Marriage( shadi)

I remember '93- when I went to Karachi to Baby phupho's shadi! Back then it was not hazy at all. People were getting married all the time and there was ample of chicken karahi and palao for one to enjoy. A family photo ( a couple of more pix if you hover around the stage alot…), aunties and chachi mammi dancing like crazy- ( I always tried to dance but came back disappointed- there was nothing like Madhuri in me) street hawkers to sell you whistles and candy and a lot of running around the hall, playing chor police and baraf paani…
But now it's not the same…
First of all… get out of the bed and dress up…and make an attempt to look presentable…then have to go there and wait for the Baraat and when the Dulha arrives…hope the Khana also arrives, because now they can ask u to get going after a Pepsi bottle or Mirinda…
Then when the Dulhan arrives you can hear the Chachi Mammi whisper….Haiiii Ather Shehzad ney make-up kiya….oyee Maria B ka lehnga hai….I got my daughter a maroon one….saw this one too….maroon was 350,000 and this red one was less expensive….
And then you finally get up- go close to the stage and see the one who looks like a cream cake covered with apple jam…
Its her big day…she has been waiting in the locked tower for this day…the day her parents arranged the prince to arrive on the horseback….
May be she is madly in love- desperate to have his kids and bills and the house rent and the tour of France when he his Bank's delegation is going …and the shopping in Dubai for their honeymoon….
And then, maybe she is not that much in love….may be wondering what happened to the classmate who used to slip a love letter in her chemistry notebook…
And the one who used to throw a flower when she used to walk to her tuition….or wondering if Saasu ma likes her…or when with the sister-in-law get married away...who will cook the rotis and will the devar bhaiya live in hostel...
Yesterday I was at Sonia's home…
Her mom was sitting under her bridal picture….there she was in the picture….red as a cherry…golden on the dupatta…the jhumkas and nose-ring….a couple of rose petals in her lap…
And now the white in the hair showing…. the hairline receding…eyes hidden behind the cloudy glass of the spectacles, along with the obscured dreams and hopes of her youth….the wrinkles slowly creeping in where the nose ring was the day she became a bride, her big day…the day her parents arranged a prince to fetch her from the locked tower….