First Post – A wedding post

First post of the New Year. It’s really amazing how soon time flies. I have just come back from home after a long vacation. A planned vacation of 3 weeks got stretched into 5. My vacation turned out to be better than my expectation. I had the time of my life during the past 5 weeks. The vacation started with preparations of my wedding. As soon as I reached home (which was just 4 days prior to the marriage), some or other marriage related function /puja had begun. Everyday I used to get all decked up in a new saree and sit while the whole world fretted around me. :-) Thanks to my work, I didn’t have any time to complete my shopping in Bangalore hence all days leading up to the D day my sisters were busy shopping for my wedding trousseau. (My sisters - S & M -have really done a LOT of work in my wedding – Can’t really believe it since the image I carry of them fits into the mold of super lazy gals :-D However both S & M were like 2 additional hands for both my mom and dad)

So while my sisters were busy shopping, I was happily enjoying all the attention. My relatives used to come and ask how was I feeling, was I scared, nervous or excited about my wedding, etc, etc.. My bhabhis and chachijis were teasing me taking M’s name. I was pretty cool about everything. My response to them was a polite “I am very happy” followed with a blushing smile. However to my dear aunt (Reshma Aunty) I would tell the truth which was – “I am very excited with all the things going around but I still don’t feel as if I am getting married. It’s more like I have come to attend a family wedding.” You see even with all this ho-halla, not even for a single moment did I feel as if I was getting married. Go figure! My aunt was like “Hope you feel like you are married after your marriage”. :-D. This is how I felt till the D day. Not until the pheras ended and it was time for M to put sindur on me did I realize that I was getting married and my life is going to change or shall I say I was married and my life had changed :-D. The wedding was such a fun event with everyone including me enjoying it to the hilt; I didn’t realize that it was my wedding. You see I never thought I would have so much fun in my own marriage. J I have never danced so much in my entire life as I have danced during my wedding. It was just dance-dance-dance from day 1. It has been quite a different experience from the one I imagined. For example I used to think the poor bride and groom must be feeling so silly and stupid during their reception when they are sitting on the stage with a Colgate smile on their face while the whole world is staring at them, enjoying good food and music, having friendly banter with friends and family, etc, etc.. The bride and groom must be so nervous being the centre of attraction. However I had a very different experience; I was pretty calm during the reception and it was an event filled with fun and laughter. Thanks to the almighty, there were no scary moments. Even though the number of actual guests was twice the expected numbers and the baarat travelled for 6 hours to reach the venue, everything was perfect. There was no shortage of food, place to stay, vehicles to carry the guests around or any other itty-bitty things that are needed. There were no bitter words exchanged between anyone, no delays, no mood swings, no tantrums from any of our relatives, etc – there was actually not a single thing to complain about during the whole wedding. It was just Perfect! All the functions starting with Chaak Bhaat to Sangeet to Wedding and the Bidaai went on smoothly. All of my as well as M’s relatives and friends were closely involved in all the things.

There were many new concepts that were tried during various functions in my wedding ceremony – at least new as per the general Marwari wedding that takes place. We had a very well planned and choreographed Sangeet. Till the penultimate day, we had thought it would be a flop show but it turned out to be one big hit. :-) I along with my friends and relatives danced a lot in my chaak bhaat –Brides don’t usually attend it. On the day of the wedding, when I was supposed to go to the stage for Varmaala, I was taken their in a Doli with my chachaji’s and friends holding it in their shoulders. My chachis, bhabhis, mom, sisters and friends were dancing in front of the Doli on the music of a Bandstand that was following us at our side. On reaching the stage, I came out of the Doli and joined my dad, mom, friends, some close relatives who were dancing near the stage. M was also pulled in and forced to do bhangara.. :-) The Doli concept turned out to be the HIGH point of the marriage. People are still talking about it – both at my parent’s and in-law’s side.

(During all this time I was silently contemplating as to why I was not feeling scared or apprehensive or different about my new life – maybe it was because of the comfort level I have with M. He is so frank and approachable that I can always be myself with him. I have shared so many of my stupid talks/experiences/thoughts with him, it’s a wonder that he still went ahead and married me. Poor M. I warned him enough :-D)

After the wedding, I reached my in-law’s place. After spending 2 days there (everyone who is anyone came to see me and gave me goodies as part of my muh-dikhai), we started for our planned trip to Thailand. Let it be sufficient to say I had a great time there with M. While coming back from there, I stopped at my parent’s house and celebrated Christmas there with my family. At our home, we celebrate Christmas in a big way. Getting a tree and putting it in the Aangan, decorating it with lights and streamers, playing music at full blast and dancing. Generally my little sister and kid bro call their friends. This time around with M also in the picture, the celebration had an added fervor. On 26^th I was back at my in-laws place. We had to start back for Blr on 28^th, however I started feeling a little feverish on 27^th and got really high fever on 28^th. I and M had to extend our vacation due to this. I did fall sick however the amount of care and pampering that I got from my in-laws just made up for all the cold shivers, pain and fever. :-)

So all in all it was a thoroughly satisfying vacation. I could not have even dreamt of a better wedding. And now I am back in Bangalore. You know after being at home for 5 weeks, you have to physically push yourself everyday to go to office everyday and that’s what I have been doing for sometime now. ;-)