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Les Noces

Les Noces is a French word for wedding. Yesterday 12th of July my college-mate Hasna got married.  It is not for the first time I’m attending a marriage function. And Hasna wasn't the first one from my class in college to get married. Two others got married before her but I couldn't attend both. So it was for the first time I was attending a function like this of any of my classmates. Countless others right from my school days might have got married which I’m totally unaware of, so I need not go into that.

The marriage was held at Municipal Town hall in Manjeri. Most of my classmates were expected to be there. Junu Hash and Narayan were busy with their own issues, so they were not attending. I was in two minds about going. Me Ojas and Abdulla were exchanging calls but none of us could convince each other to go. It was a chance to meet old friends. The call for rendezvous was strong but my laziness got better of it in the end. I decided not to go until I received a call from Abdu early in the morning.

The moment I set forth I knew I wouldn’t make it to the function on time, but still decided to go on with it. I went to the railway station to see if I could find any train that would take me to the nearest possible station. But it was long gone by then and there were no further trains available in that direction for an hour or so. Only option left for me was to travel by bus. From what I hear from my Manjeri friends direct buses to Manjeri are a rarity. I learned it the hard way.
 When I reached the KSRTC bus terminal there were none and there were none for no time soon. The person sitting in the enquiry gave me a strange look when I asked him about the direct bus. I had to take a bus from Ernakulam to Trissur then to Perinthalmanna and finally to Manjeri.

I don’t really like to have longer journeys in a bus. It usually takes the hell out of me, that bus journey made my conviction even stronger. As it was raining, the bus was moving in a slow pace. When I reached Manjeri it was almost three. I took an auto and went to the auditorium. Oja and Abdu were bit earlier than me and they could meet many of our classmates. They were waiting for me to meet the bride and her groom. Without wasting any time we met Hasna conveyed our regards and wished her for a prosperous married life. We had a photo session in case someone asks for the proof that we were there (orkut album suggests that there are some snaps of Oja and Abdu taken on the occasion, so in that case it is just for me). We told her that we had to be leaving as it will be late for us to reach our respective locations(as if we were spending the whole day there). So it was over in about half an hour (20 minutes was spent on eating Biriyani). We met many of our classmates on the way and got a glimpse of some from a distance.

After the function we went to Jithin’s house. After spending some time with his parents we went to Calicut. Met Nikhil in calicut (he reached there after attending another marriage function), had a little chat over a cup of tea. He displayed his new Canon and soon Abdu was found trying his skills with that (luckily Nikhil got his canon back without any damage). And finally it was time to return back to Ernakulam. I reached here around 2am.

Everyone was asking me why I didn’t attend Hasna’s Marriage. I can’t blame them. It was strange when I looked back. The reckless twelve hour journey I had made to spend less than a couple of hours with friends. But I don’t think I repent over that decision. Only remorse is that I should have made the decision bit earlier.

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നിശബ്ദത

                        മുത്തശ്ശൻ ക്ലോക്കിൽ മണി പന്ത്രണ്ട് അടിച്ചു. മഴ പെയ്തു ഒഴിഞ്ഞിട്ടുണ്ട്. ഇറ്റു വീഴുന്ന വെള്ളതുള്ളികളും ഇടയ്ക്കുള്ള ചീവീടിന്റെ ശബ്ദവും ഒഴിച്ചാൽ ചുറ്റിലും എങ്ങും നിശബ്ദത. എല്ലാവരും ഉറങ്ങി തുടങ്ങി.   ഒരാൾ മാത്രം ഉറക്കമൊഴിച്ച് കാത്തിരിപ്പുണ്ട്. പൂർണ്ണമായ നിശബ്ദതക്കു വേണ്ടി. ഇന്നത്തെ ജോലി അതീവ ശ്രദ്ധയോടെ ചെയ്യേണ്ടത് ആണ്, അതിനു പരിപൂർണ്ണ നിശബ്ദത അയാള്ക്കു ആവശ്യമുണ്ടു. ശബ്ദം ഉണ്ടാക്കാതെ അയാൾ കുറച്ചു കൂടെ കാത്തിരുന്നു. പതിയെ ചീവിടുകളും ഉറക്കത്തിലായെന്നു തോന്നുന്നു.  ഒരു ശബ്ദവും കേൾക്കാനില്ല. സന്തോഷത്തോടെ അയാൾ എഴുന്നേറ്റു. തന്റെ പക്കലുള്ള ചെറിയ വെട്ടം അയാൾ തെളിയിച്ചു, ചുറ്റിലും നോക്കി. ഇല്ല അപകടം ഒന്നും ഇല്ല. കാലത്തു നോക്കി വച്ചിരുന്ന വീടിനടുത്തേക്ക് അയാൾ പതിയെ ചെന്നു. പതുങ്ങി ഇരുന്നു കുറച്ചു നേരം അയാൾ  കാതോർത്തു. ശബ്ദമൊന്നും കേൾക്കുന്നില്ല. എല്ലാവരും നല്ല ഉറക്കത്തിലാണ്. ജനവാതിൽ തുറന്നു നേരത്തെ ഇളക്കി മാറ്റിയിരുന്ന ജനൽ കമ്പികളുടെ വിടവിലൂടെ ശ്രദ്ധയോടെ അയാൾ അകത്തു കടന്നു. ഇരുണ്ട വെട്ടത്തിൽ അലമാര ഇരിക്കുന്ന സ്ഥലം ലക്ഷ്യമാക്കി പമ്മി പമ്മി അയാൾ നടന്നു. ഇനിയാണ് ശ്രദ്ധ വേണ്ടത്.