By Khura Seraton
Everything went well. It`™s the wedding season. And Tolen also got married. It was not that Tolen wanted to get married so soon. He was actually thinking of getting married next year. The house renovation would take some time, and it is better not to haste over things. So, the plan was to wait till next March. By that time, the Tiddim Road would be in a superb condition, I thought. After the reclamation works along both sides, Tiddim Road still looks like a war zone with most of the residential structures severed by giant machines. The reclaimed portions of the roads are still lying naked without any cover. With the roads getting expanded, the usual congestion during a marriage procession at the Keishampat Junction would get some relief, I thought.
Tolen`™s marriage procession could go pass the Keishampat area without any hitches, so I too had endorsed his idea of getting married after March. But he somehow got eloped and the elders of both the families agreed to fix the marriage date this month. It seems the Paan-ji had advised that all other months are not suitable for an occasion like wedding. And if at all they want to wait, they have to wait for another year. Thus, Tolen happily got married. He has a small complain. When I met him today, he said could not sleep in his bedroom on the bridal night. What? Tolen could not tolerate the smell of the fresh paint in his room. The smell from the wall, smell from the wooden door and ceiling. Tolen said he was about to pass out that night. Finally he decided to sleep upstairs in a room which was luckily spared by the colourist in the last minute run up to the wedding. I was curious to know where the bride slept. But I presume she must have slept in the same room, which Tolen have abandoned. What else she could do? She had to tolerate like a new daughter in law even if nausea was killing her. She had to endure even if she was scared in the new house `“ new room, with no one except for her and her shadow. Or was she too tired to feel anything after hours of ceremony? Maybe – Maybe not. But this is true. She woke up the next morning at 4:30, to call herself a good bride. Even after two days of wedding, Tolen still has nauseous tendency, having problem to eat anything though medication has been giving him considerable relief. Then Tolen narrated me an incident. A to be bridegroom, excited like all others, was working day and night for a successful wedding. Not out of excitement, rather out of compulsion he has to join the painting works of his house. In fact, he was doing the wall painting much better than the fellow workers. After work, the evening just before the wedding day, the to be bridegroom took a few shots of alcohol. He never woke up then.
Tolen`™s assumption was that the smell of fresh plastic paint and the alcohol must have done something wrong to the man`™s body. I could understand Tolen`™s feeling but failed to reason what could have gone wrong with the man`™s body. I even tried not to imagine the aftermath of his death `¦ of his family and the bride`™s family. We changed the subject. A few days before the marriage, Tolen was worried that things would not go smoothly as there were too many works piled up to be completed. His friends who had dropped in then comfort him. They told him that marriages are not complete without incomplete works. Tolen beamed with smile. How about the traffic, he asked? Well traffic is traffic. Yes, Tolen had good reason to worry about traffic for the wedding day. His house is located inside a colony of concrete houses, a good distance away from the main road. The approach road to his house is big enough to give room to a Maruti van. Tolen said the approach road was not that narrow some years back. He pointed to a house some fifty meters away. He said the fencing wall of the house was five meters away from the telephone post as well as the electric post. This was when Tolen was studying in 12th standard.
Now Tolen is in his early thirties. And now both the telephone and electric post are inside the fencing wall of the same house, three meters from the fence. I thought geography is an important subject in our lives. Just then, a man came out from the house. He was in hurry, about to leave for work. He could see us. He could see Tolen. `How`™s your preparation Tolen`, he asked in a loud voice. `It`™s going on fine, Kaka`, Tolen answered. I think I know the man; he resembles someone familiar, someone who gives lot of public lecture, and someone who is popular.
Perhaps, he resembles someone who talks about maintaining territorial integrity of Manipur. Even if Tolen`™s bride continue to wake up every morning at 4:30, it would be difficult to check the mysterious moving objects of her new leikai. The most difficult question is which of the objects started to move fast. Is it the fence or the posts?