Dabeli ki shaadi ****

Some folks experience sudden inertia when passing stuff like this on the roadside in Mumbai. Made in front of you, the flavors tickling the nostrils, as the butter cracks up in delight on the old large gridlle, the big question is whether to eat first or photograph first.

When was the last time you felt like that about McD ?

(photo by Kavi Arasu)

Its getting
hot
and the
old
dark wedding hall
is patched up
with some
silver
to please
those who will arrive.



The place now sizzles
with
fat butter kids
sliding in fun,
the Pao Groom,
freshly brushed,
opens up
and relaxes
warmed by the
butter and silver...

And she arrives,
a potato paithanee,
studded
with
peanut prints,
pomegranate colors,
woven with
masalas,
and lashed
with tamarind streaks,
spicing up her life.

She looks back
at her parent
eyes full and flowing
as she
is sprinkled with onions
holding on to
the coriander.

Then it's on
to another life
as
a Dabeli wife
protected
by a a Pao....

A short,
exciting life,
as the fellow
singes the Pao edges,
sprinkles the
weeping chutneys,
and hands the two
over
to some
thoughtless
greedy humans,
saying,
"Behenji, Dus Rpuya !"

*** Hindi for "dabeli's marriage"
.
.