an observation

a wedding has begun..

not in an oh-no-not-another-one! state of mind..
[though our cup HATH runneth over this year with a triple whammy of weddings thus far, and a redo of nuptials for me this december..].

the nousheen, being a first cousin, is being sent aways to her new homes.. to a boy from srinagar.. to a boy she is smitten with, and who smitts her back in return.. a sweet li'l innocent louwe story that dates back,oh... 6 years now!
he being a distant relative on her paternal side.. they must have grown up together with all cousins and at the regular home-stead..

we kashmiris have a strange way with family.. in that we're always stuck together.. adhesive as hell. the whole jing-bang and accessories.. that means at least 4 khaalas [maasis], 2 maamus, 3 chachas, an assortment of puphis and various other glitterati.. along with their kids. its funs like no other. chuddybuddies fromm childhood up.. also, it turns out that we're all very family-centric at the end of the day.. i mean, when u have the populace of a small township as kith and kin, you dont really need to socialise with outsiders that much. so the kids are left alone to grow up wild and tough in each others company.. the elder cousins look after the little ones..
and.. heres where things get interesting...

older cousins, teens and grown-ups, with no other social outlet become darn chummy with each other, see? what good friends we be, how-well-we-understand-each-other, corny jokes and card games... from there on it sometimes moves on to furtive glances, private grins, corner of the eye observations.. and the clincher!!! MOOD SWINGS!! unexplained at that. in a word,very very oft, we have sweet little romances blossoming on various distant branches of the same family tree!! wah, what a metaphor.

not to say that this is what always happens, but its pretty special. extremely cute. if i were an athropologist, methinks id be straining at my leash trying to get right into the heart of a kashmiri clandom.
what knowledge, what gems, what pearls of wisdom...!!

aw shaddup already, saba.
im taking a bow
godspeed....

ps:[when i didnt know any better a few many years ago, i used to think Godspeed was a super special turbo mode for car racing.. sigh. one better than SuperScorcher-speed even!]

oh well.