My (hypersonic) Trip to Madurai

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Madurai on the occasion of my cousin's wedding. We planned to do a bit of sightseeing, some adventure and a lot of rest and relaxation. Unfortunately, like all good plans, ours too came crashing down to earth, albeit before we even embarked on the journey. My school, being what it is, scheduled a test on the day before and the day after the wedding, pinning me down like a professional wrestler would have done.

What we then did was to take a bus as soon as I returned from school and return in time for my Monday morning test. In a word, it was foolishness itself. At 3PM on Saturday, we started for Madurai, reaching there by 2 in the morning of the wedding day.

What we beheld in the marriage hall was something that I shall remember vividly every time a marriage is talked about. The whole place made me think that the Kosi had overrun its banks right from Bihar down to the town of Madurai. It is too early to decisively state whether the amount of rainwater inside the hall was more than that outside it or if it was other way round. Speaking for myself, I am inclined to say that there was more water in the confines of those four walls that surround the hall than outside them.

Apart from the somewhat small trouble (read fiasco) with the water, it went smoothly. The bride and bridegroom were accounted for, the knot was tied and we sleepless guests were served the finest food I have had the pleasure of consuming in my 14 years of attending marriages, upanayanams, gruhapraveshams and other such whatnots. A special mention must be made for the brilliant sambhar that was served during breakfast. It really took the cake at a time when all looked bleak and somber. As a connoisseur of sambhar myself, I can say it lived up to the high standards I had set for it.

The formalities complete, lunch was a shabby affair indeed. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 1.15PM, typical of the style of planning we followed. Our 5-minute lunch consisted of items I cannot name as I could not track them down my throat without High Speed Cameras.

We left Madurai as we came: in a flash. It was midnight by the time we were at home again and we felt like dead men walking.

Now I ask of you, was this wise? I fell ill around 2 seconds after reaching home and am just recovering. There was a Chelsea v Manchester United game that I missed. Fine, so the sambhar was great. But could it not have waited for my next visit? Was it worth 2 nights of sleep, a weekend of boredom, a week of illness and a Man Utd-Chelsea clash?

I say 'no', confident that you will pat me on the back and stick up for me in this. Surely, watching Chelsea beat their greatest rivals was worth missing a marriage?

Or we could have planned to stay longer, missed the tests and I could have enjoyed the sambhar, caught up with sleep, watched the match and done some sightseeing.

For once, the middle path was not the right one. It was so completely the wrong one that I will one day sit down and have a hearty, mirthless laugh at.

bala