Friday 28 December :
We entered Goa around 7 AM. I had no idea where to get off and where my friend lived. I had called Ivan (the groom) before boarding the bus to let him know that I would be reaching in the morning and he assured me a million times that he would come a pick me up. All he said was to get down somewhere near Fort Aguada. Anyway , I checked with the bus driver and the closest place was Mapusa. When we were close to Mapusa, I tried calling Ivan, and was bombarded with this rather loud Konkani Song!! Anyway he dint pick up. Alternately I tried Prashant's phone, who was also staying in Ivan's house. (Ivan, Prashant and I were batchmates from IHM Chennai). Right from the time we were close to Mapusa to getting off the bus at Mapusa to hiring a taxi to Fort Aguada... I kept trying Ivan's and Prashant's number hoping that either one would pick up. To my horror, Ivan's phone wouldnt get through after a while and the message I got was that it was out of out of coverage area.. Great!! Just what I needed!! After that really frustrating and backbreaking bus journey, I really dint expect this. I was furious. We reached Fort Aguada and stopped at a nearby restaurant to get some tea while I kept trying Prashant's number.I realised that It was silly of me not to have taken an address or alternate numbers. I had almost given up and had reached boiling point, ready to explode..I told mum that if he dint pick up the phone I was not going to attend his wedding... to hell with it and Im not gonna be the bridesmaid either!!! 50 missed calls later (25 each to Ivan and Prashant!) , Ivan picked up the phone. Instead of an excited greeting one would give a friend youre talking to and gonna meet after 8 years, I screamed at him. Poor fellow apologised to the core, but stupid me, I was so consumed in my anger, I kept venting it out on him. Anyway, we got his place and settled down. I gave a piece of my mind to Prashant too when I got there. Apparantly they spent all nite drinking and slept around 5 in the morning so they dint hear the fone. On top of that, Ivan's fone had no battery charge left so it switched off. And If Ivan picked up when I was calling prashant it was by luck. Apparantly Prashant fell off the bed while sleeping and bumped his head... he deserved it if you ask me!! (yeah yeah Ive told you that so dont get mad at me again Prashant!!) Anyway as a reflex he checked his fone and discovered the 25 missed calls from me. And just then I called for the 26th time and he knew I was gonna be majorly pissed so he just handed the fone to Ivan to take the brunt of it !
We then sat around talking for a bit and then Ivan wanted me to try on the bridesmaid's dress that was made for me. It was a lavender colored dress, that was the theme of the wedding... well so were Butterflies,but thankfully the dress dint have any on it. I tried on the dress and I guess Ivan must have had a little too much to drink the previous night coz the dress he gave me was three times bigger than me. Turns out he brought the wrong one!! We freshened up and took a nap. In the evening Mum, me, Ivan and Prashant headed for Baga Beach. On the way we passed through Calangute & Candolim markets. Roadside markets selling clothes and souviniers and every alternate establishment was either a cafe or a restaurant. The city was bustling with life.. everything was lit up, music playing from every roadside cafe and restaurant. Some of them had live bands playing. Foriegners strolling about or riding in hired Kinetic Hondas.. it was a quite a sight. Felt like I was in a totally different country.
For the ones reading who have never been to Goa, let me tell you that there are no wide roads. Its just one long & narrow road like you have on the way up to a hill station. The roads widen in the main city ...since Ive just been to Mapusa, Ive just noticed one there. Away from the city, on either sides of the roads connecting the major areas within the city, you will find vast fields.OK time for a pop quiz - What do you get when you have a long and narrow road + lots of cars, buses & Two wheelers+ peak season+ pedestrians ? The answer is simple - A chaotic traffic situation!! And seriously I thot Delhi topped the list when it came to traffic issues.
We spent a couple of hours on Baga beach. Had a couple of beers and ate something and then headed out. These guys wanted to party later that nite but I told them I was gonna crash as I was still exhausted from the back breaking bus ride the previous nite.
