All that glitters is not gold, but oh so beautiful!

This journey of preparing for the wedding day and after, has been something very enriching for me. It is less of wedding shopping and more of an intimate moment with my culture and roots and I am loving it.

I have been wondering if I am normal, because I am not stressing, I am chilled out and not panicking about all the shopping (just hope I didn’t say it too early!). Considering that the day falls in December this year which is a few months away now (3 months to be precise) and a lot of things still pending, I think I could have been over the edge about the preparation, getting the decorators etc. But I am not.

So when I think about it, I realize that I owe this coolness to the very process, which is close to a spiritual experience for me. I don’t see the preparations as a task, I see it as a journey, and I want to be aware of my thoughts, feelings and the things around me as I go about the preparations.

‘Nuff said, let me get to the thing I am writing about today. Did you guess from my title what I could be talking about? No, it is definitely not jewelry. In fact, it is about utensils, made of brass! I never knew I could be mesmerized by utensils but I was, as we started the ‘formal’ shopping with the ‘lai kon’ or (literal meaning: God’s utensils). An auspicious day was selected to start the shopping (this is a trend that’s followed for any auspicious work), which was recommended by one of my aunts who I now call ‘consultant’ because of her role in matters related to traditions, rituals and everything related to the almighty.

We went to a busy market area of Wahengbam Leikai (driver was yours truly), on the designated day. There were many tiny shops in a row selling utensils of brass, steel etc. I entered the crowded, tiny shop, and it was like entering ‘instagram story’ heaven! There were so many varieties of utensils displayed in the tiny little shop which was small from outside but ran deep..if u know what I mean.  All the glittering because of a single bright light in the shop, and the various designs, made me fall in love.

Some of the essential items that had to be a part of the wedding ‘aunpot’ (things that are given to the daughter to start a new life), were the laikon, luknamshen, samuk, Sanabun, chengphu, chaisen, pukham, khujai etc  (I cannot remember all the traditional names of the utensils).

There are steel, aluminum and brass varieties in these but I preferred the brass because it has an old world charm. As we were rummaging through the different things, I was learning new things too. Like on the night of the wedding, the bride and groom are supposed to have the meal in one Pukham (plate). The groom will have a few morsels from the plate followed by the bride having in the same plate. Ancient traditions, but there is still a certain charm about them because  I guess we have grown up imbibing the patriarchal undercurrents of the society so much so that we find a subtle romance in the rituals such as this.

The Chengphu is the vessel where rice is kept for use. It is an auspicious item as Manipur’s staple diet is rice, and rice forms a part of many of its rituals and traditions. Hence, the Chengphu is worshipped, praying that is always in abundance.

The sanabun, is a rather elegant vessel essentially used to fetch water from ponds etc., used primarily in the olden days when there were no taps at home. So, this one remains a showpiece in the cupboard and has no real use. Luknamshen (not entirely sure of the spelling), is a bowl, in which cooked rice is stuffed and pressed first and then overturned onto the plate. When the person is ready to eat, it is removed and it forms a dome of rice. It looks really inviting and neat to put it simply, to see that dome of rice along with other delectable items on the plate. The samuk is a three legged stand with a hollow circular top which is used to place the plate with all the dishes of that meal served on it and kept covered. In olden days it was usually for the patriarch of the family who would return home after a hard day’s work in the fields (I remember my grandfather doing that), freshen up, wear clean clothes and have his meal. The ladies usually would have had their meal earlier, but the man’s share would be kept aside before the ladies and children started eating. This was done, in olden days as keeping leftover food was a sign of disrespect. Nowadays, the samuk and like it many of the utensils which were a very much a functional part of life have assumed a symbolic function, and hence they are supposed to be a part of the Wedding aunpot.

What I found interesting is the Chaisen which is a wide mouthed, oval utensil which is used to drink water. It was difficult to imagine drinking water from it without half of it trickling out from the sides of the mouth. It is for the groom I think, I would love to see V drinking from it!

I have to mention here that all the utensils of which I would probably be using only 1/4^th, did not come cheap, they were expensive, surprisingly. This is when I began to question the purpose of it all and whether it was any use spending all the money on items which are only going to remain in the showcase or worse, hidden somewhere for lack of space. I am sometimes torn between traditions and practicality, this time tradition won, I let it, because this was all new to me, right from getting married here, settling here to getting to know so much about my culture and hence I became a part of the process, this journey, the traditions…( I know there are other things where I can save, which are not the traditional things!)

Thanks for reading!