Miss me much?

Hola!!! Spare me the glares, mutters and after-how-long looks!! I know.. I know.. Do forgive. I had work and lots of it. So much that I've actually been zoning off in the middle of conversations because I'm thinking up points for a presentation. I have been meaning to post about my brother's wedding but work kept me away. Anyways, I am here now, so here goes...

My little bro married his sweetheart on April 20. Eight years of love and commitment culminated into a lifelong bond. He and N are a great match and I am really proud of him for doing the right thing and standing by her.

The wedding was a blast! 4 days of fun, gossiping or "catching-up" as the aunts called it, halla-gulla shor sharaba and nachna gaana. There was total mayhem, pandemonium even.. Truly, there's nothing to beat a "family wedding"!!!! The entire mad and ...er.. slightly khandaan was in attendance, 3 generations in all from the funny mamu to the short-tempered nana chachu to the gossipy mausi. Met scores of relatives who I never knew existed (and who were all very knowledgeable about me and my various childhood preferences and talents ["You could eat five ice creams before I could say Peekaboo!", "You once ate 4 plates of Poori and then you had most of my halwa too!", "You sang Midhundas songs all the time !!"..erm..(what the?!)..and so on]).

The ‘ghadholi’ was on April 17th, where all the aunties, bhabies and sisters apply ‘haldi’ to the groom. This does get a bit nasty cause they literally tear the groom’s clothes off. Bro was seen running along the swimming pool section holding on to his shorts. while the bhabies were after him, trying to get it off. After this chaos, we have the sisters and bhabies filling up clay-pots with water…with this groom has to take his bath.

Mehendi lunch was on April 18th with the bride side (again the first of it’s kind. We usually have separate functions). Here we had the ‘mehendiwalies and (some)walas’ along with few ‘chudiwalas’. So all the ladies went crazy over the mehandi and bangles, while the men were busy munching on the food and deserts. Once again, no wedding function is complete without some "dance shance". We had the ‘dhol-walas’ and the whole crowd got into the spirit of things and did an impromptu ‘filmi-ishstyle govinda’ dance.

Morning of April 19th saw us decking-up for the Sangeet and Cocktails (scheduled for the evening). Cousins opened a mini beauty salon at home. Moi in my peacock blue backless Lehenga Choli was the star of the evening. There was gaana bajaana, dancing and entertainment!!! Yours truly danced to gajra re, which incidentally got a lot of applause and requests for a repeat performance!! (Pointed Look!!)

On the wedding day, we had the "pagdi" and "ghur chari" function, where all the men have turbans placed on their heads along with the groom. Just before the ‘baraat’ is about to leave for the wedding place and the groom is about to sit on the ‘horse’. The sisters braid the horse’s hair or put kajal in the groom’s eyes. And then the baraat starts walking cum dancing towards the wedding venue.

The main wedding was at Le Royal Meridien. A typical Monsoon Wedding!! The timing couldn't have been more perfect!! Just as the baraat was getting ready to leave, the clouds burst over a sizzling Bangalore!!! Leastways, everyone got into the spirit of things and we did a rain dance all the way to the reception hall!! Then we had the old formalities, Jaimala, pheras, vows et al.

N looked gorgeous in her shimmery fresh green grass lehenga. Bro said yes to the seven vows so seriously, it almost made me cry!!! Ah, who am I kidding, I did!!! It was just beeeeeeooooootiful the wedding - will scrounge for pix and upload - hey, this is still the wedding of the year so pix are valid all the way till December.

While the wedding didn’t happen strictly according to family traditions but post-wedding, the family decided to follow the rituals to the T. So, after the vidaai when N came home and the Grihapravesh rituals were completed, she was asked who she would like to sleep with. Needless to say, she almost died! Knowing about a certain black-sheep slutty uncle in the family, who is known to have had some 25 girl friends in his salad days, she thought it was some twisted little family tradition where she had to choose who she could sleep with! Luckily for her, while my family is crazy, it is not that crazy!

Actually, according to the customs, the newly married couple is not supposed to spend the first night at the guys house together. It’s called some ratri. So, it was decided much against A’s wishes that N would sleep with Nani Chachi. N looked positively freaked; this was not the kind of first night she had imagined! But ultimately M (cousin sis), N and I slept in the same room. However, N had the last laugh when the next morning a couple of her friends called to ask indecent questions about the first night and she, rather gleefully, told them she had slept with her husband’s sisters!!! The love-birds left for their honeymoon to Malvides on April 22.

Ma handled the wedding pressure very well even though she looks a tad tired today and slept most of the day. She missed her radiation this week.. something which I am not very happy about. She was really the life of the wedding. Pulling everyone together and dancing to Mujhe Buddha mil gaya. She seemed so happy and carefree. La vie - c'est vraiment bizarre! C'est difficile, très difficile, mais on survivra!

.. of pills and spells

I've been almost entirely on liquids, through yesterday. It's not just the heat. I'd been having these dark, dizzy spells. Normally, I'm not a dizzy kind of girl - I don't faint, as a rule, and definitely not simply because it is hot and I'm used to air-conditioning etc.

But I guess the heat and my own erratic eating got to me. Yesterday, I was tottering every time I tried to stand, and worse, when I lay down, my head would feel wobbly - like it were filled with melty caramel custard (btw, why is custard spelt 'tard' and not 'turd'?). The whole ceiling spun.

I kept thinking it would pass, if I just lay down still and breathed deeply.... but that wasn't happening. So, I rummaged through the medicine chest (actually, an old chocolate box) and swallowed evey single vitamin-mineral-tablet I could find. Then, I made myself a hot cuppa chai, followed by milk shake, followed by some lemonade, followed by tomato soup... And it worked! Today, the feet are steady and the head, though it still misses a skull-like solidity, is filled with something more like frozen jelly than melty custard.

