Shopping! The word itself lits up many eyes specially for the ladies out there but not necessarily for all 😉 (let me play little safe here :P)
Wedding dates rushing super fast and there had to be a short trip back to India to complete all the shopping! By look of it, it seems a simple task but when you really get into a wedding shopping then the list is humongous. Aunts, uncles, cousins, friends. The list goes on and on!!
Thanks to parents and my master mind brother, we could chalk out a list with what things needs to be bought, where and how many. Sometimes, if you have a plan and act accordingly then it’s as simple as it is. So was our wedding shopping. Trust me, with everything set prior to my touch down, one and half days we winded up almost everything.
Bengaluru is just an amazing place to be and we got to buy few saris from the Weaver’s themselves. Big brands buy from these and we end up paying double the price for just the brand. Some beautiful sari from these Weaver’s were very pleasant to the eyes. Also, we ended up in one wholesale shop for sari known to my fiancee and end to end sari selection was completed in record time of 4hrs 🙂 Even though I wasn’t very actively involved in it, but the way these guys sell those is magnificent. By the look of it, you can’t say which is what and unless and until you have in-depth knowledge about silks you can be caught off guard and duped easily.
Finally! I get the video from the Mehendi dance which I was referring to in my earlier post. Haven’t read it yet? – Here is the link to the same: Big Fat Konkani Wedding 🙂
It was amazing to be back on stage once again after my masters 🙂 I know you all were badly waiting to see me dance 😛
It was almost a month and a half earlier since I had applied for my leaves and getting back to India for a short vacation was just too exciting! Nah, don’t go by the title, I wasn’t going for my wedding 🙂 It was my cousin’s wedding. More than the wedding it was the full family get together along with time being spent with parents and brother that was getting me excited. Finally, April 30th,2015 – India did beckon 🙂
The to-do tasks on my cellphone were more and with wedding around, time was quite less in hand. When you have mom around you, then there is nothing to worry about! Forget everything and leave it to her. She knows what is the best. That’s why she is called mom 🙂
Family 🙂
The weddings in our Konkani tradition are usually a 3 day thing but with the introduction of Mehendi and Reception, it’s a big 5 days wedding!
Day 1 – Vadap – It is a very close family gathering wherein the elders who are no more with us are remembered and respected by keeping dhoti for gents and sari for women followed by lunch. Its kind of short ritual which is known as “Vadap”. The next day was the mehendi and hence, all cousins from our side had planned for a small dance program which as usual dint have any preparations done. It was almost after ages we all cousins were meeting together in one place and the happiness was beyond boundaries and by having our lil angel Nadantika( my cousins daughter ) amongst us, the happiness was beyond expression of words.
The practice for the dance started at around 8pm, with all contributing actively towards the same. As the guys side too had planned for quite a few numbers, we girls side dint want to stand back and watch. Humko bhi dikhana tha 😉 It was a simple stand and dance with a combination of various songs such as ‘Washing Powder Nirma’, ‘Jaane Ja’, ‘Bhaag dk Bose’ and many more with the final one coming from Ulidavru Kandante movie – The Tiger dance 🙂 the tiger dance is very famous dance in the south part of India where guys gets painted with Tiger stripes and dance to the tunes of various hit numbers as well as the typical tiger beat from the drums. We made sure, the brides dad too was part of this final act of Tiger Dance 🙂
Day 2 – Mehendi Day – was absolutely wonderful with our simple yet effective dance winning us lot of appreciations! Job well done with just over 2hrs practice 🙂 Special thanks to our choreographer @hemukamath for all the in-depth details 🙂 more than anything else, the star performer for the day was Nadantika with her solo for the song – “Radha on the Dance floor”. She was looking absolutely gorgeous with her attire and her steps with expressions just made the day wonderful! I so wanted to post a video of our dance but I am yet to receive a copy of the same. Will happen soon, as I know you are super excited to see my dance 😛
Stand and Dane 🙂Mehendi
Day 3 – Vade Tandul Dhuvche – This day, the whole family is invited wherein water is pulled out from the well and the rice is washed over in order to prepare a different type of vada(no, not the idli sambhar vada 😉 ) and is served over to all which is followed by Pooja and sumptuous Konkani lunch 🙂 Basically a women centric ritual where men just have the job of driving women to the destination and back 😉 After the noon function and lunch, evening we cousins played out a game called “TABOO” which was just too amazing! Haven’t heard about this game from funskool? Google.com is waiting for you 😛 Thanks to Pujan for introducing us to this lovely game. Taboo was followed by ‘Sweet Packing’ 🙂 It was just amazing to have all sit in one place, pulling each others legs and get the job done in a jiffy! More the people more merry it is.
