Part 6: The curious case of the Dhoti.
"Maan...Maan..." Daadima patted his shoulder while he slept like a baby.
"Geet is here" she said once again, that jerked him in his sleep as he slowly opened his eyes. While still in his stupor, he could hear Daadima chuckle and comment at how he had changed in a matter of 2 days. Giggle on, he had said and woke up to check the time. It was only 4.30 and he knew the marriage was not until 7.30 AM. Seriously? He cussed as he got out of bed. Strange it was for a 3 hr sleep, he still felt well rested. Perhaps it was the vigor that he was marrying the same women he had just dream of. He brushed and showered in another 30 mts and came out of the bathroom to find Vasu sir and Adhi waiting in their room.
They were all to go to the marriage hall the bride's family had acquired on short notice. It was a tiny place in the interiors of Besant nagar (hardly 5 mts from Adyar, the place they were staying). Literally it was the tiniest place he had seen to host a marriage. It started and ended withing a few yards. A small stage was on the other side of the entrance, where a band was playing instrumentals already. Geez, it was not even 6.00 and they could wake up the whole city he thought.
Vasu sir...or may be its Vasu uncle...or perhaps he could call him Appa now. So Appa being the meticulous man he was, had asked him to assemble at the stage by 6.20 and had left. Adhi remained with him in the room to keep him company. As more time passed, his friends had started showing up, whom Adhi had managed to send invites to all the localites in the short period of one week. Few had received Adhi's facebook updates and had arrived. Now that the small room held 3 MITs(including Maan), 2 IITs(including Adhi) and 3 IIMs, the difficult case of the dhoti had to be resolved quickly before the deadline.
"Forget it...I'm not parading myself like that...its like enacting the emperor's new clothes" he said as he lifted the cotton dhoti with a thin red border into his line of sight. He was able to spot the crack by the side of Adhi's glasses even as he stood on the other side of the dhoti.
"Machax" Adhi said, immediately gathering the grow-up-Adhi look from the others in the room.
" Ok..Ok...Maan this is what I would have to wear too...so you are not alone, trust me" he said as he placed a hand on his shoulder.
He rolled his eyes and took off his jean as he attempted to tie it himself. When he failed Adhi tried and then the others joined as well as they strived to achieve a snug fit.
"May be I should just wear my jean underneath and then tie this with a belt" Maan suggested as he looked around his waist and saw the dhoti continue to slip.
"I'm sure we are missing something...Geez, this is tougher than selling curd rice to a northie" one of his friends claimed.
Having given up after a good 25 mts, Adhi peeked out the room to see if he could get some help.
"Mama sathe varela? (Uncle can you come?)" He called out to a silver haired man sitting in the front seat. He laughed at the sight of Maan with the white piece of cloth loosely hanging by his waist. Marching in triumphantly, like it was his left hand play he took the dhoti's two ends around him and started with a knot.
"Oh" the other occupants of the room sang in unison, as they had just figured out the secret to solve the mysterious case of the loose dhoti.
As uncle left, they all grinned and thanked him. "Oh!...shirt ellam poda kudathu (Oh! No wearing shirt)" he said as another wave of shock hit Maan. He better secure this dhoti with a belt, he thought.
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