A Marriage Procession

A Marriage Procession

In the modern quarters [1] of the city seeing a marriage party [2] going to the bride's house, or a five-star hotel is not much fun [3]. You don’t see much of the groom [4] and the marriage party as a it whizzes [5] past you in a motorcade [6]. However, a marriage procession passing through a street in the older part of the city is a wonderful sight.

Last Saturday while walking down a narrow street in the old city. I heard firecrackers [7] exploding [8] at a distance. Then came the sound of a drum [9]. I did not know what to make of these sounds, but the people of the locality [10] did. In a few minutes the street was full of children. Some women came out of their houses and stood in little lanes on both sides of the street. People passing through the street slackened [11] their pace. Then I knew what the bang of the firecrackers and the sound of the drum meant.

A marriage procession was coming towards the street. As the noise of music and firecrackers grew louder, people moved to the sides of the street. Shopkeepers came out of their shops. Everybody waited to see the marriage procession.

At last the procession entered the street. At the head of the procession was a band with drums, bag-pipes and flutes. They wore colorful but rather shabby uniforms. The bandmaster with ornamental staff [12] in his hand strutted [13] in front of his men.

Then came the marriage party. The bridegroom dressed in shalwar, qameez and achkan was sitting on a horse. His face was hidden behind a golden ‘sehra’. All around the horse were his relatives and friends, walking on foot. Some two hundred marriage guests followed.

The marriage procession went on [14] at a leisurely pace [15] women standing on rooftops and men and children lining both sides of the street watched. Every few minutes [16], a near relative of the bridegroom would take a handful of coins from a bag and toss them in the air. Beggars and children laughing and shouting, would rush this way and that way to collect as many coins as they could.

The marriage procession took half an hour to reach the other end of the street and disappear round the corner. As the sound of music faded away, the women on the rooftops wend down to attend to their household work, and the crowd gathered in the street slowly melted away [17].

Words	Meanings
[1] modern quarter	جدید علاقہ
[2] marriage party	با رات
[3] fun	دلچسپ بات
[4] groom	دولہا
[5] whizzes	تیزی سے گزرنا
[6] motorcade	مو ٹر کاڑوں کا جلوس
[7] firecrackers	پٹاخے
[8] exploding	پہوڑنا
[9] drum	ڈھول
[10] locality	علاقہ
[11] slackened	آہستہ ہونا
[12] ornamental staff	آرایشی عصا
[13] strutted	اترا کر چلنا
[14] went on	آگے بڑھنا
[15] leisurely pace	آہستہ آہستہ
[16] every few minutes	ہڑ چند منٹ کے بعد
[17] melted away	بکھر گیا

Words	Meanings
[1] modern quarter	present time area
[2] marriage party	a social gathering of invited guests
[3] fun	enjoyment
[4] groom	about to be a husband
[5] whizzes	to pass by fastly
[6] motorcade	a procession of motor vehicles
[7] firecrackers	explosive firework
[8] exploding	burst
[9] drum	a percussion instrument sounded by being struck with sticks or the hands
[10] locality	area
[11] slackened	decrease in speed
[12] ornamental staff	decorative stick
[13] strutted	walk with arrogance
[14] went on	to move forward
[15] leisurely pace	slowly slowly
[16] every few minutes	with every passing minute
[17] melted away	scattered