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

1st Birthday - Happy Bday Blog !!!

Exactly a year ago, this idea which had been in my mind for some months then, surfaced up and I floated my own personal blog - Samkit's Reminiscence. Today I celebrate my blog's first birthday, and it seems the destination is still too far away. The journey has still just begun. There is much more to come.

It amazes me as to how time goes by, and it seems as if within a blink of an eye the year just flew by. Well was it that fast? To an extent yes, but more amazing are the stories that revolved around this entire year in my life, in my surroundings and the idea of this blog was born out of that concept as to why not have some medium to reflect back upon and capture these moments. I believe in frequently looking at the past, to re-collect memories, to guide me through the coming future. Of-course one should not hold on to the past, and let it go, but I am a firm believer that there is no such teacher and no good lesson which can be learned, if one cannot catch a glimpse of the past.

Having said all this, where do I move on from here? Well as always I still am not sure, but out of many things that this blog has given me I cannot overlook a few like, a great deal of personal satisfaction, a feeling of achieving something worthy, a dream to follow, a talent to nourish and improve upon, a medium of communicating my thoughts, a source to reach out to people, an entity to express myself, and above all, a lot of new friends, well-wishers and admirers. Of-course anything "good" cannot be left alone without it's step-brother the "evil" but in my case, it should be rightly called the "critics" and not something "bad" or "evil". I have had and my blog has had it's own personal share of criticism at times, but at the end of the day, it has been a great journey to look myself into the mirror and see the change in me, and my thoughts, and my ability to pen down something worth reading and reminiscing.

There have been all kinds of posts on my blog, from memories to book reviews, from cricket to festivals, from nonsensical random posts to some fun-filled email forwards, but the part that I will cherish for years to come, down the lane, around the curve where I will be walking with a stick in one of my hand, would be the event when Dipali entered my life and luckily enough, this blog was already in place. Having came quite far by then, I took that chance to put in front my emotions and feelings just to reflect upon them, and even now when I read that post, it brings back so many wonderful memories, the goosebumps that I get I can hardly express them in writing.

This ride so far, has given me a lot of new friends from the blogosphere, some hidden followers, some known critics, some regular readers and I thank them all from my heart, for keeping me going. Things would not have been the same without you all, and I thank you all out there who have been reading my posts, have been visiting my blog frequently and more importantly a special thanks to all of those who have been taking out time to comment upon my posts. I really have loved all your feedback and I look forward to more down the future. Keep them coming :) There have been people who have really praised and admired the way I write, there are some who have appreciated the efforts that I have put into my blog and the posts, while on the other hand there also have been some who have used even this little entity, my blog, and the opportunity to make fun and get up on my nerves, and even further there have been some serious critics to my style of writing - in all - there have been plenty of feedback for me to work upon and I have tried to do so with each passing day.

I would like to quote this : "To criticize a work, a talent or a creation, is too easy a task for a common man, but to produce a work, flaunt a talent or create a piece, is not within any common man's trait, but a naturally gifted God's blessings."

Lastly, I don't want this to be like an everlasting birthday speech (or to make it sound like an achievement speech or a retiring speech), but my blog would have no meaning without the love, support, understanding and constant feedback from my Mom, Dad and Dipali. Mom and Dad have been the most avid followers of my blog from day one, and have been really active in commenting, and I repeat "commenting" and not false "pampering" on my posts. They have always followed the principle: "The true sign of a true admirer is that one day he/she is your friend and the next moment your biggest critic." Dipali too now has taken an interest slowly but now loves it even more when I mention her on my blog lol... I love you mom, I love you dad and I love you Jaana... You 3 complete the puzzle of my life !!!

To keep it short and sweet (Lol) - Happy 1st Birthday to Samkit's Reminiscence !!!

Cheers
Samy

(PS: In this past year, if I have hurt anyone, said anything which someone would not have liked or have had their feelings rattled - well I just got one thing to say with my deepest condolences - This blog is not for the weak hearted people, so kindly take a hike LOL... Just Kidding ... Of-course I apologize for any such behavior and posts that have touched your feelings... Peace)