditions like joota churai wherein the brides’ sister steal the shoes of the groom and ask for money (shagun) in return, and the talks about dulhan ki behen and doolhe ka bhai seemed too clichéd and filmy to me.

I mean why would a guy wish to get married only while attending his mates wedding? There are 365 days round the year when you could wish so. Why the same day? Why not just go along, enjoy the marriage and not try to steal your mates thunder. Joota churai too seemed funny and just filler to me.

I tell you what, I was totally wrong. No shame admitting it. Until you attend your best friends wedding; you can’t understand the feeling behind the said song. It comes from within. I am telling you coz last week I attended my best friends wedding and believe you me the lyrics of the song felt closer to me than ever before. While he was riding the horse with people dancing around, the nauchawar, the varmala, the feras and the vows, I could feel the sweet urge to get married too. The atmosphere is such that it’s difficult to abstain from such a phenomenon.

The joota churai which seemed childish to me matured that day. I found myself, hiding grooms shoes away from the reach of brides’ sisters and letting them have the shoes only after making them accede that they lost. Those were such wonderful scenes that I blush and smile simultaneously as I write. They are playing right in front of me.

About the dulhan ki behen and doolhe ka bhai. It’s a tradition to have a sort of nok-jhok among the two. Subtle flirtations included if they both are young, unmarried and of the same age. All in good spirit though. (All this time I keep going back to the old movies and how true they seem to me today.) Since groom had a married older brother, it was left to us (friends) to take over the baton of younger brother. Though I am not of the flirtatious kind I felt all game for such a nok-jhok. Sadly, the bore as I am, I couldn’t go the length. But still it was all fun.

Marriages are always nice and now that I can only attend them once in a blue moon owing to staying away from home, I tend to enjoy the ones I attend as much as I can. Finally just one request, “Meri bhi shaadi ho jaaye dua karo sab milke”.