Saturday 29 December :
Since I was one of the bridesmaid I had to stay over at Jenny's place (the bride). She lived on what seemed like the other end of town and which was the complete opposite of the Calangute/Baga side of Goa. A total contrast I must say. It was a very quiet locality, lined with vintage villas and bungalows. Contruction of houses were a stark indication of its portugese past. Again it took us over an hour and a half ..well infact two hours to get there. Im guessing distances arent too great in Goa, but because the roads are narrow and there is just one route, it seems such. We stopped for 30 mins en route at the venue for the reception - Alva Mara, as Ivan had to take care of some friction between the decorator and the owner of the venue. When we reached Jenny's house , her mum, dad and sister were waiting out in the garden. They greeted us with a lot of warmth and welcomed us into their home. There I met Jenny for the first time along with Louise (one of the bridesmaids), Sushil and Mukesh (Ivan's friends from Mumbai) except for these two, Ivan, Jenny, Louise and a couple more Ill mention later are Goans living in Kuwait. We relaxed around a while and around lunch time we had to go to Jenny's Uncle's house for the Bangle ceremony.Quite similar to the chooda ceremony in punjabi weddings were the mamma buys the chooda for the bride before the wedding. The only difference here was that it was not Jenny's uncle who was putting the bangles in her wrists.They had called over the bangle guy (cant think of the appropriate term) to do the honors. Another difference was that , not only does the bride get to make her choice of bangles, the bridesmaids also get an oppurtunity to select a pair they like and wear them. Which to me was great coz I love bangles. Im not too much into jewellery or accessories , and so you would never see me wearing chains or rings but when it comes to bangles and earrings i cant resist. I have a huge collection of bangles at home. So, there's some insight into my likes and dislikes. Well getting back, we spent most of the afternoon at Jenny's uncle's place. While Jenny was wearing her bangles, there was a lot of singing, konkani folk songs. I couldnt understand a word, but I'm guessing the songs were about the new life the bride was to begin and the significance of the bangle ceremony to the wedding. Whats the significance you ask? I have absolutely no idea!! After the ceremony we had lunch,the menu consisted of Roasted Beef, Fish curry and Pork stew.After lunch we headed back to Jenny's place.
In the evening, there was another function,the Rose ceremony. Again it is similar to the haldi rasm in our punjabi weddings. Here the difference being, there was no haldi, and it wasnt just for the bride! Before I explain what happened, I must admit I had absolutely NO IDEA watsoever ,not the slightest inkling as to what was about to happen to me. All the 6 bridesmaids ( Jeanne, Saavia, Louise, Glenda, Alison and Me) and Jenny were made to sit in a row on the floor.Huge bowls of coconut milk were placed in front of us.Now everyone present, right from the bride's immediate family to other relatives to all the friends present there had to rub the coconut milk on all of us starting with the bride. You'd think it must have gone pretty civilised and that they prolly would have just put a lil tikka on us..? Naaaah!! If you're a guy and if you had the oppurtunity to pour some coconut milk on 7 girls? Would you hold your self back? I think not! What followed was crazy. Everyone took generous handfulls of the cocunut milk and poured it on us and rubbed our faces and arms to make sure it seeped in! And I mean EVERYONE... the Aunties, Uncles and so did all the boys present there..geez!! What an experience, Im surely not gonna forget it anytime soon! By the end of it, and it must have taken about 30 minutes or maybe longer I really dont know, I was not in a position to keep track of time, we were drenched , soaking to our undies in coconut milk...yeah yeah.. I know at this point you wanna see some pics..dont ya..? cheapsters!!! Once everyone had done thier bit, the 6 of us gathered around Jenny to take our revenge..hehe..and poured the rest of the contents from each bowl onto her.On the brighter side, I heard we were let off quite easy, you see Ivan had the same rose ceremony performed on him a day before I arrived in Goa. He and his best men were treated to eggs, haldi, coconut milk and what not.. HAHHAHAHA!! So anyway, nothing much happened the rest of the evening. I was exhausted and crashed around 11ish.
Sunday 30 December: Wedding Day
The wedding was scheduled to commence at 5 PM and since all we girls had to do was get pampered and dress up , we got up liesurely around 10ish. We spent most part of the day getting our hair and makeup done. By 4 we were ready and so was Jenny the bride who was looking simply gorgeous in her white gown and veil. What followed was a round of photos with Jenny, the bridesmaids. All the while Jenny was getting ready, she kept going over the wedding and everyone's duties. We left for the church (dont ask me where...Im still not too familar with Goa) around 03:30 PM. They hired a bus ( the DTC kind) to take the us to the church. Enroute we got stuck in a jam. Well not surprising..when the roads are so narrow and there's two way traffic. I was really impressed by Jenny's mum. The moment we got stuck in the jam, she got off the bus, without batting an eyelid and guided the bus out of the jam!
