A Thankful Reminder !!!

It's been a while now since I have faced the writer's block, and somehow had nothing to pen down. Festivals came by and went on their way for yet another year, but there was nothing special to write about them since there was nothing different than the previous year. But then today, I came across a random video (through one of my FB friend) that prompted me to at-least scribble some thoughts and express my opinion. 

Whether or not you believe in God, this post is not about what is correct spiritually and what is correct morally, and I am not here to make a statement. It's up to each individual's nature and the way they can interpret this post and think wisely.

How many times have we seen ourselves standing in front of the God, in a temple, mosque or a church, head down, hands folded, praying for our well-being, asking God for things that we do not have, pleading God to give us more and more, wishing we had this and we had that, or begging not to have this and not to have that. I myself, included, have been a part of this daily/weekly/monthly ritual of walking up to the God and complaining about things in our surroundings, going through our wish list, grumbling about certain short comings, and sometimes blatantly asking for something stupid.

After seeing the video below, I must say, there could be plenty of such videos, literature, news, articles and what not circling the web and many of us might have gone through them, and then carried on with our routine. Most probably, watching this video, and reading this blog, I myself, and you too would just care less and carry on with your daily life, go back to what you do best, and simply forget about this. Most of you would just shrug their shoulders and say what can I do, while on a positive side some of you might just learn something on your own through this post and the video. 

Either ways, I am not here to guide or to instruct anyone with what one should do and should not do. I am here just to share this video, and through that my ultimate aim is to just TRY to see if my message, my blog post and this video, touches even one single soul and if there is something he/she needs to mend in how they live their daily life, and if they do, I would have served my purpose, and in doing so I believe this applies on me too.

My only message after watching this video, is not to ask you for loads of donation, or ask for any kindness, or to walk you through a moral science chapter from school days, but I would surely like to ask you to check yourself the next time when you ask something from God. I would urge you to think about this video when you are about to waste a morsel of food in your plate just because you ended up serving yourself a bit more. It would be worth remembering these unlucky children when you are keeping your water tap running while you are checking your FB news feed on the phone. You would want to check yourself and someone at the table, if you/he/she has a habit of wasting food and make them understand that there are people around the world, who barely get to drink a small cup of milk in a fortnight. There are people, who have to struggle to earn themselves the luxury of a glass of water. For you a piece of cloth might be junk just because there is a mark of pen on it, but for someone that could serve as a cloth to build a tent and live under it. 

Remember this video and ask your self whether you are lucky enough to have what you already have, and whether you should still be complaining, grumbling and cribbing about what you DO NOT have? Would it be fair enough on your part, to always waste what you have, misuse what you have been gifted with and yet ask for MORE and MORE? Would you still consider yourself unlucky if you miss out on some kind of opportunity and curse God for that? Or would you rather be satisfied with what you already have?

Kindly do not forget, you have been lucky enough to live the life that you are currently living, and you have already been gifted, and so instead of sulking about what you do not have, try, simply try, to make an effort of not misusing or wasting what might mean nothing for you, but for the underprivileged unlucky ones, those things mean the world. It's your good Karma that is helping you in this birth, and it would be your good Karma that will help you even further !

Cheers

Samy

Adios Virage Logic, Bienvenido Synopsys !!!

One may come across such a point in his/her life when you feel that the world has come to a stop, as if you are onto a tumbling upside down ride of different emotions and hardly can look through the misty clouds hovering above in your mind. The time for which such events last, varies from some minutes to maybe days and months, but the end result is all that matters.

Something of similar sorts, is what I could describe from last week's pulsating topsy turvy set of events where the nerves got more and more intense with each passing day and ultimately what me and many others went through on a Friday could be hardly paid any justice through words unless experienced in person(which I pray no one has to go through). A day of riveting ups and downs, many anxious moments, lots of deep breathes and a sigh of relief at the end for many, while some disheartened hearts for some, it was all about the Synopsys acquisition of my pre-friday employer Virage Logic.

The entire last week was filled with some fun, food and a tad bit of drama, as ultimately after BBQs, team lunches, Bocce Ball games it all came down to one single day - Friday ! Tension was in the air and everyone could smell something's cooking up, as we all awaited with bated breath for the verdict on our professional futures. For me personally, it was a traumatizing night before, feeling all restless, hardly managing to get some few hours of sleep.

Since Thursday night, the NavkarMantras (Holy scriptures) were on my lips, smiling nervously thinking about what is gonna happen tomorrow. Spent a few quality minutes to my self early in the morning in the temple, and the butterflies in my stomach took some rest, but only for a few moments, as they were up and creating havoc inside as I reached my cubicle. As it happened to be, we were asked to remain in our cubes until our managers/boss comes and tells us whether we have a job or not !

Oh Well ! The tic toc tic toc, the slow winding down of the clock began and it seemed to be ages as the clock hands just would not feel like budging and moving a bit faster. The nerves were intense, and the engineering floor where I sit was observing some kind of a dead silence to an extent, and one can literally hear the sound of the AC vents and some random keyboard clicking elsewhere. An eerie surrounding prevailed as everyone waited for their supervisors to drop by and break the news to them.

Even while this was happening, there were some farewell emails that started popping up in my mail box, and that brought more pressure and tension kept on mounting. On the light side, I must have had so many deep breaths, that I could have easily opened up a profitable balloon shop business inflating tons of them with my deep sighs of breathing. The clock struck 9.30, 10, 10.30, 11, 11.30 and even at noon there were almost no news.

And then, finally some minutes past noon, people around me started heaving a sigh of relief as they were called upon by their managers and given the good news about them being secured. I waited, and waited and even waited more, looking to the Gods I have on my desk every 2 minutes or so, the mantras on my lips since morning, biting my lips all over, trying to stay as warm as I could feel the shivers running up and down my spine, my feet went cold and my mind could not concentrate or focus at all. All these and still no news !

All week long I was joking about why I have kept a small refrigerator in my cube for such situations, where if I would have to face some devilish situations, I would just fit myself into the refrigerator and freeze myself until the evil time passes by. But now those jokes were no more funnier as no one could avoid the inevitable and then after all these trauma, finally, my boss steps by and tells me with a big grin on his face that I am safe !

Phew ! The magnitude at which I let off my bated breath was such that it could have brought a small tremor to the entire building. But wow ! I was like phew ! And so it happened, that amongst this wild whirlwinds, most of us were not affected including me, and I beamed with joy as I was handed the official paperwork from Synopsys. I took a deep breath, for the last time that day, went over the paperwork, took the binder, took my laptop, the car keys, and just went straight out of the office building and drove back home. I could not imagine myself spending even one more moment in my cubicle that day !

My heart goes out to those affected, and for some of my best friends at work, whom I did not even get a chance to say good-bye. It was a painful exercise for everyone, but a new beginning beckons. The feeling is sinking in slowly and steadily, and we are still away from actually migrating to a different location yet, but I hope the new work culture and this change brings more new opportunities and new benefits for me and for everyone else :)))

So it's been a tremendous ride with Virage Logic and our CEO was quite emotional a day before during the company BBQ when he personally handed over the first ever Virage Logic t-shirt to the Synopsys CEO and the keys to the Virage Logic building to the Synopsys VP under whom we would be operating.

