Intolerable Relatives-in-Facebook Syndrome

Disclaimer: All the persons mentioned in this article are completely real. Any resemblance to real persons, especially your relatives, is purely intentional. This article is a collective opinion based on extreme research done on real life experiences of persons between age 25 and 30, who have been using Facebook since their college years.

I have got a real bad feeling that the world is coming to an end! Reason: My relatives have joined Facebook. I mean the older generation.  Being blessed to have really cool parents who have been using Facebook, sending mails, enjoying being online pretty much like any other non-computer-student in their 20s, I find the lameness of my relatives a little less tolerable and a little more annoying than their real life presence.

My Card Craze!

Wow! It feels so good to be back. My new job had really kept me very busy. Finally I got used to it. (I know that is a very cheesy excuse. A little less than a year is quite a long time to get used to a new job.) I think @PritzTheWriter had taken a small break. Anyways, no more excuses. I AM BACKKKK!!!!!

But before starting my post, I would like to take a moment to express my gratitude to all of you.

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you all for visiting my blog even though I was away for 11 months and increasing the page count from 23,800 to 36,460. Thank you for the love!! Words cannot express how happy you all have made me.

I had thought my come-back post would be something related to social awareness. But I am really in no mood to lecture. In fact, I am more interested today to show-off!

Sunrise!

However cold the night is,

However bad the time,

Whatever may happen, 

A warm sunrise will come soon!

Image courtesy: Me and my dear hubby! Thank you Sunil for taking me to the beach in Pondicherry so early in the morning so that I could witness and capture the beautiful butterscotch-y sunrise!

Pic of the Week!

Life is like a hanging bridge. You walk with the right balance between right and left; and you can cross it safely. You walk without balance and you cause trouble to yourself as well as to those around you.

P.S. A little off balance is also fun. How boring will life be without problems?

Image clicked by me in Kemthur, Karnataka, India. 

Football Madness

One Sunday afternoon, I was happy to be in a mall. It was a long time I had gone window shopping (for those who find this ridiculous, gals like it a lot). We entered the mall to find the different clothes and people in their own world. I stopped at a black T-Shirt and my hubby dragged me away. I understood his concern as I had 7 black t-shirts already. Then I stopped near the designer saris and I wanted a moment there. So as usual, hubby told me to be there and he will go to the men’s wear side. When I was done with my drooling over the saris, I searched for him and found him exactly where I found him the last time. He was desperately searching for some particular t shirt. All the t-shirts said Manchester united for life or Chelsea. His search was in vain. There was not even one Liverpool t shirt. I knew what to expect next. He grumbled some bad words and then swore that next time if there is no Liverpool t-shirt, he is going to burn the Manchester t-shirts.

If you had asked me about Football in Feb 2010, I would have said that it is just a game and I have watched it in the Hindi movie Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (because of John Abraham) and I really like the Billo Rani song. Like many other Indians, the only game I watched was cricket, that too only the one day matches where Indian team is playing. And like a true patriot, I don’t miss the India vs Pakistan match. If you had asked me in Feb 2011, I would have said that Football is match with a team called Liverpool (I gathered this info strategically from him so that I could gift him a Liverpool accessory For Valentine’ day). But after getting married and buying a TV set, my notions about Football changed. Thanks to hubby, I started watching with him, gave it a chance, trying to understand why people (from a country where hockey is the national sport and cricket is a religion) are so crazy about football.

The Moment You Told Me

Never had I ever dreamt about this,

I feel like I have worn rose glasses!

Life neva seemed so beautiful,

Everthing changed, the moment you told me..

I've changed so much myself,

I just cannot believe,

This tomboyish gal is now so girlish,

Feeling so beautiful like never before..

Every sun ray seems warmer,

Every flower look more beautiful,

Everyone looks so cheerful,

From the moment you told me..

When fallin in love or in your words,

Neva had I felt all this..

Neva had I thought

I would tell u all this..

I had thought in this new life,

I would lose my freedom.

But I'm feeling like a free bird

From the moment you told me..

We used to speak for hours together,

Topics used to pour in without knowledge..

Now like crazy we spend time in silence sighing

Without speaking a word over the line..

I used to come runnin to meet you travelling miles,

But now.. I'm nervous when I think

How to react when I meet you,

From the moment you told me..

Still I miss you badly ever moment,

And I always want to speak to you.

