South Indian Brahmin wedding

Gold jewellery, Kancheepuram silk sarees, jasmine flowers, loud naadaswaram, smoke, laughing mamas and mamis, cute little girls in paavadais, shy teenage girls daring to be different in salwar kameez, trying their best to be non-south Indian, heavily made up huge maamis, trying to defy their age and size in dazzling silk sarees, the almost invisible eligible bachelors or young men who are glued to their phones, people waiting for the grand lunch, familiar faces, are they your acquaitances, your cousins, people you haven't seen in decades, making you feel older? The yela pottu saapadu cum muhurtham rush, people trickling in just in time to see the thaali kattal, relatives jostling with each other to congratulate the bride and the groom, the father and mother of the bride and the groom, the blessings given, smiles all around. It seems like you're watching a silent movie of a wedding with just the nadaswaram in the background. And then the lunch is served, the aroma of sambhar and rasam greets you as you move towards the lunch hall. Discussions about who the caterer is, which caterer is better, the curiousity about the tamboolam or the return gift, who has put on weight, who has not and the endless search for a suitable boy or a suitable girl for the next wedding in the family.