So finally, after a plethora of emotions, and a flurry of anxious moments, the wait is finally over and it's time to bid Virage Logic Adios and extend a warm Bienvenido to Synopsys :)

Cheers
Samy

Celebrating Love !!!

Apparently as we all know time flies by, and sometimes it takes it own sweet and slow road, whereas in most of the cases it just whizzes past us in today's fast paced life. No matter how your time goes by, it's the memories that remain, slow or fast, ups and downs, good or bad - all that matters is how you have lived those moments.

Reflecting back upon time, the two most noteworthy events that happened to change my life big time, happen to fall in the month of August. One of them changed how I would end up career wise whilst the second event which is by far the most closest to my heart happened to change the way my heart would beat for the rest of my life.

On the whole the first event happened to add substance to my life while the second love-filled life changing emotional moment happened to add a whole new meaning and an entirely different dimension to my life.

It would deem unfair if I was to jump directly to the second event without mentioning a bit about the first one, only for the sole reason that if it was not for the substantial first event that took place, I would not have got a chance to witness the second one. Or maybe I would have ? God knows ! So not to confuse between the first and the second any more, I would like to mention that 1st of August marked my 6 years in the US. As it happens to be I came for my Master's in USC and that was the first step which changed my life on the career front, added some substantial goals and aims to my life and helped me grow from a 21-year old naive young man to a much more matured and an experienced individual where I stand today.

I still remember those anxious sad moments, those teary eyes and those heart-skipping moments on the Ahmedabad airport when I was about to board the flight. I feel quite nostalgic about it and this has been the same feeling that has crept into my heart every time I have gone home since then and came back. Each and every single time, the feeling of leaving my home and my parents and not seeing them for yet another 11 months has made me gloomy, sad and has given me watery eyes - no matter how hard I try to be strong. It has been a long journey and am not sure how and where this would take me but some things are better left to fate I must say.

Well fast-forward from 2004 to 2008 and rewinding back from 2010 to 2008, 9th of August, marks another important "life-changing" event that took place in my life, which happened to make my heart beat not only for me but it also started singing along the rhythm of someone else's heart beats too. It was this day that I went down on one knee and proposed Dipali to come join me in my quest to fill our lives with love and emotions. The entire experience of that day and how I managed to gather my guts to propose her are composed here :: Click Here !

As I went through that post, one more time today, I still got some goosebumps and would give anything to move back in time and go through it once again ! (PS:: Only this time, I would ask her to be lenient on the drinking limit instead of completely cutting it off for me lol... And of-course would not miss my opportunity to ask her dad for some $$$$ Dowry). No matter how much we try we can never turn back time. All one can do is just relive those moments yet again in a similar yet different way and experience love.

It's been a tremendous journey, filled with lots of love, fights, likes and dislikes, pillow wars and night full of snores, cheeks pulling and hair clinching moments, but at the end, it has been a great emotional roller-coaster ride with my love.

I am sure those who have gone through such love and emotions, would agree with me, that such events do change the way you portray your future, the way you think and dream about where and what you would want to do down the line, now that you have someone to look and care for, and especially how would you want your life's puzzle to play out with your partner by your side. One would definitely have a vision of you and your better half scaling new heights and conquering new fronts in the quest of life.

For me, I see myself playing Poker on the front porch of my home, with a stick in my hand, a little bald, my teeth lying in a glass container, and Dipali putting up a sweet Poker Face, trying to win it all. She would still have that zeal, she has now, to call ALL IN, and go up and down in her chair after winning.

As, for me, I am, and would have already been a winner by then with her by my side :), smiling at her cute little beaming face filled with joy at winning a card game. And a fantastic reality check for me would be when she would stand up, take the coins and pose in front of me, expecting me to stand on my weak feet, take out the SLR and shoot some 100-200K pics, which I guess I would obediently love to do !!!

Love You Jaana !!! Muha !

Cheers
Samy

Happy Birthday - Dad and Mom !!!

So as the story goes, my Dad does make a good point to justify the love that exists for my Mom by saying that he had his eyes set, his heart determined and his future foreseen right from the moment he was born.

When asked the meaning behind this story, he rightly explains it by mentioning that he was born the 18th of July 1958 and my Mom came following his love for her, one and a half day later, on 20th July 1958. So with affection in his eyes, my Dad says, I was falling in love with this cute damsel who was there in the hospital just two beds away from me. And that is how their love began and flourished !!!

I still remember, come July and their birthdays meant special dinner treats outside, and living room filled with fresh roses (which eventually stopped due to religious sin reasons), and delicious cakes all week long :). But one memory that stands out for me personally is receiving money from both ends and scurrying around to find an appropriate "Happy Birthday to a lovely Wife" and "Happy Birthday to a lovely Husband" cards. I still remember riding my bike all the way to far off stores on C.G. Road and buying such cards and facing surprising looks from some old uncle or a crooked lady behind the counter who would look at this boy with curly hair, and wondering as to why is he buying Husband and Wife cards.

The challenge for me would be to bring those cards back in the home base, trying to avoid the sniper eyes of my parents (especially my dad, whom I have known to have possessed not just one but maybe 3-4 set of eyes all fixed around his smart, witty and intelligent head and who always seem to catch me even with his eyes closed for all my mischiefs). I remember tucking these cards in my t-shirts, books, cricket bat covers and what not. Somehow I would manage to slip these cards in the respective person's hands without the other one catching attention. 

I also had the privilege of getting every child's fascination fulfilled - the one where every young gun like me, would love to be a part of a surprise (especially gifts and parties) and somehow have a sense of satisfaction of  being the ONLY one to be aware of which parent is planning what just a day apart. Mom would take me to a store to pick up a gift for Dad and Dad would do the same for Mom. It felt something special to beam with joy and inner superiority of having been a part of both sides gift choosing moments.

Well I have been deprived of those VIP privileges for almost 6 years now since I have been in the US but one thing that has not lost its charm is the dinner outings which Dad - Mom make it a point to definitely go out with. I am sure they are looking forward to having their son (and now their daughter too) with them to celebrate their birthdays, as much as I yearn to have them by my side for mine :).

So here is to a fantastic Dad - someone whom I have always admired for all his mental strength, never-say-die spirit, a fighting warrior with a truck load of patience - who has been by all means the best, the loving and the light-guiding DAD that anyone would always want...

And here is to a wonderful Mom - who by some sorts is the most strongest pillar of my family, emotionally and mentally, and has abundant love and care to shower upon her son (and a part of which is now being shared by my wifey ... Grrrr - I am used to being the ONLY ONE !!!) ...

H A P P Y      B I R T H D A Y     D A D    &   M O M 

I am lucky and I thank God every day for bestowing upon me such wonderful parents who are always looking upon me even as I grow older and they grow older with each passing year !!! World's Tightest Hug to you Both - Maa and Daddu !!! Muhaaa !!! 

