Manju Marriage Yatra

It was a Chilly Night @ Hyderabad, I got down from my bike at parking lot, locked my Helmet, the clock showed 8.35 pm.....
“Whr r u?
The Train is at 8.45
6th platform”
SMS from Manju... It’s her wedding. Apart from the usual hassles that she had this is one more, making me attend her Wedding.

Manju and I were good friends. She was cool at head and tough speaking Girl. I always tease her like the fellow marrying her will definitely recollect his scary moments with the HM in his school days :-) LOL...

"Which Station? Secunderabad or Nampally ?" I replied to that SMS this will definitely irritate her, I smiled expecting some shouting at me in SMS.

I had a tired day at office day long meetings few presentations to finish, it was heavy work as Diwali was around the corner and people wanted to it wind up before vacation.

I started late from office reached home at 7.30 pm packed my bags and started to Railway station. Traffic was sucking I felt like I was on a road to St' Peter Square on a Christmas Day riding a Donkey. I got frustrated rode my bike haphazardly. By the time i reached Station it was 8.35 pm.... i took a deep breathe looked around whether if i can spot anyone i know there was a strange feeling in my stomach i was walking slowly trying to figure it out wat it was Oh gosh!!! i didn't have my dinner yet !!!

My phone rang it was srinivas, my friend "whr r u dude?" I am at station ... "come to S6 will meet u thr". I picked up pace and reached S6 there were a bunch of enthu people, in them i spotted few newbies too i bought few cookies and boarded the Train......

Manju Marriage Yatra started with me on Fasting :-)

Train was crowded i introduced my self to the new people and re introduced my self to the people whom i already know... my ex colleagues

I don't know I had this crazy habit of losing people with time I am not sure whether its procrastination or some thing else may be I need to introspect on this any way people were so sweet and understanding that they forgave me. May be they know me better than myself..

Train was going on a snail pace I tried to share the cookies with people but nobody showed interest I guess my weird face did raise some doubts in their mind regarding the composition of the Cookie :-)

People were skeptical upfront but pretty soon they mingled well ....... rather in other words..... I was pretty over doing and interfering up front and got subsided later :-) :-)

There were Lot of small chats going on.... starting from "Layoff @ Office" to “Should Dumbledore die in the potter series". People were real fun lovers and I laughed a lot after a Long time

We reached Tenali in the morning. Manju's dad made some arrangements for our stay Boys @ Hotel and Girls @ House. We got fresh and reached Manju's house @ Breakfast time.

The climate was gloomy pretty hill station type with drizzle and fog around there were few large canals typically 80 feet wide through the town carrying loads of water in them.

Hot Breakfast was served with a cup of tea, My eyes lit up as like when Pirates sees a Box of Gold :-) I grabbed one right away and finished it in no time. Despite of heavy work in the house people really took good care of us.

There comes a work for us, decorating a basket which will be used to carry the bride to wedding deck. This is a typical custom followed in AP. Me and other 3 guys started to decorate the basket first we wrapped it with gold foil, we tried to stick it with tape but it didn’t, few crazy ideas were pouring in
All together we finished it at last. That was quite a task for us. We were very happy the way it shaped. Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best :-)

"Do you play cards" Manju's Dad asked me when he saw me getting bored “No uncle never got any chance to learn” he laughed and asked us to follow him. We went to place which was very near to the house. It was a big canal of around 80 feet wide there was a small bridge connecting the two banks the other side of the canal was full of fields. There were trees lined up on the banks as soldiers in a march past. It was beautiful sight he left us there and went back

I liked the place instantly the water was flowing with some speed breeze was pretty cool carrying a pleasant scent with it. We all sat on the Cement blocks and were chatting. This was completely unexpected by me talking to people whom I never met before until the preceding day that too on a Thursday morning.

I was on a verge of transformation and I liked this change very much. Real happiness is coz of people its not coz of money or anything else i know this theory but again that procrastination held me back.

After say 15 yrs I made few boats out of paper and set them off in the stream it was so fun we were making different kinds of boats … boats with rudder, goods carrier, double based one we decorated the boats with grass flowers and hay.

I was enjoying like heaven after a long time. There is a child in every one of us and when he pops out he brings ultimate happiness with him and right now I am feeling that happiness to the brim.

When the D Moment Came I was ready with my Best clothes on. The band music was a bit cacophonous. The couple looked blissful at the stroke of 9 they entered into wedlock.

Happy Married Life to my Dear friend Manju.