The Bright (Bride) Side!

Weddings are always fun though most of my friends say that they are more so when you belong to the dulhewala's side. The logic? More fun, less work. In reply to their kaamchor wala logic all I can say is 'Bandar kya jaane adrak ka swad'. The crude translation of the one liner would be something like: 'Until you experience something, you won't know whether it's good or bad or heavenly or hell-like'. And more literally ' How is the monkey to know the taste of ginger' Nah, socho mat, it doesn't make sense.

So, anyway, getting back to the less work for the groom's side funda, there is less work involved for the groom's side because weddings in India have traditionally been and still are held at the bride's home with her father taking on the entire organizational and financial responsibilities. The preparations start months in advance with planning for the wedding hall, decorators, caterers getting underway not to forget the most cliched and overhyped first night room in a 5 star hotel.

When I fondly think of the weddings that I have been a part of- of cousins and my real brother's *digress alert* I never understood the term real brother and real sister. I mean my cousins are also all real, they walk and talk like normal people and I love them a lot too, I think I should think of a better word differentiator than 'real'. Chalo, sochna shuru karti hoon, after writing this post ;) *digressing over*

Going back to the weddings---when I reminisce about the weddings that I have been a part of somehow the weddings of my sisters and friend's sisters just stand out in memory. Countless memories flood my tiny brain and I suddenly feel elated without any reason.

Just yesterday I was remembering my best friend's sister's wedding. It was in February when the air is fragrant with the onset of spring, the most romantic month in Ahmedabad, IMHO. We started the preparations by helping out with cleaning the entire house. It was quite a task but the entire weekend went by in a daze with seven girls all chirping and giggling and making fun of the always dreamy bride to be. We were rewarded with trip to the best pizza place in town topped with movie tickets to a hit flick by the friend's dad who couldn't recognize his own house when he came back from a business trip. Now that says tons about auntyji's housekeeping capabilities but that could be a post for another time ;)

Then came the fun part- Shopping, nooo SHOPPINGGGGGG :) Ya, that's more like how we felt. What started with serious stuff like heavy jewellery and saris quickly turned into a fun trip when we stopped by the bangle store and the lingerie store. Ahaaaa, this was the chance to get our GK up- (Na jaane kab kaam aa jaaye!) GK is General Knowledge yaar. While we picked out the most raunchy lingerie for the blushing bride to be, all the elder women who accompanied us (Haaye yeh na insaafi, Unko Yaha BHI aana tha), said Shhhhh Shhhhh with amazing consistency while we couldn't stop our loud laughs.

When the wedding day drew close, from almost a week in advance we all camped at the friends place- cooking fun stuff, making mixed tapes for the ladies sangeet, booking the mehendi girl and generally fooling around having fun.

On the wedding day, it was such a crazy scene with everyone scurrying around making sure everything was perfect. While we dressed up in our best cholis and saris, did the last minute running around (where the hell were the two rose garland's for the bride and groom), and rushed into the waiting car that whisked us to the wedding venue, everyone had just one thing in common- a big smile playing on their lips.

The wedding in itself was a huge success. While we pranced around in our finery playing the sexy bridemaids to the hilt and innocently flirting with the hot guys in sherwanis from the groom's side- the bride and the groom exchanged vows of togetherness for life. Amidst colorful flowers, sumptuous food, soulstirring music, and loud firecrackers when we hugged the bride good bye, there was just one thought in everyone's mind- Cheers to their blissful wedded life and Cheers to weddings and all the work associated with them- afterall that's not work, that's fun all the way.

Music: Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
Mood: Nostalgic