Growing up in a small town, I used to tell my sister that we were like Tom Cruise here… people used to talk about us the way we talked about Tom Cruise. It’s not that we stood out or had celebrity parents; we were kinda different from the rest in our interests, thoughts and most importantly dressing. Life was pretty good in a small town, slow paced and entirely taken up by school activities. But somehow along the way, I kinda started drifting away from known people and the relatives; I found that I had nothing to say to them and making small talk was genuinely uncomfortable when I was struggling with the language. Many of them (the aunts) were actually real nice and kind. A few were like cows, grazing the pasture for fodder to fuel their gossip. Over time, it became quite easy to spot the genuine caring aunts from the cud chewing aunts and their typical gasbag husbands. Now when we (us siblings) see them coming, we say a little prayer for our sanity, and then we smile and nod away to whatever they drag on and on about. There is always a parallel conversation going on in my head about what I would really like to reply to their inane questions and eventually I have to strain to keep the laughter from bursting to the surface.
Anyway, I was home (yeah, that’s a picture of home… it’s the first sight that greets you early in the morning just before the train halts at my place) recently for a cousin’s wedding and it was great fun, I did come across a few such cud chewers and that’s what prompted me to write this post. Me and my sister crack up whenever we make up stuff to feed them… it’s like our very own live sitcom show.
Here are a few random pictures from the wedding…
Here are a few random pictures from the wedding…
The bride’s house all lit up…
The bride on her way to church…
Pretty girls in beautiful sarees at the wedding…
The bride’s bouquet…
Gold bangles on one of the bride’s cousins…
The bridegroom putting the wedding chain on his bride and the sister of the groom helping her brother to fix it properly.
The bridal couple in church…
Hello Karen:
Oh how well you capture the trials, tribulations and the joys of living in a small town. As you say, to be big fish in a small pool has its positives and we can well imagine what fun you had telling 'tall tales' only to have them made even taller by the gossipy aunts!
The bride looks so very, very pretty at her wedding. It must have been a roller coaster of emotions for you to return to your home town for the occasion!
Why do I get the feeling that you wrote a bit added the photos and then forgot or on purpose did not write the rest of the post 🙁
Perhaps you were making one of your delightful little cakes or pies and rushed to the oven 🙂
Great pics and the flavour of being 'different from the group'captured well.
I can identify – Palakkad Tam-Brahm who can't read Tamil or malayalam – forever getting ticked off by the elders for not learning either language and conversing in Hindi or English 🙂 perenially getting scolded for not wearing the mundu / veshti (dhoti) in the proper manner 🙂
The joys of life!
Karen, you made me really laugh when u said 'A few were like cows, grazing the pasture for fodder to fuel their gossip. Over time, it became quite easy to spot the genuine caring aunts from the cud chewing aunts and their typical gasbag husbands.'
Very apt description! I was wondering if I alone had this kind of odd feeling when I faced some ppl…I'm glad that I see a recognition to my thoughts! :))
Wow!!! cud chewing cows??? someone has had great fun pulling up relatives legs i guess…of course if you are a local celebrity you are bound to be gossiped about…price for popularity right? and i would love to hear more stories in your coming posts about the leg-pulling episodes you have just hinted here…it started off as a travelogue- nativity scene and then family secrets and finally ended in a wedding…like a remake of Vinnai thandi Varuvaya….
(p.s. only regret- the photos of the beautiful babes shows only their plaits- leaving much to the imagination)
Jane and Lance, it's always great returning home… emotions fly all over the place.
Haha, Mahesh… trust you to feel the same! Your place Palakkad must be beautiful, is that where you were recently… all those pictures and descriptions on FB? The joys of life indeed 🙂
Ganesh, nice to see you here 🙂
A remake of VTV, nice way to describe this post. Those babes are my cousins, what kinda cousin would I be if I did not respect their privacy…
Blessings, thanks for dropping by. Life is entertaining in a small town 🙂
Ugh! the cud-chewing aunts!!! Every family has them and most everyone hates them… at one stage they are trying to fix you up with some "suitable" (air-quotes) boy, then when you do get married, they are trying to find out all your personal details, trying to tell you when you should have babies, and when you've had the baby, trying to tell you what to feed the baby, and then trying to repeat the whole process with your sister….! You know 'cud-chewers' is just about the most apt description for those lame-os Karen…. great post….
Oh, and in all this ranting I forgot, congratulations Karen's cousin, you look very pretty in your wedding picture… I hope the aunts are nicer to you…. 🙂
You are so lucky to have a home to return to with siblings and cousins. With both my parents being only children, I have no aunts or cousins and my brother was killed in a car crash far too early in life.
The wedding looks wonderful and the wedding chain rather than a ring is interesting. Diane
Jane, that is so true… the questions never stop. It's the charm of growing up in a small town, we just have to learn how to deal with them.
Diane, you can visit me anytime 😛
Imagine having no cousins growing up… well, now you have many blogger friends, and though we can't hang out often, know that we do care and hope good things for you.
Oh my, you are a riot with your description of the "cows". What a lovely bride. Thank you for stopping over and visiting my blog. Blessings.
lovely!