Mumbai Trip To Attend Wilson's Wedding

It was the 1st of February. Dawson and I reached kalasipalya at about6.45 pm and we boarded the bus. Finally the bus left at 7.30.. And soonthe first trouble started.. A drunk passenger, who was in his mid 20s Iguess, would ask for stops every now and then for vomitting. Finally,after other passengers persisted, this fellow was asked to go by thenext bus. Once he was out of the bus, the journey was smooth.Then the bus crew played the movie BABUL (starring Big B, Hema, Salman,Rani, John and others). Stopped somewhere outside tumkur for dinner, themovie was not yet over then. There we bought a few lays chips. That"bugger" charged us 3 rs extra, saying that it is their charge over MRP.Such illegal things happen, and we can't even protest.Then the movie continued. I learnt that the moral of the movie is 'donot use your mobile phone while crossing the road' and 'do not cross theroad without looking on both sides and making sure that the road isempty'. Perhaps, if you follow such a rule, you will never be able tocross a road, in Bangalore at least!!!Soon after the movie was over, Dawson and I had slipped into deep sleep.I woke up next only in the morning when the driver stopped forbreakfast. After stepping onto Maharashtra soil for the soil for thefirst time, I had a breakfast of idli-vada with tea.Then the journey continued, with GURU being played... Much more pleasantit was, compared to the movie we were forced to watch the previousnight. The sad thing is, I couldn't enjoy the scenic beauty of thenature (on the Mumbai-Pune expressway) because I couldn't stop myselffrom watching GURU.Finally we entered Mumbai. We alighted at Sion and hired a taxi to DadarEast Train Station. Amogh Gokhale told us that he'd be there in half anhour. True to his time, he came exactly 55 minutes late, and soon wewere on a train to Thane. From Thane station, we hired an autorickshawto Amogh's house. And once we reached his house, we were welcomed by twosleeping beauties: Amar and Kishore.We had a typical Marathi lunch at Amogh's house, cooked probably byAmogh's grandma (and servant Lata, of course!!). We were quite attractedtowards Amogh's niece Anushka (who has just started walking on twolegs). The cute little doll seemed afraid of me initially (so sad, boohoo).Soon (not really!!!) we were ready to go to attend Willy's ROCE. Somehowwe woke up the sleeping beauties and forced them to get ready. We leftat around 7.30 PM for the taxi stand. Amogh and Kishore went together onone auto, while Dawson, Amar and I hired another. Somehow we 3 lost theother 2, and when we reached the taxi stand, those guys were already ontheir way to Jogeshwari (where Wilson's house is). And our taxiwalarefused to take us through the city, citing that he gets pain all overhis body by pressing clutch and changing gears way too often. He offeredus to take from some highway outside the city. Like idiots we agreed.Finally we reached at 10 PM to Willy's place. After getting the firstCHOONA (510 Rs fare for the taxi), we entered Willy's house. The rocewas on the terrace of the apartment complex, so Willy was there. We wereoffered Vat 69 by Willy's brother-in-law (Willy's sister Wilma'shusband). Couldn't resist it. After having two rounds, we went and metWilly and rest of the guys who were at the terrace.As midnight arrived, it was a sweet surprise for Sanveer. His birthdaybeing on 3rd Feb, Willy had arranged a cake for him to cut. The momentSannu saw the cake, a pleasant smile appeared on his face. It lastedonly for a few moments. Once he realised how his next half an hour wouldbe, that smile disappeared and his face turned into a painful one. Andwe sang as he cut the cake. Once the cake was cut, we grabbed him, askedhim to take off his kurta, and celebrated his birthday in true MITstyle, much to the astonishment of the elderly guests..And then we 5 guys hired two autorickshaws back to Thane, to Amogh'splace. After travelling more than an hour on the traffic-less (read andunderstand in the Mumbai context), we reached Amogh's house at around 2AM. Soon we had slipped into sleep, after much argument about who willsleep on the 2 beds, and who will sleep on the floor. Poor Amarrequested us, "please consider me to sleep on the bed man.. US returnedman..".. So he slept right below the A/C. the fan also was turned on tothe maximum.In the morning, when I woke up at 6.30, my nose was blocked. Luckily thefan and A/C both were off by this time. I slept again, to wake up at 10.soon (again, not really!!!) we were ready to go out. It was the time forlunch. We left at 12.15 from the house. We requested Amogh to take us toa place that is neither cheap, nor very costly. Well, I guess we shouldhave mentioned the phrase "for our standards". We didn't. so we landedup at Moni's. For Amogh, it was cheap, but for us,,,,,, not really!!!After having a nice meal, we went for a round into the city, and also toa small round in Sanjay Gandhi National Park. After a susu at suicidepoint, we went back to the house. Dawson and I went to make a fewtelephone calls (to friends and relatives in mumbai). When we returnedabout 45 minutes later, we found the sleeping beauties. Somehow we wokethem up and got them ready for marriage. Dawson and I got ourselves intofullfledged suites, while