Cheers

Samkit - Dipali

A Big Time Change !!!

Well to start with I was facing a big time writer's block, where I just could not figure out what to pen down over the past month or so. There were lot of activities and events that came by and went on their way, but nothing worth noting down up until last week. And just when I was wondering what to blog about, this piece of news flash came by and stirred up a series of new beginnings.

Even as my life was going on at a decent pace, I guess it was not meant to be going like that forever. Change is the only constant and it seems I am due (or forced) for a big time change on the professional front. After all it has been 3.5 years since I joined a bunch of fresh graduates entering the field, securing a job in the semi-conductor industry and embarking upon a career path just like any other individual (read "engineers") here in the Silicon Valley.

Well, as it happened on Thursday the 10th of June, amidst a flurry of small hushed discussions, some nervous laughters and some anxious moments, the news came in that my company Virage Logic (www.viragelogic.com) has been bought by Synopsys (www.synopsys.com) and as the news sunk in, I realized that this was a big time move, and happy or not, it dawned upon me that this could be either the beginning of an another exciting phase, or it could be a traumatizing struggle for a new beginning (and I pray to God this not be true), if things go haywire and don't turn out the way I pray it to be ;-).

The deal is expected to close by Synopsys end of Fiscal 2010, which is somewhere in Sept-Oct time frame, and so I guess the months leading into that final closure days, would be filled with curiosity, anxiousness and a tad bit of nervousness about the uncertainty of Virage employees and their job profiles. Speaking of which, I myself am gonna be in the middle of this whirlwind twisters and only God knows what would the final act be.

Nevertheless, let's hope for the best and stay prepared for the worst. 12 $ a share, a 315 million deal, 28 % premium, with the speculations of the entire Virage staff being moved to a new location near the Synopsys headquarters, this big time change brings in a lot of excitement (and hopefully it stays the same for a long time), but also brings a lot of doubts and insecurities into one's mind about what would the next level be and how would things churn out at the end, especially for the Virage staff.

Oh Well ! Time for a deep breath and let these months pass by. I wish for the best and I just hope for the good, but if not, then I at-least pray for the not-so-bad to happen :).

News Flashes about Synopsys acquiring Virage Logic and the latest updates ::

Link 1

Link 2

Cheers

Samy

Happy Mother's Day Maa !!!

This Sunday, 9th of May, would be just another regular day for some, but we need not forget that it happens to be also one of the most important days for someone special - someone who was born a girl, matured into a woman, became a wife and then God who thought as if it was not enough, he needed  to be at so many places and thus needed someone to represent his own self - went on to sculpt the most wonderful thing - He created Mothers !

Whether it's a new mom, a mom-to-be or a grand-mom, it's a day where we all should stop for a moment, take a step back and wish the moms a very happy Mother's day ! It's the day to give these special ladies the much deserved recognition, a round of heart felt applause and warm hugs only to appreciate a simple fact - that it's the mother who has unselfishly been the center of the spinning wheel of our life. It's a day to treat them to something special and acknowledge the time, efforts and perseverance of our sweet moms who has endlessly committed to doing the very best for the ones she loves, and only expecting to receive that same love in return.

It's worth a thought to realize how the role of a mother has changed over the years. There was a time when a mom was expected to take care of the daily household duties, raise her children, take care of her in-laws, look after her husband's routine - on the whole - dedicate her life to her family - and that would make a great mother. Between the laundry, raising children, cooking 2-3 square meals a day, shopping and even housekeeping to an extent, mom's have had hardly any time to their own self.

Significant as it may seem, the role of a modern mother in today's world has now changed - changed but not to exclude the already mentioned duties, but in fact to include even more on her platter. A 2010 super-mom, as we may want to tag, is someone who alongside her family duties, also is expected, maybe to work, handle a business, seek out and resolve new challenges other than the regular motherly duties.

Put it in a simpler way - Being a mother is in itself a life-time full-time job !

So let's make it a point this Mother's day, if not gift our mom something extravagantly surprising, even if not treating her to something nice (for those away from their moms), but then at-least just wish her from the bottom of our hearts and thank her for a simply "awesome" job she has done all these years in handling kids like us !

Happy Mothers Day to you Maa !

Wishing you a very happy mother's day maa, as I hug you to say a great great thanks for all the wonderful things that you have done for me and for our family, standing firm and confident through the thick and the thin, and more importantly for keeping up with a naughty, hard-to-handle, prankster, debateful child like me !

Cheers

Samy

Connect The Dots - Book Review !!!

The first glance at this new release sequel from Rashmi Bansal, and the book cover strikes a resembling chord with it's predecessor "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" - a book which talked about 25 IIM-A graduates who made it big. Of similar sorts, comes the "Connect The Dots" - a book that talks definitely about people who made it big, but those who actually did not pursue the path of an MBA and still managed to make their mark ! The title "Connect The Dots" has been derived from the same speech by Steve Jobs (@Stanford) where he mentioned about "Stay Hungry Stay Foolish".

People featured in this book are the not-so-well-known big guns of the industry but their stories and their endeavors are worth reading as to how they managed to fight their own way and carve out their own destiny in things that they believed did not need any formal educative knowledge or the accolades of being a MBA degree holder but survived only on one simple fact - Passion, hunger and the desire to succeed - come what may.

Of-course education does matter at some point of time, but the inspiring stories about these 20 entrepreneurs definitely makes one think twice (maybe thrice) as to whether the traditional way of following a path of education and then applying the formal knowledge is more fruitful or is it the unconventional, experimental, fearless option of saying no to a reputed degree and instead practically just throwing one's own self into the world of business turns out to be a more successful venture? 

Prominent names and their ventures covered under this title are:

Prem Ganapathy :: Dosa Plaza

Kunwer Sachdev :: Su-Kam

Ganesh Ram :: Veta

Sunita Ramnathkar :: Fem

M Mahadevan :: Oriental Cuisine

Hanmant Gaikwad :: BVG India

Ranjiv Ramchandani :: Tantra

Suresh Kamath :: Laser Soft

Raghu Khanna :: Cashurdrive

R Sriram :: Crossword

Saurabh Vyas and Gaurav Rathore :: PoliticalEDGE

Satyajit Singh :: Shakti Sudha

Sunil Bhu :: Flanders Dairy

Chetan Maini :: Reva

Mahima Mehra :: Haathi Chaap

Samar Gupta :: Trikaya Agriculture

Abhijit Bansod :: Studio ABD

Paresh Mokashi :: Harishchandrachi Factory

Krishna Reddy :: Prince Dance Group

Kalyan Varma :: Wildlife Photographer

These are real life stories of people ranging from such a diversified industrial background, people from Agriculture and Food, Politics, Photography and Theater, Software and Hardware, Re-cycling and Creative mediums, Cosmetics, Books and Education and even Housekeeping and Cleaning.

