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

Week 4 - Reminiscing the Trip Back Home !!!

... Continued from Week 3.

[PICS: Disclaimer: Sorry, but I removed the links on this post for the pics, so as not to let someone random from the internet world, misuse the pics... It would have been fun to put it here, but hey those of you who are really really interested, why don't you just email me or ping me at samkit.s.shah@gmail.com, or simple enough, just put a comment here (even a blank comment will do), and I would send out the links... I would be more happier and it would be more safe to do that way ... I know, removing the links takes out the real essence of this post, but I think the flavor and the excitement is still there ... So just leave a blank comment or drop a line to my personal email and you would get the links in guaranteed 15 min time - Cheers :) ]

Well, as it's said - All Good Things Has To Come To An End !!! :(
And well I was approaching the end of what I would say - a trip filled with fun, laughter, relations, emotions, anxiety, understanding - in all - a turmoil of different emotions with a pint of random thoughts - thoughts about what next? when next? ...

Anyways, leaving parents, leaving home, has always been a tough part for me (and I bet its the same for most of us), as that is one moment, when words just dont come out of the mouth, one cannot just express what he or she is going through, to be true, one also feels that its enough of the vacation mood, and lets get back to work, and after coming back, that person again yearns for his home and wants to go back ... Basically its always a see-saw battle, when here in the US, one is looking forward and dreaming about India and home, and while there, one is just sailing in the happiness of the surroundings and at the end, wanting to come back to the US, even though with a heavy heart ... Same has been with me year after year, and this time was no different ... Although Dipali was staying back, for 15 days (lucky girl), I wanted to do the same too but I think the economical meltdown, with some bad news about my company laying off people, just did not allow the practical side of me from inside to extend my vacation ... Nevertheless the idea of saving more holidays for another important event to come next year - My Wedding, that too made me finally pack my bags and leave my sweet home, the comfort of my Mom's hugs and Dad's caring hands on my head, and I came back ... But the last week was no different either just like the other 3 weeks and this post will be the final chapter of my entire trip ...

Week 4
1/15/2009 - 1/23/2009

Well after a tiring but fun filled first Uttarayan with Dipali, it was a time for celebrtations :) ... Being the first birthday for Dipali with us, and that too back at home, with mom and dad, it was a something special ... Of-course, I, having missed my last 4 birthdays with my parents, and I dont know how many more will I miss, this was fun to be at home and celebrate Dipali's bday on 16th of January... (I am just waiting for my permanent return back to India once I am done here in the USA, then I would be back to enjoying my bdays with my parents lol) ... My close friends - Jaishal, Bhoomi and Soham, Chirtali were kind enough to grace the celebration at midnight, and I got two cakes (of-course those who know me closely enough, one is meant for "eating" and the other cake is meant only for "hitting" lol) ... To tease this darling of mine, I also got some magic candles to take out the air out of her as she kept on blowing them endlesslely ... Sang a bday song, ate the cake decently enough, and then made all hell break loose on her ... I can bet a 100 bucks here, that looking at the pics one would definitely fall off their seats .. My gorgeous damsel was looking even more cute with cake smeared all over her face, her hair and the best part was - her eyes shaped up in a way just like two small marbles placed on her face lol ... Had some fun moments at midnight ...

The next day went to Vishala with mom dad, and to treat the food connosieur in me to the best of the delicacies that one can imagine ... In all the birthday celebration was a great treat after a long long time with just mom dad me and Dipali ... Psst: Dipali ate so much, that she was not able to stand up in one piece ... lol ... I am so lucky that she does not read my blog, I can write anything here lol lol ... She was in love with the ambience and the environment of Vishala ... And to add icing on the cake, I had also gifted her diamond earrings !!! So overall I had a expensive birthday celebration - but was worth it :) Sorry I cannot explain what I got in return gift from Dipali lol ... Ssshhhhhhhh ;-)

