Wedding Musings!!

Phew! What a past week it’s been. Even if I try to, I can’t describe how the wedding went. (Don’t I say this about everything?! Nice way of saying “I am a shitty writer, can’t write. The experience was OK, but I can’t seem to get the right words to write about it, so let’s just say the experience was indescribable!)

 

Anyways, I did dance, though I didn’t perform. Fair enough. Dancing like crazy in the baraat with the entire extended family watching was performance enough for me, thank you. 

 

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Nobody believed I was my bhai’s real sister. Apart from the fact that we look alike, we have nothing in common. He is the life of every party; I could not go to a party and have people come and tell me the next day I was looking good at the party! He dances like Abhishek Bachchan; I had a crush on Abhishek Bachchan! And I dance like..umm..I don’t dance! He talks with everyone; out of the 400 people I know/know of that attended the ceremonies, I spoke to 10, including my bhai-bhabhi-ma-pa! Everyone loves him; it pains me to write the second half of this statement.

 

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No matter how hard I try to look good, standing next to 2 stunning-looking sisters just never works right! For my own wedding, sisters will not be welcome. Brothers I love! *muah* and “Wazzzaaa” to you guys! 

 

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I remember talking to one of my aunts and telling her how surprised I was that it had been a week since I arrived, and all the hectic shopping and the shaadi food didn’t take its toll on me. 2 days into making that statement and I was down with the flu. Nice! All my plans of bonding with the new couple had to be thwarted. It was either that, or all plans of my brother for a cozy, romantic honeymoon would have been unable to see the light of day. I sacrificed, for my own sake. Else, as G.O.N. pointed out, my brother would have ordered for not only Dutch tulips, but also stocks of the Anthrax spores, especially for my honeymoon! Which would be sad, considering that I am sure it would be the only time my husband would be able to get lazy-me to do anything!

 

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After devouring channel V and MTV and HBO, I decided it was time to have a look at what’s happening in India. So, I tuned into the news channels day before. This is what I learnt from Zee News, Aaj Tak, Star News and Headlines Today, respectively; it was Katrina Kaif’s birthday, she received a diamond bracelet from Salman Khan as a gift, there was a party at Salman’s place at midnight, and Aamir Khan showed up at that party (without a gift) to wish Katrina. 

 

This is what I missed! This is what I came back for! Am I glad to be back!

 

Back to where I belong

So, I’m finally home, for good (for the time-being at least!). And it’s great to be back. There were, though, a few moments of extreme anxiety. Not only of what the future holds, professionally, but also of how I will adjust to the life here after having lived in the States for 2 years. For instance, I was standing in queue at the Air India counter (wanted to get a feel of India even before landing on Indian soil, and the fact that theirs’ were the cheapest tickets I could get a week before departing didn’t hurt either!) to have my passport scanned with a ton of other desis, and guess what, there was line-jumping. I was seething from within, obviously. And for a second, I wanted to turn away and run, run back to the life I was leaving behind, the life of courteous manners, smiling faces and clean, non-crowded streets. But it was just for a second, at most 2. It’s great to be back. And all it took was one outing in Delhi with my brother to get me back into the groove. Not only did the recollection of the 21 years I had spent in my country help, but also the advice my brother gave me was invaluable. On stepping into the Metro train, “Hold onto something else you’ll fall, and plug your nostrils else you’ll faint” (though I think we were contributing a little to the nice aroma of sweat too, thanks to the Delhi heat!). On looking for a dustbin to throw trash, “Just throw it anywhere” (though I didn’t listen to him; as long as I can help it, I never have, and never will throw trash on the road). Before leaving the house to go out to shop, “Pee!” (I did, and boy am I glad I did! The public restrooms in India, wherever available, are in an appalling state; wish we could do something about it.). On wishing him “a good day” when speaking to him “my” night of arrival, “You have to stop saying ‘good day’ to us all during ‘your’ night, and ‘good night’ during your ‘day’. We are in the same time-zone now!” (I did. And it really helps when people are around. Else they would brand you as someone who has just learnt the English language; just as when I had really short hair, everybody who heard my brother refer to me as “she” thought my brother was Englishly-challenged!).  

 

This is home; this is where I was born, brought up. This is me.

 

“I’m going to the place where love, and feeling good don’t ever cost a thing

And the pain you feel’s a different kind of pain

I’m going home, back to the place where I belong, where your love has always been enough for me

I’m not running from, no I think you’ve got me all wrong, I don’t regret this life I chose for me

But these places and these faces are getting old, so I’m going home

I’m going home!”

 

I AM HOME!

 

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Hmmm..a dance instructor is going to come home from tomorrow evening to teach us how to dance. The “performance” is on Thursday. Please God, please give me the strength to pull off whatever role is given to me with confidence and élan, be it that of a table or of a building, or even that of a tree, which might be tough considering it involves some movement, that of fluttering of leaves.