Married.....

Sweet mother of God!!!! Another wedding, no wait a minute, another 3 more weddings, and the sheer number of weddings this season (between October and February) is simply astounding. Either I know too many people or there is this certain urge for people to get married all of a sudden. This year people of all shapes, sizes, casts and creeds, the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the living and even the dead seem to be getting married. Its fun in its own right, if you come to think of it, but it has its downs also.

Since my return about 5 months ago, I have attended nearly five weddings and ditched about two, I still have around three to four more to go. I’m not cribbing as such, because there were ones I really wanted to be a part of. There are my two first cousins, a friend and my sister, so far two down. But what is it about this season people wonder, why, that at this time of year all these Indians, especially south Indians decide to get married, it is not in the Hindu calendar to get married at this time of year, this quarter (from November to February) consist of the months Karthigai and Margali (these are Tamil months), one the month of lights and illumination and the other the month of prayer, song and worship respectively. There is nothing in there about to or not to get married.

So it’s not a religious thing then. My assumption is that, India has its winter now, and winter is a blessing for a tropical country like this one. We in the coffee belt wait for the rains to start (we call it monsoon), why, you may ask. Because we have eight months of mad heat and we cannot wait for winter to kick in, and winter isn't exactly winter, I mean today is 28 degrees, that’s not that bad. So maybe it’s the climate, it is apt for marriage. Whatever it is, it is quiet hectic but then again, on the flip side it is extremely cheerful, which is a good thing for any season.

But the question here is to be, or not to be married? I’m assuming that either love is in the air or all the folks are on a rampage to get their kids married off. Most of the weddings that I have been to have been love marriages (surprising in this country) and the people who do get married are quiet young these days, people in their early twenties, a little early if you come to think about it. That is the major reason for the old aunts and uncles to come up to me and ask me the same damn question, “so, you’re next, when are you getting married?”, and as much as it annoys me, I like to indulge their little fancy by saying “as soon as you find me a nice girl”, so there are some half a dozen withered old aunt’s probably looking for prospective brides to be, Sweet.

And as to answer the question, the verdict is, To Not be........... Not yet anyways, there is a time and place for everything.

A Vegetarian...

New Years!!! 2010!!! We made it, a new year and a new decade.

First of all, I have to say that the way 2009 ended was unbelievably brilliant, Christmas was perfect and New Years was even better. My friends and I met outside my place early 31^st night and left for the Beach House and for those of you who don’t know what the beach house is, let me explain. It is a house by the beach (wasn’t that a puzzle to be solved) it’s far away from civilization, in a remote place near Mahabalipuram (and for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a two thousand year old city on the outskirts of Chennai, if you don’t know what that is, you suckers need to be shot). Now the beach house is where we go for the recreational drinking and madness, due to its strategic location, it is ideal for loud parties and crazy behavior. Its distance from the city makes it too far for the cops and too remote for people to be bothered.

By the time it was eleven, I was drowning in a sea for Old Kemp, the latest addition to the “Old” series, a rum so powerful that when I opened the bottle, birds fell dead from an over dose of the strong aroma, there was only one other brave soul who joined me in drinking the Kemp, we never heard from Rohit again. I must admit I have never seen people go through that many bottles of whiskey and rum so casually before. There were quite a few people there that night, many of whom we have not seen or “hung” out with in many years and I must admit, it was really good fun, it seemed like a small St. Michael’s reunion. Some came and left and there were others who couldn't join us due to the foolishness of the Chennai Police Department, we moan for their loss.

I am under the assumption that everyone like me has obviously made some New Year resolutions, now the question is what are they. Is it the usual, “I need to go to the gym”, “I need to become punctual” etc kind of crap or is it new and entertaining, if so... jolt it down in the comments and don’t be shy, I don’t judge*. My resolution on the other hand is to develop a healthy lifestyle* (boring, I know) so as of Saturday the 2^nd Jan 2010, I have not had Chocolates, booze or meat, three of the things I love and crave the most, I am the kind of person who lives to eat, so as you can imagine, it’s already starting to kill me inside, slowly but surely I can feel my body weaken from the absence of meat and cacao, to add to this I just found some Ferrero Rochers in the fridge, damn my family and their crappy sense of humour.

I don’t understand how the vegetarians do it, I mean seriously, I have a new found sense of respect for these Brahmins, even more for vegans, no wait that’s not respect, I think that they are plain crazy. My only consolation is that this nonsense diet is for three months only, but then again, it’s for THREE months.

The verdict... to be a damn vegetarian*................. that statement is just wrong.

(* Statutory Warning: All promises and statements made on this blog are fictitious. And objects in the rear view don’t seem to be closer than they are.)