WHAT MADE ME FAMOUS...

During my second year of engineering, there was one particular incident. Those days we were a group of seven girls, a gang in college. Our batch was giving welcome to our juniors. Some guy, while giving his intro, on stage, mentioned
NAARI NARQ KA DWAR HOTI HAI (Woman is the entrance to hell).

That had somehow agitated my dear friend LP, who was sitting below as audience. She couldn’t take this attack on the modesty of women and impulsively gave it back to the guy, at the top of her voice…
SAALE!!! USI DWAR SE TOH TUM LOG NIKALTE HO (You guys come from the same entrance).

Suddenly the entire hall went quiet for a moment. And the next second moment, the roof came down, with the whole crowd roaring with laughter. We were scandalized…our group had just become famous. After we returned from the event to the hostel, others in the group had no qualms giving her a piece of their minds. LP was obviously quite apologetic about her remark…but the thank-God-cows-don’t-fly moment was when she mentioned that what actually she wanted to say was,
USSI DWAR MEIN GHUSNE KE LIYE TOH TUM LOG MARE JAATE HO (It’s the same entrance you guys are dying to drive in to).
She opted for the other remark, since she believed this one would be too indecent to say. I must say we were obliged to her with our lives for having spared us those golden words.

While on our vacation last week for Bhai’s wedding, we happened to make a visit to one of Db’s friends. Knowing the name of my college, he got excited suddenly, it seems his younger brother was my junior at college. ‘I will tell him your name, I am sure he’d recognize you’, he said.

I bet he would…

FILING FOR VISA

Got to file my HSMP Visa ASAP. It seems they are gonna change the selection criteria, starting from April. I would then have to be a post graduate to file for the same. So this VISA thing has to be catalyzed to be completed by March lest I do not want any longer single hood days extending to a year or more, nor do I want to travel on a dependent VISA with no work permit.

The toughest part is, need to invest almost a LAKH for the VISA it seems…
AAHHHHHHHHH…MERE PAISE!!!!!

A LESSON LEARNT...

I came back from my brother’s wedding the day before. Frankly speaking I have never been very fond of my sister in law, not that we are on logger heads, we are rather very cordial to each other…but we aren’t the best of friends, unlike the way I am with Db’s sister.
But there is always something to learn from every person.

I remember the days when I just got married, I looked nothing less of a villager, straight out from a KANJIVARAM house, loaded with gold, and overdosed with red. That’s because, the new bride is supposed to look like a showpiece to respective relatives, of the kind of clothes and ornaments that she brings along. My in laws place had had a huge gang of relatives (the wedding video has it…when I entered the house, I feared my life…I thought I would die in the stampede), and a good chunk of them were above middle aged, who are in general more particular about the bahu looking like a bahu. So I had to be all red, with huge red BINDI, gold jewelry, GHUGHAT, heavy KANJIVARAM SAREES and above all GAJRA…eeks!!!! Db and I mutually decided we didn’t want to see those pictures again, so the album has been shoved into a corner and I have no idea where the CD is lying…and we also don’t show our wedding pics or CD to anyone.

But here I saw my SIL in a welcome new avatar.
Despite of the fact that I loathed the long hours that she spent in the parlors, the kind of money she spent on every single dress that she was wearing (more so since they are not reusable), but that fact that she was all so interested in herself is commendable. She was particular about every single inch of fat that she might put on, the kind of colors that suit her, the kind of jewelry that would go with her dress and personality. She wore all fancy sarees, not necessarily in red, she wore all good looking PATIALAS, slacks and Kurtas, perfect make up, and I must say she was looking great. I agree to the fact that, it was more because, we do not have our so called relatives breathing on our neck all the time, and my family is absolutely liberal in terms of what the bahu has to be wearing…but she took up this chance and was at her best…sure she wont be hiding her wedding albums from everyone.

May be I could have done the same. Agreed there were more people to please, and ones who are difficult to please as well, but It could have been better than what it turned out to be. May be I could have shopped for myself than leaving it all on my Mom, instead of just surrendering to what people made me into…I could have taken a stand and done myself they way I would like to see myself. But I rather, concentrated on pleasing others and hence a made a mess of one of my most memorable experience of my life.

Ah well!!! My SIL, deliberately or not deliberately has taught me the value of taking care of oneself. There were people congratulating my brother on his wedding and also for having got such a pretty wife.
Ever since my marriage, I have been more careless than ever, I hardly go to a parlour…my hair, my face, my clothes are all in a mess. I haven’t taken care of myself ever since. When we clicked a pic with my Dad, him holding me on one side and my SIL on the other, I could see the difference, she looked like a princess and I like..errr ahem ahem!!!

No I haven’t got a complex…for sure. I have always been like that…when in college I wouldn’t look at the mirror for days together, my friends would joke at me by asking when was the last I saw the mirror.
But I just see the importance of taking yourself seriously.
In April a few of Db’s friends are expected to come to Bangalore. It’s the same friend whose wife saw my wedding pics and commented on my weight (grrrrrrrrrr!!!), though I wasn’t all that fat, it was just the KANJIVARAM Saree. I really wanna present a better self to them, cant wait to see the twinkle on Db’s face when they compliment him about me.

OUR FIRST WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

To my wonderful husband, Db, and I. Wish you a very happy anniversary.

Whoooooooa!!! We have completed one year to our wedding, but lemme tell you it doesn’t feel half as long. Yes, the initial couple of days were trying times, but for sure, that has made our relationship a lot stronger and we, as a couple have grown so much closer.

Db is the best husband I could have. Yeah I know, a lot of women say the same thing about their husbands, but Db sure is. There are a few observations which bring me to this conclusion.

Firstly, in an arranged marriage in the Oriya community, it’s literally impossible to get a good bargain in terms of an accommodating, non interfering and yet supportive husband who respects your freedom as much as he does for himself. Trust me, I met a lot of DHAKKANS before I tied the knot.

Secondly, I am a real difficult person to be with…more due to my patience which is literally non-existent. I wear my brains on my heels most of the time and my switch for logic is short circuited. He puts up with a lot from me & right now I am taking this opportunity to tell him….THANK YOU! THANK YOU for ALWAYS being there for me. You are my everything. Without you I’m pretty sure my world would not exist.

And also, we have NOTHING in common, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING …and no marks for guessing who KINDLY ADJUSTS.

I guess what I’m trying to say is our differences hold us together, make us whole and keep things interesting.

I love that you are the last person I talk to before I go to sleep and the first person I see when I wake up…

So here’s raising a toast to our HAPPY WALLA wedding anniversary and I sincerely hope we have many more of the same in the years to come.

Cheers!!!