Well moving on, this being the last week, I wanted to spend as much time possible at home, and somehow I got this laziness into me, that I just didnt budge from my room, my home ... I did not even wanted to go out the door :( I knew I am gonna miss my home so badly this time ... And I still am while writing this post ... I happened to see the bustling Ahmedabad sky line from the 10th floor of my Grand-dad's appartment and also got a glimpse of the upcoming bus services on Nehrunagar road ... The view was quite amazing, and if one has pics from about 5- years back, one can make out a lot of differences to see that Ahmedabad has truly transfromed into a Mega City ... Took some great pictures here ... ;-)

Dipali's very good friend was also getting married in Ahmedabad (Jannie) ... Attended their wedding and for the first time ever, Dipali wore a saree ... Lol ... Sorry but I found it quite funny ... :P Nevertheless, it was a good 30-40 minutes spent by my mom trying to get the prefection in her saree ... That Mother-in-law-Daughter-in-Law scene was quite funny ... :P

All these days, I spent quite some time with Dad too, trying to understand more about our business and the dealings, the working, the methodology, practical aspects and what not ... Also tried to discuss certain future plans and for the first time felt the importance and the weight of responsibility on my shoulders for my dad's business ... That discussion, those talks and those wise words from Dad keeps me go on and makes me a better human being and gives me immense practical experience ... I would say hats off to someone who is running a factory, in India, as Dad rightly says that if you want to sentence a person to life imprisonment, dont go through the courts and jails, just give that person a factory unit to run ... lol .. Ironically true :) ...

With days coming to an end, my trip reaching its final few days, we also got a Snatra Puja done at our factory ... That few hours spent, with mom dad, Dipali, the workers, on the factory soil, in the presence of God, truly transformed my thinking, my intentions, my ambitions, my views, my moments of silence, and gave me the motivation and the aim for something that I want to achieve in my life ... With God's grace, I will work on that, and who knows, the God might just bless me yet again, just as he has been doing so at each and every step of my life ... Those moments were the most refreshing ones and were truly needed at the end of my trip ...

Having said that, the final day dawned, it was time to go back, to leave home yet again, to get out of the hugs and cuddles of mom and dad, to leave the fresh, hot, home cooked delicacies, to leave the comfort of getting your laundry done outside without even moving a muscle, to leave a world of free SMSes, to leave the bustling and hustling noise filled days of ahmedabad, the time to leave the moist soil, the time to bid goodbye to my birthplace, and the time to enter a world of cement, a world of green money, a world of slavery in terms of washing utensils, cooking food, doing laundry, the world of 9 to 6 and yet the axe on your neck, the world of :
Mournful - Mondays
Tolerable - Tuesdays
Waiting for Weekend - Wednesdays
Tolerable - Thursdays
Fun Speculated - Fridays
Sweet - Saturdays
Sleeping - Sundays
LOL ...

Well it aint that bad I know, I am just being a little exaggerate here, but still India is India, Ahmedabad is Ahmedabad, Home is a home, and the comfort of Parents and family is a boon and a blessing for people away from the motherland soil ...

With this, I bid goodbye to India, with tear in my Mom's eyes, with strong-yet-missing-me type emotions in my Dad's hug, with a strong-confident voice from me - and of-course the chubbly bubbly Dipali too being sad ;-) Mom's friend Pala Aunty and Niru uncle were also present to bid my good bye, and I knew for sure, that even though mom dad will miss me, they do have some great people in their surroundings and life has taught them a lot that now they know who is truly keeping them company in times of my absence ... A special thanks to those who know they have been there for my mom dad in my absence, and for me those people held a special value in my heart ... :)

Well that's it from my side to close this trip account ... Hopefully I have taken some of you down memory lane of your own, shared some of my personal feelings, emotions and moments all along this trip ... Hoping to hear back from some of my regular readers, and of-course as I always say, hoping to hear from my silent readers too ..

One thing for sure is, that this trip blog has surely made a couple of unknown silent readers come to front and made me interact with them ... Thanks for stopping by friends ;-) ...

My next stop is the recently made Lake Tahoe Ski Trip on Valentine's Day ... Kindly come back to take a look at some of the out-of-the world experiences as I share them with you in my next post ...

Till then, take care, keep reading, keep commenting, and May God Bless you All !!!

