Notes from a Wedding, Or, O Granny, why tap your fingers thus?

(A dedication to the unknown elderly lady who sat facing the musicians rather than the ceremonial stage and followed every note played on her fingers…)

I walk past the now-filling seats

Men and women, young and old

Some joyous, some weary, all relieved

One more event hits the marquee

Two more friends, today, tie the knot

Their lives now set to a marital trot

But, o Granny, why tap your fingers thus?

Why follow the Naadaswaram?

Why not the Paasuram?

Or do you reminisce, of your wedding, thus?

There are flowers, there are fruits

There is food and there’s the juice

Uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews

Another family divides, and grows,

A husband now, now a wife,

Another modulation on the tune of life

So, o Granny, why tap your fingers thus?

Why follow the Tavil?

Why not the conversation civil?

Or do you reminisce, of your wedding, thus?

I wonder how your wedding was, way back then

How grand the ceremony, how many the guests

Did your father lavish his fortune upon you?

Were you a bashful bride, or too young to know?

Did you know your groom earlier?

Or was he only a suitable outlier?

Why, O granny, why tap your fingers thus?

Why follow the Vaadyam?

Why not the Vaadyar?

Oh! Do you reminisce of your wedding thus?

 

Notes on Tamil words:

1. The Naadaswaram (An oboe-like wind instrument) and Tavil (a percussion instrument) are called Mangala Vaadyam (Auspicious Instruments) and no wedding in the South of India is complete without them.  
2. A Paasuram is a hymn in Tamil composed by the 12 Alwaars (or preceptors) of the Iyengar (Vaishnavite) Brahmin tradition of Southern India. Some are sung at weddings along with verses from the (Sanskrit-language) Veda. 
3. The priest officiating the wedding is here referred to as Vaadyar, although the word literally means teacher.