Three months back, on a Friday evening, I got a call from my team member Sunil “Sir, I am going for my engagement.” It was a usual news since guys getting engaged and getting married is normal. Next, he said “Sir, I am going to getting engaged with Shweta, our teammate, it’s a love marriage.” I was bit surprised and reacted immediately “How man, I have never seen you guys roam around together.” Sunil replied, “Sir it was a long story, will tell you later.”
A thought came in my mind, two of our colleagues going to get married, it will be good if our team present in that occasion. The guy is from Bhadohi (Uttar Pradesh), and the girl is from Kolhapur (Maharashtra). As per tradition, the marriage is planned in Kolhapur on 16-Feb-2025. Discussed with the team regarding a small trip along with the marriage. The onward and return train tickets were booked from Bengaluru to Belagavi and vice versa.
I was eagerly waiting to hear the story from Sunil and Shweta. It is natural that we Indians are very much interested to listen, read, and watch love stories. Sunil said it all started with Visal George. Shweta, Sushma, Pratiksha, Tanushree, and Visal George together a friend’s gang five years ago when we started working together for a project. Sunil was a lateral entry to this team and soon he became friend with Visal George.
Initially, a big team of around twenty-four people shown interest to attend the marriage. The plan is to arrange a vehicle for two days (Belagavi-Kolhapur- Belagavi) to attend the marriage and roam around if time permits. Just a week before marriage, as typical Indians, half of the team dropped the plan and finally twelve people decided to go. Rohit booked a tempo traveller (TT).
Sunil got introduced with Shweta through Visal George. This was not a love at first sight story but quickly they became friends due to same frequency. After one point of time, they liked each other and decided to take the friendship to the next level.
I was the first one reached the railway station. Sushma came next and we started waiting for others. Simply curious and I asked Sushma do you know this love story before. She said “yes,” and I thought I was the only person unaware of the stories behind the team. All others came and we boarded into the train. Within no time, I slept early as usual.
The real story begins now. The boy and girl are from different community and different state. Are these really matter in front of Love, no, not at all. But when coming to marriage all these are matters. They decided to go ahead with their marriage plans after getting acceptance from both the parents.
The next day morning train arrived at the Belagavi station in time. We started our journey in the TT towards Yellur fort. Yellur Fort also known as Rajhansgad Yellur Fort is 2500 feet (762 m) above sea level and was built by Beechiraja of Ratta dynasty in the 12th century. It served as a watchtower for Belgaum Fort to spot enemies approaching from long distances. I remembered a place called “Vattakottai” in my native Kanyakumari, similar watchtower on the seashore. When I discussed the same with Sushma, the entire team was busy in taking photos in front of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue. There was a lone tree in the fort and Harikrishna was on the tree giving pose to the cameras.
The love birds decided to get the approval in the bride side first and hence Shweta revealed to her family about this. The immediate reaction was a disapproval from all the sides. Somehow, she convinced her father, and he accepted. Her mother and brother accepted after meeting Sunil in person. Sunil went on and got approval from his family after a little struggle. It took a year for them to convince the respective families for the marriage. It was a real “Kadalukku Mariyadhai” story.
After breakfast in Belagavi, we were headed towards Kolhapur. Whenever I went trip with office colleagues in the olden days, Antakshari was the famous game played during travel, and I was never part of that since my knowledge on Hindi songs was very meagre. Akshay came to my saving grace, played songs in the TT audio system via Bluetooth from his mobile. He played all languages songs randomly and I interrupted him few times to play my favourite songs. “Mujhse Shaadi Karogi” was one song he repeatedly played, looked like he wanted to convey someone somewhere, hope another love story loading. He studied the pulse of the audiences, and next day during the return journey he became a complete DJ.
We reached Kolhapur in the afternoon and the stay was arranged by Shweta in hotel Atithi. We met Sunil and his family there and Shweta sponsored a nice vegetarian lunch for the entire team in the hotel Triveni. Kolhapur is famous for food items and felt that it is true. After the lunch Sonu took as to the roadside shop where we had “Mohabbat ka Sharbat,” an ultimate drink which kept us chill for an hour at least.