At times I wonder what is this feeling..

The feeling that is beyond love..

Had you not told me,

I would not have experienced this happiness..

I'm constantly on the seventh heaven,

From the moment you told me.. 

Images courtesy facebook.com

Rain rain.. DON'T go away! Please..

I was enjoying my Saturday evening reading others’ blogs, searching for job and listening to ‘Phir Mohabbat’ from the movie Murder2. It suddenly started raining outside and the electricity board had already decided to freak everyone out by maniacally turning on and off the power. It was raining so heavily that the house had become as dark as night. I am particularly not afraid of the dark but this had really pissed me off. I wished my husband had off this Saturday  and Dhaam Boom!! Thunder had me almost jumped from my seat. One moment passed and the lightning made the whole house full of light for a split second and I were deaf, I would have easily mistaken it for someone clicking a picture with flash. Sometimes I feel that when God gets in a mood for photography, the thunder and lightning happens. The thunder is the click sound of his giant camera and the lighting its flash. I saw the time. It was 5pm. Still 2 to 3 hrs for my hubby to reach home. No power is OK. But this power on and off once in every two minutes is a headache. I thanked god (for the nth time) for making me have a laptop so that I will not be bored to death on days (if any) with no power. I decided I will have tea and was about to go to the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

The debt of my life!

I know you will be angry with me

But I don't have another choice.

I thought they would listen to me 

But I didn't have the voice.

I had listened to every word they said.

I expected they would listen to me here.

I walked on the road bowing my head down and

Never spoke to anyone because of their fear.

I had never known the fact that

Love is not in anyone's control.

While I had denied my feelings on your face;

My tears had spoken the words of my soul.

Life had become so beautiful

I saw the love in your eyes;

You held my hands and promised

'I'm yours forever', it felt so nice.

I never thought they would oppose

And lock me inside my house!

For choosing something on my own;

Even if it is as important as my spouse.

I thought they would agree

As we belong to the same caste.

But they said the choice wasn't mine!

That conversation was the last.

It is not that I did not fight for you -

I have even threaten to kill myself!

But mom claimed giving birth to me is a debt,

I have to live my life their way even if I lose my self.

I thought my parents wanted to see me happy

But they love the society more

The society which knows only to find mistakes

Of the people who go against their rule.

I never guessed I was doing them a favor

By living my life their way

One important decision I took on my own

Cost me all the happiness within a day.

'I will never love anyone else'

Was the only promise I gave you

And I am keeping the promise

Even if I would never meet you.

My future is not in my hands;

I will be married soon for sure.

The day they will get me married;

My soul will be alive no more.

I have sacrificed my love for them

Now there is no love in me for anyone

Please move on in life and be happy

Forget me and marry someone.

I am not worthy enough to ask you

Not to be angry with me

I have always loved only you

Your memories will be always there with me.

You have promised that you live for me

Please remember your word

I am no better than dead now

By ending your life, for me, don't make it worse.

I will feel a little alive

If you are happy in your life

Please do me that one favor and make it easy

To pay back my parents their debt - My Life!

Blogger husband

I was introduced into blogging by a friend of mine. He saw my potential (I guess) after reading the poems I wrote when I was 12 years old. Okay, he read that 2 yrs back, not when I was 12 yrs old (I wish I had met him then). An ignorant as I am, I asked him ‘How?’ He educated me about it and I was clueless as to what to write and posted my first poem straight away. I knew he used to blog and I had liked his blog because he had his own style and a way of presenting. I do not know if it related to blogging (in one way it did relate, he had used blog as a means to convey his feelings for me here) or not but I eventually fell for the same person and coincidentally he also did and we got married. So what I ultimately wanted to say is that my husband is a blogger. Now you may ask what the big deal about this is. I just thought about listing the pros and cons of having a blogger husband. Let me go with the good things first.

Merits of having a blogger husband:

1. If you get any appreciation or page views shoot up, he will genuinely appreciate you for that. If he was not into blogging, he would not have known how it feels when you actually get appreciation from someone you do not know in person (especially if that person is a good blogger), when you see 150-200 people viewing your page per day, and see the increasing list of comments for every post of yours.

2. When you are about to publish your new post, you can get a review from him on how the post is and you will get his perspective about the post and the topic. He will tell you the flaws so that you can improve.