Jenny had wanted all the bridesmaids to stand in line according to thier hieghts and give ourselves numbers so that when we got to the church we could stand with our respective partners. She had, and as far as I know, told Ivan explicitly that he was to do the same routine. But boys will be boys, when we got to the church the best men had no idea they had to get in order!! We quickly improvised and got in line height wise with our partners. My partner was Jude, tall dark and extremely cute.( Alison, dont punch me..am just complimenting your boyfriend! ;) We stood with our partners in line behind Jenny & Ivan. And while waiting to enter the church, Jenny got to know about the miss and she started scolding Ivan.. right there, at the church entrance!! Ah! what a perfect couple..heheh What followed was a sermon by the pastor, live band singing carols and wedding vows exchanged. And finally the pastor said" I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!! . With that, Ivan my dear old friend was finally hooked, booked and cooked. :)
There was another round of photographs to be taken after the ceremony and mass was over, but as luck would have it, the lights went out. Lagtra hai is bhagwan ke ghar mien der tak andher hain!! Hey! said with all due respect :) We then got back on the bus and headed for the reception venue- Alva Mara. Jenny and Ivan left in their Mercedes. When we reached there, we couldnt just walk in.. after all the new Mr & Mrs had to make a grand entrance and not without the bridesmaids and best men. It was an open area, beautifully decorated with a huge dance floor on one end and a live band playing. We stood at the entrance waiting for the MC to give us the cue so that we could enter. As is customary, the guests stand around in a circle on the dance floor and the bride and groom need to take a round with the bridesmaids and best men in two. Once the MC gave us the cue, we made our way around the floor , all the while bieng showered with confetti. Once that was over we gathered around the center of the floor, where a 5 tier cake was placed. It was time to pop the champagne, raise a toast and cut the cake. The first toast was made by Jeanne, Jenny's sister followed by Jenny and then Ivan. They thanked everyone for attending the wedding and thanked thier families. What Ivan said next, really made my day. He specially mentioned my name stating that I was the sole reason he met Jenny and thanked me. You see, when I got back in touch with Ivan over two years ago, we were chatting on yahoo and I told him to join orkut so that we could keep in touch more frequently. Also at the time,when we were discussing our single status, he expressed how he wanted to meet someone and settle down. So i told him that with Orkut, not only could he keep in touch with old friends, but make new ones and who knows find love! And thats exactly what happened. He met Jenny on Orkut! So anyway, I was really moved by this gesture of Ivans ..thanks pal!! After the toasts and cake cutting was done. It was time for the first dance! And people who know me, know very well that I cant dance to save my own life! And here I had to do ballroom dancing...of which I dont even know the B!! I decided to just grin and bear it..after all its for just one number, how bad could it be? Once Jenny & Ivan started, the bridesmaids and Best men had to join in. I let Jude know that I couldnt dance and I was leaving it all on him to help me get through it without a fumble. Thanks to him I survived, but not without stepping on his feet atleast twice!!! Sorry bout that Jude!! Once the first dance was over, I scooted from there and settled down to rub my ankles as shoebite had set in. All of us... Glenda, Louise, Alison, Jude, Sushil & Mukesh settled down at one table. We spent tthe rest of the evening chatting, laughing, drinking and eating. Mum wasnt well, the constant change in temprature from delhi to mumbai to goa was taking a toll. So I got her on the bus that was going back to Ivan's place in Fort Aguada so that she could rest. We lingered around the place until we were literally the last ones left. It had reached the point when the owner was about to kick us out!!!
Ivan, Jenny and the others with the exception of Prashant and me were making plans to go to Palolem. Thats a good two hour drive from where we were. Prashant and I declined. For one, I was exhausted, secondly, we would have under no circumstances been able to get back by 31st evening and I dint want to leave mum alone for the day. So these guys got into Mukesh's indica and left. The Mercedes that they had hired for the day was due to be sent back. But not without dropping prashant and me back to Fort Aguada. A luxourious and comfy 25 minutes Mercedes ride later we were back home. I changed and went to sleep. I must have dozed off just an hour when Louise called to say that thier trip to Palolem got cancelled and that they were gonna hang around at her place in Mapusa and wanted me to come there. I quickly changed, told Prashant and we sat outside in the garden waiting for them to come and pick us up. After about an hour and a half..or was it more..? anyway, they finally came and we went over to Louise's house. We sat around chatting and having a couple of drinks and we played a couple of rounds of Truth and dare. Now this part of my trip is censored.so you aint getting any details ;) All i'll say , it was a pretty interesting time. Ah well I could prolly tell you about one dare..pretty harmless and rated "U", was that I was dared to get some milk in a cup from the nieghbors house at 7 in the morning. The first house I went to, the lady refused stating she dint have any as she just ran out of it. In the second house, not only did they give me a packet of milk they even invited me in!! WOW..such nice people..and I bet a million bucks, if Id done the same thing here in Delhi , people would have just banged the door in my face!!hehe The same dare was given to Sushil, who had to take two table spoons and get sugar in them..not only did he get sugar wrapped in newspaper, he even got some tea leaves..hehe... Way to go Sushil!!! So now we had all the ingredients to make tea.. but lemme tell you they dint use it even until I left which was on the 2nd... I bet the milk is still lying in louise's fridge..hehe
To be continued...
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