Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Maru Veedu

It was the Maru-Veedu of Mony &  Dany.

Its a custom among Tamil folk, on the day after the wedding, symbolizing the migration of the bride from her father's house to the groom's house. Mr Roberts gave a marvelous insight into this truth. He spoke eloquently saying that unlike other Indian customs of "Beti ki bidai" which sometimes ends with weeping, the maru-veedu is attended with pomp, celebration and the joyous festivity of families and friends.  Courtship, he said, starts as irru-veedu (two houses), followed by a wedding which births the maru-veedu (migration) but the Christian ideal is the movement to oru-veedu (one home) -- oneness in the home.

As a close family friend to Cecil & Hannah, I could not escape the ceremonies. I was among the first to arrive for this ceremony at Ambassador Hotel in Chennai. So I sat with Hannah and Cecil. We went yakkity-yak, with Cecil in his mono-syllabic answers and occasional bursts of laughter while Hannah gave a staccato of her pragmatic, grass-root, observations. Familiar faces started trickling in non-stop until my smiling charm got frozen into a myoclonic lock-jaw.

The program was animated by Beth's buoyancy, games and excellent verbal skills. While all this was going on my kidneys went onto hyper-drive pumping volume, more than the storage could handle. And since I was in a new place, I was absolutely loo-less and clueless! Finally I took Cecil's permission to ferret my destination. Gosh, I have never seen anyone gladder than the person who relieved their bladder! When I returned I discovered all the men were wound up in an activity. Not wanting to intrude and disturb the program, I slipped in quietly when it was over. But that was my pathological error. And the Principal's apoplectic instincts came alive in Beth as she pin-pointed the student who had gone AWOL. I was like a bacteria, stained under the fluorescent strobe of an ultra-microscope. I thought it was the firing squad, but I was summoned to the front to perform the same activity, solo, for the entire audience. Fortunately, a lady with a generous form and generous heart gave me company. So I sent my catatonic limbs into epileptic spasms and gyrations in beat with the music. For all of this I might as well been a Moroccan dervish.

This was the first time in my life, I discovered, that a simple nature's call could actually catapult me into the glaring limelight. That's when I remembered the prophetic words, "What you have done in secret will be shouted from the rooftops." However, nothing goes awry in God's plan for soon after that the groom approached me with the same biological predicament. He knew that everyone knew, that I knew, where to find relief. So I pointed him to the comfort zone.

This just means that no matter how awkward a circumstance -- God uses it to help others. A humbling lesson, but worthwhile truth. But this free ambience also displays what a real maru-veedu is. Friends and families in celebration, merriment, laughter and infective fun. This is the legacy, to mark the newly married couple to take life forward, always, with a pinch of salt.

No comments: