D-day ..

Finally, the wedding day arrived. Devyani was getting married to her love Vishal! All of us were decked up for the wedding with our Special Marathmol Wedding Attires. We quickly checked out of our hotel rooms and went on to have some delicious Zunka Bhakari, garma garam Kande- Pohe of course followed by steaming cups of tea. We decided to take a group picture by the Panhala Fort itself. As we reached there, we asked a by-stander to take our picture on one of our phones. All of us posed sideways in desi- style and he clicked a few shots. It was a picture perfect moment! 

All this happened in a matter of 30 minutes  as All of us had to rush to the Wedding Hall. As we moved towards Kolhapur City, we had our one last look around the fort from our bus and reminisced all the beautiful moments spent in the fort, From the wonderful stroll as soon as we reached Panhala to the simple but soulful dinner we had the other night; from the Wild berries to the mesmerizing view of sunset from Panhala Fort.Thus, we bid our good-byes to Panhala Fort for then but the amazing atmosphere and historical feel shall always have a place in our mind whenever we'll be talking about the stay.

We reached the wedding hall a bit late than expected due to traffic all along our journey. We rushed to see Devyani who was getting her finishing touches of make up.  As I mentioned in the earlier piece, Vishal's Sister Vrushali was getting married at the same venue itself, the same day. Her Muhurat was before Devyani's. Hence until then Devyani had time to get ready. She was wearing a traditional Golden Yellow Peshwai Styled Nauvari Saree with Gold Themed makeup. She looked more like a Princess getting ready for her coronation to be the Queen! Indeed it felt like "D"- Day! Her room was filled with her mains including school friends, office colleagues, us cousins etc. We kept talking about how lovely the make up was done. All the rituals were being performed on stage. As a token of welcome, all the boys were given Kolhapuri Orange Pheta/ Maharashtrian Turban. All of us cousins were busy clicking photos in the Kolhapur heat outside that would be flaunted on our Social Media handles for weeks to come. We waited for the pre-wedding rituals to end. And finally, the time had come, when Devyani and Vishal were going to be one perfectly wedded couple. We took Devyani on stage for the Jaymala or Mangalashtaka Ceremony. Vishal too was looking dapper in his traditional attire.

My mother was one of the people who said the Mangalashtakas. She said the one based on Jeevan Vidya Mission's Preachings wishing the bride, the groom and their families a beautiful and peaceful life filled with health, wisdom, wealth and prosperity. Devyani and Vishal Exchanged Floral Garlands and their Marriage Rituals began. They took their Pheras, Devyani adorned her beautiful Mangalsutra and finally, the most pristine moment of their love life had arrived as everyone witnessed them getting married. All of us were teary-eyed as we met the newly-weds and wished them for their future endeavors. We had to leave early since us reaching late at night would have affected the travel- permit of our bus. Pretty disappointed we felt for leaving the function midway. It was really delightful to see both of them and their families so happy! 

The Wedlock is not a shackle but a knot tied to strengthen two personalities. Both of them are now going to carry on their lives as a team and try and conquer every battle that life throws at them! They'll be taking care of both of their families alike without any discrimination whatsoever. Afterall love is built on the foundation of affection, trust, understanding and honesty. Both the families have united to be one big family which by the way is filled with not only educated people but also responsible citizens of the country. May God Bless these beautiful souls with all that they desire. Kolhapur gave us so much memories right from Historical places like Panhala and Shahu Palace to Spiritual place like Mahalakshmi Temple. It was an enthralling experience! 

And in this way, our journey to Kolhapur had finished and we were really bummed that the weekend went by so quickly. We left Kolhapur around 4 pm and reached back home by almost 2 am the next day. Although the journey was pretty exhausting, we enjoyed a lot watching Movies, singing Songs, cracking jokes and what not! Family-time of traveling together and staying together shall always be so much fun! Looking forward for much more of such journeys ahead. 

I hope you guys liked my tryst to covering my Cousin's wedding and our time spent at Kolhapur. Critics are more than welcome!

Stay tuned for more such content on coming right from the Inner Voice of Psyli.

Love!

Kolhapur Diary continued..

Day2:

We started early in the morning since it was going to be a long day ahead. We reached to have Breakfast to a small food joint on the Panhala Fort area itself; had Dosa and Misal-Pav and as we moved towards our bus, we took quick photos and went onboard the bus. From Panhala, we started to descend towards Kolhapur City to reach for the Mahalakshmi Temple. Decorated by White Temple tops, the Mahalaksmi Temple is a must visit for all those who visit Kolhapur for the first time. As we entered, we witnessed how the Mahalakshmi Temple was filled with Pilgrims and Tourists alike. What I observed immediately upon reaching there was that there were two separate lines, one was the normal one and the other was an "express one" for a faster redemption of their "Navas". Such a discrimination was so appalling that we decided to just take a look around the temple and not go for any of these lines of discrimination. Me and my Cousin Vasundhara took the elderlies for Mukhdarshan area which was less crowded than the other 2 lines. As we were inside the Temple, the remaining ladies went for saree- shopping while others stayed back for some sugarcane juice. When we came out of the temple premises, we were surrounded by beggars who kept on asking for money and that our offering would bless us with Devi's Blessings. We told them politely, "we have come here just to pay a visit to the temple. God resides everywhere". Indeed God's blessings or curses are nothing but the fruits of our own deeds. We bow in front of deities just to remind ourselves about being kind to others and respecting the God in every human. People at Pilgrim places become overtly emotional and give away money to whoever asks them to. This situation is more often than not taken advantage of by the local shopkeepers and vendors as well who sell their stuff at high-end prices than what actually are outside the temple. Anyway, our dispersed group gathered back together and we moved towards our bus. We started our journey towards the splendid and royal Shree Chhatrapati Shahu Palace. Shahu Palace is Partially a Museum, a Property of Maharashtra Tourism Department while the other part still belongs to and is the Mansion of the Royal Bhosale Family. Public entry is rightly banned in that area.The grandeur of this Palace is visible from a distance itself. It is surrounded by a bird and Animal Reserve. We quickly took pictures of the Deer, emus, kranes as well as a peacock and moved towards the Royal Shahu Palace. As we entered the gate, we found that the Palace is surrounded by a beautiful garden, a huge fountain and a wrestling ground as well. What stature! Awed by the massiveness of the monument, we were disappointed to know that Photography is strictly not allowed inside the Palace, hence I can only describe vaguely the vogue that has still been preserved in the Huge and Splendid Architecture. The Palace, as I mentioned earlier is Partially now a Museum including weaponry and armory as well as collection of clothes, furniture, and manuscripts separated categorically across the Palace. The Museum included paintings showing highlights of the Maratha Empire as well as the History of Bhosales. Also, at the end of the Palace was a collection of Skins of Animals as hunted back then by the Royal Family. Almost an hour in the Palace, we could feel every bit of Royalty that can only be imagined and not seen anywhere else but here! The Sabha Mandap with an elevated stage for his Highness was one of the most memorable places that I've ever visited. I could literally feel the Grand Sabha that might have been taking place back then. We ended our quick tour since It was past noon and we had started feeling hungry.. We had simple but tasty buffet vegetarian meal at the Cafe outside the Palace. We had to move quickly towards the engagement venue. Also, the Heat was killing hence, we took off and bid good bye to a great Memoir of History that is the Shahu Palace, also called New Palace, Kolhapur.

We all rushed to get ready as we were to welcome the bride to the hall before the functions began. The pre-engagement functions started off around 5 pm with JeevanVidya Mission's Upasana Yadnya and Sangeet Jeevanvidya conducted by Kolhapur Branch of Satguru Shri Wamanrao Pai's Jeevan Vidya Mission. The Chants of "Vithhal- Vithhal" created an appropriate divine atmosphere for the serene alliance that was going to occur just a few moments later. 

The moment for which both Devyani and Vishal had been waiting for like forever was approaching! Both of them were in complete dismal about the situation until the day before. Funny enough, they had just a few seconds before realised what was happening. They were going to get married in a few hours!

Devyani entered the hall, we welcomed her with happy tears. All eyes were on her as she went on to get ready for the ceremony. The Engagement Ceremony was about to begin. She was draped in a beautifull gold-sequined Purple Saree and looked just fabulous! "What a beautiful doll she's looking!" we said to each other as she was busy getting ready and posing for the cameras. Afterall, she was the centre of attraction and focus of all cameras this eve. But amidst all this happiness, Mami (Devyani's mom) was not feeling well due to fever. She was trying really hard to be a part of all that she could. But we insisted her to rest. Thankfully, her Sister-in- law was in-charge of the rituals that evening so she could rest aside and not be tensed about every little thing. Then came the time, when the groom and the bride both stepped on the stage to exchange their rings. The moment when they both vowed to marry each other the next day had arrived and they just couldn't keep calm. Vishal also looked handsome in his Traditional Kolhapuri Avatar. They were all smiles as they exchanged their rings. Later on they posed for the cameras and a huge photo-session followed. All kinds of poses including the Kneeling down and proposing, holding hands, showing rings were done. Everything was happening like their dream came true. How happy they both looked! 

As they were busy with the photo-shoot, our group decided to grab dinner as we had to start moving back to Our Hotel rooms back in Panhala which was quite far from the venue. The couple too had their dinners and went on to change their attires for the Haldi Ceremony. As Vishal's Sister Vrushali was also getting married the next day at the same venue, that couple too joined these love birds in the Haldi Ceremony. Since it was almost midnight, we had to stay quite all along and no music was played. Even Mami wasn't feeling well so Mama rushed her to the hospital for last minute medications to make her feel better. Hence, the Haldi Ceremony was a rather quite affair. We soon left after applying Haldi to Vishal and Devyani. Finally, the day Devyani had waited for the past couple of months eagerly had arrived. The next day was full of the Wedding Banter, Devyani needed to have a good night sleep for being all fresh and blooming for "her day". We too reached our hotel rooms and rushed to bed to stay all pumped up for literally "D"-Day...

To be continued..