Cheers
Samkit

Week 3 - Reminiscing the Trip Back Home !!!

... Continued from Week 2.

[PICS: Disclaimer: Sorry, but I removed the links on this post for the pics, so as not to let someone random from the internet world, misuse the pics... It would have been fun to put it here, but hey those of you who are really really interested, why don't you just email me or ping me at samkit.s.shah@gmail.com, or simple enough, just put a comment here (even a blank comment will do), and I would send out the links... I would be more happier and it would be more safe to do that way ... I know, removing the links takes out the real essence of this post, but I think the flavor and the excitement is still there ... So just leave a blank comment or drop a line to my personal email and you would get the links in guaranteed 15 min time - Cheers :) ]

Well, well ... I never thought that the trip back home and the events that I experienced, would create so much responses from my readers when I would share it with them. Over the past few weeks, those of you who have dropped by my blog, and in fact requested for the links for the pics, I really am glad for that ... And a special thanks to those who have taken out a few minutes of their busy routine life and commented on my posts...

Week 3
1/8/2009 - 1/14/2009

To continue with the memories, Week 3 was just about going to a lot of places, relatives, friends, socializing, having lunches and dinners with them and spending some quality time - a time which one longs for having stayed in the USA. Such is the aura of the atmosphere back at home, that no one gets spared from the cliche social surroundings and like it or not, someone like me always yearns for that environment. That in fact truly describes how life in two entirely opposite countries are different for a common man - A Sunday evening in the US, is described as "depressing", "gloomy" and "stressful" - with people scurrying home in their beds to think about work or business on Monday - and just the thought of it gives you a low feeling...

On the other side, a Sunday evening in India, in Ahmedabad, is all about hustle and bustle of the frantic people flooding the awesome restaurants, movie halls, shopping malls as if it's a season of celebrations for no reason at all... Mind you, it is not that people are not working on Monday or people dont care about their businesses and Monday mornings, but it is just how we back in our country tend to ease out our stress and enjoy the real meaning of Sunday... In fact a lot of people work on Saturdays and so have only one day to enjoy as compared to the "weekend" notion of USA ... Its just we Indians know how to enjoy better !!! lol.

Well with the Gujarat Govt., spending money wisely and in a disciplined way, Ahmedabad now can boast about a lot of infrstructure developments and re-establishments. One such example being the famous old Kankaria Lake... I really wanted to take a look at it after it's restoration and took Dipali along too... What amazed to me was the fact that, people of Ahmedabad, be it any kind of recession the WORLD over is talking about, these people were ready to shell out 10 Rs. for an entry to the lake, and even further some 25 Rs. for a ride in the train. The train is the center piece of attraction and has been imported from some place(Sorry I dont know a lot of details here)... After you enter such a public place, the first generalized idea you get is - Oh man its gonna be dirty and all, people polluting the surroundings etc...

But mind you if you have not been to Kankaria, then be ready to get surprised - as people from whatsoever background they come are now aware of Public Etiquettes and not 100 % but atleast 60-70 % of the people gathered there for a quiet evening stroll, now make it a point not to spoil the image of Kankaria any more. For that I truly support the Govt., charging people to even enter the park. That is the only way one can maintain a truly beautiful public place ... I went in the night time, and so did not catch a clear glimpse of the water, but in the middle of the lake was a giant advertising screen - that showed how technology is catching up... It was a truly memorable evening and makes you fall more in love with Aapnu Amdavad !!! Pics surprisingly came out well considering it was a bit hazy and was in the night ...

Everytime I used to enter my house, the walk from the gate till my house, made me remember so many fond memories, moments that I had spent for about 21 years before coming to the USA... Each trip, each time, makes me feel so nostalgic about my home - "Champanivas" ... The compound walls, the Badam trees, the smashed window panes of my Uncle's bunglow in the front, the underbridge, the whole bunglow itself, in fact sometimes chokes me up with tears - just fondly remembering those childhood and college days spent there ... Summer time cricket, vacations, fast bicycle moments in the compound, learning my first two-wheeler, my car, flying kites, and what not ...