The week that it was...

My blog is gathering dust, says RM. I know, I know, it's been a real long time since I've updated.... My excuse is that life happens. And who was it that said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."? Here's the low down on all that has been happening while I was planning the agenda.

Let's start with Thursday. It was a big day for me. My directorial debut film was to be screened at the Company’s Annual State of the Union Address. As the evening approached, I was all “butterflies”. I had slogged my butt off to complete the movie on time and within budget. Needless to say, the movie was a great hit. The Super Boss, who is usually stingy with his praises, said that our SS’s talents are being wasted here. Everyone may want to take her autograph now because soon she will be a rich and famous Movie Director in Bollywood and may not have time for the likes of us. Truly, it was a Kodak moment for me. I was beaming ear to ear as I hogged the limelight. Good thing, on advise of a dear friend, I got myself a new dress. I looked stunning! Obviously, the weight-loss because of all the running around helped. :-) *grin*. Modesty is not quite my strongest point:-).

I transformed into a Blondie on Friday, courtesy TK, my wannabe hairdresser friend. She conned me into allowing her to highlight my hair and give it a beautiful burgundy hue. yet again! The last time around she gave me a makeover; I had to sprout a mushroom cut for over a year. She had cut my hair so short. I never learn from the past. I deserved to be a Blondie… and the brunt of the jokes at office.

Q: Did you hear about Pepsi's new soda just for Blondies?
A: It has "open other end" printed on the bottom.

Q: Why do Blondie's always rapidly flap their hands towards theirs ears?
A: They're refueling.

Q: Why did the Blondie purchase an AM radio?
A: She didn't want one for nights.

Q: Did you hear about the dead Blondie in the closet?
A: She was last years hide and seek winner.

Q: Why do Blondie's like lightning?
A: They think someone is taking their picture.

Q: Why do Blondie's have little holes all over their faces?
A: From eating with forks.

Q: Why do Blondie's drive BMWs?
A: Because they can spell it.

Q: Why do Blondie's have TGIF on their shoes?
A: Toes go in first.

Q: Why do Blondie's wear their hair up?
A: To catch as much as they can that is over their heads.

Saturday saw me rushing to catch the Jet Airways flight to Ahmedabad at 4:30 am. Less said about the travel the better. Air travel is becoming as bad as traveling by a Government bus. Ahmedabad was sizzling. Temperatures had soared up to 44 degrees. I was visiting Nirma Institute of Technology for an Off-campus recruitment. 900+ students appeared for the Aptitude and Skill Assessment Test. Over the next 2 days, we screened them and finally picked up 14 Associates.

Nirma has a beautiful campus. Well for starters, there is this 5 star fully furnished guest-house with the full works: AC, plasma flat screen TV, electric kettles, comfy beds, 24 hr room service, electronic lockers and what not. Then step outside the guesthouse and you have gently undulating roads branching out into the various corners of the 300+ acre campus. Lush green verdant lawns, gorgeous buildings, neatly carved out paths and the general lavishness about the place. As this say in Guju, “aavjo”, I will be back.

On Monday, I bunked work. My body gave up on me and demanded rest. I had got back to Bangalore at 2:30 am courtesy Indian Airlines. We were made to wait at Mumbai airport for 4 hours for the connecting flight… And they say privatizing is a bad thing!!

I rested for a couple of hours and then got bored. Went out shopping with Ma. Didn't enjoy it much to start with. But a new skirt, two new tops, one kurta given to be tailored, not to mention two other cholis given for tailoring perked one up a little. That and telling BP exactly what I thought of him. (m still mad at him for even suggesting that he was making plans to go out with the boys. For heavens sake, I just got back that morning) Made me feel so much better.

Met Belly for lunch. She too had just returned... from the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. She is a superb basketball player but basketball is a team sport and she cannot possibly win the matches by herself. She says Indians were a big embarrassment at the games despite being the 4th highest in the medal’s tally. The molestation of the female volunteer by an Indian masseur incident and doping by the weight-lifting team left a bad taste and Indians were shunned during the games. What a shame!

Tuesday: I came running back home early because BPS sulkily admitted that he was going flat-hunting and even said that I could come if I wanted to. Well, of course I wanted to -- as if I'd let him choose a place all by himself! In case I didn’t mention it earlier, we are planning to buy a flat. This particular place was in DD. A cute 3 BR duplex apartment with a terrace garden. I fell in love the minute I saw it. The owner is very greedy and has quoted an astronomical amount. BP is negotiating and is hopeful of closing the deal.

On Wednesday, Ma had invited people over for dinner. She is the best cook in the whole wide world. The yummy cheese fritters cheered me up tremendously. I wore this beautiful sari, wafer-thin, light orange chiffon with tatting flowers stitched on. The flowers were made by Di for my trousseau. Needless to say, I looked gorgeous. Hubby couldn't keep his eyes (and hands off)!

Today is (was)Thursday and I am down with a nasty cold. The star of the show is a runny nose, and of course I forgot my hanky! Can't wait to get back home. Have been staying with my mum since yesterday. I really needed the spoiling. Still have the blues… I could write the saddest poem tonight..

How life changes...

A while ago,
just a while... I was with you
& now here I am
a thousand miles away,
away from what was life to me...
and yet I live...

Promises

"When we were together you used to cry
You said I love you like the stars above
You are my jaan
I’ll love you till I die"

You are still alive, aren’t you?