ONLY BLESSINGS







Pic.: Usha Prasadh

Some days ago, we attended a silver wedding of a lovely couple we knew. While wishing, I gently tried to place the gift envelope (cash) in the gentleman’s hands.

“No, no, no… Please, please, please!!!” the gentleman made me feel as if I was an alien around there…

It was then, it sank into me that on the invitation, it was ‘clearly’ written:

‘ONLY BLESSINGS’!

Well, two days earlier, the gentleman had called my wife to say that they had come to our residence with the invitation and our door was locked. “Please don’t bother about the invitation,” my wife had assured him, “we would be there to wish you.”

So, that night, we were, indeed, some aliens out there, as no one else had turned up with gifts and envelopes… and we didn't even notice that till “No, no, no… Please, please, please’ happened!

It was Friday night…

The next night, there was another wedding… a real wedding, not a ‘Silver’ one. In this case, the card had come, and, nowhere was it written:

“ONLY BLESSINGS!’

So, on stage, we pushed the envelope…

It was accepted!

The following morning - a Sunday. I saw a write-up in TOI about the new trend in our city (Mumbai) to inform the guests – in the invitation cards - to turn up with empty hands so that they could use those hands to properly bless the couple, child, the birthday-boy or girl, or whoever it is…

I muttered in my mind, “Good news!”

To my knowledge, this trend called ‘ONLY BLESSINGS’ had started in my hometown, Mangalore, at least a decade ago. Be it a wedding or a Jubilee, be it a birthday or a religious ceremony, the card would proudly announce - ‘BLESSINGS ONLY’…

‘YOUR BLESSINGS ARE OUR MOST CHERISHED GIFTS’…

‘WISHES IN BLESSINGS ONLY’…

‘NO PRESENTS’…

‘NO GIFTS AND BOUQUETS’…

‘SOLICIT YOUR BLESSINGS ONLY’…

And, even this: ‘PRESENTS ARE STICTLY NOT ALLOWED’!

In fact, I have witnessed some very hilarious – rather embarrassing – scenes on stage when the gifts and envelopes are being rejected…

Recently, I had been to someone’s house. The second son was to get married in a few days. The invitation cards were printed… but without ‘ONLY BLESSINGS’. What I saw in one of their rooms, really, surprised me. Their first son was married three years earlier… The room had scores of wedding presents still unopened!

“Why did you accept those presents, then?” I was asking in my mind, “At least, now, you should have written in the card – ‘ONLY BLESSINGS’.”

But, then, who was I to advise them?



GERALD D’CUNHA



Comments

Anonymous said…
Well-said, enjoyed reading.
January 7, 2015 at 6:06 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...