Wedding

Wrote this while sitting in a wedding a few years back:

So many worlds,
so many explosions---
one togetherness beginning,
so many others in the making.

Loud music,
so that the bride and groom
can hardly hear
their own thoughts;
lest they flee the altar!

Tiny steps...
laying the foundation,
for bigger strategies and stories-
"see, I've got a Big bangle, it makes this clink sound"
"see my new dress, mm... ammaaaa, I want new bangles"

Pitter patter, little feet tapping in rhythm to the noise, ahem, music.
One solitary soul sitting in deep contemplation of his surroundings...
next door gossip on one side,
"my great-aunt's daughter's husband got her the gold chain she's wearing"
"so, your daughter has become a big girl now, I remember her in her chaddis"
"by the way, I heard that he is a software engineer. How much does he get?"
one little finger picking a little nose and enjoying the spiritual experience...

Twinkling eyes, glittering sarees, reminiscences, laughter, mouths
involved in frenzied activity - no time like now to talk, no time like
now to eat, no time like now to smile, laugh...golden necks and hands,
an occasional golden nose, pearled hair, be-jewelled bodies.

The eye of the hurricane,
the centre of all the hullaballoo -
their wedding will begin
when the audience is gone,
and the glitter & gold locked away.