the reception and the jazz!

So, here I am with Lucknow patrt 2! Ofcos there are eally no glimpses of lucknow in either post. It's basically Ooi Bua's shaadi and related stuff. There was no time to do any sightseeing. We did manage to sneak out day after the wedding for some Chikan shopping and had some yummy chana bhatura and lassi at a thela while at it. That did not stop us from going home and feasting on a full lunch either! When in Lucknow, eat everything you can seemed to be the diktat! :D

The reception was a grand affair and the DJ was brilliant. There was a bit of confusion with live music playing inside and the dance floor making noise on the open lawn. But we were too busy dancing or eating (the raisons d'etre for attending the wedding in the first place!) to notice the overlap. The older people called it disturbance! ;)

Oh! I must to tell you about Ooi Bua's buddy Isaiah (all relatives had different pronounciation for the poor guy's name!) who had come for the shaadi from Bangalore. Now we have met this cool dude a coupla times before. Really like him. He is regular rockstar variety. Tall, dark with long hair which is tied in a neat pony tail and all. He was so enthu and participated in all the shaadi related jazz and all as if he has always known what it entails. I was even more impressed. And then I completely fell for him when he pulled out a hair straightener to straighten his hair and promised to do it for me for the reception! I mean, can a man get more perfect! "Bhabhi, it will take 10mins only. Reception ke liye karte hai!" Thanks I! You made the evening rock for me! :)

Also worth mentioning is that I wore Ma-in-law ki wedding saree! A gorgeous piece from 35 years ago. I was quite happy till the pin ripped the pallu AT the reception. I was obviosuly upset but M was mortified about me having to face to the music. I just went ahead and told her its torn and please adjust so that it's not obvious. I got away with just one rejoinder stating she knew I couldn't take care of such delicate saree! ;) I scooted away post adjustment and hit the dance floor yet again! :p Tension nahi lene ka, kya?! ;)

Cubby was a l'il upset and tired thanks to all the fun that was being had all the time. You won't find too many smiling photos, but he looked dapper in dadi's shopping nonethless! A lovely shimmery kurta with a l'il stole to boot! :D

Here are some pictures from the evening;

Thats "I" doing the hair straightening while I sat there completely clueless and trusting my head in his hands! :p




That's the result! Me was quite happy! :D

A family photu with the owner of my saree! MIL, M, Cubby et moi!

Thats fav Anta didi! :) Didn't I tell ya no smiling Cubby pics! :(




Cubby in Chehek didi's arms with the whole bunch of kids we were meeting for the first time!

Cubby was the first one to hit the dance floor! :)




Showing off his moves! :)

With P mamu, S bua and Papa. Vedu bhaiyaa and Cubby trying to run away and be the blurs they are always were! ;)

Finally managed to catch em. With papa.

With M Bua. The next in line. Know any eligible bachelors?! :)

Cubby finally happy to be out of the Kurta and get his daily dose of masti with his dad! :D

ps:part 3 of post shaadi chilling to follow soon! :D

pps: Laughed a LOT reading THIS. There's a reason why I love this man so much! :D

lucknow in pictures! :)

There was a lot of discussion (by my standards) about whether we should go to Lucknow for the shaadi. For one all this recession talk has made everyone very wary of taking chhuttis. Plus there was the cost factor. Since there are no direct flights, BLR - LCK, the fares are perennially quite high. We thought there are only as many occasions we can miss because of money and time issue and booked our tickets to Lucknow for Ooi Bua's shaadi (Cubby speak ofcos, lest you think we have someone called ooi!).

Cubby remembers this Bua and her fiance well enough (they had given their "hemmets" to Cubby to play with when they visited us, making them demi-gods!) and we kept telling him we will be going for their shaadi. The excitement was all there, the trip to the airport, sitting in the aeopane and the biggest thing, the chance to meet Daadu! :D

Turned out to be quite a trip eventually. Cubby did do his fair share of whining and being a pain, yet lots of fun was had too! Vedu bhaiyya was there and he would keep an eye out for Cubby and try and play with him, which wasn't responded to by Cubby much to my chagrin! But when they did get along, it was total dhamaal. Everyone thought they were saga bhais, even twins by few myopic aunties! :p

Our camera Jinx in Lucknow continued and we forgot to take the camera on the shaadi day. Thank God for grainy cellphone camera pics! Ooi Bua married a Gujju/Kannada boy and they didn't have to many dancers in their baraat. So we all joined in. Ofcos, we just needed a bahaana to dance and ladke - ladki waale didnt matter.



