The history of 'bride seeing' ceremony!

Originally Posted by Chitvish

Ugh, AC - Happy??
Today is thursday - Mrs Sri was telling me that Sri had gone to see Sivan, sorry Dakshinamurthy & that he was carrying a mini vilvam tree as his offering !!
So, Sri is in Dakshinamurthy mood - both in Gita thread & here.
Oily bajji from me? - my dear poor girl, my bajji recipe is fool-proof. With your time eternally spent on dieting and the remaining time between dieting sprees in cakes & chips, where would you have tried delicacies like bajji, that I have given in great detail!
V's comments about food are interesting - he will, one day, suddenly comment, "inime nee enna panNare, adutha masathilendu, masandira samaanle uppu aLavai padiyai kuRaikkiRe" - that day there might have been (only) a dash of salt extra in just one item !
Sri, so, your fan says, you are great only by association, by default etc... Ithu ungaLukku thevaiyaa?
AC, the same theory does not apply to me - I am not great by association or by being married to a "great person with so called deivika kaLai". I am great in my own right!!! Dare you disagree in IL??
No Love,
Chithra.

Dear Chithra
Being my vedanta teacher Your timely comment here wil help me set right a grievous mistake.. How could I have ever suggested Sri is great by default only. (Abacharam!) my blunder.. Hope God and Sri are kind enough to forgive me this erroneous zone on my part.. Sri is great as himself. Was, IS and Will be always.. What I was trying to say was the two minds are great together.. (no chappu kottu this)!.

Now coming to you Madam I do dare to disagree with you .. netri kannai thirapenum.. also I just noticed I have made another huge BLUNDER.. Mr.V not only kept quiet focussing on the OILY bhajji but also was totally unaware that his unsuspecting self will be subjected to Oats and KOLLU too.. Idhu eppadi Irukku..

Dear Cheeniya sir,

A very hilarious post from beginning to end. I loved the parts about the group singing, the water spraying and the tongue-tying by the sojji. Do keep posting about the events during olden times.

Dear Cheeniya Sir,
A truly hilarious post.I tried visualising how you accompanied your uncle in his bride seeing spree & how you reacted on hearing the family chorus during your bride seeing ceremony .I have seen this in few Tamil movies but never knew that S&B were an intergral part of this function.In Kerala this is picturised as the bride entering the scene with tea & passing the tea to the groom with shivering hands & exchanging secret glances.But the fact remains that such scenes can be seen only in movies.I became victim of this ceremony almost 3years back & luckily got "clicked "in my first attempt.It was an informal tea-time chat.
Enjoyed reading each & every bit of your narration!

regards,
ammu

Dear Sri Sir,




abba vaytha valikiradhu............. sirchu sirchu. You wont believe siting in my office, iam laughing away to glory and all are staring at me whether I have gone. better to .

A nice post sri, ably supported by our dear Naradhi and samayal arasi. I hope ungalai saran adaindhu, indhu mami appadiya irrukala illa reverse ayuvitatha ippo.
Your research on S B is terrific. But was thinking the cooking queen will come out with the relevant history but was dissappointed. Maybe no time with naradhi behind her.

Don't ask abt my penn pakkaradhu, as you may be aware my dh belongs to 18th century (that is the nickname I have given him immediately after tying the knot), we also had the same sampradhayam but no singing because if had heard me, enga veetu side thalai vachu gooda padukamatar. He never spoke to me but now he does not close his mouth.

Dear cheeniya sir,

A truly hilarious piece which nicely takes us back in time and beautifully traces the history of Bride Seeing.Loved all your anectodes especially the gushing water and singing chorus hahahha...

In order to avoid exactly such a ceremony i refused to have the Bride seeing for my wedding. Told my mom that i will see the proposed groom without all these additional frills and fancies and the Bajji and sojji too. If i like him then they can hold a ceremony as a namesake!

So my mom knowing my stubborn nature made arrangements for me to visit the family in their home and i very happily went with my aunt to visit and talk to the proposed boy. We got to meet and speak in his house for more than an hour and i also ended up eating the special puluo and palak paneer that his mom had prepared. ( Defenitly different from our ususal Bajji and sojji is it not?) Needless to say i got married to the same person in the year 2001. Now i wonder what my two daughters would do... and how the situation would change in their times to come. Your beautiful writeup made me think back to my Groom Seeing ceremony and i just shared it with you.

With Warm regds
Jay.

Originally Posted by sudhavnarasimhan

Dear Cheeniya,

What a hilarious post including all your replies.....such humour that i am sitting here laughing all alone! Loved the way you started on Kalidasa's immortals....you took me back to my college days too, enjoying all the lovely sanskrit verses and their interpretations. I enjoyed all the swayamvaram details , but i wonder if i will be able to make up my mind after looking at all of them just once! (anyway why have wishful thinking, my time has long gone for that! have to see if something like that can be done for my vayasuuku vanda daughterkku! ) By the way in the days of yore was this S and B in existence.....Who made them and Who got to eat them i wonder!?
But your latest expalnation on Sand B being equated to Bride and BRidegroom....well now make yourself clear....who is S and Who is B!

