Umbra by Kishore Murthy

Couple of weekends ago, atop a cliff overlooking the ocean wedding vows were exchanged… I was witnessing my first American wedding. My wife’s cousin married his longtime girlfriend in the fairytale fashion.

It was the first time we would be staying in a hotel with our 10 month old tagging along. Since she is on formula we had to take with us a gazillion bottles and stuff to wash and clean the bottles. We landed in Boston, drove over to my in-laws in Hamilton… we had an hour before we had to go on the road and drive to Maine. Freshening up, feeding the baby, meeting some friends who dropped by dissipated the hour like ice on a desert floor.

We check into our room at Ogunquit Resort, a quick change of clothes and before we could even take a breath we were at the rehearsal. The wedding rehearsal was at the Cliff House Resort where the wedding was actually going to happen on the next day. It was only a 5 min drive from where we were staying and the route was a winding road with trees on either side of it… we even saw some wild deer on one of our many drives up and down.

With the rehearsal over we headed over to an Italian restaurant called Angelina’s Ristorante for dinner. The sister of the bride had prepared a multimedia presentation of pictures dating from birth until now of both the bride and groom. A couple of glasses of scotch and I settled in. By the time dinner started it was way past Anju’s sleep time and since she had already finished her dinner, she was getting cranky. My wife was hounded and harassed by mosquitoes. We asked our dinner to be boxed and bid our byes for the night.

The next day was a little more relaxed. The wedding was in the afternoon and that meant we had the morning to ourselves. We walked over to the beach that was a quarter of mile away from our resort. Anjali’s grandparents joined us on the walk. I liked the quietness and the laid back nature of the place. It was Anjali’s first ’sea’ experience and considering her love of water she enjoyed it very much.

By late afternoon I was suited up for the wedding. With all of us dressed up we headed over to Cliff House Resort. The weather was beautiful and the wedding vows were exchanged with the gushing waves of the blue sea in the background. Once that was over, some drinks and appetizers were served and then dinner followed.

Before dinner all the dances in various combination with the bride and groom and their respective parents happened. Food flowed, the bar was open and a band played in the background… everyone took turns between dancing and food / booze. Filled with chatter and music it went late into the night. I had a good time.