3. He will understand you when he discovers you are addicted to blogging.

4. He will never say ‘Don’t you have anything to speak about other than blogging?’

5. He will join you when you get excited that one of the India’s top bloggers has started to follow your blog.
6. He will tell you about that blogger who writes in yet another different style which is quite interesting.

7. If I see a gadget in someone’s blog and I want it in my blog, all I have to do is jump from my place and say ‘I want this gadget I want this gadget’ like a kid says when he sees ice cream. Given that all men are gadget freaks, it will be on my blog the next time I see it.

8. If there is a blogging contest, it will be fun as both of us will plot differently and participate and analyze each other’s post. When it is time to vote, I am very sure that I will get at least one vote (if you know what I mean J ).

9. You get to know what he really really thinks about you. For example, my husband has written about our wedding and how he fell in love and how much courage he had worked upon to propose me. Actually that was the time when I discovered there was a lot more to it than how much I knew about his feelings.

10. If you get frustrated about some system or government or attitude of some people and speak about it genuinely, he will point out that it can be a good topic for your next post and you will realize that it had really never crossed my mind. 

11. If you are dating a blogger (or for that matter you meet some blogger through matrimonial sites and the like) then you can get to know more about him through his blog. For example, what he opinion is about woman, career for a married woman, society, caste discrimination and the like. You will, therefore, get a little idea of how your life will be if you get married to him.

12. Bloggers usually have a good sense of humour or a good way of framing and presenting thoughts.

13. They will usually have the heart to appreciate someone else’s good work.

14.  A large number of bloggers are extremely romantic.

15. There’s a great chance that he will be really talented in poetry, photography and/or painting.

courtesy http://imtcblog.com

Demerits of having a blogger husband:

1. Sometimes you have to compromise on the topics. For me it is not that difficult as he finds my topics high fundu. But at times even I get to face this. For example, there is this 3 year old gal who is on the roadside in front of my house and she is walking on a rope to entertain people. We felt bad seeing her and I asked my husband to go and give her some money. He went there and learnt that the man who was playing the drums is her father. Her mother was also there, collecting the money people gave and holding another kid. This meant that the family of four was surviving at the expense of the 3 year old girl’s rope walking job. After he went to give the girl the money, I thought I should write about this in my blog. He came back and he said he wants to write about it in his blog. Now someone has to compromise. This time I compromised as I felt he was keen about writing it.

2. Most of the time you get praises from him for your posts. So you tend to start getting suspicious if he genuinely liked them or he’s saying that because he loves you.

3. There is a great chance that both of you will fight for the laptop to write articles. Most of the bloggers are very slow writers. At times you wish you had a different laptop. And if he is a computer games addict then you will get frustrated.

4. It is a bit irritating when he chooses to write something in a gal’s perspective. It does look a bit artificial because guys can never actually think that way. Even though you find lots of mistakes, you can’t help appreciating his effort. So you say it is great but at the same time, you end up telling him not to write in a girl’s perspective anymore.

5. If you are on the sensitive side, it gets real bad when he writes something really gory, ruthless or narrates something deeply about topics like rape or some sort of too much violence.

Okay. Now may be because it is my husband whom I am speaking about, I did not expect I would write a lot of merits compared to the demerits. But this is it. If you have more to it, then do let me know. 

Empty Holidays...

It was the last day of her exams. The last exam was done. She was sad. Most of her classmates were excited about the holidays. One gal had started giggling and showing off her holiday plans. The two gals who were scared of failing in the exams were calculating again and again how much marks they can possibly score. Everyone else was discussing about movies they can watch in holidays or meet and hang out. She decided to just keep quiet and wait for her classmate (also her neighbour) to go home. She hoped no one would ask her what her plans are for the holidays. She did not want to cry in school.  All these days she had been trying not to cry in school, in spite of many people asking her why she is looking dull. Why on the last day before the holidays! She decided to interrupt the person and ask her instead about the exams. She is a topper. So she knows she will definitely pass even though she had not touched her books. She tried very hard not to think of the holidays. Anything she tries to think about will bring her back the memories of her previous holidays.

The bent coconut tree on which she and her cousins used to sit and look at the waves of Bay of Bengal, trying to shout louder than the sound of the waves and laugh, the bridges and tunnels her older cousins used to make out of wet sand, jumping high from the swing and then falling on the sand, deeply concentrating on how her artist cousin is building the sand castle, grandma giving them homemade sweets and ice candies when they come home tired after playing the whole day, grandma telling stories at night. She had always wished she could stay with them. Everyday would have been fun. Her father was the only one among his four brothers who had a transferable job because of which he had settled in South Karnataka. Every holiday her father would take her to Chennai and she would have the best time of her life there. But now...

