Iyer Goes To Marriage Hall

And so do we.... the only difference is we come back single! So its official. Good ol' Iyer is married. Now if you are looking out for photos of Mr. & Mrs. Iyer, I'll leave the man himself to release an official snap of the two. However what I plan to go about doing is describe the awesome time we had at the wedding and reception.

The wedding took place at a temple in Matunga (Mumbai). Getting there was an interesting experience where we saw a biker being tossed off his bike, Abhi screeching his car at every turn and a hilarious discussion with a friend over whether an island exists amid the Dharavi slums. However, reaching the temple was a completely different experience. First off, I had no idea such a temple could exist in the heart of Mumabai. Called the Kochu Aiyyvaru (I am sure I got the spelling wrong), my belief that such magnificent architecture exists only down south was shattered.




Some things to know at South Indian weddings:

- You get to eat on banana leaves (well, it also happens at Maharastrian weddings), but the south side is a different experience.
- There are no forks, knives or spoons. Use your hands, which is fine if you have been born and bought up in India.
- Never miss out on the Paayasam. Its the most awesome thing which could happen to mankind. Iyers wedding had two types, what we called the white paayasam and dark paayasam (due to its color - and more so to draw comparison with white rum and dark rum). As a matter of fact we also did 30 ml payasam shots which Abhi found out (after 24 hours) does not get you drunk but disturbs your tummy.
- Never mention any non-vegetarian food. I figured this out the wrong way. As we entered the hall, I asked aloud - "Do they have chicken for lunch?"
- Call people by their first name. Since we always call Iyer as Iyer and not by his first name, entering the hall and shouting "Iyer" resulted in 100 people staring at us. All Iyer's.
- When rice is served, let the person know when to stop. Dont talk to Abhi as rice is served. Else your banana leaf is all covered with rice.
- Also, make a hole in the middle of the mound of rice. Thats where the sambhar (gravy) to have the rice with goes. If you dont do that, the gravy flows all over your banana leaf.
- Once the gravy and rice is mixed, you make rice balls out of small portions and toss 'em in your mouth. This requires a high level of practice and as I found out, you usually miss your mouth and hit every other part of your face.
- Its difficult getting to the bride and bridegroom. They are swamped by relatives 24X7, however we did manage to get to Iyer and made him click a snap in his famous Sanjeev Kumar pose.


I came upon these musicians playing a few instruments. The lead apparently got pissed off at me pointing the camera at him and stopped playing.



However, my friend was more than happy to exhibit his dance moves.



Iyer, wishing the two of you an awesome married life, lotsa love and loads of paayasam!