JS Marriage Diary

THE DAY: Muhurta

2009-09-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Finally the day dawned, the day we all had been planning and preparing for from a long time. The muhurta was at 10:30am and I had to be ready by around 8:00. My parlour aunty along with her help had come at around 7:00am and I was all set to be dressed up as a bride. In maharashtrian weddings, the yellow saree is worn by the bride during the muhurta. I wanted to wear teh maharashtrian style nauvari saree(nine yard saree) and dress up as a typical maharashtrian girl. So I was wearing a nath(nose ring), chandrakor(bindi) to add on to my look. Mundavlya were tied and the bride was set to go. Yes I was leaving my home to get married to Sandeep. Well but at that time I was so anxious about reaching the hall, my attire that it had not occured to me that my parents were going to give me away to Sandeep and his family on that day.

In the hall I was sitting inside while my parents welcomed other guests. My 'karavlis'(bridesmaids)- Deepashree, Jaitashree, Tanaya were also dressed in nauvari sarees. A big welcome had been planned for Sandeep. At around 10:00 Sandeep came along with his parents, grandfather and his uncles, aunts, cousins who were eagerly waiting to experience a Maharashtrian wedding. Now I wasnt allowed to see Sandeep before the muhurta and thats why his welcome that I am writing about is something I heard from my cousins. As soon as he stepped out from the car, there were men dressed as 'Mavlas' with tutaris. Another mavla held a jewelled umbrella over his head. The entire atmospehere was filled with the music of the tutari and my mom was ready at the door to welcome her 'javai'(son-in-law). The welcome was nothing short of the way a king would have been welcomed.

He was accompanied to the mandap to which my uncle led me to once Sandeep was in his place. There was an 'antarpaat'(cloth) between us so that both of us could not see each other before the final shubhamangal savdhan(but if you see the video you can see Sandeep trying to peep :)). Vaibhav and Varun were holding the antarpaat. The bhadji(priest) started the mangalashtaka. These are small stanzas describing the ceremony and they all end with 'shubhamangal savdhan' at which the relatives and friends present shower 'akshatas'(rice) and flower petals on hte couple. Each stanza end means the time of the muhurta, the exact time at which the wedding takes place is coming nearer. If you ask me what exactly the bhadji was saying, I really dont remember, I just kept looking at Sandeep's thumb that was visible to me and imagining how he would look. I dont even remember what music was playing in hte background, all I could think was about him. Finally the time came, the final savdhan was said and the antarpaat fell. I had to put the garland around him first, but I couldnt help pause just to take a look at him. He too was dressed in traditional Maharashtrian clothes with a 'pitambar', kurta and a tikka on his forehead. All present there showered their blessings on us as we put the garlands. Deepashree was standing with a kalash behind me and she applied water to our eyes. I dont know what that was for. Tanaya and Jaitashree too had to do aarti for us.

Throughout the muhurta time, the bride's mom is not supposed to be present and she later came out for the kanyadaan. I think Kanyadaan is a ceremony all parents wait for and at the same time dread for. The daughter they nurture for years, they are supposed to give away to another person. They give away a part of their heart away and in return all they ask for is the boy's trust and love for their daughter. The bhadji asked Sandeep to place his hands over mine and my mom poured water on his hands. I could almost hear my dad choke as he chanted the mantras the bhadji asked him to. My parents had entrusted me to Sandeep and in return he had to promise to forever be by my side.

Then came the other ceremonies like tying the halkund(turmeric). 5 ladies were then invited in the mandap: mom, kaki, babi atya, chhabi atya and anvaya. They were to witness Sandeep tying the mangalsootra around my neck. Till that time it had just been a piece of jewellery for me. But the moment when Sandeep put it around me I realized it meant more than that. Each gold thread in it signified that I belonged to him for life, it promised of the blissful life that I would have ahead with him by my side, it spoke that I need not have worries cause he would remove all fears I had.

We then had to pay homage to the agni(fire) and put rice flakes in it. While Sandeep was putting ghee in the fire I had to touch Sandeep's hand signifying that I too am participating in the ceremony. I had seen other married females including my mom do that and it was kinda sweet to be doing it for the first time. During all these ceremonies all my friends present were standing in front around the mandap and passing comments. It was actually nice to see the way they all were enthusiastic about each ceremony and I too was so paying attention to what they were saying, that I got scolded by the bhadji for not paying attention to the ceremonies. Sandhya maavshi tied the knot between us and we took feras around the fire.