A good read I must say in my personal opinion, as Rashmi Bansal shines again with this yet another great book to learn about certain people's success/failure stories ! The book has been categorized in 3 major categories: Jugaad, Junoon and Zubaan !

Jugaad :: "These entrepreneurs have no formal training in business. They learnt by observation, experimentation and application of mind. Because ultimately, business is not 'rocket science'."

Junoon :: "Some entrepreneurs are driven by a particular idea, or passion. Something which is different, ahead of its time. These ventures are about making that dream, a living reality."

Zubaan :: "Creative people need a platform to express themselves. When that talent is unique, the platform must be created. And in doing so, the artist too becomes and 'entrepreneur'."

About the author ::

Rashmi Bansal blogs at :: Youth Curry

Connect The Dots Website ::  Click Here

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish Website :: Click Here

Follow Rashmi Bansal in Twitter at :: www.twitter.com/rashmibansal

Cheers

Samy

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad !!!

It's that day again, when I remember, as a child I used to get out of the house on some pretext, order a cake, some flowers and get a great card for my mom-dad, come back and hide it some place safe enough for them to not catch it ! The only day when my dad would actually get up early and bring his own share of flowers too for my mom ;-) and I would just stand there admiring how out of 365 days, it's just this particular one day that my dad actually would "try" listening to my mom's suggestions, requests, pleas and what not - Why ? Oh Well ! The answer lies in the magical word called - L O V E !

The 29th of April, marks the anniversary for my lovely parents, and my Dad being born on the 18th of July, and my Mom the 20th of July in the exact same year, Mr. Shah has an interesting theory of his own to share  about their birthdays being so close, and so whenever someone asks him about how he went about falling in love for the lovely lady of his life, he comes up with an instant remark in his own jovial way mentioning "It's during my initial new-born hospital days and the moments that I spent there, that I had my eyes on Ms. Sheth (at that time) and had made up my mind, if it's gonna be someone, then it's definitely gonna be this cute little girl, lying in the cradle besides me, who is going to be Mrs. Shah as I grow older !"... Friends and family who know them closely enough have their own version of the love story too as I have heard them share bits and pieces, here and there, especially when I am to be advised about how love should be :))))...

But even as someone tries to pursue the answers about how they got to know each other during school days and about how they fell in love from the 8th grade, you would not get a direct answer, but a lot of secretive hidden messages as to how things happened to fall in place (as if it was meant to be) and how one event led to another and eventually they bonded in a life-time intertwined thread of love and warmth.

It's that day of the year today, when Mr. Shah got married to Ms. Sheth and started their life-long journey of ups and downs, happiness and sadness, success and failures, hand-in-hand, vowing to stand by each other, come what may, and facing the surprises of life together, embraced in the love for each other - 29th of April was when my mom and dad got married aspiring to live happily ever after !

So this post goes to congratulate Mom-Dad on their 31st marriage anniversary, wishing them lots of love for many many many more years to come ! 

Wishing you a very Happy Marriage Anniversary Mom-Dad ! 
May God bless you with lots of love and even more close bonding with each other ! 

Cheers
Samy

(PS: Till date I still do not know who actually proposed whom and there has been no clear indication from either Mom or Dad, but one thing for sure is that whenever this topic is brought up I witness that sparkle in both their eyes and with a little bit of shyness and slyness they both exchange certain glances, smile, and just move on ... LoL ;-) )

Molten Cake, Blue Mango, 20 $ Lottery, Bday Cake n Kicks !!!

So it happens to be the 10th of March, 2010 today and as always I find myself in a whirlwind of mixed emotions, as I turned older completing 27 years of my existence on planet earth and entering my 28th year.

Things have been quite eventful since my last birthday, the most important being me getting married in between, and entering a totally new different phase of life. It's special, celebrating my first birthday after marriage, with my wife, but of-course on the other side of the coin is not being able to celebrate it with your parents who actually miss you a lot, and birthdays are such occasions which I guess are always emotional ones for the parents in particular, after all they are the ones who actually raised, nurtured and developed you into what you are today...

As I am writing this blog post on my birthday, I am already done celebrating my birthday and I am ready to call it the end of the day. But I just wanted to scribble something on this occasion before I went into deep sleep to wake up to see the sun rise on the 28th year for me :)

The celebration did start at midnight, although I was already fast asleep, when my cute little lady love woke me up and with some mushy mushy feelings, hugs and kisses wished me a very happy birthday. With sleepy eyes I smiled back and realized that there is a strong smell of something chocolaty in the apartment and on my bed-side table was a small little Molten Lava Cake, with a cute little teddy (which I don't know how it got there), 2-3 candles and a spoon in place of a knife ! And how can I forget the lovely card ... The small scoop of Molten Lava Cake was awesome and finger (spoon) licking mixed with not only chocolate but loads of love, emotions, kisses and hugs from my wifey !

The entire day today was quite silent at work, couple of colleagues stopping by to wish me, the rest of the day was spent replying to each and every single individual back on Facebook, Orkut, Chat Windows, Emails and personal phone calls who were kind enough to take out at-least a moment to stop by and wish me on my special day :) I was quite beaming in joy to having received those wishes and was fun catching up with some old mates and some new friends. I would like to personally thank each and every one of those who wished me through all the mediums humanly possible and made it quite special for me !!! Thanks a lot to all those near, dear and far ones who wished me from all the corners of the world !

The evening was something I looked forward to as me and Dipali headed off to a Thai restaurant called Blue Mango and had by far the most amazing Thai delicacies that one could ever have. The Cashew curry was something new that we tried and it turned out to be amazing along with the Panang curry and Garlic Tofu.

What was to come next was quite unexpected and did make Dipali create the biggest sad face ever. We stopped by at a grocery store to purchase the candles and the bowls and while I was paying for it, my lovely lady walks up to a stupid crappy **** #### @#%^ &&&& vending machine which dealt in Lottery Tickets. Now those of you who might not know, and most of you who are already aware, Mrs. Shah here is a big time gambler, give her a deck of cards and she would start playing them anytime, anywhere, anyday, anyhow. So she inserts a 20 $ bill into this screwed up machine, punches a button for one ticket (which by the way was just 2-3 $ worth), and then stands there like a wax statue waiting for the machine to yield the rest of the change. She waits, I wait and nothing happens. We call upon the assistant working there and ask him what's going on? To which that MORON, punches another button without even asking us, and out comes another ticket worth 3 $. (6 $ down the drain) ! Aargh !

Even more frustrating was the reply we got when we asked that Idiot about the rest of the change, and he is like "Sorry sir, Sorry Ma'am, this machine does not shell out change". I am like, WTF ? Are you insane? This is broad day light cheating, and I just want my money back. He is like, "Sir, as I told you this machine cannot return change, that means, you would have to play all the 20 $ that you had put in". Grumbling, pacing up and down, my head out of my convenient place, anger on the rise, I managed to murmur profanities in bulk, but nothing could be done in spite of me sulking for the loss of my dearest 20 bucks. Poor Mrs. Shah could not even manage to face me, let alone talk to me !!! Finally feeling helpless, we punched 4-5 more buttons and out came the weird looking crappy lottery tickets and we walked out cursing the store, the machine and the assistant. (PS: To add to it, none of those tickets are gonna fetch us a single dime Grrr Aargh !)

