Sister of the Bride!

My sister finally got hitched. I know its been 6 months to the fact thank you very much, but that's how long it got me to get over the fatigue that set in during the week before her wedding. Admittedly the fact that I was in a hospital bed 2 weeks before her wedding with Dengue didn't help matters. However, I'm not quite sure if it was the Dengue or the actual wedding that tired me such.

So its been 5 months since I published a Blogpost. Published because I have half written 3 Blogposts that I just can't seem to get there. So I abandoned all hopes of ever publishing an intellectual, thought provoking post and decided to talk about the event that traumatized me so much I might never get married now! There were times during the actual wedding proceedings that I kept glancing at my short on patience brother in law half expecting him to leave in exasperation.  

The wedding itself was traditional and beautiful (I think), but the only thing I clearly remember is my sigh of relief at the prospect of it almost being over. So If you haven't had the pleasure of attending an indian wedding thus far, let me entertain you. The actual wedding can take anywhere between 30 minutes to 4 hours (depending on which part of India you live in), however the pre and post rituals can take anywhere between 3 to 5 days. 

From The Mehndi

To the Batna (turmeric Paste)

To me getting Turmeric Paste on me for no reason at all

To the Chura (The Bright Red Bangles)

To the Kaleeren

To the Photography

To the getting ready

To the getting Marired!

To the Reception

The Bride! :)

To even more Photos!

The wedding was like a massive project in itself and it took longer to organize and endure than any other event I have ever organized for work. Imagine 500+ people, of which 200 are relatives, 100 are friends, and the rest are people who called you on their kids weddings so you have to return the favour, even though you don't even know them all that much. Plus loud music and lots of food. All in all it looks exactly like a scene out of  'Kal Ho Na Ho' including the family drama. Between keeping the family happy and running around arranging stuff I literally did not have time to put on nail paint. #TrueStory.

In the end the actual wedding was beautiful and more importantly I had a lot of fun. Having said that, at such crucial events in our lives, we sometimes forget to look at the bigger picture. We forget that we are not just celebrating  an event, but the intertwining of two lives forevermore. When all the food has been eaten, all the fun has been had and all the cold drink (damn traditions!) have been drunk, what remains is two people trying to bond over their similarities and adjust with each others personalities, and so knowing my sister and jiju all I want to say is Good Luck! Please try to make it work for at least a decade the photographer cost entirely too much! 

In the end all I want to say is thank you Hansu for the beautiful choreography. Thank you Ragini for the beautiful photos, and thank you Neal for memories that will last a lifetime. (If you are looking for a great wedding photographer, he's got my vote!)

Baji, jiju I'm going to repeat this for the umpteenth time, please look back at these pictures and words and remember the love you have for each other today, and no matter what life throws at you remember where home is... with each other. 

Congrats! I wish you a lifetime worth of happiness and loads of  kids I can spoil!

Thanks for the pleasure of being the 'Sister of the Bride!'