All guys were in a mood to take rest because of the long journey. Anusha came to me about the idea of visiting few nearby places. Our trip organiser Rohit jumped in, and we were soon in the “New Palace.” The ace architect who designed this splendid piece of architecture was Major Mant in 1884. This palace exhibits commendable architecture, and its ground floor is used to display Maharaja’s impressive collection of weapons, costumes, embroidery, jewellery, games, and other paraphernalia of the ace ruler Maharaja Shahaji Chhatrapati. We lived in the historical era for an hour.
I witnessed one name on the name boards of many shops in Kolhapur which is Mahalakshmi. Goddess Mahalakshmi is the presiding goddess of Devi Mahatmya. It is customary among devotees to visit Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, Kolhapur Mahalakshmi Temple and Padmavathi Temple as a pilgrimage. It is believed that visiting these temples as a pilgrimage helps achieve moksha (salvation). We were there in the queue for an hour and had a particularly good darshan of Goddess Mahalakshmi.
We went to hotel Woodland for the Haldi function. Shweta’s father welcomed us, and he said that he knew about me, he saw me in laptop during work from home at lockdown period. Like everyone there, our girls also dressed up in yellow and joined the Haldi function. We guys too participated in the Haldi and done the turmeric painting to the bride and groom.
I was watching the happenings and suddenly heard two girls spoke in Tamil. Later, I got to know from Sunil that one of the girls is his gym friend’s wife from Tamil Nadu and other one is her friend. His gym friend is from Jharkhand and that is another interesting love story. Love is breaking all the barriers across the world.
Returned to the hotel and Lokesh called me for UNO game, I denied due to tiredness and slept immediately. I woke up in the morning and roamed around the city. By the time I came back the team was ready, we went to a street shop for breakfast. Wow, it was misal pav, I had for the first time. Misal pav is a popular Maharashtrian Street food consists of spicy sprouted bean curry (usal) topped with onions, farsan (fried savory mixture), lemon juice, and coriander, and is served with soft pav. I liked it very much.
All party wears in place and we went to the marriage hall well in advance. Vikrant gave tough competition to the bride groom with his Sherwani Kurta. Some rituals were going on and the duo Saisucheth and Akshay were busy again in shooting photos and videos of us and the occasion. Soon the bride and groom were on horse half km before the marriage hall and the horse-riding ceremony started. At halfway, our guys initiated the dance in the rally and both bride and groom side relatives joined the party. The movements of Sonu, Vishal Anand and Rohit were noteworthy to mention.
The marriage hall was fully occupied, and we were standing aside with the Akshata rice in hand. The slogans were voiced and we throwed the Akshata on the couples. The couples exchanged garlands and groom tied the knot which symbolized unity, love, and commitment for centuries. Our team went on to the stage to wish the couples. The couples took the blessings from me, and I was overjoyed with their humbleness and blessed them “Nalla irunga.”
The marriage feast was a Kolhapurian special and all of us enjoyed the soup, phulka, naan and rotis with delightful vegetarian side dishes. After stomach full of food and mind full of happiness due to the fun we had in the two days, we said “Adieu” to the couples, and we left the marriage hall.
The return journey started and few of our teammates who came separately for the marriage also joined with us. Before this trip, when I said to my wife that I am going to Kolhapur for a marriage function, she immediately remembered the Kolhapur jaggery. She likes this jaggery for all the sweets preparation. I saw few shops in the city dedicated only for jaggery, also saw may trucks on the roads with harvested sugarcane. Kolhapur is famous for Sarees and Chappals too. We get down in a Chappal shop and I bought chappals for my three girls (wife and two daughters).
I was really surprised with the team I had been for the marriage. Even though the team was dominated by bachelor guys, not even a single demand for liquor and no one consumed, which is why I called them “Namma Janaru.”
The return trip to Belagavi was about chatting and laughing on the funny moments of the trip. The entire team bought the Belagavi famous Kunda sweet in the Purohit shop. After dinner, we boarded in the train. Adithya asked about my experience, I said even though I am in Bengaluru for 20 years, this is the first time I visited, and I loved these areas. This time I joined with the team for the UNO game. We reached Bengaluru on the next day with lots of unforgettable moments in memory.
This world was originated in Love. The world evolved with all inventions due to Love. Love is omnipresent and that will bring the tolerance among all differences and saves the humanity. The world will survive because of Love and Love only.
- Bhupesh Balan A
கருத்துகள் இல்லை:
கருத்துரையிடுக