Gorgeous LadiesSweet Packing!
Day 4 – Wedding day – Just suit up and pose for pics 🙂 That’s all we have to do as most of the work is for bride, the groom and their parents! The selfie stick from flipkart did the trick for me even though I did not get the one I had ordered for but the one I got too was good enough to click some lovely images during the complete ceremony 🙂 the photo booth idea was quite a nice one with various hoardings to hold and pose at! The heat was unbearable due to which, food consumption just went way too low with water being the only saviour. The best part of being at a wedding is that, you get to meet so many friends and family members who you can catch up with at one place! It was indeed a pleasant function with lots of memories to take away from. Good as well as bad 🙂
GentleMen 🙂The Dudes!Cousins with the BrideBig Family 🙂Handsome HunksCousins!Pretty Mom and Handsome Dad!🙂Bharath Mata Ki Jai 🙂With my Angel – Nadantika
Day 5 – Reception – Mangalore was the place of reception. It was a very formal function marking the end to the big wedding. The only though running through out my mind was next day is the last day of my vacations and sooner I will have to get back to work!
After so much fun over a week time with family and coming back now to Singapore, it was just amazing to recollect in this post the super awesome moments I spent back in India. Family is one thing that always is by you any time of the day and any number of times – Just a phone call away! 🙂
Arun and Archana – Happy Married Life.
Wishing Arun and Archana a very Happy Married Life 🙂
Met him during my first year of engineering, looked very innocent. Just looked – nothing more than that when I really got to know him. A silent killer you can say. A day scholar during the first two years and then a hostellite ( forced to be one and he cursed being one every single day – only reason was FOOD 😛 ).
Had an amazing time during the final 2 years of engineering with this chap. My benchmate, lab mate, project mate.. STOP!! Nothing more than that . 🙂
There were definitely many so-called EVENTS happening during the 4 years of my stay with this fellow, but I would definitely want to highlight 2 of the MANY 🙂
1. Classes were scheduled at 9 and this great friend of mine would start his MAKEUP session at 8.55. If it’s just a couple of days I would say, by mistake happens, but no, this was his routine. EVERY SINGLE DAY we were late to class. 9.10 or so we knocked the door and disturbed the whole class. 😛 😛
2. A principal during our final year of engineering introduced a new rule of DRESS CODE for the students. Guys were supposed to wear formal and gals only salwar. This friend of mine except for a couple of trousers and formal shirts dint have anything else but JEANS just like me. The principal had a very bad habit ( good according to him ONLY) of opening the class door right in the middle of the lecture as if a fire has broke out in the college and he has come to ask us to flee :P. This was an Operation Research class going on and Santosh was asked to answer a question which he of course dint know :P. Cladded in a tee and jeans he was standing as if the lecturer was praising him. He then made it a point to get me also into the trap.
There we were standing tall and BANG, the principal enters ( FIRE flee alarm 😛 ) and we both pop down :P. It was instant reaction from both of us, door opens, we see his spectacles and we sit down. The lecturer then, I dunno why complained to the ALARM fellow, we were the culprits. We dint know the answer – first thing, second we are in our tees and jeans :). MEET ME IN THE CHAMBER was the order. I fell into the trap because of this great fellow.
We escaped unhurt from the FIRE though, that is a different issue, but the way he used to drag me into the well along with him when he fell was his genius tactic 😛 That’s what FRIENDS are for ain’t it? 🙂
Time flew so fast. Its 3 years since we completed our engineering and today after going through a lot of troubles there he is getting married to the one he loved dearly. Nobody knows when he fell in love and when all this happened 😛 CHUPA RUSTAM 🙂 Happy for you bro. God bless and may you both get all that you desire for 😛 (P.S: as i have told you previously, when you come to my wedding which will be in an around 3 years from now, two babies on each lap is the want 😛 :P)
The sad part is, being his dear friend I couldn’t make it to his wedding ceremony due to my Masters exams which was scheduled right then. Sorry bro, but will surely make it to your kids cradling ceremony 😛 😛
Moments Through The Journey 