So finally I am narrating the 'Biggest day' at the Thebaria Family's Home.It was 24th June 2008.
Mere bade papa mummy ki 50th Marriage Anniversary...but this alone did not make it the 'Biggest Day'.My Papa-Mummy also celebrated their 25th Marriage Anniversary on 25th April 2008.And we decided to celebrate this rarest occasion with the biggest bang.
Manoj bhaiya was the one to propose the concept and we all were 'all ayes' in the very first go.But the actual transformation was not so smooth...the typical twists of a joint family!!!At one time it seemed it won't happen even... badi maa herself was denying the occasion as it demanded heavy expenses and the kind of person she is...thinks 10 times before she does any extravagance (& then decides 'No!'),we knew if she comes to know about our grand gracious plans she would be the first one to object.There were other things too going on simultaneously which were acting against the occassion.Anyway,sparing the details.I convinced badi maa and then Manoj Bhaiya too and we proceeded with the 'The Grand Festival of togetherness'!
Anand Bhaiya,Manoj Bhaiya & Raju Bhaiya set the stage ready for the celebrations to happen.Everyone was being informed...all our relatives and the list of the invitees exceeded 150.It included our close relatives,close friends of papa & papaji(We call bade papa as papaji) and few dignitories of our village,Manoharpur.I was dying to reach home as soon as possible...but could not leave before 19th june as I had my sessionals.I finished up with one and requested my teacher to allow me to appear the sessional or the practical lab exam with the other batch.He was kind enough to allow me that.
Finally I reached home .... and it also involved a lot of trouble because of the Train cancellations and then 'the rail roko aandolan' at the Bamra station on that day.I reached Rourkela and then I had to take a bus to reach Jaraikela which is 12 kms from manoharpur.And then came the rains.All I could ask god was what kind of 'sanjog' was all that.My brother,Vaibhav & Nephew,Harsh came on a bike to pick me up from the Jaraikela railway station.The 12km 'Rainy Ride' soaked us all completely wet.And finally I reached Home.
Guests and relatives had started to arrive.And there were heavy practices going on for the day.We arranged a big meeting to distribute rights and duties for everyone.Bhabhijis were given the charge of Food Department.Vaibhav & Harsh along with other Baccha kacchas were made the head of 'Outside dept' which had to perform every work that involved running the roads.Raju bhaiya was made our 'Arrange Officer' 'coz he has all sorts of contacts in the place and anything possible there can be easily available through him.Manoj bhaiya & me were looking after the 'Programme' that was to happen that day.We decided taking all senior members of our Management team in confidence that the program should mainly focus on the 'Marwari culture' and maximum usage of marwari songs should be made to give the function the 'Pristine Look & Feel'.There was a lot of 'Hulla' over trivial things but this was quite expected as there were almost 50 people in our building breathing together the day before the 'Auspicious Day'.
The stage was set ,big banners were prepared which read touchy quotes for both the couples.We started the day with a 'Bhajan kirtan & Aarti aayojan '.Radhika & I were the anchors of the function.And we were busy writing our scripts and practicing them.Arguments happened on all sorts of things starting from the sequence of the items to the level of Hindi to be used.I was continuously blamed for writing the script in so 'tongue twisting' hindi that the people won't get an air of it.("Aisi hindi bologe to logon ko lagega ki program kisi aur bhasha me ho raha hai!").
So the script we finally agreed upon ,which was incomplete till the end,was a conglomerate of Hindi,English and 'Marwari'(to give it the cultural look,remember!).As the day was proceeding the work at our mansion was picking its velocity.There were all cheers and smiles.At around mid day,we arranged a gift-giving ceremony for the coveted couples.All masa-masi,jijaji-didi,fufaji-bhuaji,bhaiya-bhabhi & baccha kacchas presented them with gifts and touched their feet for their blessings (Obviously if the person was elder to them ,maa-papaji ,mummy-papa touched their feet and seeked their blessings).
All was going on fine...a bit of mismanagement here and there ,but it was all great.Another test for us happened right at 4 o'clock in the evening.Two and a half hour before the mentioned time of the start of the function ,main fuse of our home went off.At first we thought it to be a simple problem but after an hour of failed efforts to restore the electricity ...we understood the problem was big.Anand bhaiya deals with electronic stuffs.In fact he owns an electronic shop and he has been looking after such problems at home for decades.So now it was his turn to become the center of hope for the function to happen.Luckily he found out the fault and guess what it had to do with the earliest wirings in the house.We all were left aghast thinking why this happened today and not on one of the days of many many years we have spent in there.Was god giving some signal or it was just his funny way to make the day more & more memorable.