For the Saptapadi, seven leaves were placed on the ground with rice and betel nut on them. Each signifies needs of life. Sandeep and I had to stand facing each other and as he stepped behind I had to tread on each leaf starting with my right foot. This ceremony blesses the couple that all those needs be fulfilled.

Along with my parents there has been another person in my life who has given me a lot of security and protection. Vaibhav; though my younger brother has always been more like an elder one. He would always keep a check on whom am talkin to, the people I go out with, a darling doting brother who has done everything he can to keep me away from any lurking danger. When I told him about Sandeep two years back, it took him some while to finally believe that Sandeep would take good care of me. Though very supportive about our relationship, he had to make sure that he could entrust his sister to this guy. This was a very funny ceremony where Vaibhav had to wring Sandeep's ear and tell him "you better take good care of my sister". Only when Sandeep gave him his word(read cash :)) did Vaibhav leave Sandeep's ear.

Babi aatya left the knot between us and I changed into a green saree. After that came the back breaking namaskaars to all relatives present there. By then Sandeep and I were both famished and had to do the traditional 'feed each other' before we could actually start eating. While we were relishing the typical Maharashtrian food of shrikhand puri, Sandeep had to take a ukhana. Ukhana is taken traditionally by the bride in which she takes her husband's name in a poetic verse. It was funny seeing Sandeep struggle with Marathi :). After lunch we left for the place where Sandeep was staying with his parents. And naa I didnt cry coz I knew I was to soon return in the evening at the same venue for the fun party.

More Photos

Haldi

2009-09-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

August 6th.....the day before the wedding. My haldi ceremony was scheduled. Turmeric is said to be good for skin and it brings out the natural glow. Well, I had been to enough weekly facial apointments in the parlour I guess, and was actually not very keen to have any haldi smeared on my face. My mom too shared the same opinion and was warning all the ladies before hand to not let haldi on my face or my mehendi. I was purposely wearing a light color saree so that I could save the haldi stained saree as a souvenir.

My mami led me to the ceremony. My mom started applying haldi with mango leaves. You start from the feet to the face. All the ladies present applied haldi and I dont exactly remember who started it, but in the end I had haldi smeared all over my face inspite of me trying to avoid that. But am quite glad that I was successful in letting my mehendi stay untouched.

Haldi is supposed to be a very auspicious ceremony and after that, the bride/groom is not allowed to step out of the house, they say nazar lag jaati hain.

After taking a bath I changed into a bblue saree. This saree was given to me by my grandpa (dad's dad) after my grandmother expired (dad's mom) and I believe its their blessing and hence wanted to wear that for one of the ceremonies. We had a navagraha pooja and lunch. Before lunch there was this another small ritual called saubhagya vadha. Where there were 5 ladies seated and I had to wear a ghunghat and go in front of them and say "saubhagya vadha" ("please give me some good luck"). And whatever they serve you in your plate, you are supposed to eat. Well but at the end of the ritual there were some 5-6 puranpolis in my plate and if you ask me if I did eat all of them, well let me not disclose anything in public.

My mom then put green bangles for me. In Maharashtrian weddings, thats the wedding chuda and the bride is not supposed to remove them for few days.

It was quite a hectic pre-weddingday. Though the bride and groom arenot supposed to meet on that day, Sandeep was there at my home too :). There were lots of people in the house, and so much going on that I didnt even have time to think about the wedding next day. In the evening,JP, Jassi and Mayur arrived from Bangalore. I was busy chatting with them and my parents and Vaibhav were out to receive Sandeep's folks from Kerala and his friends. Deepashree too was with my mom and even put mehendi for Sandeep's cousin and neice.

It was quite a hectic and long day for all of us and we went to bed exhausted and in anticipation of the next "The Day".

PHOTOS: Haldi

Mehendi hain Sajnewali

2009-09-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

Mehendi is something I have loved even as a kid. As a school kid my mom used to put mehendi for me on Friday nights and I always used to complain that the mehendi in the books and on my hand is not identical, I used to point out at small little details in patterns that she would miss since she possibly couldnt get everrything on my tiny little hand.

