dear raji,
i hope i am not hijacking your thread as it per se. this is a story about வண்ண வண்ண மனிதர்கள் ! indeed!
in my relative circle, living in delhi, there incurred a death of an aunt just a year ago. this is an upper class family, but ofcourse the lady in question had her childhood in malabar prior to wedding. the children were brought up with the poshest education and not familiar with rituals etc.
but when it came death, the sense of loyalty to the tradition and parents kicked in. sure enough when mom died, the proverbial vaathiar came in ....
now it so happens, as i understand, there is a vathiar union in delhi. ie if you live in such n such locality, you get to choose within these vathiars, and you are unable to 'import' a vathiar across the lines, let alone from the south or elsewhere. beeeg news to me.
during the thirteen days of the rituals, plus the cremation, whenever the question of payment was brought up, (you have to believe this raji), the vathiar, rolled his eyes, put his pointer fingers to the lips, and said'ஷ்ஷ்ஷ் இப்போ அதை பத்தி பேசப்படாது' - which effectively intimidated the kartha and rest of the household
the kartha, with the presence of the said vathiar, diligently performed the maaseeham. now is the time for the aabdhigam.
here comes the crunch.
the vaathiar, now claims the kartha did not perform any of the maasihams. and wants to do all the 12 months ceremony rolled in to one big d00-daa.
plust ofcourse a grand aabdhigam, with a never ending list.
any attempt to intervene, re asking for the cost or insistance that the maasiham has already been performed, is met with this, 'ஷ்ஷ்ஷ் இப்போ அதை பத்தி பேசப்படாது'
the kartha is unable to switch or find another vathiar, as this man is a senior and fairly influential among the vathiar 'mafia' of delhi - the fear is that if they alienate this guy, they are going to be left without any vathiar for the abthigam. also circumstance wise, they are not able to go to the south to conduct the ceremonies.
so, they are now captive of a (what they suspect an alzheimer ridden) vathiar, whose crankiness they are unable to accept. let alone the ever increasing cost.
btw, they paid an exhorbitant money for the1st 13 days after death.... i will not share the abusive amount here...
so raji, i hope you forgive me, for giving the public the benefit of another episode, of வண்ண வண்ண மனிதர்கள்!!
personally, i think, these people are rich enough they can pay whatever the vathiar wants. i think the real issue, is that the kartha does not look forward to repeating the tiresome maasigam rituals again
and that too 12 times