MyVoice

MyVoice
Let me grow along with this...

Thursday, March 11, 2004

The celebration started with Chaitu being made the bride on 4th of March. and Jaggu had tears rolling on his cheeks with that scene.

Pardhu, Bazzi, Gudla, Capsu and me reached Andhra Paris by the morning of 6th. With Sai for us in the railway station, we were put up in hotel rooms. and then came Raj from Hyderabad. Raj with his perfect V, complexion close to Nishanth, dressing better than most of the Bollywood, with histrionics bettering Kamal Hassan's, ever sophisticated sense of humor and with his camera-cum-video phone was stealing the rest of the day.

Statutory Warning: Do not invite Raj for your wedding, to avoid the lurking danger of you turning into Venkatesh, the ultimate tyagamurthi.

(for those who didn't know, he is turning to be Sri Varu for Srimathi)

Okay, after that brief and prolonged (!!??) stroke of depression, we proceeded to the venue, Sri Vasavi Kanyakaparameswari Temple of Tenali. A special stage has been fabricated in the temple of Kanayaka, the family deity of all Vysyas of Andhra Pradesh. Before this, Jaggu stopped Sree Vijay Krishna Dara from his bon voyage to brahmacharya and Kasi by inviting him to marry his sister Chaitanya Latha. Jaggu displayed his flair of artistry by applying the paste of turmeric and kumkum to Vijay's feet. Extremely pleased, Vijay accepted the invitation and hung up the journey.

Vijay then proceeded in Jaggu's Zen to Chaitu's house to accompany the bride to the venue. This back and forth trip by Car was carried in a procession-like fashion through Rue De Bose and the Pont De Gandhi.(Bose Road and Gandhi Chowk respectively, in French). The procession also witnessed sporadic dances by Jaggu, Sai, Pandu(Jaggu's brother) and his friends. And this started the phenomenon: ApeJaha - Akka Pelli Ki Jaggu Hadavidi. The procession reached the venue just in time and the so Vijay and Chaitu had to do the jeela-karra-bellam with out the change in dress. (as you have seen in the photographs). With this Vijay and Chaitu were pronounced husband and wife. Followed by Sapthapadi, Mangalasuthra Dharana, Veekshanam, Talambralu, Arundhathi Darsanam, Grihapravesam and a long break. And I was shooting all these events with Raj's 6600 and so I too was the cynosure for a short while.

"Andhra Famous" S.Mastan's band played some good tunes like "Nemaliki nerpina nadakalivi...", "Himagiri Sogasulu muripinchunu manasalu..."...etc. and Raj in his usual flair was cracking jokes at the band and their loud volume. We gifted a small bronze Radha Sametha Krishna with "Cool-it!" written on the gift wrapper. Interested(including Jaggu) might contribute in US$ to card no. XZCV ZXCV XXZV CXZZ). Anji's sister and bavagaru too attended the marriage. Anji is 99% his sister, duplicated to the minutest level of expression (as certified by Kiran Raj).

After a good meal, we settled for a post-lunch chat. Owing to "pressing" commitments, Raj and Gudla had to leave the place.

Later, Vijay had a long chat with his pedda bavamaridi and bavamaridi's friends. Mohamaatam Jaggu was giving brief biographies of all of us to every human we encounter. Vijay too was obviously a repeated victim of these brief bio sessions. The chat continued for a long while...starting with his regrets on quitting the club "Bachelors".....followed by his company, it's business, it's vision,......his previous vacations in the US....vacations in the pipeline......his opinion on returning back to India.....telugu movies in the US.......the royal treatments he gets when he is back home at India...his parents pestering him for the past 3 years asking him to get married......etc...etc...

I was putting Nishanth, Aluri, Sandy, SOS, Ravi Chandra......a variety of people (ocassionaly myself) in those scenarios and was having real fun.

After his schooling (till +2) in Guntur Vignan, Vijay joined Vasavi, rejecting a Group C admission in BITS. Post-Vasavi, Vijay has done his MS in Industrial Engg. at Bradley Univ, Peoria, Illinois. He was recruited by the heavy machinery giant Caterpillar and he has been working there for the past 6 years. This constitutes the bigger chuck of his close to 8 year stay in the US...which do bear an impact on his accent. We found Vijay to be extremely down to earth, warm and affectionate, cooler than the coolest of cool-it! etc....etc...(Seems like I just read out the road map of some of you .us guys)

Pardhu, me and Jaggu were the only ones left for the appagintalu. The handing over ceremony was small and a private affair with only close family members around. An elder lady sung "Hai...gaaa... aalu magalai kaalam gadapaali...", followed by Pardhu singing.."Laaali laali anu raagam saaaguthunte evaru nidura poru...". I could see the satisfaction in Chaitu's eyes. And when the moment arrived all of us, including Jaggu, were in tears. Chaitu hugging her dad was yet another illustration of the great filial bond between father and daughter. Chaitu was then escorted to Guntur. Vijay told us the next day that she was weeping all thru the way too.

The next morning, Jaggu and me were at her in-laws' house for Satyanarayana vratamu. Jaggu and me had a real long chat after two years (although not satiated). And for the reception in the evening Jaggu fulfilled his long-cherished dream of wearing a long kurtha. Jaggu was real smart and then I knew why Umesh did so. (Qs regarding Umesh directed to Jaggu). Pardhu was there for the reception too.

Chaitu promised me the "Best participant award" for being there for all the stages.

With Chaitu getting her H4 dependent VISA yesterday, she will be flying to IL around 20th of this month.

Our wishes with her.

posted by Yy | 2:17:00 AM