It took me and my mom quite some time to hunt for a bridal mehendi girl. We finally found a lady and it was decided she would be putting mehendi for me and my mom. We decided to have the mehendi ceremony on 5th August starting at 6. The dress code for the evening was green. We even had a green menu planned with harabhara kebab and green pulav.

My mehendi started at 4 and it took 4 hours to complete. My relatives, close friends, family started coming at around 6. It was fun atmosphere with all getting mehendi done on their hands. Deepashree, Deeksha, Aditi were putting mehendi for others. While I was getting mehendi done right uptil my arms, my aunt was teasing me reminding me of the time during her wedding when I was 7 and had pestered the mehendi lady that I too wanted same mehendi as the dulhan. Getting mehendi done for 4 hours was quite tiring. By the end my arms were aching a lot but still I was enjoying every bit of the royal treatment I received. Since I had mehendi on my hands and couldnt use my hands, I had Sandhya maavshi and Tanaya feed me food, someone else tying my hair if it fell loose, every single person there was always on the look out if I needed anything....hmmmmmm.....the advantages of being a bride :).

My mehendi was done and while others were getting theirs done, Julie (my neighbour) suddenly had a complain ki ghar kaafi shaant hain. Next minute we know, she asked Vaibhav to blast music and got us all on our feet to dance. It was great fun to watch all keep their hands safely out of hte way and dance around together. One by one every single person in the room was pulled in including my granny. Occasionally even my Dad and Vaibhav were turned into Kishan Kanhaiyas as they had to dance amongst all the mehendiwale haath.

That was the kick of ceremony for the wedding and I must say it was a blast, thanks to all present there.

You can see the photos for the mehendi ceremony if you click on this link and will try to upload few videos also soon

Mehendi ki raat

And if you think this was it for the day, well there was another excitement left at the end of the day on 5th August. My dulhe miya arrived in Mumbai too that same day for the wedding :).

Happily Married!!

2009-09-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

Yippieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
The marriage was just AMAZING!!

I know all of you are eagerly waiting for the news and fotos. We will be updating the blog very soon...

Keep watching this space!!

Suit Yourself!

2009-08-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

Well....well let me see if I can give Jas some competition in shopping. But thing is I just need a shirt and pant....what else do guys wear. Ha ha...so easy and simple. But gosh buying a suit was really a pain. After going through a dozen suits, I felt...........they all look the same!! I wanted something different. Something that looked special. Well after some trials and hard work....there it was...a tuxedo. It was great. I instantly liked it. And you no what ... it has the James Bond look:) ha ha....

The name is Bond.....James Bond!!

Lets see if this bond can get Jas's attention.

cheers!!

More Suit Trail Pics!

Curtain Raiser

2009-07-31T12:02:00.000-07:00

Just a week to go and its soo hectic here.....with my parents and I landing just few days before the wedding, we all have been really really busy since the last 2 weeks. The first thing I did after I landed here was my mangalsutra. The word mangalsutra means an auspicious thread or cord and is the most important sign of a married woman in Hindu culture. A mangalsutra in Maharashtrian weddings is made of black beads and gold. The black beads protect the marriage against all evil. As the groom ties the mangalsutra around his bride's neck, he promises her to always stay together.

Choosing the mangalsutra

Then came my clothes shopping, and people who know me, can guess that must have been the best part for me. I absolutely loveeeeeeee shopping. I had already purchased my wedding gown, so what was pending was my sarees and lehenga. I picked up few saress from stores, but most of the saress I loved were the ones bought from a sareewala who has been coming to my house since 6-7 years now. During the main wedding a Maharahstrian bride wears a yellow saree, I have purchased a yellow nine yard saree. After that I would change into a green saree followed by a blue one for the evening party. For the reception lehenga I wanted a typical bridal one and am getting it made from my tailor. I also had to shop for Sandeep since he would be flying just 2 days prior to the wedding. In the morning he is wearing a pitambar and a kurta, and a grand sherwani for the reception. I really really enjoyed shopping and picking up matching outfits for Sandeep and I.

Shopping

You all know how particular I am about the way I dress even when am going out just for groceries. Its obvious, I would then be really concerned about hairstyle, makeup for the wedding day. Luckily, I have been going to the same parlour ever since I was a small kid and hence that aunty knows what suits me best and the kind of look I would prefer during each ceremony. The wedding on 7th is going to be a total traditional Maharashtrian look while the evening party and reception would be comparatively trendier.

