A Jubilee couple

 

A Jubilee couple

 

To you, our accolades

for a voyage of five decades

With exemplary conjugal harmony

thwarting many adversities, in the journey

ignoring each other’s omissions and commissions

enjoying the feel of true love’s evolution

from a scratch to its crest

Hey Gitanjali and Padmballav, the couple blest

as if knotted by the divine before your birth

Assigned to assist Him, to put in track the erring earth

As the Society now

swept away by maddening modernity’s flow

witnesses conjugal disharmony and disruption

after a  very short conjugal union

often disregarding parental guiding direction

choosing the partner, driven by sheer passion

Even divorcees with experience and maturity

remarry but separate, eclipsing the earth’s ethical beauty

driving a man in  society into mental trauma

So-called human progress only a human drama

Thus, with awe and adoration, we bow

at your excellent conjugal show

spanning over half a century

with a married couple’s wedded life’s glory.

exhibiting a heavenly couple’s conjugal life

staying unruffled through the thickest of strife

with your heads and hearts in perfect synchronism

backed by each and every physical mechanism

turning two frames into a single frame

thus commanded, you wide fame.

Blessed I am to know you both

much before  you took an oath

on marriage altar

that in married life, you will never falter

with our acquaintances of six decades and above

I feel in you the values of true love.

love in all forms, from early age to old age

divinity in it from you,  I could always gauge

With oath

I tell you both

my observations on you

being frank and true

since your tender age

till the present stage

that each of you is suave and humble

honest ever helpful, and simple

thus you maintained through and through

what glitters in your conjugal life’s show

earning good wishes from all

saving you from every pitfall.

that with stainless character

you are made for each other

Padmaballav!  I must congratulate you

choosing Geeta the best girl, then in view

carved out of a whole grain of rice

with innate divinity devoid of any vice

Geeta!  I swear to say

om any day, even today

 words fall short of applauding his resume

Padmaballav was the best choice for a bridegroom

your parents could choose for you

then he was the best among all in view

with innate divinity, no vice

you are lucky to have a hubby so nice

Hey Geeta and Padmaballav, the couple, blessed

never, ever you got tainted

by the atrocities of frowning realities

that in the world, man sees 

Let your bondage continue from birth after birth.

Needs you in right earnest, the mother earth

Born and brought up

at the different environment and social setup

with family roots at two  tribal localities of the state

located afar with different customs and cuisines to taste

Over a neighbor’s meet

sprouted this match sweet

followed by an opportunity given to the duo

to tell on the proposal with  a “yes” or  a “No”

Lo, behold! Both were captivated by each other’s grace

by eloquent silences and furtive glances on each face.

The marriage was fixed by elders’ consent

to the blissful joy of the duo’s parents

On the fourteenth of July nineteen seventy-five

the wedding ceremony ornaments our mental archive

with its pomp and show

at Angul at her Hakimpada row

Instead of traveling from Nayagarha to Talcher

bridal procession proceeded to the neighboring quarter

as if the groom was searching  every nook and corner  for a bride

but Lo behold, she was located in his backdoor side

the bridal procession had to travel a distance, short

during the daytime with pomp and splendor of every sort

the bridal party enjoyed fish and sweets for lunch, sumptuous

followed by a sound siesta in a bungalow at the bride’s campus

Goddess Budhithakurani from her hilly

shrine

overseeing the marriage with her blessings, benign

the mute orchards and vast water reservoirs nearby

mutely shed tears to bid the bride goodbye.

The students and teachers from the institutes adjacent

were entertained witnesses to this divine event, pleasant

Geeta was lucky to evade the tradition

waist-bent walk with heavy ornamentation

long veils covering the face for long

caring meticulously to avoid criticism, strong

aS ater seven days of their union

Padmanav  took Gita with his parents and sisters of his own

to Jharsugda, his service station

Hence, Geeta  never missed the love of her parents and siblings

as there, she got sisters’ love and in-laws’ blessings

at the outset of her conjugal journey

invigorating her to fight with her hubby on occasions, many

that happens between wife and husband in His earthly show

The quarrel between Lord Jagannath with Ma Laxmi  we know

After a month or two, parents and sisters left the place

Leaving Geeta and Padmaballav on their own to face

the life ahead with their teachings and good wishes

that blessed their conjugal harmony as we assess.

Thus, a few months after the wedding ceremony

started they, on their own their half century journey

Some kith and kin, especially of the older generation

accustomed to the older tradition

longed to  get the treat from Geeta, the daughter-in-law

and to point out her flaw

some yearning feet message, some for her cuisine preparation

some well ushers to train the couple on cohabitation

Geeta’s early departure fueled their frustration

Later, they vented through their sermons

Hey Geeta and Padmaballav

without belittling their love

Your friends and peers are envious of your initiation

as you started your journey with interference from none

left for poets  for their imaginative interpretation

for their friends' and peers’ envy and fun

on Padmabalv and Geeta, then in isolation

with social sanction

Fifty years back

under youthful passion’s  natural attack

locked in a room with a lost key

in each other, love of the seventh Heaven, they could see

forgot they, physical thirst, and hunger

Everything they found in each other

That aided the bondage to grow strong

in each other, thus they saw no wrong.

The first touch on the marriage altar

bridegroom and bride as a bachelor with a spinster

to it, the poet must give a poetic touch with ornaments

for Geeta Padmaball now to reflect in silence

to drive them to reminisce about the days,  five decades back

what time has stolen, permitting it to come as a flashback..

Hey Geeta and Pafnaballav!

as raw hands, you both could evolve

your harmonious stay

nurturing your kids on the way

to mark their presence in society

with your fragrance of honesty and humility

and serving the society far and near

earning the adoration of all from every sphere

On your golden jubilee wedding celebration

we, your classmates, friends, and peers, in unison

with your neighbors and the society around, pray

from their hearts’ abyss

for your health, happiness, peace, and bliss

while saving you the three miseries of life

from within, from nature and divine strife,

blessing you in the three rungs of the ladder to climb upon

on your deeds, earnings, the righteous path to salvation.

 

P K Routray

in the service of the Lord