Oh Well ! Anyways, I was looking forward to the cake cutting as we came home after dinner and waited for my gang to arrive. Considering we do have a large group of friends here, it was surely gonna be fun time for couple of hours with some interesting characters in the hood who can never let any dull moment pass by without their constant comments and hilarious jokes cracking up people. We also got a change to watch this ROTF LMAO types video: Click Here

27 candles were lit up, and were blown away with a single stroke, some secret wishes were made (who knows which ones would come true), and with that I celebrated my 27th birthday. But the party was not yet over, as in spite of my constant urging that now that we have grown old enough, we should not be involved in any kind of vulgar masti, indecent fun and definitely no birthday bumps/kicks/pinches etc. But one hell of a group that I have filled with some notorious fun loving dudes that they did not hear one single freaking word from my mouth and picked me up, hurled me, gave me some 30-40 odd kicks, some chest chops, some really really bad pinches on some of the most coveted parts of my body and I was already rubbing my ass cheeks, my back and my chest ! Was hell lot of fun now that the trend has once again begun as I would look forward to everyone's birthdays going forward !!!

Well that was all for today, a great day spent with some 10 minutes of silence to myself, getting my thoughts right, refreshing myself and preparing myself for yet another rocking year !

Click Here for Pics

Once again, thanks to each and everyone of you out there, who directly or indirectly were a part of my birthday celebrations. Love you all !

Cheers
Samy
[PS: I am waiting for the weekend to get my birthday present from Dipali ... Can't wait to go shopping ;-) !! ]

Sachin Tendulkar - An Innings of a Life Time !!!

I just could not resist putting up a blog post, the first thing today early morning, for one of the most prolific batsman of all time, a person with determination and the hunger to win and score runs every single time when he is out there on the field, someone with an above par passion and love for the sport of cricket, a gem of an individual and most importantly a level headed down-to-the-earth humble human being who has rightly defined the modern era cricket and has been doing so repeatedly with his stunning and audacious performances over a span of 20 long years.

Known as the batting maestro, the little champion, the master blaster, the brand ambassador of Indian Cricket and the sport world wide, someone who has been famously coined as having two shots in his mind even before the ball is bowled, a person who has witnessed and has been in the middle of Indian Cricket's ups and downs, someone with a clean chit, an impeccable record and is not showing any signs of aging at 36 even though has been through a number of injuries and cramps while running those singles and scoring those flurry of boundaries, he is now the ONLY person in Cricket's 40 year long history to have scored a double century, a mesmerizing, flawless 200 Not Out - he is none other than our own form of God under that Number 10 Shirt- Mr. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar !!!


Indians were up on their feet, and it seems the Indians out there in any part of the world must have been glued to their TV / Laptop screens watching the history in the making, as Sachin hit the ball to Point, and scurried for a single. All hell broke loose as he finished that single in the 49th over and he looked towards the vast sky for a long time, opening his arms, taking this aura with a deep emotional look and raising his bat to his fans at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior, where the spectators witnessed and became part of this historical moment.

200 Not Out from just 147 Balls with 25 Boundaries and 3 sixes, batting from the 1st over till the last ball of the entire Indian innings, this spectacle will be, and should be, talked, written and discussed all over the sporting world for not only days, months but years to come. It took 2961 One-day Internationals, before the 200 mark barrier was broken and that too by one of the finest cricketers of all time. More in-depth analysis on Sachin's knock : Click Here

Sachin's 25 boundaries was a record in itself, and the rate at which this talented batsman has gone about scoring his international centuries in both the forms of the game, it seems that the coveted mark of 100 centuries is not too far away. There would definitely be a lot of articles in days to come talking about this innings, but I had to and wanted to post one of my own here on my blog, being an Indian, being in deep love with the game of Cricket just like any other individual from the sub-continent, and above all being in awe and struck with the performances of Sachin Tendulkar thus making me an avid follower and a die-hard fan of this master. As it's rightly said, if cricket is a religion in India, then Sachin is our God !!!

To watch Sachin's last over shot: Click Here

Complete Highlights (Hope it works): Click Here

In the era of Facebook, Twitter and IMs, it seemed pretty obvious that not only the print media but the electronic media and communications would be going ga-ga over Sachin's innings. I expect Sachin's image above to make rounds in all the major newspaper, and not only under the sports section, but as a front page headlines, with all sorts of different quotes and tags from the talented writers. But what stood out when Sachin actually scored that run was the commentary from the two commentators, the excerpts of which are below:

Dhoni scored a single bringing Sachin on the strike and the crowd started roaring...

Ravi Shastri: ... A Huge Cheer from the Crowd ... Here is the opportunity for the little fellaw ...

Sachin on strike, hits the ball towards point, runs for a single and the crowd goes berserk !!!

Ravi Shastri: Gets it ! First man on the planet to reach 200 ... And it's the superman from India ... Take a bow Master ...

You little champion ... If there was anyone deserving to break this milestone, this everest, it is certainly Sachin Tendulkar ...


As my friends have quoted their thoughts:

Ronak: "One thing I had always prayed to God for Sachin da. He has done it on 24th Feb 2010; and Its done on the home soil" ... "I would surely vouch for this day to become officially TENDULKAR DAY" ...

Soham: "I wont fall behind in confessing that I had tears in my eyes when Sachin played the shot and completed 200 .."

Viral: "I am watching him since my childhood and want to to see him till his last moment of cricket. I have a dream that i will see him live in Mumbai in 2011 final of world cup..This man proves that what he is capable of.."

Jimmy: "I felt goose-bumps watching the scoreboard say Sachin 200 Not Out.. He is the impossible man on the planet"

Harsh Nayak: "The greatest batsman ever to grace the game of Cricket... Excellent, Marvelous, Fantabulous, Awesome, Splendid... All these adjectives are smaller for him... We need a new adjective "SACHIN = Greater than all those words"

Munjal: "The highest score table looks pefect now ... Sachin 200*, Lara 400* and Ponting nowhere in sight ... "

What are your thoughts on Sachin's innings and his overall charisma ?

As for me, I experienced a little bit of everything, moist eyes, goose0bumps, shivers down the spine and absolute elation !
3 Bows from me to the Master !!!

Cheers
Samy

(PS: I am damn sure, I would have to come back and either put up a new blog post, or modify this with some follow-up comments/videos/excerpts over the coming days, as a follow-up, based out of all the articles and messages going around the net .. I would love to do so ... )

Jaipur - The Pink City Trip !!!

It seemed that I was on an extended honeymoon, when I landed in the city famously coined as the "Pink City", directly from Maldives. Dipali was quite excited only for obvious reasons of shopping, mingling amongst the traditional artistic jewelery, decor pieces and visiting the rich Indian tradition and finding out more about historical places in this beautiful city of Jaipur.