She did not have any close friends. She was an only child to her parents. Her parents had stopped speaking to her out of shock.

‘Hey, what plans for holidays?’ the gal who usually sits next to her in class interrupted her thoughts.

She was so shocked she looked at her with wide eyes. Oh my god! Did she have to spot me today? ‘Eh? Nothing’ was all she said and looked away.

How rude! ‘Never mind.’

She hoped badly for her neighbour to come so that she can run home and save herself from more people. Home!  She thought. Was it a home anymore? It was more like three people are staying together but in their own world. Not even bothered to ask how the day went. How perfect was everything just two months back! Life was so good back then. Now there is no friend, no one to bother and understand what is really happening in her life. She had spoken rudely to her best friend so she has stopped speaking to her now. But today her best friend was staring at her. She felt uneasy. The stare was more like a concern. But she did not have the courage to face her as her friend was innocent. She looked away absentmindedly. She thought her friend would have gone by now. She slowly turned to look from the corner of her eye to check if her friend is still there. She suddenly took aback when she saw her friend standing right behind her. She did not know what to say.

‘Hi!’ she could not keep her voice from breaking.

‘Hi. I know now that you said all that unintentionally. I am not angry with you anymore. Can we be like before again?’ her dear friend said with a smile.

‘Er... I am really sorry about that day. But you might find me different now. I am not the same gal anymore.’ She said without meeting her eyes with her best friend. She was feeling better as she was speaking wholeheartedly to someone after so long.

‘Does that mean that we cannot be friends again?’

‘I didn’t say that. I just told you in case....’ She trailed off looking away.

‘Hey what is wrong with you? Tell me..’

‘Err... Nothing’ I don’t want to cry again. No I am not crying. I won’t.

Her friend was puzzled but did not want to force her more. After all she had got her dear friend back after so long. Why ruin the day they patched up? So she thought she will speak something casual. ‘So when are you leaving to Chennai?’

‘Chennai!’ her voice broke. It felt like she did not have tears anymore. She cleared her throat and said ‘No, I am not going this time.’

‘Then what will you do here alone? Your parents will be working the whole day. I am going to my native.’

‘Errr... Let me see... Can you try to come back soon?’

‘Ok. I will try. But... Hey what are you saying? You could not stay away from your grandma and cousins for even one holiday. What happened this time?’

She just looked away. ‘This time there will be no one in Chennai. No native, no cousins, no grandma. Tsunami washed away everything.’

P.S. This is based on a real life story of a 14 year old gal. This is my first work that is not based on my life. Let me know how you felt. 

My take on Wedding Ceremonies: Then and now (Part 2)

To go to Part 1, click here.

My wedding

In Konkani weddings (and most of the south Indian Brahmin weddings), most of the rituals look more like a stage performance. The only difference is that the pandit directs you at each and every step. A simplified story goes like this:

A guy, going to the Kashi (I don’t know exactly why, some say it is the higher studies of olden days), is stopped by a man (the father of a gal of supposedly marriageable age) on his way. The man requests the guy to cancel his plan and instead marry his daughter and become a family man. The guy (should) agree without even seeing the gal. The gal, who has no idea about the guy and this conversation, will obviously disagree for the marriage. She is persuaded by her maternal uncle and she agrees. Her uncle brings her to the mantap and then the guy and the gal are facing each other but a cloth is held between them so they cant see each other. After the chanting (which look like never-ending) is over, they are allowed to see each other. The gal is asked to garland the guy first to say she has accepted him and then the guy will garland the gal. Then after another set of chanting and rituals is over, the guy will tie the Mangalsoothra (sacred thread) around her neck and they are married. Done!

In reality, all these sound kind of absurd. In my case, my husband had introduced my parents to his. So the story is quite opposite to mine.  My husband (after our engagement) used to get weird ideas on the going-to-Kashi scenario. One was that he would take a few steps towards Kashi, take a look at my dad’s side from the corner of his eye and if my dad has not started towards my husband to stop him, he would come back and start again. Another was like when he is asked to go to Kashi, he would tell the pandit ‘No bhatmaam (pandit), she has waited for me for years. I can’t leave her and go just like that you know!’ Other weird ideas about the moment we are married were like if he had a time machine, he would have it paused, moon-walk on stage, come back to his seat and then play the time machine!

