A Marriage in Chennai

Was whisked away by Sumod to attend a marriage of his classmate last Saturday. Not an entirely appetizing thought having covered nearly 60 km’s on the same day, on bike, under the sweltering sun. Wearily I took my seat while waiting for the proceedings to begin. Weariness soon gave away to gloom when I discovered that the service would be in Tamil. Accusatory looks from me were met with dubious pleas of ignorance from Sumod.
Faced with a bleak outlook I began to absorb my surroundings. Of particular interest was the huge golden falcon statue in the middle of the church. Never remember seeing one like it in a church before. Standing on its pedestal, with wings stretched out and a determined gaze riveted on the exit, it seemed to share my predicament.
Right in front of me were a bald old man and his identical looking son sans the polished pate. Both were dressed in blue suits and wore earphones.
I remember attending a marriage when I was a kid and the speaker spoke something which went like “Every member of the congregation thinks of ones own marriage while attending a marriage”. I don’t know whether it was a truth reserved exclusively for married couples but it’s a thought which always manages to sneak its way in. This time with the uninspiring proceedings even the honeymoon package made its way in. My reverie was broken when the master of ceremony interspersed his speech with a few words in English. ”Marriage is a road filled with pitfalls, misunderstandings..blah blah”..” Before her marriage a woman expects a man, during her marriage a woman suspects a man and after her marriage a woman respects a man”. (I almost said Wah Wah :-)).
I presume that the rest of the sermon was not that ominous, else we would have had a runaway bride situation.
Finally the proceedings drew to a close with some confetti throwing. My confetti unfortunately never made it past the bald dude.