Parlour Trials

On 7th evening there is a party for mainly my friends in which we would be performing a choreographed sequel followed by informal dancing. Am not going to reveal much about the sequel in thi sblog, would upload a video after the party. 2 years back, as part of the food festival organized by my dad, a group of us had done a fashion show. Most of my friends in te fashion show are helping me with the sequel choreography too. Urmin is our main masterjee. She has been aired on TV with Saroj Khan for her dance show. Along with her, the ones participating are Eesha, Deeksha, Tanaya, Deepashree, Jaitashree, Aditi, Riddhi, Poorti. From the names it can be recognized that initally all the dancers were girls. For some dances it was essential to have a guy dancer and hence my sweet little brother, Vaibhav agreed to dance. He usually hates dancing on stage and has never done it after pre-primary school. Hence he pitching in just for my sake means a lot to me. When he dances, I dont see how good or bad he is at it; what I see is a loving brother doing something for his sister's wedding just because she wants it that way :).

Sangeet practice

Hmmm.........there is still lots more of work to be done and such few days. I travel everywhere with a camera nowadays and would be putting all other details too on this blog.

Losing Bachelor's Degree

2009-07-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

One more month to go for the marriage. So many questions popping up in my head. Is this the end of 'many' things for a bachelor? Of course I understand life wouldn't be the same after marriage. But still, will it not be even a least bit of how it is now? As many people say, is marriage very complicated, full of problems, etc etc? Now I'm care free, I do what ever I want and go where ever I want to go. I can be lazy and sleep all day. Will I miss the friday night parties. I'll have to come home early, no parties, no friends, no pool, no playing computer games all day. Is this how it is going to be? Oh o!!

I close my eyes and think.....why the hell did I decide to get married ?!!

Hmm...then I realize, this decision was made by me because I wanted Jas more than anything. I wanted her to be there by my side always. I am happy whenever she is around. She made me happy and I loved her company. I liked her as a friend before and she would still be like my best friend even after marriage, so why should I be scared of not being a bachelor anymore? Before when she was there around me, I didn't feel I lost anything, so why should I feel this way when it comes to marriage? I am not going to lose anything. Marriage is not going to change who we are.

'Marriage' is something that bonds us together. Instead of being scared of committing to get married, we should understand that it is the beginning of a new friendship. A special bond where you share everything that is going to happen for the rest of your life with one person whom you care for the most and who will be there by your side till the very end. We may have some ups and downs, may find some faults and shortcomings in one another, but when the love for your partner is so much greater than these things, nothing else should really matter. As far as partying goes, she anyway loves socializing more than I do. I forever will have a beautiful date to take with me to any party. She would always be there beside me anytime, anywhere.

I have decided to lose my Bachelor's Degree to pursue a more special and challenging course of life.....Marriage. I would encourage my fellow bachelor friends, not to be scared of getting married. It is you who decide whether to make it look scary or exciting.

Cheers!!