I am still chuckling about the Tongue sticking sojji given to Maapillai , and Vish's expression when he gently broke the appalam( absolutely imaginatively, hilarious!) and your saying Yes after the hiss and gushing water, not to mention the chorus singing , everyone surrendering to you! Poor you where did you have a chance!
Excellent piece of writing, dripping with humour
( reminded me of S and B, will have to dig into the Chef'S recipe section again.....so loong since i have had it!)

Dear Sudha
Why do you say 'my time has long gone for that'? After all, what are dreams for? You dont have to be Abdul Kalaam to dream only of future. Dont you know that dreams can fly backwards too? Youngsters can dream of only future but as we grow older, the dreams in a reverse gear are equally exciting. I sometimes dream of even the days of yore and watch Tenali Raman and Birbal in action. I dream of Kovalan drooling over Madhavi and Kannagi singing some heart wrenching numbers in the background. Put your dreams on the reverse gear and enjoy yourself!

I am delighted to see that S and B have become a hot subject already with people trying to find their 'Root' like Alex Hailey! But I am sorry to find that our Master Chef is absolutely unaware of the history of the items that she churns out by the dozens!
Sri

Originally Posted by anandchitra

Dear Sri
Very nice topic and your style of elucidation is a lesson for me (taking notes ).
Not a surprise really! I think like all other customs Sojji and Bajji have evolved over time.. Even during my time , there were less formalities.. And usually for the most part no last line and usually formalities discussed then only.. Your mention of the song and the bathroom absolutely hilarious..
I totally agree with you about Mr.Vish and "crushing" appalam..if you remember, I had already mentioned his "deiveka kalai".. Now I understand why Mr.V has assumed the attitude of Dakshinamoorthy.. Truly he was a "Deerka Darshi" (forgive spelling mistake) He probably could foresee his FUTURE ahead of him and thought he should get a good head start and focus on the sojji and bhajji.. maybe I will go a step further (dare I?!) and say he made no mention of how OILY the bhajji was! Even back then he knew what to say and what Not.. A great person.. By default you are too by association ofcourse..Wonder if the default theory applies to Madam (NOOOO:)

Dear AC
Taking notes you say? Have you elevated me to your Guru's position? Hope no one is offended by your granting me this honour!
My DW retains some of the relics of the past in remembrance of her joyful moments. Like the saree that she wore on the Bride seeing day, Koorai Pudavai etc. Unfortunately she has not kept a bit of the S and B or a bottle of tap water that clinched the issue on the bride seeing day!
The lethal combination of Sojji and oily bajji is enough to make anyone a Dakshinamoorthy for the rest of his life. That explains why most of the married menfolk hardly utter a word! Vish is no exception!
Sri

Originally Posted by Chitvish

Ugh, AC - Happy??
Today is thursday - Mrs Sri was telling me that Sri had gone to see Sivan, sorry Dakshinamurthy & that he was carrying a mini vilvam tree as his offering !!
So, Sri is in Dakshinamurthy mood - both in Gita thread & here.
Oily bajji from me? - my dear poor girl, my bajji recipe is fool-proof. With your time eternally spent on dieting and the remaining time between dieting sprees in cakes & chips, where would you have tried delicacies like bajji, that I have given in great detail!
V's comments about food are interesting - he will, one day, suddenly comment, "inime nee enna panNare, adutha masathilendu, masandira samaanle uppu aLavai padiyai kuRaikkiRe" - that day there might have been (only) a dash of salt extra in just one item !
Sri, so, your fan says, you are great only by association, by default etc... Ithu ungaLukku thevaiyaa?
AC, the same theory does not apply to me - I am not great by association or by being married to a "great person with so called deivika kaLai". I am great in my own right!!! Dare you disagree in IL??
No Love,
Chithra.

Dear Chithra
Remember the old adage about some being born noble, some acquiring nobility and some having nobility thrust on them? It applies to greatness too and I have already confessed that I belong to the third category. Now a fourth category is evolving. Greatness by association/default is a new concept though it might appear to be an extension of the third category. Whatever it is, now that I qualify to be called great under the third and fourt categories, I feel even more secure!
Sri

Originally Posted by anandchitra

Dear Chithra
Being my vedanta teacher Your timely comment here wil help me set right a grievous mistake.. How could I have ever suggested Sri is great by default only. (Abacharam!) my blunder.. Hope God and Sri are kind enough to forgive me this erroneous zone on my part.. Sri is great as himself. Was, IS and Will be always.. What I was trying to say was the two minds are great together.. (no chappu kottu this)!.

Now coming to you Madam I do dare to disagree with you .. netri kannai thirapenum.. also I just noticed I have made another huge BLUNDER.. Mr.V not only kept quiet focussing on the OILY bhajji but also was totally unaware that his unsuspecting self will be subjected to Oats and KOLLU too.. Idhu eppadi Irukku..

Dear AC
Now you have poisoned her mind! I am sure she'll try oats bajji with kollu stuffing!
oh my dear Vish! This is the unkindest cut of all!
Sri

Originally Posted by sundarusha

Dear Cheeniya sir,

A very hilarious post from beginning to end. I loved the parts about the group singing, the water spraying and the tongue-tying by the sojji. Do keep posting about the events during olden times.

Dear Usha
In those days, old people used to sit in the 'thinnai' and chew the joyful events of the past in their minds. In the absence of a 'Thinnai' and since I have a following in IL, I chew them with you! And my God! What encouragement I receive! God bless you all!
Sri