Just as you land on the airport and come out of the glass doors, a flurry of cab drivers ,some of them wearing the ethnic turbans on their heads, prong your perimeter and urge you to rent their cabs for the entire day. Luckily we just wanted to take a one way ride to a temporary hotel in the middle of the city before my Uncle could send us the car to pick us up and drive us towards the outskirts of the city. But nevertheless, in spite of making strong clear statements that you are not interested in their one-day, one-week deals of cab rentals, the sweet spoken, typical rajasthani-gujju style lingo pops up now and then to urge you to give them a shot at taking you around the city in a single day. Amusingly, they refer to your as maharaja and your better half as maharani, which indicates their marketting talents.

Mind you, if your wife is too much into shopping, cities like Jaipur are definitely not the place to be where every 20 meters you find yet another ethnic showroom with the typical Rajasthani Jaipuri style clothing, art pieces, home decor items are laid as bait to lure your lovely lady into their shops and make your wallet even thinner. Luckily I got a reprieve as my Uncle called just in time, and made us go to Fort Amber for a speically laid out dinner just meant for both of us. We did not realize until we actually got there and witnessed the beauty of the fort and it's surroundings in the night and with the light show.

Fort Amber, situated on top of a hill looked stunning with different strokes of light. The cab driver left us at the bottom of the hill and it was a 20 minute hike up to the top along a steep winding road. There was a light and sound show going on on the other side of the hill due to which the shadows casted upon the entire fort were amazing. The surprise that we had for the evening was when we were taken to the top of the fort in the middle of the palace and were given a tour of the entire historical place. The rooms, the silverware, the walls, carpets, antiques everything had it's own sweet price and it felt as if we were traveling back in time and were amongst the riches of the past. Some of the outstanding displays was the "SheeshMehal (Palace of Mirrors)" and a room filled with 22K gold in entirety.

An even pleasant surprise was the dinner arrangement which was laid out in one of the most private, meant only for two of us, a stand-out section of the fort, a balcony giving us a view of the city of Jaipur below, and surrounded by candles and natural lighting in the form of Diyas (Oil lamps). The entire charisma was quite romantic with sublime peace and no one to bother as we were served the deliciously famous Rajasthani Thaali with approximately 27 (I did literally count them for my knowledge) different dishes. We were flattered at the staff's hospitality and their way of addressing us as someone special and we were even more flattened when we saw the bill at the end lol. Of-course all of this comes at a pretty fine cost but I would definitely recommend it to have a once in a life time experience. (Mind you - Only once in a life time OK !)

The other day we were headed towards the outskirts of the city towards "Chomu Palace", the place famously known for the shooting of the bollywood movie "BhoolBhulaiya". We were in Jaipur to actually attend my cousin's marriage in the first place and for 3 days the Chomu Palace was our fortress for us to reside in. The entire palace had been booked only for our relatives and the guests who would be a part of this marriage and it sounded really exciting when we saw the entire agenda for those 3 days. There was Garba, DJ Party, Mehndi and some other traditional celebrations. The entire arrangements were quite majestic and Dipali had a ball amongst the cousins, especially when they got her to sing during the Antakshari program. For someone like me who loves to be with kids, this was a perfect setup with so many toddlers and kidos around me I had the best time of my life playing with them. Simply adorable kids !!!

We took a tour of the other famous places on the last day of our trip and got a chance to visit the Hawa Mahal, Fort Nahargarh, Jaigarh Fort, the famous market places Johari Bazar and Bapu Bazaar. Of-course we did not forget the famous LMB place (Lakshmi Mishthan Bhandar) to help ourselves to some mouth watering delicacies especially it's famous Onion Kachoris.

An exhausting but a worth trip was well over as we headed back to Ahmedabad and a feeling of sadness slowly crept inside me as the days were coming near when I would have to once again bid my parent good-bye and come back to Uncle Sam's land. This trip had been quite eventful and had a lot of memories tied with it, something to reminisce for a long time.

Click Here for Sorted Pics
(Sorry due to privacy issues cannot upload lot of other pics ... )

Cheers
Samy

Aharen Kalaa Dhekeh Loabivey - Maldivian HoneyMoon !!!

Aharen Kalaa Dhekeh Loabivey stands for "I Love You" in Divehi, the Maldivian language. The first sight that pleases your eyes as you make a landing into the Male airport are the shaded colors of the water below. Male, the capital city of Maldives is just another city built on an island, but the picturesque images that one can capture from up above are simply unique to Maldives. This exotic vacation destination is famous for it's "Atolls" which sprawl across the Indian Ocean and out of it's 1100 odd islands only 200 remain inhabited.

(Click Here to know more about Maldives)

After a pomp celebration of our marriage, me and Dipali headed off to Kuramathi, a resort built upon an entire island, one of the many islands, situated in the beautiful surroundings of the Indian Ocean waters, for our HoneyMoon trip. With 4 nights on this exotic island, and having heard a lot about the beauty of this honeymoon destination, the excitement was just building up for both of us, and the trip from Male to the island in a sea plane just added to that excitement.


Kuramathi is a resort built upon an entire island, and is owned by Universal Resorts who has a couple of such exclusive destinations in Maldives and Seychelles. The images as seen on the website of Kuramathi (Click Here), seems to take you on a imaginary trip, but mind you, once you are up in that sea plane, the view from above and the pictures on the website are no different. One of many places that I personally have witnessed, where the images seen on the web and the views that you experience in person do not deviate a lot.

The trip from the Sea Plane dock to the resort was in a 2-minute ferry ride, and as it took us over the bend of the entire island, the one thing that one could make out consistently enough were the colors of the water from the island to the far sea. They were 2-3 shades of blue, with the waters near the resort a crystal clear blue shade such that you can literally see quite some feet below.

One lucky surprise that we got was that instead of the Beach Villa that we had reserved we were shifted to a Water Villa with Jacuzzi which was the resort's highest category accommodation. And the experience we had for all 4 nights in that Villa was simply something exclusive, something different and certainly a first time for both of us. The Villa was built amidst the ocean waters, upon pillars, and gave an exclusive private view of the waters, and the beauty of it was the private deck that faced the ocean. There were stairs which would take you down into the ocean for some snorkeling or just a swim in the ocean's crystal blue waters. The main room faced the ocean with almost a 180 degree view through the glass doors, and so was the rest room where the shower faced the ocean (which was a bit weird) and was see through a glass door (lol). It's hard to explain this amazing place and so do check out the pics below. I have also tried uploading a video that I took of the entire Villa. One natural phenomenon that used to happen was that during the day time from sunrise, the water level would rise quite a lot and you could feel as if your Villa is just about 6-8 feet above water, but as the day wore on, during the evenings the water would recede and bring up the ocean bed from beneath.