I might do it in parts, the Lucknow pictures considering there are just so many! Lets see how it goes!

Waiting for his coffee and sandwich at BLR Airport CCD! :)

"Chotta Saamaan" Enjoying the trolley ride at Lucknow airport while we wait for our baggage to appear!

The haldi ceremony on wedding eve!



I quite enjoyed being the "bahu" and jazz and being a part of all the ceremonies! Made me feel all grown up and even more a part of the family! :)

Waiting in line to get the "Mehendi" done!

And just to avoid feeling too old, hung out with kids most of the time. M had won them over completely and these were kids he was meeting for the first time and they weren't l'il babies either! And since he looks "enger" (as an ex colleague had once told me), they all called him bhaiyya and me, by that virtue, "didi"! Yipppeee!

Finally my turn! :) The dude was maha quick!

I just love mehendi! Me thinks this was just about the 2nd time I was getting mehendi done post shaadi. Ofcos, that time I was waited on hand and foot and had the mehendi on for a whole night with nimbu ras and laung sek happening for colour. This time it was off within an hour and hands got wet cleaning potty pretty soon afta that! Hehe! Fun thing was I fed Ooi bua (the bride), her sister M bua and another cousin S Bua simultaneously since they all had mehendi on both hands. They all sat around me and i kept feeding them spoonfuls turn by turn! :D

Cubby in his chikan kurta and dhoti on wedding morning! isn't daadi's choice really good?




Nagaada! Nagaada! Nagaada Baja!

Bhaago! They were a blur like this photo with all the running around that happened!

With so much bhag-daud, dhoti got adjusted often! :p

Moms might be wearing pretty sarees, but still will sit on the floor and feed the baccha while the father is working on the distraction bit! :)

Frog prince, anyone?! :p With so much masti and shaadi ka khaana, neend toh aayegi hi naah?! :)

There are Uggies (Hugs)! :) Thats vedu bhaiyya!

And THEN there are HUGS! :) Chhota netas wearing the left over garlands meant for the baraatis and having total fun!

Thats that then for this post! The recption and daadu's birthday pics in the next one! :)

see ya soon! :)

Work has been maddeningly hectic past few days. The weekend even more so! Buddy G came home with much awaited Pannu Bhaiyya of Goa fame (warning! cuteness overload in that post!) and taking care of two kids who ALWAYS want the same toy can drive you crazy!

In M's words in an email to pals "G was here from Goa and the kids spent 3 days gouging each others' eyes out. Of course, since she left he's been looking mournfully for "pannu bhaiyya". Just keeping them apart was so tiring. I felt like Henry Kissinger negotiating a Middle East truce."

The weekend deserves a whole post by itself with pictures thrown in for good measure!

Right now, this post is just to tell you peoples that am off to Lucknow for a chhutti. If you can call 3 days that! There is a wedding in the family and I hope the heat won't play spoilsport with the naach gaana that a northie shaadi is supposed to be!

Ma-in-law has bought some chikan kurta pajamas for Cubby and am dying to see the l'il guy all decked up in cute traditional stuff! :)

You guys have a great week ahead! See ya soon enough! There is so much reading I have to catch up too. Milenge break ke baad!

Cheers!

this is how i look

when I am about to have a good cry!

with all those lovely comments all you people leave talking about my smile, I ofcos feel very flattered! But then I am fairly normal and cry pretty easily! I remember most of my friends were clearly shocked when they saw me crying for the first time! "You cry??!" isn't the first question you expect when you are shedding tears. C'est la vie.

So here's once in a lifetime opportunity of seeing me cry. Till you meet me actually. Once you know me, then it won't be a rare occurrence.

This is in Lucknow. Had got out for sight seeing with M and mama and realized had forgotten to take the camera - one job M had given me! He got really upset and thats all it takes for me to start sniffling and then bawling! :p

Thankfully it was a bright and sunny day and the camera in M's N72 was almost as good.

The smile that was begged for. Still not sure if it was OK to smile!





A girl always needs some retail therapy!




And if its shoes all the more better! (totally cute miniature jootis i picked for everyone at work)





And the smile will definitely start coming back!




Add a fun tanga ride to the entire equation




and we are back to being the lovin couple!


How do you guys patao each other after a fight?! :D