A Father's Monologue

2009-07-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

It was exactly 2 years back, end of July 2007. Jaswandi was leaving for US. I had come to India to complete unfinished tasks and to see her off.
Immediately after meeting her, I noticed some changes in her. She was stuck to mobile and was chatting very softly, which was very much unlike her. She always used to chat on phone loudly. Many times Vaibhav used to remark, ‘jyada show off mat kar’. She was like that, very transparent, nothing to hide. But that day, I felt she was hiding something, very unusual of her.
I was right. Sangita broke the news in night. ‘You know, she has decided, he was her immediate boss in Infy, he is a Mallu and a Christian.’ I was shocked, neither because he being Mallu, nor because he being Christian. After living in Dubai, a Mallu is an indispensable part of our life. And the religion is never an issue for me. I never accepted religion as a barrier in my life.
I was shocked because I refused to accept that Jaswandi got hooked up with some particular boy. She was always so career minded. She used to laugh at other girls falling in love. She was never ‘Mills & Boons’ type, but was always like Dagny Taggart of Ayn Rand. I and Sangita had always given Jaswandi and Vaibhav a lot of freedom. We believed that they will never do anything for which we will feel awkward. There used to be lot of boys in Jaswandi’s group and she used to be very free with them. But they all were just very good friends, nothing more. That’s why I was shocked. I became very curious. Who is this boy my Jaswandi has become paagal for? I felt envious because till then I was the only hero in her mind.
It took almost one and half year till I met Sandeep in Dec. 2008. Till then I had seen so many snaps of him that I had no problem in spotting him when he got down from the crowded train at Kalyan station. And then in those 2 days that unknown boy became my prospective son-in-law in my mind. I kept watching him critically, and then as a finale when we had a small get-together on second day, I felt proud to introduce him to all. Yes, my daughter was right in her selection.
We all started preparing for the big event. In the midst of all the preparations, one thought keeps haunting me. On that big day, I have to handover my little Gunda to Sandeep. My little Gunda, who smiled at me when I saw her for the first time when she was born, who I nurtured like a flower of Jaswandi all these years, I have to give away to someone. That someone I am sure will take care of her and will love her equally. I am happy for that but at the same time I feel sad since I am losing her. While doing kanyadan, I am sure there will be tears in my eyes. I will try to control them; I will make sure that nobody notices them. I will tell myself that big boys don’t cry. But I know, I am no more a boy. I am a buddha baap of the young bride and whether I like it or not the tears will roll down from my eyes.

The Wedding Dates are Declared....(By Jas)

2009-07-06T15:44:00.000-07:00

I got back to US after the December official meeting and was soo miserable. The semester kept me busy though and soon it was March. And then one day mummy says, i think its time to fix the wedding dates. My first reaction, wowwww lots of shopping to do, partying, dancing......amaaazing. Mummy went from dubai to bombay to finalize the dates and book the weddng hall. Sandeep's parents too sat down to discuss abt the marriage. And then one day me and Sandeep were informed by our parents, we were going to have two ceremonies-one as per the Maharashtrian style on 7th August and the second in church on 17th. The wedding halls were booked and then it struck me, OH MY GOD, AM GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!! Its not all just about a party or shopping, its the most important event of my life. My parents are actually going to hand me over to Sandeep. That was a little freaky.....but then it was only March and well, I had lots of things to do till then.

First we started planning the events. Now, since its my wedding, there has to be dancing involved, and so inspite of Maharashtrian weddings not having sangeet, we decided to have one. And then ofcourse mehendi and sangeet and a reception too. As per the convenience of both the families, the schedule was chalked. Next, the shopping had to be started. but me being in US, really didnt help that. It would be so sill buying indian dresses from here. But there was something I could pick up from here-my wedding gown. Though in kerala mostly brides wear saree, my mother-in-law too agreed that I should wear a wedding gown. I was soooo thrilled, I always wanted to wear those gowns. I first went with my cousins in Boston for gown hunting in some real posh places. The gowns there costed around $10,000. Yaa it was crazy, so I decided to go someplace from where I could really buy something. Deepa and Jaitu (my cousins) told me about this store David's bridal which advertised about their gowns on TV. Once back in Minneapolis, I thought of going to one of its stores immediately, since it takes about 3 months to finally get your gown once you select it. My friend Harish came along with me to select my gown. It was really sweet of him to accompany me. He used to wait patiently outside the changing room and then photograph me in the gown. All the photographs were sent to my mom, cousins, Sandeep, friends. Am putting the link for the dress trials in here:

Wedding gown trial 1

Wedding gown trial 2

Two visits to the store, and I found the gown that I loved. I wore it and didnt want to remove it at all. Am not putting the photographs for the actual gown here, coz I want it to be a surprise for Sandeep. Once the gown was selected, I had to wait for almost a month and half for my first fitting....

Mumbai Calling...

2009-06-22T04:21:00.000-07:00

After jas went to the US, our relationship mostly revolved around yahoo messenger and the friendly smileys. The distance was too much for me to just go and meet her. So we decided that we need to plan out our future. We decided US would be our destination and so I started my efforts to go to the US. Many options were there but we had to be careful before we take a decision. While going through this, I got an opportunity to work for another unit for a year after which they promised to send me to the US. So we felt this was a better option at the moment and agreed.

And so after 4 years of working in the same unit, this was my second major change. Any guesses what was my first?? Ha ha....you cant guess but I'll tell you. My first major change was to change my look. I had a thick mush and spects and I guess I really looked like a nerd. I donno what urged me to but...I just was feeling it is time for some 'change' in life.

