From Palanquin to Palio.!!

Recently I attended a marriage of my friend and after her vidaai she gone away with her hubby in a newly bought PALIO. Many old ladies (too old) were discussing that there was a time when they were got see offed in PALANQUINS.And this became the driving force for me to write this blog.

Really time has changed very much. Advent of technology had not only affected our way of living but also our traditions and ceremonies.Now we rarely see any Palanquins used in any of the marriages and why one should?
Means for how much time the groom will wait for the bride after marriage? The palanquin will take so much time. Today in the fast moving world people are so impatient that this will be the last idea of a bride's Vidaai.
But then I think of the older time when it was in much use , how beautifully and carefully bride is carried away in the Palanquin just like the Royal Queen and the bearers themselves had great importance in marriage.And there was a dignity and serenity in this slow paced palanquin Vidaai ceremony and groom had to wait a lot for her. And this distance and separation for a little time create anxiety and curiosity in them unlike today's scenario where newly wed couple get to know each other just few hour after the marriage or sometimes even before. And at other side the bridegroom remains in the transition phase in Palanquin which gives her enough of space alone to make an inner transformaton in herself and be ready to face the new phase of life at new place. And at this moment I can just remember the poem "PALANQUIN BEARER" by sarojini nayudu that I read in my school time. It goes like...

"Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,
She sways like a flower in the wind of our song;
She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,
She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.
Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.

Softly, O softly we bear her along,
She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;
She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,
She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.
Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string."

Meaning: The bride is sad and is crying as she is seperated from her family. But simultaneuosly she is also overjoyed as she is going to start a new life.
In Indian culture earlier woman were considered as a burden. But when the palanquin bearers carry the bride as she is married..they feel no burden because of the ecstatic environment. In older times each and every parent wanted to get their daughters happily married. Carrying a palanquin of a bride was considered as a privilege.