The wedding of DJ Rah Rahh was about
Much more than the marriage of
Jairaj and Kristina; it was about
Much more than the gathering
Of large crowds in festive confines.
The wedding of DJ Rah Rahh was
About the small, intimate connections
Made, formed, renewed, solidified,
Strengthened over a conversation,
A closeness, a recollection, a shared story
Being told for the 20th time, but listened
To intently by all for the familiar punch line,
Delivered by the familiar teller of tales.
It was a shared drink [or two or three…],
Shared laughter, a shared moment, the
Learning of previously undisclosed history.
This was about the recollection of Cap’n,
The only Indian player an all-white cricket
Team, and their leader! About Bhup Singh,
At age 17 selected for the 12 or 13 spot on Cap’n’s
Team, and breaking his bat at a perceived rejection.
It was a meeting of generations,
Those nearing the end of their road,
Those at their beginning and
Those of us somewhere else along it,
A lamenting of the rarity of such
Once-upon-a-time more-common gatherings
And the acceptance of responsibilities
Placed upon us by the road…or not.
This was a mother’s tear, a guest's projection
Into the future, an empathizing of those rare,
Beautiful, nebulous, contradictory sentiments.
Perhaps not rare, but certainly not quotidian.
This was about the welcoming of new faces
And the recollection of old names. The enjoyment
Of a precious fleeting time by Cashew, Pie,
Bun Roti, Geronimo, Uja…a hundred more
A few days spent in the lingua franca
Of Richmond Hill – Guyanese Creole:
Rass bai, tek wann; Dis ting a wuk
Smoode like bread an buttah.
These were the tales of growing up in first generation
immigrant households, nuanced, beautiful, quirky,
imperfectly human – and no other place in the world
we would rather be. A place as much History as
The village life in old photo albums smelling of glue.
This was as much about the late night verbal take down
Of a morally uncertain hedge fund trader at the hotel bar
As it was about dig dutty and kangan.
This was the coming together, made possible
Only by love, of people who were there specifically
To sacrifice sleep, comfort, easiness and ephemera
For the things that make us grow, make us great,
Make us happy, make us perfectly human.
