One Fine Morning....

this is going to be purely for my future reference ...so dont get too bored as i really dont want u to read this...if u started then u can stop reading it anywhere u want ...

So the day finally arrived. I had to get to my hometown to see my wife-to-be finally .Have to say it was a weird feeling. Never knew it before.

So me and bro drove to my office on Saturday morning to park my car in my paid parking slot . My ever brilliant sister ,for some reason woke up at 530 am and got to the airport at 730 am for a 1045 am flight .We were in awe of her intelligence. She was making some outrageous claims like i told her to reach the airport at 8 am and Im still wondering why she decided to listen to me anyway after 25 years...

So me and my bro got to the airport at 9 am :-) ... spotted her wandering aimlessly in front of a cofee day with a lousy burger ... went in and did the formalities ... and as usual were made to wait for an hr more as they could not find the flight anywhere in the airport...sanju was at her stupid best... the highlight was when she heard sunoj saying cockpit ,as hospital, and asked why there is a hospital at the front of the flight...the whole place was in splits...

We landed in the ever beautiful tirvandrum ! reached my aunts place where my chithi (moms sister)had already reached from mumbai ! and we were treated to this



Sunoj was even thinking of slipping in some biryani in his pockets when no one were looking at us...

then we caught a nice train and reached the ever green nagercoil (hometown)... have to admit its gotta a special place in my heart that im even thinking of building a nice house with a garden there sometime...Ufff...,when u think tht i was unconnected from tht place for close to 10 years....
so got out of the train and looked around the platform ... a sense of relief... xavier uncle and stella aunty (karens parents ) were waiting in the station and we had to find them... we started moving slowly towards the entrance when this ever familiar explosive voice of this man boomed from behind us... his name is Mr.Athanas(sound greek eh... he looks more like a big drunk pigeon)... he is omnipresent in nagercoil... and he is always updated with anything that happens even in anybodys bathroom in nagercoil ... and as usual he surprised us with how well he was aware of everything that is happening in everyones lives in nagercoil...Ive never wanted to get home quicker and away from him ...he is like the official broker of the nagercoil municipality ...anyway no offense meant to him... and unsurprisingly ...it was he who got us into this whole marriage thingy... so apparently i have to be nice to him ...So luckily we spotted aunty and uncle and we quickly whisked ourselves away from the station.
reached home ... got blessings from one of our grandma who is there ... went up .. refreshed ourselves... manoj( karens bro) and sunoj were already planning on how to finish the tequila and martini bottles without anyones knowledge... sunoj was asking him to go and get the famed paratas and chicken and salna (is a kind of yummy gravy) ... i had to remind sunoj to keep the bag down first and refresh himself... and i reminded manoj that we had just reached home ... they were sane enough to realise it quickly..
by then we were summoned up to go for dinner to another aunts place nearby (everything is nearby there) as her father was celebrating his 78th bday... Sunoj as usual faked injury in his leg and stayed back at home.. and as usual my Dad who was there already was pissed off with him... sanju and me went ... they were all feeling bad tht it was not his 77th bday and as it was 7-07-07 ...ufff!!!! we were treated to the most delicious of food there too... Manoj and sunoj had packed up the paratas and chicken by then... Sunoj as usual wanted to come and check out the food... so both of them came to our aunts place and treated themselves to some delicious chicken and some stuff...Sunoj was funny enough to ask them what they were planning to do with the remaining mutton stew and wanted to know if he could pack it back home for the night.. I am so proud of his shamelessness...
then we got back home and treated ourselves to the paratas and chicken and some tequila ... here is my sister pretending to be macho than all of us guys ...




So finally we slept ...I didnt sleep too well...was too anxious... the next morning was going to be the most memorable of my life... I didnt know if I was prepared well enough... After loads of crap thinking I said to myself , as I always do,"your the best " and went to sleep... 7.15 am... karen woke me up... Church ... Mass... get ready... and she dissapeared... any other day i would have screamed at the person for waking me up on a early sunday morning ...i wanted to goto the Church at any cost that day... they all left... Manoj was waiting for me...we walked up to the Church... attended the service... must say the priest took advantage of the stage given to him to talk.. he went on and on when he was supposed to talk for a few mins... met lots of relatives after the service... all of them were so well informed abt why I was there in Nagercoil... I said to myself "i will shoot u athanas uncle" and came back home...
My cousins had the time of their lives... they pulled me at every possible chance... for once i cud not retaliate in my life... and I was loving it anyway...In the middle of all this I was being constantly advised on how I should change myself and adapt myself to family life etc etc...
By then My Dad, my maama(moms bro) my chithi were all screaming at me to get ready as we were supposed to be at the girls place at 1130 am... Somehow I got dressed up in something... a toyota qualis came to pick us up ... went to another aunts house ...picked up my dad and another two aunts ... and we headed to her place ... it was this nice bungalow in the middle of a jungle kind of set up...
I got down from the Qualis and immediately I felt different. her parents and chithi and relatives standing to receive me!!her father came and shook my hands and greeted me in! Now in all my life no one has ever received me like this... Oh the importance! But then suddenly my Dad's sister screamed at me... I was the only one walking inside the house with my shoes on...I was only too keen on seeing her...but then I had to go out and remove my shoes ...then I came in ...I was escorted and asked to sit on a sofa which looked like a throne to me. I felt like a king. No not really. Actually, I felt like a fool with everyone staring at me like I landed from a distant galaxy...and there she was right in front of me in a beautiful red saree...12:04 pm 8th jul 2007... i said hi... and all these morons who came with me laughed in chorus... After that exercise in embarrassment was over ...we seated ourselves properly... everyone were waiting for me to have a glance at her so that they can laugh out loud...The house was full of people all busy. Except me. I knew it was going to be a long 2 or 3 hrs...they did everything possible from making us stand together to sit together to making her give water to me...and of course ... mr.athanas was there to add his unique touch to the proceedings....He talked in rhyme and I really dont remember much of what he said except that most people were laughing out of courtesy...How do I know? Its the same tone I get when I make jokes myself or pass a witty comment...kidding... i know i have amazing sense of humor :p
then they had the usual stuff.. my sister presented her with a nice pair of bangles...and my chithi and other aunts put some flower (which i think stinks) on her head... by then my brother was stressed out too much as he could smell the dining table ...



so we feasted ourselves to a grand lunch... then we were looking around the house..they even gave us some private time to talk to each other on the first floor... i thank God for making them realise that finally :-) ... WHO SAID ARRANGEED MARRIAGE IS NOT FUN!!! Its the best when it clicks :-)

No matter how much I disliked being the center of attraction, it felt a whole lot worse when everything was over so quickly ... we came back home...
then her dad came and took me to meet her grandfather who was in ICU in a hospital due to kidney failure... I felt touched speaking to him...

Then I got dropped back... came home ...and the fun began ... will write abt it tomorrow...