Allaudin and the adventure during joota chupai!

So you were introduced to our wonderful cook-cum-family, Alauddin in the last post. That was not the end of his story. See, underlying Alauddin's brilliant culinary skills, is a desire for alcohol, more severe than his incapacity to digest the liquid. Therefore, throughout this शादी, one (and all) could spot Alauddin swinging around, drunk as a sponge and getting so emotional about the wedding that I knew I had at least one blog post ready right there! It was the night of the wedding. When we reached the venue of the wedding, Alauddin started drinking. We ate snacks. Alauddin downed a few. The varmaala were exchanged. Alauddin gulped a few more pegs. We danced and Alauddin kept up his visits to the bar. We ate dinner and Alauddin was still drinking. We returned to dancing and Alauddin returned to drinking. This should give you a very vague idea of what Alauddin's state was, when the फेरे began. The astrologically-fixed time for the फेरे was 1:30 a.m. and by then, everybody looked pretty much besotted, whether under influence of alcohol or नींद. We were sitting around the पंडाल when I spotted Alauddin standing right behind my brother and his almost-wife, swaying dangerously but looking intently at the ongoing पूजा. I went over and asked him to sit on a chair so that he wouldn't topple over. Alauddin insisted on dragging the chair close to where the marrying couple were seated and watching on with love and pride. But while we all thought that Alauddin was in that happy place, the portals of which only alcohol seems to open, something else was afoot. Somewhere just before the start of the फेरे, the bride had summoned Alauddin and asked him to find my brother's shoes and give 'em to her friends, who in the absence of sisters and cousins, were stepping in for जूता छुपाई. We did not know this. The bride's side did not know this. Now I have always lamented over what a useless lot we are and allow me to present yet another glaring example. Here is the bride and her friends, who despite being weak in Punjabi ways had nonetheless gathered their troops and planned their strategy. And there we were- a population explosion in our own right- and not one of us even remember about the damn जूता छुपाई! But not Alauddin! The भाभी had commanded it and Alauddin was determined to prove his loyalty. The fact that he picked up Vivek's shoes and hid them somewhere, in his quest to hide my brother's already hidden shoes, we can safely pin to the fact that he was drunk. The matter was brought to light in the middle of the 4th फेरा (of course I am not sure but I doubt anybody will remember to correct me) So when Alauddin realized what he had done, he returned the shoes to Vivek and remained appalled at his folly. Vivek is दामाद. The दामाद is the VIP in the Indian family and Alauddin could not believe he had taken the दामाद's shoes. Plus, we were teasing him about switching sides and I am sure that did not help. Thereafter, he resumed his swaying on the chair. He would check how many फेरे were done after every five minutes, then laugh in a drunken-embarrassed sorta way and say "भाभी बोली थी तो हम दामाद के जूते छुपा दिए!" OK so back to my tirade. I cannot finger-point enough at my side's ridiculous sloppiness. We paid attention to the fact that my brother's shoes were gone only at the end of the फेरे when the bride's relatives came up to me and asked me to give them the shoes. They said it was a custom and that the shoes must be handed to them and any pleas of innocence that I made were understandably not accepted. Finally and thankfully, the lawyer friends came forward and owned up to having taken the shoes. So it all ended well. But Alauddin had one final performance before we exited. At विदाई, I step out of the wedding hall to see Alauddin weeping and my mother consoling him. I overheard my mother asking him what was wrong and he said emotionally, "बहु घर आ गयी, ख़ुशी हो रहा है". What a beautifully, emotionally-expressive soul, this Alauddin.