WELL DONE! Essays, Memoirs, and True Stories
clothes for home wear. Choosing photographs was difficult, as most of them were available in only one copy. I wanted to take pictures of my extended family too; I finally packed only photo albums from my college and university days and cards and letters specifically addressed to me. I tore up a lot of paper: poems, study notes and photocopies of articles used for my research. My green balcony full of plants, each evoking a special personal memory I couldn't bear to leave behind but I thought taking them with me would not be right. The gifts for the ‘adukala kannal’, the ritual of the bride's family visiting the groom's kitchen soon after the wedding include an electric idli and dosa stone grinder, a gold chain for the groom and a ‘kaccha and mundu', a traditional dress for the groom's mother. The first night of married life is traditionally spent at the bride's house. After the ‘adukala kannal’ and a high tea of varied snack items at the groom's house, the entire entourage is to return to the bride's house for dinner and stay. Invited guests and family wait for the ceremony to begin. A beetle nut in a beetle leaf and the gift of a shawl is given as ‘Guru Dakshina’, first, to a favourite teacher from school who has been invited for the ceremony. My mother’s brothers and then my father’s cousins visiting Pune for the first time, are given ‘Guru Dakshina’
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