Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Flex Mentallo]

 

I ask thee, to live with me, as thy husband

 

[Flex Mentallo]

 

Till both of us, with age, grow old

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Day three follows soon

[Unca Ben]

This thread, as always, is marvelous.

If I were to leave the forums it is your posts I would miss the most.

[Flex Mentallo]

This thread, as always, is marvelous.

If I were to leave the forums it is your posts I would miss the most.

 

Many thanks. I will complete the story this coming weekend - and as will be seen, it is less an ending, than a new beginning.

[Flex Mentallo]

Phoenix

 

Bou Bhaat, literally 'Bride Feast' is the name given to the second day of the bride in her new home.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

This is marked by an evening reception at which all the relatives from the groom's side are invited and introduced to the bride.

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

There is a grand feast called Preetibhoj. It means literally 'food served with love'. In essence, it is the bride's introduction to her new status in society .

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

A thousand photos of every possible permutation of a family photograph are taken.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Many university friends are there. ('Michael, you please come for my wedding also when I get married.')

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

The two households are now in harmony

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

It is a far more relaxed affair than the previous two days.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Believe it or not, Lucina had announced her wedding plans to me by asking me to set the date, wanting to ensure that I could attend.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

I had refused because intense work commitments made any guarantee impossible.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

A new life beckoned for her at last. And I told myself that it was time for Lucina to move on with her life. That it was time for her to let go of me, and me of her. But of course I came anyway.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

How could I not?

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

When I first met this skinny kid, about 10 years ago, she was in an impossible situation. Her family was destitute. She worked and studied day and night, her college grant had been cut off, she barely slept, dressed in the poorest cotton even in winter, and she recently told me that in those days she subsisted on a single chapatti a day.

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

But please do not interpret this as humble bragging, just because I helped her. Because spiritually, my situation was far worse than hers. And I'm certain she would have found some means to save herself without me. (She was always the strong one.) When we met, I was probably drinking myself to death; and likely, dead is what I would by now be without her. And if I am living, it is largely her doing.

 

“You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world.”

― Oprah Winfrey

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

And because of this, I have another story to tell you next, which as you will see unfolds quite unexpectedly from hers; one equally rich with promise of redemption. For in the heart of darkness, there is light!

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

But for now, let us celebrate Lucina...

 

 

 

 

“Up then, fair phoenix bride, frustrate the sun;

Thyself from thine affection

Takest warmth enough, and from thine eye

All lesser birds will take their jollity.

Up, up, fair bride, and call

Thy stars from out their several boxes, take

Thy rubies, pearls, and diamonds forth, and make

Thyself a constellation of them all...

Be thou a new star, that to us portends

Ends of much wonder; and be thou those ends.”

― John Donne