My cousin grand-mother (I hope that relevance means correct in English - its basically my Dadi-Kaki), had invited us for breakfast this week, and as usual her love was to the brink, when she caught my hand, and made me eat a typical winter delicacy which is good for health... My dad, my mom all are fond of her and now she too is fond of Dipali... If Dipali is not seen for some days, then she would immediately ask mom - "Where is Dipa" lol - yeah, she calls her Dipa !!! Such love, warmth and care, sometimes makes me feel as to what am I doing there back in the States, without all these emotions ... I truly believe that I am an emotional guy to some extent, but the stay in the US, did teach me a lot about being practical - but as one says - basic nature is never forgotten ... I took a lot of pics in and around my home this time with my new D-SLR to bring it back here ... The Great Champanivas ... I too have loads of stories to tell to my kids about this home, just like my Dad has told me all these years... Truly Nostalgic ...

Moving on, days passed by, with as usual the shopping trips, dinners at all the goody restaurants that Ahmedabad can boast of, and the day came when I started hearing familiar shouts of - "Kaipo che, Chal Lapet" (It's some of the words one shouts when you cut someone's kite during Uttarayan Festival) ...It was the 14th of January - The Uttarayan day, and this is one such festival which I really love, or rather time has made me enjoy amidst all that is happening in my life, the sole reason being that we the so called NRIs visit Ahmedabad during the months of Dec-Jan and this is the only festival we have on our platter. The rest of the festivals are in such months, where I can just think of enjoying ... But I have decided that maybe after my marriage next year (again which would be around Dec-Jan), I am gonna visit Ahmedabad in some odd month to enjoy some other festival - Navratri, Diwali, Summer Mangoes - anything but Dec-Jan's Uttarayan !!! lol...

My father rightly says "We, the NRIs are like the birds of Nalsarovar, who fly and come down during the winter in Dec-Jan, and as the season comes to an end, we fly back to wonderland" - How ironically true !!! Well, I wanted to take Dipali to the real show, the place where the night turns up aive, with shouts, music, cars honking their horns, people running around buying kites - Yeah - Its called "Katal ki Raat" (Meaning "The ULTIMATE NIGHT ever") ... To experience this one needs to visit some certain parts of the Walled City, and truly what an amazing festive mood it is on both sides of the road. Had to manage really hard to take some pics, but finally got some... Dipali was stunned looking at the crowd and how people were running around with their kites above their heads, and some getting their threads colored and sharpened for the important battle the next day - the battle of the kites and the threads !!!

Next day, we visited several places to be with friends and family, and of-course enjoy the kite festival ... Met my EC friends for a while, went to Dipali's family place in the afternoon and ultimately like all these years, went to Soham (Sotu's) place late evening - as he has a place inside the walled city - and believe me that is where the real Uttarayan is ... The pics speak for themselves ... Had great fun !!! But it was not over yet, my cousins had got together to fly what they call a "Tukkal" - its basically a cardboard type lantern, inside which you light up a candle and tie it to the thread of the kite and send it up - the one with the most number of such tukkals is the envy of others and people try to cut that with their own kites - so the trick is to send another guard kite for protection ... Amazing isnt it?

The week was filled with a lot of nostalgic, excited fun-filled moments, and I could give up anything to experience that again ... Its amazing how these moments are so fresh in my mind, that I can describe them to the tiniest details if asked for ... There are uncountable such outings to malls, restaurants etc which I am not unnecessarily describing here as that would just make me feel so much home sick lol :) ...

Well as always, enjoy this post till I come out with my last week at home - Week 4. As for the pics, you know what to do - just drop in a line at my email - samkit.s.shah@gmail.com OR just drop by a blank comment here on my post even if you dont feel like writing anything to this post.

To make it more interesting for me, I would like to hear about one of THE BEST memories that you would have you would like to put down here in my comments section - a memory from your childhood, a memory from any of your trip to any place, any thing worth remembering ... Do it and read it again - You would truly enjoy it till the end ...

Will be back with Week 4...
Till then - Sayounara ...

Cheers

Samkit

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