Amogh wore a blazer. Kishore and Amar wokeformal clothes, and we left from the house at 5. The nuptials weresupposed to be at 5.30 at Vidyavihar. We managed to reach there 10minutes later, to find that the mass hadn't started yet. Soon the massstarted, and Dawson and I were into praying mood. And mass went on.. Itwas kind of boring for other guys until a lady (bride's 2nd cousin, wegot to know later) wearing a backless gown and an artificial tattoo onher right shoulder, came and sat 2 rows in front of us..From then onwards, we had one heck of a time. Amar, who was carrying asony cybershot professional camera, zoomed to the extent possible,taking the photographs of her uncovered back and her tattoo..After the mass, we had to wait for an hour for the party to begin, asthe next mass (the regular Sunday mass) had started in the church. Andwhen the party began, again it was boring time. It was time for thebridal march and the bridal dance.. And none of us 15 odd guys had anyfemale partners.And none of us morons were even bothered to ask the ladies around.Probably because we were already discouraged by the fact that the mostbeautiful lady in the party hall (another lady with spaghetti straps)was already married.. Of course, she wasn't with her husband, but shewas with her in-laws.. So discouraging!!!And there were other ladies too, and even the MC was asking us to goahead and ask for females... We didn't bother.. We ignored the MCbecause that @@$%#$@# had called us "lonely single boys" earlier.. Allof us were planning to whack the MC..After the bridal dance, it was the time for the bride to change fromwhite to red, and it was the time of us to get some tonic.So we went to the bar near to the church.Unfortunately, no place in the bar.Fortunately, the bar belonged to mangaloreans.. Tulu speaking..Still more fortunately, there was space in their attic.Unfortunately, the attic was their storage area..Fortunately, there was a table and a few stools and a table fan.Unfortunately, the fan didn't have grills.Fortunately, none of us were interested in the fan.So whiskey and beer flowed... In fifteen minutes, we were back to theparty hall..Just as we reached, the 'baila' began with the song 'maria pitaashe' ofremo being played first..Then we started off suddenly, and went on and on and on.....And then when the bride returned in red, again another small dance, andthis time that 'bouquet throwing' happened..It is the usual trend during weddings that groom and bride are encircledby ladies moving to the left and gents moving to the right in 2different circles (get the picture?).. Then the lady throws her bouquetand whichever lady catches it is considered as the next bride.. Samething is done with guys when groom throws the bouquet.. Not bouquetreally, but a small piece of flower that the groom wears on the leftcollar of his suit (guys don't carry bouquets during weddings!!!)..So this lady, pamela joseph, caught the bride's bouquet and me, rohanjohn fernandes, caught the guy's flower..So the MC anounced that we are the next couple.. And asked me to kissher..I did!! (on her cheeks though ;-) )..Then there was one birthday boy among us.. So we made him cut the cakeright in front of the whole crowd. And then gave him bumps..Our cameraman (the guy with professional camera) also kicked.This actually irked one of the ladies (the mother of another guy amongus) there who couldn't understand why a meagre cameraman was kicking..The kicking part should be done only by the friends.. Apparently, sheeven wanted to go and shout at him!!!(she told all this to her son the next day and he told us this)..The problem was, the camera guy being a hindu, wasn't wearing a suit,while all of us were wearing.. And his professional camera added fuel toher ire!!!After the party, we went back and slept off..Sunday morning I got up early and with another guy, went to borivli..From there, the other guy went his way, and I went mine..We 5 guys actually left from home together.. Went to some kunjvihar inthane and had misal paav... It was so spicy that its after effects arestill there in me!!!Dawson had already left for his aunt's house in dombivli.And I went to my aunt's house and she served me with rice, fish curry,fish fry, veg cutlets, and soup..Then she took me out to a shopping mall, and bought me a pepe t shirt, apepe jeans and a t shirt for my bro.. And also she bought short pantsand sweets for me.. (she is my dad's elder sister, and has no kids.. Sowe are her kids ;-) )..Bindaas ;-)Meanwhile, dawson and another guy kept on informing me about the delaysof our flight (which ultimately departed two hours and a quarter laterthan scheduled).At 9, I left borivli for airport with another friend who stayed inborivli itself..Reached the airport, and met another 2 guys also.. Including dawson, whonever went to dombivli even after his uncle went to dombivli trainstation to pick him up!!! Apparently there were no fast local trains, soslow local trains were overcrowded and delayed too.. Got out of the airport at 2, after our luggage took over 20 minutes to reach us..

Walked into the restaurant inside the airport. I had mixed fried rice, and the rest had chicken biryani. After sharing and rekindling MIT memories, we hired a prepaid taxi and went to our respective houses.

THE END........