I got my US visa in November, 2008 and in December jaswandi said she is planning to visit India. So we thought why not we make our parents meet and make it official. Till now it was just talking through mails, phone, chat....but we wanted our parents to meet and formally say that we are indeed going to get married with all their blessings.

Jas was there to plan out the whole thing, I just had to bring my family to bombay :). So I went to Kerala and from there me, mom, dad and my uncle boarded the train to Mumbai. This was going to be my first visit to Mumbai so I was a little excited as it is the most famous city in Inida with a lot of history.

The journey was never ending. It was a 24-hour journey, but it felt like ages. Me and jas were constantly on the phone updating where we are at each station. The excitement was growning as we were about to meet in person after more than a year. Finally the train rolled to a stop at Kalyan station and I was fighting my way out of the crowded train. As soon as I reached the door.....there she was...I couldn't take my eyes off her. :) Jas was wearing a red dress and I could see only her just like the 'woman in red' scene of 'The Matrix'. We hugged and introduced our parents to each other. Vaibhav, Jas's bro was also there to receive us.

We felt so nice to be together again. Seeing after 1.5 years, we just cudn't speak much in the car. We just held hands as if all that we had to say was....I Missed You.

Evening jas came to where we stayed and we both went to meet her friends. It felt nice to meet them and get introduced and teased as a fiance. We spent some time with them chatting about our story and others stories and stories about jas when she was in college. Later we went back home to have dinner.

Dinner was fun. Jas was asked by her mom to serve to my parents and me. It was fun watching her awkwardly serving not knowing what to do. Ha ha...I think she was very conscious. Anyways it was her first time in a 'Ladki dekhnewala scene' :). She did good.

Next day we went to jas's home for lunch. Her uncle and family and granny were there. It was nice meeting them. We had brought some gifts for jas and her family. My parents gave jas a sari and a ring. The ring meant - 'You are reserved for me' :). Jas's dad gave me a nice shirt too. Then we took snaps and finally we decided that we would have the wedding in August.

After that me and jas sneaked out and went to CCD. Now finally we get some time together. It was nice to hold her hand again and see that now there is a ring that says she is mine. :) We were happy that things were going according to plan. And soon we would be married. Evening we had a get together arranged by jas's family for their relatives and friends.

We didn't know how it would be. Didn't know what to expect. We were in a new place, met new people, getting in touch with different language, culture, tradition....it was all something new. The car came and we reached the hall. As soon as I walked in, all eyes were on me....but my eyes were on jas. She was looking so beautiful in a sari, that I couldn't take my eyes off her.

Slowly guests started coming, me and my family were introduced to everyone and it was fun. We really felt nice meeting everyone. Everyone were very friendly and affable, so we felt very comfortable and not out of place. We had dinner and took lots of fotos.

So that was how our parents met and made it Official. We are getting married :)....I think this is just amazing that we have trusted each other and have faith in each other that we can take this relationship to the next level in only 3-4 meetings. All credit goes to yahoo msnger and airtel :) ... also I got used to breaking my own records of my highest phone bills.

Finally we said goodbye the next day, promising each other that we will stick to our plan and get married in August. Heres a video summary of what happened in Mumbai and how it all became Official!!

Our story

2009-06-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well so it goes this way....sandeep was my module leader in infosys. Now most of you know how exactly enthusiastic I was to join infy (pls note the sarcasm).......well so I had made it a point to just not work and my project manager throws a mock project at me and asks me to complete in a week. Now inspite of everything, I did try but still, none of my other team mates were available to help and it was not possible to do the whole thing and so i didnt. Sandeep has always been working from bangalore and I was in chennai, now he comes online one fine day and starts off with, "I dont think you are taking your work seriously, this is not your college or training, you are in a real project, its time you started working and blah blah blah"..........and I got sooooo pissed off. I found him very rude and arrogant and I saved the chat and was going to complaint against him to my manager.....for some reason I didnt, but I used to avoid him, I kept going offline whenever he came online. Then one day he got an award for something and I was in quite a good mood that day, so I thought chalo wish karte hain, so I just messaged him congratulations and just generel small talk. from that day I started chatting with him and thought, chal itna bhi bura nahi hain....this was around march 2006.