Click Here for Resort Pics
Click Here for the Villa Video (During Evening Time)
Click Here for the Video (During Morning)
Click Here for the Sea Plane Video

One more addition was the jacuzzi tub which was my favorite for my entire stay, as it was laid on the outside on the private deck facing the ocean. Apart from that the Villa was loaded with all the required TV and Music systems, and lucky for us we did carry a lot of bollywood movies to pass the time. With activities restricted only to the island itself, this place for sure was the best luxurious place I had been to, which completely refreshed us for a long time to come (and also made us extra lazy)...

The food was a bit of a trouble in the beginning but the chef was kind enough to cook the veggie stuff in the beginning and then move on to their regular sea food stuff. But the deserts and the fruits that they served were simply superb and I in particular thrived on those more than the real food. One particular thing I simply wanted to carry home were the Oranges which tasted so sweet as if they were dipped overnight in sugar syrups ... I still remember the taste of all those deserts that I stuffed into my gorgeous stomach when they had laid over almost like 15-20 different types from all around the world !

There were bars all across the islands with different views of the ocean and a heaven for picture lovers to go there and shoot some amazing snaps. As I was on a vacation and that too a honeymoon, I was "allowed" a couple of different drinks to my delight ;-) There were other activities like wind surfing, island hopping, sunset cruise (which we never missed at all, due the sunset view that our villa offered to us every evening) ... But we were just too relaxed and lazy to even move a muscle to go island hopping. There was a time when we had to walk barely 50-80 meters to reach the Spa Cottage from our Villa, and amazingly we did not even bother to think about walking that much, but instead just hopped on board one of many AC vans which took us around the island for free. The weather being hot we just used to take those rides 2-3 times a day doing nothing but exploring the island in the cool van :)

Well as its always said, all good things have to come to an end, and how these 4 days went by we never realized. But the last thing that we treated ourselves was the exclusive Honeymoon Spa and Body Massage. For an hour, we lost our senses to the sensual fragrances and gave our bodies away to the methodical body massage crew who just literally oozed all our tiredness and made us all the more lazy but rejuvenated and fresh. The crew went inch by inch (leaving some terrain), and massaged with oil and fragrances the entire body. And then they left us in a room, with a whole big tub filled with flowers and foam to have a floral bath. Simply something worth experiencing !!!


Well the trip came to an end and we just didn't feel like going back home :( but had to leave this beautiful place with lots and lots of special memories considering that it was our first honeymoon trip to something exclusive.

We were headed directly to Jaipur to rejoin our family members for my cousin's marriage in Chomu Palace, the same place where the Bollywood movie "BhulBhulaiya" was shot. More about it in my next post ...

Till then, it's "Dhanee" (Good Bye :) ) ..

Cheers
Samy

All That Started Good, Ended Greatly - 12th Dec 2009 !!!

So once again, continuing from my previous post taking you through to my entire wedding ceremony, one of the most important and most cherished day of my life, here I am with a short one on how the celebrations ended with a formal Wedding Reception Dinner Party on the 12th of December.

The venue, Kalhaar Exotica, true to it's name was exquisitely beautiful with plenty of natural surroundings and away from the hustle and bustle of the city noise and pollution. Not that far as the original Kalhaar Bungalows Scheme, the party plot is the common plot for the residents living in Kalhaar Exotica. Palm trees and lot of naturally grown plantations alongside the swimming pools and the entrance added to it's beauty.

After so many tiresome days and phone calls of planning, when we finally walked down that red carpet laid for us to reach the stage, the view that the floral backdrop gave, simply struck us in awe. The entire beauty of the flowers with the lights and the aura was just simply jaw dropping. The decorators had definitely done a splendid job, and so did the people from our factory in setting up the base, the columns and the framework for the entire wall filled with flowers. As expected the pictures came out to be simple gorgeous. I had amazingly fallen in love with the stage and so did Dipali.

But even before we went to the take our places under the lights, our photographer met us half way through and with Dipali's constant urging (now that she was my wife had to listen to her), we went through a painful round of almost all the poses once again, repeating some from the marriage, while also adding some new ones. With Dipali adding some of her own poses, the camera men were delighted to take the pictures even more enthusiastically. I was grumbling at that point of time, only to smile right now after I saw the results. (The most painful was me trying to get Dipali on my shoulders, trying to do a piggy back, but finally pulled it off)

Live music band playing all sorts of strictly happy songs, fun songs and vintage oldies made the event even more graceful and in spite of the chilly cold night, all those invited definitely seemed to be digging into the luscious and delicious Havmor food, while me and Dipali were trying to remember almost everyone that we met on the stage, as the night wore on and so did our hunger. Our faces and jaw bones literally ached with the smiles that we had to pose for the pictures.

But as we sat on the coveted thrones watching people watching us, I heaved a sigh of relief, all happy inside, watching my mom dad, all beaming with joy, grinning from ear to ear, Dipali too, enjoying her 15 minutes of fame, under the lights, grabbing little chances instructing the photographer to shoot some snaps, in between when no one would come on stage to wish us, and it seemed all that had started well, finally did end, and the end, a start to a new beginning as I always say, had been the best memory of my life.

Finally as we got down from the stage, sat down to dinner, feet bearing the pain of our weights, jaws bearing the pain of our dropping smiles at the end, I just literally jumped into the food without realizing that I have someone by my side whom I have to first ask whether she is hungry or not ;-) ! But when I glanced sideways, Dipali was already with a mouthful of sweets and chaats of all sorts... Phew ! I had just escaped a reprimanding, first of many to come that I expect !!!

Click Here for some Reception Pics !
(More on Facebook / Orkut)

Oh Well, we were headed to Maldives for our honeymoon, in a couple of days, and I was definitely looking for some quality time, away from the hectic life of the US, by the ocean, my feet in the sand, and the cool breeze in the hair ... Well more of Maldives in my next post guys ;-) ..

Till then Adios and if you have gone through the same marriage rituals as I did, just take out 5 minutes and relive those moments from your own marriage today :)
It's definitely going to bring back those lovely memories and more importantly would make your day with a great smile on your face !!!
So, go on and grab those pictures and cherish those moments with your soul mate :) :) :)

Cheers
Samy

Marriages are Made in Heaven - 11th Dec 2009 !!!

[PS: Warning: This is going to be a long one ... Come on fellaws, it's about my marriage after all ;-)]

A person in his/her entire life, comes across many such events, experiences a lot of such occasions, wherein some of them are truly mesmerizing and some undoubtedly life changing moments. These series of events, these Kodak moments are truly and fondly remembered for the rest of the life and talked for many years to come and go.

One after other a person goes through such important deviations of life, walks through such bends round the corner entering a different lane across the long journey that he/she has already begun since their birth. As the saying goes, there is always a first time to everything, and an auspicious and important moment that took place in my and Dipali's life was also one of those first time things [ and with everyone's blessings will be the first and the last for both of us :) :) ].

In continuation to my previous post, the pre-wedding celebrations had just ended the night before the D-day and I was lazily loitering around my house wondering about the next day. People have been there for tons of generations before me, and in spite of marriage's own sweet bitter taste of symphony, people are still going for it :) :) :) !! Well the entire week had been exciting, fun and exhausting too. But what was to come would definitely have it's own new fresh set of zeal and enthusiasm of celebrations.

