A day before a marriage - mixing culture through time and generations

Time flies....you get older, those who were below your knees level with your eyes now, but ask for your permission for the next step, big step in their life. They are afraid too....they are better informed than you. You used to have simpler problems, there is the contradiction...and the gap starts.

A young couple fell in love in their younger days, walked through the teen together, made themselves capable and now wants to get married, socially. Officially getting married is simple, done too.

A mix starts happening, there came more colours in the mix. Mix of culture, history, perception. A mix of two human with two bags of background roots. It was an interesting marriage. Following photos are the one night images prior to actual marriage. 

The marriage being in WestBengal and with the groom from Bihar, having more today's wishes and dreams, Mehendy night was arranged. Audience was a mix of ages...probably 6 to 72 years.

I tried to capture essence of emotion that went through with high voltage that night. Enjoy the time...

There were high volume DJ songs that hardly are known to middle aged to elderly fellows. And young ones let their caution loose, emotions free and their starts dancing with those tunes. Let the hired photographers have their gala time, let us dance in this enclosed space called a hall.

The bride & her sister - 

Relatives dancing.. relations watching... - 

Get together of chances, of connections - 

Hidden talents, hidden wishes came out through high volume chest thumping beats -

 At times, photographers were more than performers - 

Watching father - 

The swinging mood - 

Bone in the marrows - 

Brothers on the beats - 

Happy mother - 

The whole family in joy - 

We met, really met like last time, this time. It took 30 years though... we couldn't change like last time - 

It is time to express through yourself, young ones tried new accessories to wear freedom, express freedom - 

Faces change in situation like this high emotion get together. The kid got confused to see known faces took unknown acts - 

In their 365 days of office works...something like this occasion is a volcano - 


And you come to know the child you had travelled to take her in your lap has learned so much of expressive dance forms that no one has taught her in classes. You wonder did you missed the key learning that you could have given but she has taken off the hook - 

Enjoyment in expressing self through - 

The mood was set in the air by her moves, expressions - 

New kids on the block having your fort to hold, luckily they are all girls. You feel lucky - 

The mood, the swings, the cascading emotions - 

And the less initiated join the vortex- 

Complains and a manager of all household problems in action - 

The result -

Night of achievement, you know how your relations went through the tide. You celebrate life - 

You get blessings from your grandmother, you have it all - 

A torrent of emotions, like the beats to its next apex - 

Night is short and compressed, you do not miss a chance to know your new relations, you dance through time, you tune it faster - 

You wanted to prove for long, she wanted the support and love - 

And the surprise hits everyone - 

The flash of times that you spent together runs through in split seconds - 

It is tough for men to show emotions, and the inquisitive one peeps through - 

It is time to watch...others enjoying - 

And the performance begins - 

While others get the best out of theirtime and opportunities, the danseuse continue - 

The point of apex - 

One of those group photos - 

Private chats


That night ended in a close family late night chat. Young ones get bombarded with requests for songs/poems to perform. And you get surprised that they do not need to remember songs for such situations, they have their internet to help them. You know now the time has left you to your time - 

Recitation -