Her mother shed a tear or two but wasn't reallycrying.
It was the thing to do, so she did itenjoying every moment.
The bride laughed when Isympathized, and said don't be silly.
Her brothrs had a shoe of mine and made me payto get it back.
The game delighted all the neighbours'children, who never stopped staring at me, the reluctantbridegroom of the day.
There was no dowry because they knew I was 'modern'and claimed to be modern too.
Her father asked me howmuch jewellery I expected him to give away with his daughter.
When I said I did't know, he laughed it off.
There was no brass band outside the synagoguebut I remember a chanting procession or two, some rituals,lots of skull-caps, felt hats, decorated shawlsand grape juice from a common glass for bride andbridegroom.
I remember the breaking of the glass and the congregationclapping which signified that we were well and truly marriedaccording to the Mosaic Law.
Well that's about all.
I don't think there was muchthat struck me as solemn or beautiful.
Mostly, we wereamused, and so were the others.
Who knows how much beliefwe had?
Even the most orthodox it was said ate beef because itwas cheaper, and some even risked their souls byrelishing pork.
The Sabbath was for betting and swearing and drinking.
Nothing extravagant, mind you, all in a low keyand very decently kept in check.
My father used to say,these orthodox chaps certainly know how to draw the linein their own crude way.
He himself had drifted into the liberalcreed but without much conviction, taking us all with him.
My mother was very proud of being 'progressive'.
Anyway as I was saying, there was that clapping and laterwe went to the photographic studio of Lobo and Fernandes,world-famous specialists in wedding portraits.
Still later,we lay on a floor-matress in the kitchen of my wife'sfamily apartment and though it was part midnight shekept saying let's do it darling let's do it darlingso we did it.
More than ten years passed before she told me thatshe remembered being very disappointed.
Is that allthere is to it?
She had wondered.
Back from Londoneighteen months earlier,
I was horribly out of practice.
During our first serious marriage quarrel she said Why didyou take my virginity from me?
I would gladly havereturned it, but not one of the books I had readinstructed me how.
The poem starts with the setting of an Indian jewish wedding, then drifts intothe community's ways of living (how Indianised it has become) and finally endswith looking back in life.
Asked once how he could have written this poem,
Ezekiel retorted with, "Who is the 'we' in the poem?"
