The Wedding

A trip to India will always be short no matter how long I stay there. And when there is a wedding in the family, consider it to be the shortest trip. Well but no regrets with regard to this short trip. This trip can easily top my exciting India trips list. Everything was near perfect. Near because so much to do in so less time. I needed to delete some of my to-do-lists.

Wedding shopping is by far the easiest and also the most difficult thing to do. Easiest when you see the number of clothes you need to purchase. One Suit and One Sherwani. That’s it. No Big deal. But the number of options available will bowl you over. Is this color good? Will I look special? Will it suit me? You keep asking countless questions for yourself for which there are answers right in front of you. Yet the amount of time spent on the perfect clothing is really well worth it. So after a day of checking all the best stores in Hyderabad Vinod, Vivek and I finally got our wedding dresses.

Things were running smooth and normal until the penultimate day. Suddenly it appeared as if all the things conspired to bombard us together. One work after the other kept on coming leaving us little space. Checkboxes got ticked until the last minute. In spite of that some tasks missed our radar resulting in deadlock situations.

Reception was by far the most wonderful event of the entire trip. It was delightful to see all my relatives dance on the stage. I didn’t expect all of them to get involved so much. Loved every moment in that company. Full credit to my little cousins. In fact no one anticipated that the event would shape into this. One thing led to the other and before everyone realized all of them were shaking their feet. Only regret is that I should have involved with more people on the stage and should have taken more pictures with them, especially with my vasavians. Thanks to them who graced the event.

After so much fun and happiness it was difficult to call it a night. It was impossible to catch some sleep and before I realized I need to sleep, it was time to wake up and get ready for the wedding. I can swear that I didn’t sleep that night. And there it was. The moment arrived. The months of planning and efforts finally culminated into this moment. And it happened.

I realized that being with relatives is more fun than what I thought. Some of them may not matter at all but as a group it is irresistible to be in their company. I can trade anything in exchange of those moments. Teasing the cousins, showing extra affection for one sister before the other cousins, buying chocolates for the little kids are few of the joyous moments.

It was a wonderful well deserved two-week break. It might take little more time for all of us to get together. But as it is cannot wait for the next wedding in the family. Hope I can make it to the next wedding event. Happy married life Vinu and Rika. Have amazing life together.

Big India Trip

The most exciting and the biggest event in my family is due soon. Flying to India today and as usual the excitement levels reached the peak well in advance. Last minutes changes in the schedule meant Vinod will be joining us. Waiting for the touch down, full loads of excitement and of course shopping!!

Incredible India 2011

Super busy. Two words in which I can describe my India trip. It may seem long considering I was there for almost 3 weeks and most guys would say it is more than enough. Well a trip to India is never long. You always end up feeling less satisfied and having some tasks unaccomplished. There is always some emptiness that envelopes you after the trip and the feeling of back to normalcy (boredom, routine whatever). You keep telling yourselves that everything is ok and this is how it is supposed to be. You are glad that everything is back in place now. But in the end you know your lying and cheating yourselves. Finally you feel you won but you find yourself standing at the loosing side. Well something’s don’t change.

Most of my days were spent with my family and relatives. We visited record number of holy places. This is the first time I visited so many places at a go. Shirdi, Kanipakam,Sripuram, Tirupathi, Alivelu Mangapuram and Kalahasti in that order. Normally I would have been bowled over by this time but thank fully the company was good enough to survive. Sripuram deserves a special mention. It not about the gold plating but about the way the temple is managed. The surroundings were impeccable to say the least. I didn't occur to me that a holy place can be as clean as a resort. Shirdi and Tirupathi are far behind in comparison with this temple. Shirdi in particular is facing the effects of commercialization.

Each time I visit my relatives I feel I still don’t know a lot about them. Every time I spend time with them I end up knowing something new. These relations sometimes get thorny but in the end I am left will loads of memories to cherish. It would have been more enjoyable had all my relatives been there. Sure enough next time all of them will (must) be there but I doubt there will be enough time for all these. But that would altogether be a new experience. One thing is for sure. I started appreciating these relationships.

Hyderabad is changing a lot. Plenty of new malls (includes S. India’s biggest mall) and lots of new places to hang out. Ambiance of some restaurants kept me wondering where I am in. Met most of my friends back in Hyderabad. Some are busy, some are trying to be busy and some are pretending to be not busy. Also priorities change over time and one should only expect the least. All is well.