Making new bonds, forgetting et al

I am not for lavish weddings, I cant stand the flamboyance there. I still stick to it. I could argue, scream and fight about the money spent at it. I could stand upside down and protest against the wastage that happens. Plastic, clothes, food, water, power , MONEY! I can go on. The reason i cant get out of this topic is that its happening all around me and am not able to escape all the thoughts it kindles. Especially after having witnessed one so closely. I thought weddings are just plain waste of a lot of things and nothing more. I would change a little at that now.

The occasion sure causes a lot of unnecessary expenditure and uninhibited wastage of things for which you would have no control(when i say this i stick to a typical, traditional, family & friends type wedding) , but there really couldn't be a better occasion to meet new people and connect with the old ones.
Meeting long and literally lost relatives. School friends whom you see unbelievably changed. A congregation where you are immersed in a sea of known unknown people, when you just don't go into reality of the relationship and nod and smile to every human around. A lot of whom you sure wouldn't meet for a good ten years to come and the instant thing to reconnect would be "Aah! i met you at her wedding." Its an event that etches different memories for each one of them there and it sure is a family affair!

Now what do i say is the best part of it?

The beautiful 'Uunjal' songs that we get to hear mostly only then? The fact that you experience meanings to words that you just heard and read till now? The one time that you get to look beautiful whatsoever? That everything on that day boils down to the one moment you wait for, no matter how much you knew its coming and however long the boy and girl knew each other? Or the reality that however planned you are or you decide to be, you are sure to mess up things on that day and it doesn't even dawn on you at the moment!A moment long after the when you hit yourselves saying you are relatives now?

Or just that one emotion that brings in both laughter and tears, when things just stall and resume, when you are uncontrollably happy and giggling while the nadaswaram takes over with that mellifluous tune i love!

The Pros definitely did take over the Cons. Or may be there is a way to work around both. To keep all the good things there and still make a wedding that is so worth it, where people care about what they are doing, where they are spending and say a big NO to wastage of any sort.
There sure is a scope for something like that. When we find a balance where we dont contribute to flamboyance and still live the tradition that is beautiful and is so worth preserving!

All that I wanted!

Three hugs and kisses to follow. Three people and a wonderful morning. A beautiful big cake from two idiots, far apart now. Lots of love and nothing more than that can make a birthday amazingly beautiful.