It is a marriage season in India. ‘Season’ because majority of Hindu population fixes marriage dates according to astrology. As it happens good days are always clustered. Some days there are so many marriages that at 9 PM, traffic in New Delhi is like 9 AM i.e. ‘Bumper to bumper’. It was so on 13th of this month and again on 23rd or so. With a population of around twenty million (including suburbs) New Delhi is not only most expensive but can also be most difficult place for wedding parties.

Driving about one hour to two hours in going and half hour in returning, itself is quite enough after a regular day of work. Weddings start at 9 PM at the earliest and may continue till morning but an honourable person can have dinner and leave as soon as Bride-groom and party arrive and that would be around mid night. Of course there are various supplementary parties on days before wedding night, which near relatives and family friends have to attend. Timings are same, more or less. Returning home before 1.00 AM is unusual. And yes there is a lot of monkey dance (!!!) in between.
I had to attend one such wedding party, three days in a row, for last three days. It revealed an interesting aspect. This wedding belonged to a circle in which I had not attended any party for about seven years and there were people I had not met in last 7 years to two decades. It was a journey through time. An it revealed few health aspects, nobody notices.
First the attendance to weddings. With so many difficulties it is not easy to attract guests for parties so the endeavour is to provide best of food and booze. How ever in practice, while food is beautiful, service great, every dish seem to taste the same. A close friend who is in the business of managing wedding and such events, revealed the secret. Unless the host has his own place and he ensures that food is cooked at the site, food is rarely fresh atleast not all dishes. Every Banquet/Hotel etc. hosting such parties have walk in refrigerators and they never throw anything out.
However lots of snacks are fresh and are always fresh. Stick to it. That was an advice.
Second aspect is disturbed sleep. The body is a machine. While mind loves the sensation of change, body loves routine. Sleep is the greatest healer. Tiredness is first step to ailment especially in the matters of bodily pain. However, the social principle is that if you will not visit, they will not come. Just like facebook and just like the advice prompted by WordPress ‘to increase traffic try visiting other sites.’
Seeing people after twenty years is sufficient to reveal their life style. A youth had turned into a middle aged baldy. A lady (20 years ago) bride had turned into a limping arthritis ridden old lady at the age of 45!!! Very sad affair. Those who were old seven years ago and were menacing with their authority were limping with sticks. Many others were walking with gait cause by some incident and injury. It was a startling betrayal of lifestyle by brutal truth. So much financial success but so little ability to maintain health. A question arises: do they ever miss a party? I doubt it. After all it is a social duty. If everybody becomes as selfish as I am, how the society will thrive. What a thriving? Now crippling is thriving too.
That is one of the two reasons I quit today. I am and will rest and recuperate today and may be tomorrow. Sleep at ten and get up at six. Eight hours. And may be a sweet siesta tomorrow.
Alas! No reprieve today. Out sweet little cute hostess named ‘Annu’ just called and told me that she has no health problem and that she will inform me the vendor who supplies them groceries which are keeping her healthy. It is difficult to lie that I am crippled when it is tiredness alright. She insisted that it is important to go but has assured that I can leave as soon as I want. But this ‘I’ means my family and it is not less than a political party and me as a dissident. So I shall be away from the paradise, for yet another late evening.
Enjoy the party while we can still walk to washroom on our own legs. Just asking for blessings of Lord Ashwini if he is (they are) not partying some where with Menka.

P.S.: Nobody knows the concept of RSVP in India. It rather back fires. As it just did.

© Sandeep Bhalla