My world is suddenly crowded

Till a week back, my family consisted of my mom, dad, sister and Mishti. Now it has multipled. It consists of my mom, dad, sister, mishit, Ashish, his mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law and nephew. Phew! (and mind you, I am not even starting with the extended family).

On Feb 12 (the day families exchanged gifts and officially our status changed) the photo-ops were many and there were 3 cameras and 2 video carmeras. That is if I do not include the Handycams brought in by NDTV, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today. As a result, there could be a few snaps where the smile is fake. But I can assure you, those lines on my forehead (save-me) are real.

Now for the picture time. Each picture comes with an explanation….

The redden moment: When everybody had arrived and were seated in the drawing room, my dad brought me in front of everybody from behind the curtains (where I was watching Srilanka v/s New Zealand match) like any typical hindi movie. You can see me, fiddling with my ring and bangles. This is what happens when you are seated in an uncomfortable position and can’t even re- adjust coz any slight moment of yours would make head lines in tomorrows paper.


















The Moment: This pic was snapped when Alka di (Ashish’s sister) was covering my head with the dupatta, symbolizing that I have been booked. You might notice the picture is a bit blurred, that is because my dad’s eyes were moist at the moment with tears while clicking the picture.



















The mother-in-law moment: This was the only time when I had no thoughts running in my mind (apart from the I-hope-bindi-is-positioned-in-the-center-of-my-forehead). She’s a gem of a person, and I was at peace in this moment shared with her. I think the picture is dark, because by this time my dad was wiping his tears.



















The what-next moment: This was clicked when my lap was overloaded with gifts. Even though my expressions suggest that I am smiling and blushing, I am actually confused and looking at my mom, waiting for a signal from her to tell me when to bow down and touch everybody’s feet.



















The bowing moment: I was instructed by mom that I should touch every elder’s feet after the function. As luck would have it, I was the youngest in the room (if we exclude 2 year Vidyut). Even though this was something new for me, it didn’t show. Thanks to the one hour practice with my dad. Even though my expressions are not captured, I am wondering, when would be the right time for me to stand up?



















The Big Family: Now we are a big happy family. First row (left to right): Alka di, Ashish’ Mausi, my mom, the shy me, Ashish’ mom. Second row (left to right): Vidyut (who had no clue what was happening), Kanishka (Ashish’ brother-in-law), Ashish’s dad, my dad (if u look closely, his eye are still moist) and Ashish’ Tauji. The only ones missing in this picture are Ashish himself, Shanu and Mishti of course, who likes to be clicked individually and hates group pictures.



















God willing.. (and our family photographer willing) you will see many more such snaps on this website.

Beware

If you know me, then this post will ring bells, so read ahead. And if you don’t know me, this would give you an idea of things to keep in mind before you intend being friends with me:

As most of you know, how humble and modest I am. The unpretentious me, cannot stand criticism. It is a very common trait in Virgos. We are very critical by nature and hence, know all about our short comings, so we don’t need people to tell us what we lack. Just to state an example, the first time I drove a four wheeler, I didn’t need Abhishek to tell me I messed up. After me knocking down one pillar, two dust –bins and one professor and after the college Administrative department deducted Rs 4500 from my deposit money for reconstruction of pillars, Rs 100 for dust-bins (don’t know why they cared so much for dust-bins, even though they weren’t used much) and a sincere apology letter to the professor, I didn’t need anyone else telling me how chaotic my driving skills were.

So, if you are thinking of criticizing me, think again. And know it well that even though I would be smiling at you while you tell me what I suck at, from deep within I would be cursing you and you’ll always be the person who CRITICIZED me.

Another thing that I can not handle well is someone pinching me. I swear to god, I can never forget the day when on my B’day I wore a clean white new dress, when my best friend (I am forgetting her name) came from behind, pinched me from behind and yelled “new pinch”. Mind you, I can hold a sword with my bare hands for five hours (with my palms bleeding, of course) but I can never take a pinch. That was the day and today is the day; I have not spoken to her. And now it’s too late to make up for the loss considering I don’t even remember her name.

Can’t think of more stuff that I can’t handle well (except for my sister of-course)… for now, keep these in mind. :-)

That's how I gain points

My mom is here in Ahmdabad giving me company. As much as I love her, I can not over look the ‘cleanliness freak’ and ‘organized’ her. Even before she was to arrive, I got up early and started cleaning my apartment. Trishna (my room mate) was so puzzled to see me cleaning that she thought I am under some sedatives and not realizing what I am upto. Else, which other person would puff the same cusions over n over again?

So while I was running at the station looking for my mom, I got a call from her telling me that she’s waiting at platform number 1. My heart pumped faster and I knew this wasn’t a good sign. She had reached before I did. That was minus one in her books.

From afar, I counted the pieces of luggage she had… there were 6 in all… not including her.

“I thought you will be leaving in a week’s time?” I asked.

“I’ll see how you’ve been managing uptil now and will decide accordingly”. She has a way about her that forces you to keep quite for at least ten minutes after she delivers a sentence, lest you kindle an erupting volcano. I kept quite.

In life there are moments when you gain points by arguing (like in a Placement Group Discussion) and there are moments in life when you gain points by keeping quite. I kept quite.

We reached auto rikshaw stand where drivers pounded on our luggage like it was their’s and started to yell “kahan jana hai” (where do you wanna go)? To avoid any more scenes, I quickly blurted “Manav Mandir Jaan hai”. Everybody then, started quoting prices. The scene was no less than a bid process, only difference being, here they couldn’t bribe us.

I pointed to a driver who had quoted the least and said “80 rupees theek hain.”
“What 80 rupees? Are you crazy?” I am not good in math so could only do a rough head- count to the number of people who turned their heads to see us…. Some 87 of them. Mind you, no one from her reaction could tell that she’s come to Ahmedabad for the first time. :-)

Somehow we managed to reach home and she saw my clean apartment. I can’t say much from her reaction but I think she liked it. I can say that coz she puffed (my already puffed) cusions only once. Dad will be arriving soon. I gotto plan to gain points there as well.