In may '06 we had a team building session in mysore. so our team which was spread across bangalore and chennai, all of us went to mysore for 3 days. Now there was this friend of mine in my training batch who was directly working under sandeep and he was quite praising him, so I thought milte hain atleast courtsey sake. We were in the same guest house, so though a little late in the nite, my frend was like, naa he is cool..lets meet him now. So we call him up and tell him we are coming to his room and I went there along with my friends. And this Sandeep, didnt even get up from his bed to greet me. Imagine, me walking into some guys room all nicely dressed up especially to meet him, and he doesnt even show little enthusiasm, I was like, what rubbish, how dare he. And he had a MOUSTACHE!!!!. I was totally disinterested and had a very very bad impression about him. Next day also we went on a trek and he hardly spoke with me. (Now he tells me he had a bad impression about me too, as in when we were on a trek, I danced on that hill top with another team mate and he thought I was like a total gayeli case, landing in anybody's room late in the nite, dancing anytime anywhere........now he has just got used to the dancing anytime anywhere part :D)

Anyway, back from mysore, we continued chatting and kind of became friends. I started liking chatting with him at work. Then in sep '06 I had to leave for my gre to bbay and I had taken a 1 week leave. And the day before I left, he goes like, hmmm..........do u mind if you would give me your cell no, i would like to keep in touch during the week. And there started the sms phase. This was in oct sometime, I had typed him a sms (by this time our sms rate had almost gone to something like 2 in an hr) and instead of replying, he called and he spoke some crap for almost an hr and hung up. Though the phone call was wierd, we progressed from sms to talking on the phone.

In October I had gone to bangalore to take my toefl and that time had been to bangalore office to meet my manager to persuade him to give me a transfer. That time i met sandeep face to face again and asked him whether he would join me for lunch, i thought now we were frends and all so just casually poonchha......and he said NO....can you believe that,,,huhhh........... Our phone calls really increased in time, almost thrice a week for an hour each and then i got my admits in jan and I finally moved to Pune in feb '07. Sometimes I used to get this feeling that there was something not like normal friends between us, the way I used to tak to him was not how I used to be with other guys, but then it really didnt make sense, as in I hardly knew him and I was anyway moving out to a different country........

In may '07 I had planned a trip to goa and so had he at the same time (i know none of my friends believe it was a coincidence, but it was.....we didnt deliberately plan it together).....he asked me out....first I said no, he had done so much nakhra before, now it was my turn, but eventually I ditched my friends for one whole day and went with him.

And that date was magical. I had a great time with him. I thought he was very interesting to talk to and a very sweet guy as such. The way I spoke to him, blushed when he said something, held him back when he said he was leaving...I just could not comprehend. I mean, I was thinking, what the hell is wrong with me, why am I behaving this way.

Back to Pune I missed him a lot. Our friendship grew stronger.....And then we had a big fight one day over the fone. He suddenly thought that we were getting beyond casual friendship and me leaving would just hurt the both of us. Ofcourse what he was saying made complete sense, but I didnt want to let go of him. I knew this was too far fetched and we hardly knew each other, but still the thought of not talking to him, meeting him; troubled me a lot. Yes i knew I had a future to think about, but for the future how could I give up on the present, the beautiful moments I was having. Nor could I screw up my future for him. I was ready to take a risk and try out how things would work, thats what I told him. But Sandeep was not ready for a casual relationship, he told me if he said yes, that would be forever.

That needed meeting one more time and he came down to pune to see what we really had. It was crazy, just three meetings and committing to each other.....that was scary. But Pune were like the perfect three days...candle nite dinner, dance, fit for a yash chopra movie. And we knew, what we had was too special to give up on, we would continue with our individual career plans and at the same time try to work things together.
And then I moved to US and the distance only grew bonds stronger. I really dont know when I took the decision to get committed. We spoke to our parents, and things were formally approved in Dec '08.

The time I met him in Oct '07 was as meeting a senior colleague, the second meeting in May '08 was as friends, the third meeting in Jun '08 I was his girlfriend and in the fourth meeting Dec '09 I had a ring on my finger :)

And now....we are getting married in less than two months. If you ask the way I am feeling, well now am slowly turning from "woww am getting married" to "oh my god am getting married"