Crashing into wedding: Call it Like That

After completing Engineering I any my friend had a few months before we got jobs. Morning was spend at university library, MLA quarters canteen and university office. This was for improving the GK. Evening was spend wandering around Statue and Library. Whatever experience we gained was a part of learning curve. We built lot of new contacts, met different people and learned many things. We always wanted to do something different.hence decided to experiment something new during day time.

Trivandrum has lot of Kalyana Mandapam(wedding hall). Lot of Marriages take place every day (except Karkada Month). We decided to attend few of the wedding as uninvited guests. the tasty food accompanying the wedding fascinated us. We had a liking for Christian and Muslim weddings as Biriyani attracted us a lot. 'Make no mistake' our parents never know of it for a long time. They were well off in taking care of us. But we became 'wedding Crashers' just for the fun of it.

Every morning I or my friend will scan through the top Malayalam newspapers looking for a weddings. If he finds an interesting one. He will give me a call. The only problem is when there is a Muslim and a Christian wedding at the same time. We have make sure we choose the right wedding/distance to travel and also food into consideration. We usually alternate between Christian and Muslim weddings. Next thing is to tell our Mothers a reasonable story for avoiding the lunch. There will be lot of questions as why we want to avoid lunch. As usual we were good with coming up with stories. Some believable some bouncers, But anything works.

A bit more information about who was getting married, groom and Bride's names etc will be noted down. We also have to make sure that we are well dressed for the wedding. Ironing the shirts and pants regularly raises doubts in our parents minds. Couple of questions are asked by our parents and some standard answers. But we made sure that the ironing process does not take place everyday. I will walk down to the main road and my friend will pick me up in his Dad's car. The distance was always a factor as we cannot end up paying for petrol with the small pocket money we get.

We drive up to the wedding hall. There will someone already standing at the entrance to catch the Wedding Crashers. As we are gentlemen and driving to the wedding we waved in. Usually car is a considered a 'prestige( Not the pressure cooker) item'. After parking the car we walk to the hall. As we look cool and composed and joking all the way we don't have to worry. We will make sure we are coordinated in our answers and smile at everyone. This is to create a good impression and also confuse people. Sometimes we are asked ' Are you from girl's side or boy's side' We will give out the pre-meditated answer. We will be directed to the respective seats. We make sure that we pick up conversation with people next to us. This is just for passing time and avoid some suspicious looks so called Ex-military guys who think they are 'intelligent'.

After the formal wedding Ceremony we move to the Food hall. There will be a queue for getting into the food hall. We will in the first 20. This way we will get the taste of the first batch of food. Usually food will be very good. During the lunch time we chat with people sitting next to us to make 'them' feel comfortable. The whole lunch process gets over in around 20 minutes time. We have now achieved our objective for the day. Get a lemon as a proof of wedding.

You all might be wondering ' Will these guys walk off after the food'. No we are not like that. We will have hang around for sometime watching the colorful people. Once the bride and groom are free; We walk up to them. Sometimes I will introduce myself to the Couple. the surprised Couple will be wondering who am I and who is with me. I will then introduce my friend.This process will reverses in the next wedding. From there faces it is so obvious they don't know us. They don't want to question us thinking it might be insult us. Sometimes we were asked who we where. We go back to the Old Pre-Degree days. Did you study in Arts College or Mar Ivanios for pre-degree. Starting a conversation from college days will be the beginning of many embarrassing stories. The Confused couple will be looking at each other and there relatives who are these guys. It does not not matter us. They might be thinking some distant relatives children either bride or groom's side. We then stand with the couple and take a snap. You guys should not start looking at the wedding albums to see if we were there in your wedding or not. We also will them good luck for their future. We are pleased and drive home.

The Wedding crashing plans were sometimes failure. Many times we run into our relatives and family friends and we were forced to back out. Sometimes we will be sitting next to people whom we know and having lunch. Sometimes we will asked lot of questions. we have to wriggle out of these situations. But most of the times we achieve our objectives.

We were members of Soorya film society. Soorya arranges various functions at Tagore theatre. Kerala is famous for Power-cuts. There will be a half to one hour break during power-cuts. Poor Tagore theatre did not have a generator. Sri-Moolam club is near to Tagore theatre. Sri-Moolam club usually had parties in the evening. We will usually spent the power-cut time crashing into these parties.

The funny thing is that for my Cousin's wedding, I was given the job of locating the Other Wedding crashers. It is like giving the key to.... Do you think I will we standing there looking for the Crashers.