11th Dec 2009 - The day dawned with a fresh stroke of sunlight only to find me sitting in my shorts and a sleeveless tee, in the middle of the room, with about 15 ladies around me, smearing my face, hands and legs with what is said a typical entity made out of Turmeric and Flour, yellowish in color and definitely the worst aroma it could have E V E R !!! No one left a tiny patch of skin neglected as these lovely ladies put their best effort in to perform the ritual of "Pithi" on me. This brings a great shine to the face - that is what everyone seems to instruct me whenever I would refrain from getting this done over and over again for 30 minutes or so. I was just dreaming about a hot shower with a floral essence while all this was happening.

I heaved a sigh of relief right after a nice bath and adorned the clothes of the groom with pride and instantly felt goose bumps coming and going. With a lot of hustle and bustle going on outside my room, the cameramen setting up the living room with their studio lights and people chatting and bantering, trying to have their own little fun amidst the event, I was sitting quietly, all dressed up, wearing the best possible outfit that a male could ever get blessed with (for once and for all in his lifetime lol), thinking about the life ahead. Well you must be thinking is he insane or what right ... To be true, I was not at all thinking of my life, but only thinking about my wife to be ;-)

Well the entire wedding procession was suppose to be in 3 parts.. The first was at Champnivas my home, as per the auspicious time, the second one at Amaltas, where every one was officially invited to be a part of my celebration, and then the third one at Rajpath where the actual ceremony was going to be held. After almost a 100 clicks at my home in all kinds of Bollywood, Hollywood, Gollywood and Kollywood poses, I finally was allowed to tap my feet with my cousins and a couple of friends at the beats of a "dholi". Thereafter a long trip along with two of my sisters to Amaltas felt like never ending, especially when those two kept on talking endlessly about 50 different topics and I was lost somewhere else. (No offense sisters, but try n understand a groom's feelings lol .. lots of love ... ;-) )

The break at Amaltas felt nice, and I got some time to have a breather from the hype and hoolah of the entire event. All my friends, relatives, cousins and dad's friends were present at the venue. The police band was playing all the famous tunes and the dance lovers were leaving no stones upturned as they swayed to the beats and my aunt (Mrs. Ila Jagdish Dalal) made sure that all of them had their hands, hips and legs tapping to the music. I just could not resist and in spite of some big no-no from a couple of people, I just pushed myself into the crowd to give it a go for 10-15 min. That was all, when the right time came to move on with the "Jaan" and proceed to the final destination.

Once again, as we approached Rajpath's Diamond Hall, the auspicious place for the marriage, the music started again, and this time, it was not just us, but for a brief period of time my in-laws joined in too. After the Pandit's interruption only, the band stopped playing, and as I stepped out, my Mother-in-Law approached me for the rituals. Well now, this is the moment that no son-in-law would never ever want to go against him. In this small ritual the bride's mother while performing the rituals tries to grab hold of the son-in-law's nose and tries to squeeze it. The groom definitely has to save his nose and for that, my good friend Vivek Patel did a nice job, as he literally blindsided me with a napkin to cover my nose. At the end it came through nicely and I held my nose high with my mother-in-law staring at me and Vivek lol.

The bride was already waiting with a garland in her hands as my friends made sure that it's gonna be difficult for her to simply put the garland around my neck. Kunjan and Aditya lifted me on their shoulders and all I could do was tell them to hold me carefully and not cause any harm to my sensitive parts of the body ! Well Dipali was not be left out either, as two people ushered her up too, to be face to face, and put the garland around me !!! With that, we the boy's side were given a warm welcome into the hall and the marriage rituals had begun.

The ceremony in Jains lasts hardly 30-40 minutes as after a couple of other rituals, the time came when both of us were instructed to get up and take the rounds in front of the holy fire. With that, came an instant bombardment of almost all the flowers, petals, leaves etc etc etc that my friends, Dipali's friends, cousins could get hold of, and Dipali was literally blinded by that attack on us. There were hardly any strands left on stage which might bear some flowers in them.

Putting garlands onto each other, and with the rings exchange, the entire ceremony ended as we were declared Husband (Has-Bandh - stop laughing) and Wife ... Well, I wondered if I had got married as per the American way, I might have got the opportunity to kiss the bride too, but alas, that would have to wait ;-)

Fast-forward ...
With plenty of blessings from the old members of the family, with lots of hugs and love from the younger ones, and after about 100s of camera clicks, the time came when my in-laws would be bidding Dipali farewell, and I was waiting to see the sad scenes :( But, as my luck would be, Dipali did not shed a tear as people around her were almost down to a bucket full of tears !!! Even her brother managed a few (might be thinking that it's a compulsory ritual lol) ...

With that, we came back home, for a last ritual, where both of us would have to dip our hands in the auspicious red water and hunt for the coin/ring. It's like a game, best of 5, the winner is supposed to dominate the other half for the rest of their life. Well, as it was supposed to be "naturally", I won 4 times and let her win 1 time for the sake of just not calling her a loser 5 times in a row :)

Phew !! Even as I am writing this, I am just smiling and grinning from ear to ear, remembering all those flashes and missing home even more !!!

Thanks to each and every single person, for being a part of the most important occasion of my (our) life, thanks for being there physically and/or remotely and sharing my happiness and joy, and for all your well-wishes and blessings !!! For those who could not make it to my wedding due to unavoidable circumstances I have uploaded some very few pics to share and I hope my description above did made you feel as if nothing was missed :) :) :) !!!
(Sorry due to privacy issue I am not uploading a whole bunch of other pics, but if you have not yet seen those just drop an email to me : samkit.s.shah@gmail.com and I would be more than happy to share those with you !!! )

Click Here for some very very few Pics at a glance !
(The rest on Facebook / Orkut)

More coming up in the next post, but a short version, of the Reception Dinner and how much our haw line bore the pain of smiling through the entire event :)

Cheers
Samkit-Dipali

Happy Birthday Dipali !!!

Oh Well, even though Dipali is not an avid reader of my blog posts, and she hardly visits the site, I thought of posting just a short post for her birthday, this being her first one after marriage :)

So here is to my wife, wishing her a very Happy Birthday !!!

May God bless you with everything you want and desire in your life and you just pass that on to me...
May you get all the happiness in the world and share it with me...
May you get loads of moolah (cash, gold, silver or diamonds) and just donate them to me...
May you get rid of all the worries - mine first ...
May this whole year bring lot of mental peace, lots of love, plenty of awesomeness in your life, and may you love your husband even more than ever...
May you never ask for any kind of gifts but instead always believe in the policy of return gifts...
May you always listen obediently to your husband and with a big sweet smile always follow what he has to say...

And last but not the least, May you never visit at-least this post of mine, and if at all you do, please let me celebrate my first birthday after marriage before you want to go at war with me and kill me :) :) :) !!!

HAPPY BIRTH-DAY MY SWEET CUTE and INNOCENT LOVE !

Cheers
Love
Samkit