When it comes to my wedding, it gets completely different compared to just attending a wedding. It is me on the stage. I get reminded again and again that I’m the limelight (something I never liked). But then it felt like why I should take it that way after all.  As my colleague had said, this is my day. This is going to be the most special day of my life. Why not enjoy the limelight! Unlike the brides whom I had watched in movies or my cousins, I was not nervous about how my future life will be and how my in-laws will treat me (I was a little nervous about that but it was negligible). Instead I was nervous about how the day would go. I knew I was clumsy. Dropping things from my hand or tripping a couple of steps is not that rare. If people are watching then it just gets worse. I can be called attention-phobic. When I asked mom for suggestions, she said ‘do what the pandit tells you to do’ which just added to the tension.

Another tension was how I would look in the wedding sari. I din want to look fat (no, not the way girls would worry about looking fat) because my husband is on the thinner side and I’m average. We have to match up to each other. He would be wearing a shervani so he would look a little fatter. He is photogenic and loves posing for pictures. It is not the case with me. Posing for pictures is not that a comfortable thing for me. Secondly when it comes to pictures on the wedding day, the photographers will ask you to stand in the poses that are way too embarrassing.

Like every other bride, I just slept for 45minutes the previous night. At 7 am we were in the wedding hall. While I was dressing up (the dress looked more like a dance costume) I was hyperventilating on how the day would go. My cousin, who recently got married, told me that feeling comfortable and behaving yourself will make you look better. It did work! I instantly felt better and my sister also told me on stage that I am not looking awkward in any angle. My head started working positively and I remembered that people close to me are coming to attend my wedding. I did not want to be like most brides so busy with their rituals that they will not even know who is attended and who is not. I was probably the only bride in the history of Konkani weddings who was sitting on the stage and waving at the people (not by lifting my arm, just from my lap-height) gracefully enough not to look awkward. And I was right. Whoever enters the hall first sets their eyes on the bride. Therefore it was easy to smile at them and still not get shouted at from pandit for not listening to him.

The signature moment was great. My three uncles and aunts brought me to the mantap. After seemingly infinite minutes of chanting, when I was allowed to garland my husband, he bowed at me as a gesture of gratitude of accepting him. I returned the favour by bowing at him while he garlanded me. Some more rituals and he tied the Mangalsoothra (now a coral chain) around my neck and we were declared married. The feeling was definitely great but it did not make us forget the hunger and tiredness of being there from 7 am. There was only one break to change into another costume and simultaneously have some food someone got for me which was not enough. The remaining rituals were with my husband. He made me feel a lot better by speaking to me.

We were lucky that the Muhurtham (auspicious time to get married) was early (at 11 am) as that prevented the photographers from clicking our photos in embarrassing poses. But the worst and the unavoidable part about wedding ceremony even in my wedding remains the same - photo session. I tried my level best to smile and greet the people whole heartedly and smile for the photos. After some hundred photos, I realized my cheeks were paining out of holding a smile for a long time. There is one photo where I am looking like I was about to cry. We knew this would continue till 2 pm. Finally we got to have lunch and head towards my house. When I was waving at my parents and sister, I could see that everyone was hiding every feeling from everyone. My cousin, who was teasing me since three days that he is too happy I am going out of my family, told me that he had teased me a lot but now he realized that he will miss me a lot. After I sat in the car next to my husband, my dad just held my hand and pressed it a little that told everything he had to say. I knew that the next time I go there; it will be my mother’s house. I was going to step in a new chapter of my life. With a few drops of tears I had not let out, I set off to my new house. Once my mom’s house was out of my sight, I saw my hand my husband had held and realized that he had not let my hand free from his from the time we were married. 

My take on Wedding Ceremonies: Then and now

Before my wedding

Being on the clumsier side(I would rather say that people around me are always over smart), wedding was a word I normally never chose to say aloud in childhood days as this topic would lead to another irritating topic- match making and I would be teased for no relevant reason. Just one question about wedding is enough and I would be flooded with questions like why do you keep thinking about wedding all the time, do you want to get married soon, is that why I don’t see you studying. I am too grateful to god for not giving me any cousins who I can get married to. Otherwise I would be teased with him like anything. Why is the word wedding introduced to us in such an irritating fashion?

