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

Home Sweet Home !!!

The crowd departed ways, and I managed to push my trolley full of bags a little further, and standing amidst the over bulging group of people were three familiar faces, two of which I have missed a lot the entire year around, and the third face, whom I had been missing for about a month or so. Ah ! What a relief, as I took a deep breath of the not so cold, a little moist, sand smelling air of Ahmedabad, as I embraced upon my dad, mom and Dipali, and felt nostalgic about being back amongst familiar territory, shining in the warmth of my parents and the love of Dipali.

Every year, most of us, including me go through this phase mostly at the end of the year, when we the so-called NRIs (Nachta Rakhadta Indians), pay a visit to our parents, loved ones, family members - back to our home city ! The build up to the trip is always exiciting with loads of shopping, packing, weighing the bags, and most importantly planning out the entire stay with a checklist of fav restaurants, hang out places, things to do etc etc .. Ooff !! A lot of things to cover in a limited stay, and the list just never ends. Above all is the umbrella of the unavoidable social life that we Indians boast all around the world.

Well the only painful event that one experiences in between is the freaking tiresome 22+ hours flight (30-40 hours in some cases with long stop overs), but alas, there is no option to that. But even more cursable thing is when the idiotic, full of attitude airline rep gives you loads of s***, first about the weights of your bags, including the carry on items, and then once you take care of that, he ensures you that your seats are the best in the entire flight.

The moment of surprise grabs you when you actually go and check out your seats in your flight. This current trip of mine had two extremes - First the rate that I got for my return fare the cheapest of my entire stay in the US, and along with that, the seats that the freak rep assigned to me were the worst of all my trips till date.

For a painful 15-17 hours of the first leg of the flight from SF to Singapore, me and my friend, not only got cramped in almost all the joints below the neck, but we also experienced approximately about 20-30 K sounds of the flight's toilet flush. The bloody ass rep somehow assigned us seats just next to the toilet, and not only that, those seats just would not recline as much like the other seats.

Well but as most of us know, the Singapore airport is something that one cannot complain about anything going wrong. Awesome infrastructure, but above all, great munching all around. There is Kaveri the Indian restaurant which is a must for everyone to dine at, but then there was this another one called "Chutney Mary" and if you happen to be there, you are surely not to miss their "Mushroom+Cheese Kathi Rolls". Ohhh Mind Blowing !!!

Apart from all these experiences, it's now just 10 more days to go, before I join the bandwagon of married people. Preparations are in full swing, invitations are out, clothes are being stitched and trials are under way, and a full load of other activities are going on in terms of the preparations.

Hopefully I think I might get some time to post a final blog !
What? Do you think I am going to end blogging? Oh no, that is not what I meant.
Final Blog as a bachelor is something I would like to post maybe a day or two before the marriage if I get that chance. After that who knows, what is gonna change in my life, but I guess whatever happens would be for a whole lot of good reasons :) :) :)

Any warnings from the married people out there ?
Now is the right time to send those out lol !

Cheers
Samy

Apology Letter to the Blogging World !!!

To
Me, Myself and My Readers,

This apology letter comes from me, to myself and everyone, for not being up-to-the mark, in terms of getting into a long delay for the posts.
But given the fact, that I am enjoying and basking in the warm sun on my soil, my birth place, makes it even more interesting for me to come back and write stories about this trip of mine to India, and that too with my sweetheart fiance who just turned 24 today.

Well my hands are itching, to start writing long posts about this eventful trip of mine from day one, but I still have about a week to go, a week before I go back to a land which ironically for me is the land of labor, and where I often tell my friends, that we are all servants working in a foreign country, and just as our servants at our home in Ahmedabad, once a year go back to their villages (desh ma javanu), the same way, we too make yearly trips to our "Desh" ... Lol ...

Anyways, not to spoil my mood any further, this letter is just to indicate that I am still hale and hearty, and am alive in my senses, lol, and this long absence from the blogging world is only because I am having a GREAT BALL here at my home, with my parents, my fiance, and all my relatives and friends ... More stories to come in subsequent posts, once I leave the warmth of my abode and embark upon the flight back to Uncle Sam's land ...

Till then, adios, alvida, aavjo and buh-byeeeee !!!

Cheers

Samkit