Wedding Bells!

With only a few days away from Suzie’s wedding in Cornwall, England, I could hardly hold my excitement of what it is going to be like, when she is all dressed up and ready to make her commitment to Mark. Would it be a Church Wedding or would the Priest come over to a beach party to pronounce them man and wife? Would she wear a wedding gown or would the Sporty couple wear their swimsuits and surf the sea as their unique wedding Do? Would they seal their “I do” with a kiss or just fall into a hug? Or would they fall with a big splash into the sea and kiss underwater?

Questions! Questions! Questions! I thought it best to quell the query with a visit to a shop in Delhi that caters to western wedding needs which is what Christians in India wear at weddings.

I was in for a big shock!

No, Christians in India wear saris at their weddings and the much adorable gown was worn at Parties and sometimes at weddings. This explains why, in Delhi, where you have a sizable population of people from the northeast, who are mainly Christians, not to speak of converts from the hills and the surroundings of Delhi, whose great grand fathers took to Christianity, a century or two ago, while the British were here, there were no Christian Wedding Shops in Delhi except one or two.

This took me on a trail finding one, through Google search.

Tucked away behind the Afghani Market, also known as Kabul India Restaurant Market at Lajpat Nagar II, near Dr Lal Path Lab, you will find a little door on the right side of the road, if you are coming in from where they make those lovely yummy Afghani naan (bread).

Don’t judge the inside by the door outside! The little basement design-cum-tailoring Shop is a veritable joy to enter. It was like entering a fairy tale shop and getting lost in what they had to offer there. I was enthralled and just could not stop clicking pictures for memory.

Glady Vaiphei Hunjan, who owns the shop, came to Delhi from Manipur, which is in northeast India, to study and stayed on. She says,

“Yes, the gown is coming back after a spell of about ten years when it wasn’t seen much at weddings. It is now being worn for parties and people prefer the less cumbersome and by now, a multi-purpose gown at the wedding than a sari.”

It takes almost a month to tailor a wedding gown, she told me.

“There are many levels of work to be done to make a wedding gown, starting with the choice of the fabric, the design, the embroidery and the lace etc. It takes time…”

And how much does a wedding gown cost? Naturally, it all depends on the design!

I went back to think of Suzie. Will she buy her gown ready-made or will she have it tailored, will it be white or will it be any other colour?

Times were changing and what I saw Cindrella wear, in the book, was not the only colour gowns are worn today. Indeed, fancy wearing a yellow gown for your wedding day!

If it could be tailored at Glady Vaiphei Hunjan’s ‘Sincerely Bridal’ I am sure there were people who would like to wear other coloured gowns.

I, for one would love to wear a rainbow gown!

Here take a look inside Sincerely Bridal

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/118112130944380341626/albums/6039968525704457905

The English Papers II

Suzie with Elise

Suzie is a store house of energy, just like her mother, my friend Jill, about whom you have read in The English Letter I. Suzie is sprightly, tall, very slim and trim and almost a replica of Princess Diana,

She has been totally adventurous and has lived and run businesses in England, Spain and perhaps many other countries.

When the dating agency came across her and her now, going to be her legally wedded husband, Mark, they immediately put the two together, because, they thought Suzie and Mark made such a good pair. Both have been married before and both have children from previous marriages. The delightful, teenagers, are bonded in a family they share with both their parents.

But, Suzie and Mark have Elise, who is now preparing to be married, on the same day as her parents. And I have seen Elise, take to the toilet paper spine and deck it up with a long veil, made of toilet paper. Such an amusing dear!

Of course Mark and Suzie argue about everything, from UKIP, to French Front National and if you enter their home, you will see the symbols one on top of the other, to show, who is in power at home. Let me explain this frequently changes as the argument reaches a hilt and little Elise must come in between and order – “Stop Arguing!”

Mark, who has lived and worked in Australia, once again running a surfing school, is very sporty and he along with Suzie will be bringing in children from Spain, to learn surfing in the sea. Wow!

Mark’s parents are the dear couple who live at Hereford, on your way to The Lakes, on the A30.I loved them both, Mike whom I call an MCP and Ann Eley, are unforgettable to me. Ann is quiet and meditative and very tender and sweet, while Mike never spares a moment to poke a joke like an MCP (Male Chauvinistic Pig, pardon the use of terrible language!) I don't think he means it at all, but it was wonderful to re-visit my youthful days and place my hands on my waist and reprimand - Now, Now Mark, watch your step! But, I can tell you he was a fine gentleman himself and very chivalrous. Like a good old gentleman from the old days, he chaperoned the two lost ladies, which is me and Jill and drove almost 45 minutes to get us to the The Malvern Flower Show! Now that counts, big time!