As a kid, I was supposed to stick around my mom in wedding ceremonies as I will also be wearing some gold (there were too many people and it is not safe), thus preventing me from playing with other kids of my age. Otherwise I would have made friends with them easily(my mom's statement, I can speak to even a stone) and saved myself from extreme boredom and my mom from my extreme irritation. When my uncle got married I learnt that wedding changes both the guy and the gal’s lives drastically. Why should there be 1000s of people gathered for two people getting married?

As I grew up a little more, my cousin got married. That was fun. We used to comment on the people from the groom’s side as they were strangers to us and we were not bothered about the fact that we were supposed to welcome the guests by sprinkling rose water on them and presenting women flowers. We tried to distract the bride by doing gestures when she was following the pandit with the rituals. She would shout at us later but we were in our own world. From here the great saga of match-making started. And this ends only when you get married. From then onwards, attending wedding became a highly troubling thought.

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, when the weekend just starts, all the happiness is spoilt when mom says ‘tomorrow we are attending a wedding’. Grrrr!!! Throat cleared. I did not hear anything. Ignorance is bliss. And then mom says ‘I’m going alone so you come with me’. Another grrrr! And mom says ‘There’s no harm in socializing a bit. And you don’t even know your grandma’s sister’s son-in-law’s brother’s kids.’ Why do I have to know them? Anyway, my mom is an unstoppable force of nature. She was about to ask me to practise wearing a smile on my face but I was already working on it.

The best part about weddings for me is that there is a man now in his 70’s named Dev. I call him Dev maam (Dev uncle) because he likes it that way. As a kid I used to call him TV ajjo(TV grandpa) because we became friends when he came to my house and mom was preparing something for him as well as looking after my sister(a kid then) and dad was not at home and I attended him with a friendly gesture. Our conversation picked up and he started throwing general questions about TV and he was impressed by the way I responded. The next time I attended a wedding, mom introduced him to me as ‘Do u remember this grandpa? He asked you about TV at our place, remember?’.  He happens to be my grandpa’s cousin and is a very good friend of mine. His wife (who is also very sweet and is coincidentally my grandma’s cousin) often calls me Dev maam’s girlfriend (she even told that to my husband on my wedding day while wishing). He is my savoir when my mom decides to introduce me to someone I don’t know. I quickly disappear and will be busy talking to him. Mom won’t interrupt as he is an elderly person. If he doesn’t attend the wedding then I am in danger.

The giggling sisters would tell me for the 63rd time that they have seen me when I was a baby. And I would swear for the 39^th time that next time before they tell me, I would tell them that when they saw me when I was a baby, I wanted to punch them. I would even smile a bit at the thought of seeing them not giggling.  An overacting fat woman in her 50’s would come to me and say ‘Oh my god, you have grown up!’ as if she expected me to shrink with time. This comment was worse for me as at the age of 12 I was 5’4”and I never grew an inch after that. The problem is the latter part was a mystery at that time. So the comment will continue ‘if she keeps getting taller like this, how will you find a taller groom for her?’. Come on aunty. I’m just 12. I’m getting married at 27. There are 15 long years to search. Don’t you worry. I will search one for myself by then. The most common question after getting introduced is ‘What are you doing in life?’ The response to my answer is ‘Really? You look like you are going for a job.’ Then she calculates in her mind my age with that of her close relative and the most eligible bachelor according to her and decides that he has to wait a lot for me so it is a bad idea. I would smile a little more thinking that the poor guy doesn’t even know what is happening and she imagined him waiting for a 7^th Standard gal to be of marriageable age and complete her studies.

Another escape from these people is to help the old people. They end up being familiar faces as they sit in the same place and are too weak to get up even for the feast. Someone has to get a plate overfilled with all the food items for them. I offer to get the plate for them and they will not be overfilled, just what they want. They ask me again and again who I am(because they forget) and I would reply confidently because I know that they are too preoccupied with making ideas on how to get up to think about my wedding. Here we also get bonus blessings.

People rush to the serving hall the moment they are allowed to. Some are too hungry to wait. Some want to hog as much as they can so they come without having breakfast. Some come late and directly go to the serving hall without even checking if they are attending the right wedding or not.  Some are worried if the wedding halts they won’t get to have the food. After four to 5 rounds, comes our round to have food. Mom will still be busy introducing me to someone, but I’m too busy with the food to answer their questions and my mom does it for me.