We all grew tensed when the problem could not be solved even by the time the guests started pouring in.But by that time we had already thought of alternatives and we decided to proceed with them if the problem continued half an hour.The miracle happened and the fault was corrected.It was 7 by then.Guests were all made to sit on the roof where we had arranged the complete show.By 7:15 it was all packed.
We were all running around to make up for the lost time ...to manage the guests and were trying to begin the show as soon as possible.We,the two anchors were supposed to be having two cordless mikes for making the announcements but at that time we had to adjust with one because of some reasons again!!!The show commenced with my part of script and I breathed the relief only after saying my first 'dialogue'.
I said we were trying to make up for the crucial time we lost due to the 'ancient mistake'....it kept showing during the function.I had forgotten to edit few songs on which Sarla didi,Radhika & Pratibha were to dance.Then there was the usual commotion due to 'Arrey main tayyar nahi ho payi hun...kisi aur ka item karwa do na abhi!!!".I felt like banging my head on the side walls whenever anyone used to come up with such lame excuse.But as the suave and dignified(!!!) host that I am,I was to show my calm at such situations too.
Everyone participated.Those who can dance well had nothing to think.Bittu,Kunal,Priya,Megha,Umang have a talent for dance.It was cute to see the youngest kids of our family to dance together on stage.Megha & Priya danced on 'Bum Bum Bole' from a recent film 'Taare Zameen Par' and everyone enjoyed their 'about perfect' steps.All my bhabhijis shook their legs on 'Mayya Yashoda' from the movie 'Hum Sath Sath Hain'.These were the only bollywood songs along with 'Yeh to sach hai ki bhagwan hai' from 'Hum Sath Sath Hain' (on which Manoj bhaiya,Sarla didi,Anand Bhaiya & Raju Bhaiya performed.They are the children of maa-papaji) that were 'sanctioned' by the 'Management' for the function.Nidhi & Vaibhav came up with an innovative idea of doing a questionnaire with the couples and asking eachother questions related to their married life.Papaji was asked that when Maa saw his face for the first time.Any guesses???
The answer was 3 days after the marriage!!!!She was forbidden to see him due to some bad omen prevailing at that time.Imagine if this happens in today's age.
Mummy was asked a very simple question.She was asked the name of papa.So whats the big deal???
Mummy had never taken his name,not even at places where it was necessary for the spouse to take her husband's name.We all knew this and it was publicly announced too.She did what she never did for that day.When she said ,"Ajay Thebaria" with so much hesitations...everyone present there was laughing out loud.
Another attraction was the Manoj bhaiya & Puja Bhabhiji's marwari dance.We also created a new item by the name of 'Live SMS' to make it sound contemporary.The concept is obviously old but the packaging (Which by the way was done by me) is brand new.Anyone who wanted to wish the couples and say a few words regarding them was called on stage and was made to share the thoughts with everyone.There we came to know that papaji's baaraat went on an Elephant instead of a Mare('Ghodi').
I too got inspired by the flawless orators of my family like Rupa Buaji,Jugal Kishore Phuphaji,Sushila Buaji etc.aur mere jazbaat bhi kuch shabdon me aur kuch aansuon me nikle stage par!
The last recognized item of the day was the classic item by maa-papaji themselves.Papaji is not the sort of person who will perform on stage regularly.To be true,I hadn't seen him on stage before then.But a lot of things were happening for the first time that day (and I remember the loadshedding again!).The song on which he performed was the one on which Balraj Sahani performed in the film 'Waqt'.Correct!it was 'Ae meri zohra zabin,tujhe maloom nahi ,tu abhi tak hai hasin aur main jawaan...tujhpe kurbaan meri jaan meri jaan!".Maa was 'shrinking and cuddling' with 'sharm'.
And once the program was announced to be finished...the stage was taken over by the 'frantic' group of MTV viewers.All kinds of bollywood songs were made to play on Public demand and even I went on stage to shake a leg!At one time ,I felt the wooden beds underneath were crying out of pain in Raju Shrivastav,the comedy artist's style due to the weight above them.
After that we all, also, had our dinners and as after all events ,we started to discuss the performances,arrangements etc of the function.It was more than satisfactory.
Today ,as I am writing this post I remember the day as the victory day of our combined efforts.The combined efforts of a joint family which is difficult to find these days.
Goodnight.
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