It’s a scintillating moment for children to watch their parents getting married and it becomes all the more special for parents when children organize this for them. One such awesome function was the Sashtiapdhapoorthy of my parents (meaning on completion of 60 years of the man (head of the family), a marriage celebration for the couple, which serves as a union between the wife and husband rejoicing the success of their togetherness these many years. The highlight being their children celebrating this function, wishing their parents long life and happiness in the years to come).Blessed were we (my sister Subha and me) to rejoice those blissful moments.
It was during the month of January Subha started talks about the celebration. My mom was the first one to raise a strong objection towards this. She had ample reasons to justify her stand on why a BIG NO to this function, but none of them seemed reasonable to Subha and me. My dad an unconventional, calm person wasn’t ready to justify his stand, instead ignored these talks completely and kept himself aloof just watching the drama like a silent spectator. This angered Subha all the more and both of us tried every possible loop hole to convince them. But the bond between my parents were strong, they were stubborn. This was a big challenge for us to tackle, the greatest obstacle to cross over.
We somehow managed to get their acceptance, after nodding to all the terms and conditions dictated by mom. To mention a few:- No grandeur, no lavish spending of money, function to be conducted in the most humblest way inviting only very few most important people and so on and so forth….Subha had a twinkle in her eyes. To mention about Subha, she has gut instincts at times and she never questions them if they were strong enough to pursue further with her thoughts. She goes by them always which finally end up with euphoric moments or some treasure to be valued for the lifetime. This was one such occasion which rose as a result of her instincts. She was determined to take up and make this occasion a grand success in spite of many odds.
We started off with our preparations by purchasing sarees, jewels and gifts primarily as they occupied the first few items in our shopping cart. At this juncture it is indispensable to mention about my sister’s in-laws without whom this function would never have happened. Her in-laws irrespective of their health ailments took all the pains to cater to our wishes. Right from scratch till the end, they contributed in every possible way, thus making the function a grand success. I express my sincere gratitude heartfelt THANKS to both of them via this blog. Then came the invitation part when my MOM carefully started preparing the list of very few most important people..:-). But the list grew big, bigger and finally ended up with 100 most important people who would attend the function at any cost. This included relatives, neighbors and close friends. Our home was not spacious enough to accommodate 100 people and there was no appropriate dining area to accommodate the crowd. Since our house was at the ground floor with no lift facilities, we thought it would be a laborious task for all the guests to climb three floors even if we were to arrange for a shamiana in the open space for lunch. We had already booked a party hall, but had to later cancel it since it didn’t fit into Mom’s TERMS and CONDITIONS. But finally we had to opt for the party hall with no other feasibility.
Finally the big day arrived, with the function starting at 4 a.m. in the morning with around 18 purohits chanting the manthras. We were all set to invite the guests since we were organizing the function. Slowly after dawn people started arriving and the hall was almost full during the muhurtham. The sky was falling with the sounds of the nathaswaram and kettimelam (traditional musical instruments in tamil marriages) when my dad tied the mangalyam (holy rope) around my mother’s neck and all showered their blessings on them. Subha and I were at the heights of glee or I would say plethora of joy as though we’ve conquered the entire world. The entire crowd congratulated us on our achievement. It was like a rewind of memories for Mom and Dad and this event was even closer to mom’s heart since all her best friends and colleagues who were present on her wedding 33 years back were present there all of them enjoying their friend’s happiness as their own. Truly inspiring group of friends mom has earned, the greatest asset for her lifetime.
My parents were at their heights of pride and glory with a sense of gratitude towards us for having organized the function and conducting it successfully in spite of their constant barging into each and every decision of ours. We are grateful for having such wonderful parents who care for us and I strongly believe it is the duty of all children to fulfill the wishes of their parents and keep them happy.
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