The Con

Hima was getting married in Kerela and I had suddenly decided to walk in at her wedding. When I got there, Sanky and I felt that simply going tada at her wedding, would be so blah! Sanky (prankster to the core) decided why not dress up as a girl. I wheedled out of the makeup and the other scary details by suggesting a burkha.

Only problem is we didn’t have a burkha.

Enter Naru!

First, Naru walked around the streets of a fairly conservative Trichur asking muslim ladies where they got their Burkha’s from. Then he asked shops if they were selling Burkha’s that would roughly fit him. Finally, he went to asking drama costume rental companies, if they had anything to spare. I managed to get my parents to pick up one from somewhere near the station. We picked up Naru, drove him to my place and explained the plan to him. His reaction (in the pic) was exactly this. “You guy are mad … Great Idea … You’ll get us all killed”. Needless to say, Naru hasn’t changed much from what he was in XIM, ever ready to pull a fast one on the nearest breathing prey. We went back to the hotel and I tried on the Burkha. The other 3 bachelors kinda lost it.

The Scam (as we planned it):

Hima had invited us for a dinner at her place before the wedding. Sachin would be our inside man. He would arrange for Hima and some more people from her age group to be present a nice location in front of the house so that we wouldn’t have to make a scene in front of the elders. (Hah!) Naru would tell Hima that he had a new girl friend (Fatima) from Hyderabad and he had bought he along to introduce her to his parents. It was a good story, because Naru was looking out for a girl and he could find a Muslim girl in Hyderabad. I would also play along with my practiced-on-the way female voice. We also considered doing a small jig for the song ‘Hey Baby’ with Sanky on the audio. (Yes, spank et ell )

The Best Laid Plans …

For starters, the burka could not cover my legs entirely. A aprt of my legs above my ankles was completely exposed, hair and all. When we reached there, Sachin came to the gate and told us that he had managed to isolate Hima in a small room on the first floor and asked us to follow him. We did. Right through an entire line of guests who were till that point happily enjoying their dinner. I was completely covered in my Burkha, and their expressions were priceless. Most of them forgot the food that their hands were trying to put into their gaping mouth. Bewildered, they just watched as four guys and a muslim girl with hairy legs raced up the stairs. I’m not suprised that no one complemented me for my svelte grace later.

When we reached “the room” that Sachin had arranged for us, Hima was there with Supy, a couple of her brothers friends and her cousin. And her grandmother. Granny looked like she might have throw a fit or her chappal, whichever she could muster up first! Naru with all his stage presence and lack of stage fright, muttered one line – “This is my friend from Hyderabad”. That was like saying if that thing looks like a girl, that’s your problem, not mine.

That left me with no lead but stand there as ungraciously as could. Hima thankfully decided to check who was under the veil. Boy, was she in for a suprise!

If you can’t see the video above, go here.

You can check out some more pics at this site