Is this IT??

And finally the big day was here.. The day both the families have been dreaming, eating,drinking and sleeping for the past six months. And the reason our (Chaitu n me) eating drinking sleeping were terribly affected for the past six months. One would have thought it must be a loooongg day with loads and loads of rituals and customs to be adhered to. Specially ME, the bride, who was made to wake up at 3 a.m. Why? to be applied Haldi upon by all the 'Suhagans' in the house. This was followed by a spa-like experience which I probably will never experience in the bestest of the world spas. My naani gave me the world's bestest oil massage and scrubbed my body with 'besan and haldi' so that I would glow like a new bride apparently.. followed by a hot shower. By now I thought I was wide awake and ready to take on the world. Bring it on baby!!

5:00 A.M - Lakshmi Puja - I was officially being made the dulhan now with this puja which was quite short n sweet. (My head was quickly calculating the amt of time I had for a quick nap, before heading to the venue)

6.00 A.M - Satyanarayana Puja - My dreams were promptly cut short by this next activity . By this time I'm thinking how my wedding photographs are gonna be a disaster coz at this rate I'lldefinitely look like a zombie by 6:00 P.M which is when it was scheduled to start!

8:30 A.M -False Alarm - The Puja was finally over and all the women in the house had finished filling my lap with dozens of blouse pieces and loads of envelopes as thier aashirwad. I still had 2 hours before I'm supposed to reach the venue for engagement, out of which one hour I'll need to get ready., YAY I had a free hour.. UMM. Nope. The photographer is behind my life for a photo session upstairs and he wanted to me to tidy myself up a bit and not look so sleepy. Can u imagine his guts??? Bloody.. anyway I had to oblige as this was the day where I had surrendered myself to the mercy of parents, pandits, photographers and beauticians. My body didnt belong to me anymore and my Mind - I wasn't allowed to use it. So there - I was actually a zombie!

11:30 A.M - Which bride has ever arrived on time in this world? I had to keep up to this global norm and arrived at the venue only to find the groom party waiting at the gate. Ooops.. I quickly slipped inside the venue, of course they did see me and smirked while mumbling under thier nose..'hey bhagwan, yeh aajkal ki ladkiyan'

1:00 P.M - Which event has ever started on time in India?? Keeping up with this tradition as well, after a 2 hour delay, we finally got engaged followed by Haldi.. yes yet again.!!!

6:P.M - My beautician almost had a cardiac arrest with the amount of stress I gave her OCD-ing over my make up and finally I was ready to my satisfaction by this time. The baraat arrives, varmaala happens, kilos of colourful rice is poured upon us in the name of aashirwad by the flurry of relatives. and 3 hours later - we were MARRIED. As I said in my earlier posts, a lot of firsts happened in this wedding, to add to that list - all my relatives were wide awake unlike any other andhra wedding where except for the parents they only come to eat and doze off. Simply coz it was intriguing for them to see a maharashtrian wedding. And Lastly, the most fun part was the dance performances put up by my sisters and my best friends. The only part of the day when I was finally "ME"; was on the open dance floor complete with my Thumka's and Desi girl numbers!! Woah what a wedding.

But at the end of the day or night rather - When I finally retired after half a dozen saree changes and changed into my last comfy clothes of the day and 4 mangalsutras hanging form my neck (yes, 2 from maayka and 2 from sasural.. dont ask), I realised that our relationship is now out in the open. This day has added many life-long responsibilities, this day it ceased being a relationship, this day was the beginning of our MARRIAGE.

When did I start writing??

You might think, whats the big deal??? Anyone can write.. well not me.. unless its a script that I'm forced to write at the cost of my job or typical channel type mail to a prod house or a prod house type mail to a channel (which I'm very good at by the way).. My TV friends would understand this...I've never really sat down and wrote something for myself and on my own!!

So basically, it all started when it was time to send out our wedding invites and I sat in front of my laptop thinking.. 'Its so weird inviting people for my own wedding... How do I do this??' But call it magic or some wierd dream (I'd choose the latter). that I just woke up one fine morning and started to type out some lines.. (I'm not kidding..u can ask my mum this, coz that day she didnt have to kick me out of my bed and..Boy.. was she surprised??) and Voila.. I managed to spill some sweet lines and my invite was ready.. Of course I had to send it to Chaitu to take a lil looksie.. and Boy was he surprised tooo.. okay okay.. enuf bragging about myself.. Here it is..

This day I will marry my friend, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with and Love forever. May God give me the strength!

The much awaited day has finally arrived,

When Chaitanya shall take Vani's hand

Tying us both in Holy Matrimony,

Solemnizing our Love, together we'll stand

It's the day when South unites with the West,

We shall be honoured, if you be our guest!

Its not much...But its straight from my heart.

Peace & Love
Vani

A New Day Has Come

Well It must be a really good day then.. Coz I, who used to hate anything to do with writing /typing, have suddenly got this anxious urge to start writing (without copying) about myself, my life.. things affecting me... and if I still have time, a bit about the rest of the world.

I can attribute this urge to the fact that I'm currently jobless.. chilling at home in Hyderebad.. getting fed by Mum. Of course the jazz I have given everyone - "Oh I'm taking a break from work.. coz im getting married in a couple of days.. so taking the time off to set up my life". Which is kinda true too.. but the truth is that there are NO JOBS.. Those who are reading my first blog must definitely know what I do for living.. So unless someone wants to offer me a job as a gift for my wedding.. Dont ask me what do I want as my gift :P

That brings me to to the current excitement in my life.. WEDDING. Whoever blames Yashraj and K-Jo films to be over the top must really witness the drama that is my wedding.. coz Indian weddings are no less such similar drama.. and in my case of an Andhra+Maharashtrian wedding, it a double dramatic bonanza film. Also introducing a Punjabi touch with a Mehendi/sangeet and a special dance performance by family & friends.. never seen before spectacle in both the communities.

So basically its a lot of 'Firsts' in my khaandaan.. a Love-cum-arranged marriage, People dancing and singing and a Non-Andhra wedding.. whether this will be a good or bad example I'm setting for the next in line.. we'll all know as soon as this volcano subsides, in the meantime, I'm definitely enjoying the Queen Bee status amongst all my cousins and the little ones who suddenly have taken me as thier idols and seek my advice on every move of thier puppy love as I call it and 'its just friendship, akka' as they say.. Scary kids these days..

I hereby swear that this blog shall be a witness of all the significant events affecting me n my closed ones (the ones I choose to share:P) and my personal views (not intending to harm anyone or any community) on certain current affairs that directly or indirectly affect me n me closed ones.

Peace to all and Love to You;)
Vani