At The Lakes, squeezed inside the car, my not so slim bottoms, edged to the door, at the back. I said, quite enthusiastically to Suzie, “I think Mark is a lovely man! I wish you both a very happy wedded life.”

Gracious as she is, she said thank you and then whispered, “Mum doesn't like him as much as I do!”

“Oh bugger! She is only jealous!” I laughed. The first of her three children, Suzie means a lot to Jill.

We laughed and she added, “But they get along well together, if I am not there!”

There! I said to myself. Mothers are always fond of their son-in-laws, behind the daughter’s back!

That is cheating, isn't it?

But Mark is a darling and both he and Suzie are very busy people. I can say that for sure, the British are very hard working people and their day may start at 7 am and end not before 10 pm. That is a lot! 

After the little gossip, she turned to me and said, “So how are you and Kanchi?”

It was a defining moment in my life and I knew that Suzie would always have a special place in my heart, just because, she touched a very intimate part of my life – my life with my partner, whom she called by her pet name. 

I am absolutely in awe with Suzie's courage and conviction in herself, the man she loved devotedly and the way they have both made space for all their children, his and hers, to bond and stay together.

It really is an amazing quality, I most admire.

A very international family, Suzie with kids:

And here is the very adventurous couple, Mark and Suzie

The English Papers I

In the right spirit

The English Papers I

On 28^th April, an address I had been writing to in England came alive. It was an address, way out in Cornwall, at the Southern tip of England, where a lady I met in 1989 at the Osho Commune, Pune, lived. She and I had become friends instantly, while she was visiting India, both of us having common friends through whom we met. It is hard to bring back all the little things – and the big things we did for each other, during her stay in India. It is also impossible to describe the bonding we have between the two of us.

“I was probably the Maharaja of Kanker, married to an outrageous English lady, from the far west…” I had said once, ‘although you look much better in your own country than you look in mine!’

She had fallen into deep depression, there upon. India is so dear to her!

Jill Cadman and I are family. Over the seas and the air, the lands that part us, essentially we are deeply tied together as if we are sisters. The years between us, have never allowed the spirit that binds us, to come in between.

A little anxiety prone these days, she had waited long at the Heathrow Airport to pick me up, but was thrown in a fuzzy state of mind when she did not see me emerge even after half an hour had passed. I had walk out of the green channel, having nothing to declare, but got lost among the conveyer belts causing a delay in walking out of the airport. By the time we met, our nerves were a wreck but the sight of each other threw us both into each other’s arms and there we were off on the Underground, chatting away, as if there had not been a full ten years between us, when we had not met at all. We changed over to a bus, at some point and then, once again, we chatted and laughed so much, we missed our stop and had to walk back quite a distance, to arrive at Fiona’s where we were to spend two nights before we left for Cornwall. I had touched London in its raw at around 10 pm, that night of April, 25, 2014.

Jill’s life in Cornwall, is a busy one. Between her home, her children and her grandchildren, not to forget her friends, she has a hectic day, running around everywhere in her two-seater SMART Mercedes Benz. And in between she spends huge amount of time in what she calls her lifeline, her beautiful garden. 

Every one living in the countryside has a garden and this surely is the beauty of living where she does. As you enter, the garden smiles at you and the occasional guard at the garden, the lovely orange cat may throw herself over at your feet for a little scratch on the tummy.  

Our day ran like this: I woke at 5 am, did my meditation and had my coffee. Then I stared at nothing out of her window for long hours, till she woke, had a shower and a cuppa. By then, it was time for her daughter Suzie to call. A long conversation ensued, ending in a laugh and then a glutten free breakfast was on its way. I lay the table, while she prepared the protein rich breakfast, after which we set off sight seeing and meeting friends on the way. Sometimes we shopped at Tescos.

And on Wednesdays, we did something very special – we baby sat Elise, her youngest grand child.

I am so grateful for this time with Elise, who cried a little bit on her father’s shoulders, when she first met me, but soon overcame her shyness sharing with me games and stories we read together. Just four, delicate and pretty, she is now preparing to join in at the wedding of her parents, this September! 

“She too is getting married!” Suzie quipped, while I swallowed a laugh, well nigh a burst.

Indeed, three generations of women, one I had already met in India and followed to her country, the other two, the delightful little Elise, and her mother. I am so happy I went, because if I had not, I would not have met Suzie, about whom you will read in the soon to be published, The English Papers II.  

Some pictures from Windermere, Lake District

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/+JuliaDutta/albums/6014055339534497329

Some pictures from Jill’s garden

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?pid=6009295846412850434&oid=118112130944380341626