Sailaja weds Kalyan

The right word may be effective, but no word has ever been as effective as a rightly timed pause. I love this quote of Mark Twain, especially in this context :) I was reading Kane and Abel in the train to Kakinada. Just see for yourself how many books I've finished since then - the last one was Shall we tell the President?

The wedding was on a Sunday night, late night literally. We boarded the Circar Express from Egmore on Saturday evening. The journey to Kakinada town was very long. Infact, the time we spent in travelling to the time we spent in the wedding hall roughtly stands at 32:7. So, if you're looking for inside out information of "how a wedding goes on in Andhra", this is not the right post to read.

Bala, Mohan, Singaram were the others in the We. The journey to Kakinada was more or less smooth till we realized we had not had supper. It was already 10.30 by then. The train stopped somewhere waiting for traffic clearance. We decided to settle for any snack available in that station. I convinced Singaram and we got down to buy some food. I went to a food stall a few coaches away. I looked around for Singaram to help me carry the parcels but he was nowhere to be seen. He had bought two biscuit packets and hurried back to the seat. As seen by Bala and Mohan: Singaram got down along with me. He went to the nearby stall, bought the biscuits and ran back to the compartment. The shopkeeper yelled at him reminding the change. Singaram ran to the shop again, grabbed the change and ran to the compartment again. I learned later that, this was his second or third journey on a train.

The train reached Kakinada town around 9 in the morning. Sailaja's brother Ravi came all the way to the station to receive us. I don't remember, in the distant past, someone receiving me in the railway station. Ravi dropped us at Shanti Nivas lodge. He had booked a room for us. We had lunch at Bhimaas and headed to Yanam as if the sole purpose of coming to Kakinada was to visit Yanam. Yanam is a small town located in the delta of river Godavari. It's a 30-minute journey from Kakinada in bus. Most important of all, Yanam is governed under the Union Territory of Pondicherry. When we were on the bus to Yanam, Ravi called me to tell us that he was about the pick us for lunch. I told him that we were en route to Yanam. "Yanam?!!", he repeated three to four times in disbelief. I had a tough time explaining him. "Sir, we came just for sight seeing. Don't worry, we'll be there in the mandapam at 6pm".

There is a huge Lingam on the river bank in Yanam. We posed for photos infront of the structure and went for a boat ride. You can have the actual front view of the Lingam only from the river and it is marvellous. It would be a sin to return empty handed from Yanam. Bala bought two Imperial Blues for his friends and I bought a Royal Stag for, well, three of my colleagues. I discovered later that I had dropped my wallet in the bus while sneaking the whisky.

We went to Pydah Chalamayya Kalyana Mandapam around 6 in the evening. Relatives were trickling in and we looked like complete strangers. The dinner was sumptuous :) but it was buffet :( We wished the couple and handed over the gifts in good order. Kalyan is this well built, tall and handsome guy. One thing he has to learn is how not to crush others' hands while maintaining a firm handshake.

The muhurtham was at 11.43 pm. They distributed atchathai to everyone. I did not want to throw it on the floor. So I went to the stage and waited for the groom to tie the Mangalyam. It turned out to be a surprise for me. The muhurtham as they call it, is not tying the mangalyam as I've seen in this part of the world. The couple sitting opposite each other, place their right palm on the other's head. The elders take turns to bless the couple with the atchathai. It was one of those most beautiful moments I've ever seen. The other notable thing in the wedding was they don't smoke the couple with Agni.

We returned to the hotel around 1.30. Around 10 in the morning, Singaram and I took a walk on the streets of Kakinada. There are probably more Share Autos than two-wheelers in Kakinada. You take a step and stop for a moment, there will be a share auto waiting for you. The Temple Street has a handful of temples. We chose the Shiva temple.

Kaajaa is a delicious sweet that is hard on the outside but soft and juicy inside. This sweet is a speciality of Kakinada. Kottaiah Sweets is the shop who are experts in making this sweet. There are two variants: One made of Vanaspati and the other made of Ghee. We packed as many sweets as possible so that Srinu would spare some for others.

On the way to the railway station, we had lunch at the Subbaiah Hotel, another famous eatout in Kakinada. You can have original, hot, spicy, oily, native Andhra Meals in this hotel. But you should be early for the lunch hour. When we left the hotel, I felt very heavy that I couldn't carry myself, let alone the baggage.

The journey back to Chennai was even more longer. Thanks to Sailaja for making a short weekend look really short.