The worst part in a wedding is greeting the couple and posing for a picture. There is rarely any couple out there who smiles whole-heartedly and accepts our wishes. They are so preoccupied with the pandit that even if someone comes with a smile and in a greeting gesture says ‘Dude I din like your choice’, still the guy will take it as ‘Congratulations’ and will thank him. In short, they will not have the patience to listen what the person is saying as they will be tired of listening to each and everything the pandit says.  They do not really bother that we have come. Even some of my really good friends acted weird when we came to greet them. They just gave a half smile and continued. It is very disappointing. But why would they care? There will be thousands of people and the day will be one of the most special days in their life. Not to mention they will be stressed and tired and hungry.

The whole idea of this changed when it was me getting married.

Contd.

Some lessons I learnt

This would be my first post which will contain something extracted from elsewhere. I do not really like doing it though, but the stuff I got was so informative compared to similar mails I'd received before that I'm not able to stop myself from posting them. These are some lessons to be learnt in life. But before I post those, let me post some of my personal fundas which I learnt from my experiences in life.

1. Try hard to get what you like. Otherwise later you will be forced to like what you get.
2. Live each moment of your life to the fullest. The moment that is gone will never come back.
3. Never let others take the decisions of your life. Because, at the end of the day, you alone are going to pay for it, good or bad. The one who takes the decisions for you will not and so the person will not bother. Moreover if you blame them for the decisions, that will not change the person's life. At the most, the person can feel guilty. Its high time you should start living your life the way you want to.
4. Have a goal in your life.
5. Add to your friends, subtract your enemies.... but let your best friends be very few...
6. Don't expect too much from your best friends. Be prepared if they leave you, cheat you or behave badly with you etc that may lead breaking the friendship. But don't keep suspecting them. Believe them to the core without thinking you may get hurt... because that is the only way u can live your life completely.
7. Life's all about being happy... It's too short for hatred....
8. Don't be so busy in your life that you cannot make time for your family and friends. Anything can happen in future.
9. When you are in trouble or problem, think in three different views. One - your views. Second - what you think is your family members view. And the third - view of an imaginary reader of your life story. You will definitely feel better, feel more courageous to face the problem or even get a solution.
10. The best job is the one where work is fun and where, after you put all your efforts the whole day and give your best, when you go home and lie on your bed, you are completely satisfied and contented about what you have done for the day and you get a sound sleep.
11. Make at least one person smile everyday.
12. Love the way your life is right now. Complaining why your life is not good will not change your life.
13. If you don't find problems in your way, you are definitely on the wrong path.
14. Life is no fun if you do not have problems.
15. Sharing happiness will double it and sharing sorrows will lessen it. Sharing food will definitely lessen the food but it is more filling. Having food alone is never enough.
16. Don't care about the comments you get from people who don't care for you. Don't care for the people who don't care for you.
17. Don't blame the system. Either change it or follow.
18. Being talkative is good. Silence is not always golden.
19. No matter how matured you become, don't behave matured. Behave childish, stubborn and fight with kids.
20. If you think you have everything, you have everything. If you think you have nothing, you have nothing.
21. Life will never be boring if you have lots of inexpensive hobbies.
22. Pessimism kills.
23. If someone says you are a fool and you take it seriously, you become one.
24. Be proud of what you are.
25. India is full of strange men who take pride in selling themselves off for high rates in the name of dowry and then make their wives do all their work because they are lazy enough to just do anything but say that the work is less to their standard. India is also full of strange women who think that such strange men are equivalent to god and are ready to do all their work and give more importance to their sons compared to their daughters and they forget they are also daughters. (However, there are exceptions.)
26. Psycho relatives are spread all over the world. (Not everyone are psycho though...)

Now these are the ones I collected.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
6. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
7. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
8. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.
9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
10. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
11. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
12. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
13. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
14. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
15. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
16. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
17. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
18. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
19. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
20. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
21. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
22. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
23. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
24. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?
25. Always choose life.
26. Forgive everyone everything.
27. What other people think of you is none of your business.
28. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
30. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
31. Believe in miracles.
32. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
33. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
34. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
35. Your children get only one childhood.
36. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
37. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
38. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
39. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
40. The best is yet to come.
41. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
42. Yield.
43. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."