Martial Mish-Mashes - Part 3

Extremely sorry for the delay in this post, but you know what it is like once you are married Time just flies!

So where do I begin? The beautiful monsoon wedding? The rocking mehendi night before that? The 3 reception parties that followed? (Two on my side – each set of parents, and one on his side). Don’t even get me started on the mad travel that followed

Oh, and the nightmare of packing for so many days at one stretch…including all the kanjeevaram sarees…yeeeagh!!

I fell sick in between as well with all the rush and travel, but there was no choice but to get up and carry on. It was either that or put everyone’s plans in the water. Besides, getting everyone together is a task, it was either now or never. So after 3 weeks of pre and post wedding travel, I settled down to another 3 weeks of holiday by just simply accompanying my hubby in Cochin (since we both are not yet working in the same city yet – don’t even go there now, it’s a long story).

You heard that right, I took 6 weeks’ leave from work. God alone knows how my boss was kind enough to give it.

But in spite of all the difficulty, given a chance to do it all over again, would I?

Are you kidding me!! OF COURSE I WOULD!

It was pure pandemonium and I loved everything about it!

But now I understand why people say you should marry only once in your lifetime. I’m not sure I can’t stand all that more than once in my life!!

Oh BTW, 3 of my awesome blog friends Vimmuuu (also his wife), Kanagu and Destination Infinity landed up at my wedding reception in Trivandrum. With a…er… interesting gift. A mish-mash of an earlier idea we all worked upon

No wonder when I asked kanagu onstage what the gift is, he simply looked at me and said: I don’t know!

I was like: Huh?

Vimmuuu: You open it and see. And by the way please reserve your reactions for yourself!

Me: !!! ??

LOL!

Jokes apart, thanks a lot guys n gals. That’s one gift definitely occupying my living-room showcase, be it whichever city we settle down in.

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I think I should be marking IHM on this portion of the post! We are talking about innovative ways of bride torture here! Hear me out on this one.

In less than a week after marriage I was down with severe cold and cough. And I usually get a very bad attack of sinusitis along with it. So to un-block my clogged sinus, Undakannan’s uncle suggested a homemade remedy to it. Mix paan/betel leaves along with rock salt essence and a pinch of bhasmam, and pour 3 drops into each nostril. Ta-daah! Instant unclogged nose at bay!
There would be a slight burning sensation the first time round and in the next 2 days that would also get fine.

Sure, sounds harmless. I quickly agreed to it. What I was not prepared about was the extent to which the burning sensation would be felt. Me – the bakra - laid down obediently and my sis-in-law (SIL) came with the freshly ground betel leaves and proceeded to squeeze the essence out of them. It felt ok. My FIL asked me how it felt. I was about to say ‘fine’ when it started.

Holy moly!! As the drops made their way down my sinus… I felt as if my head was on fire. Aaargh!! My SIL gave an amused smile and said, ‘yep it seems to be working’. Not sure how loudly I screamed, SIL’s husband in the next room rushed towards us. At last some sympathy, I thought. Boy, was I mistaken! He started standing there watching the whole thing and laughing. If I had screamed any louder, I’m sure the neighbours would have come running. Or called the police or something!

By then I felt my entire sinus would go up in flames!! Suddenly hubby who was sitting right next to me pulled me up as if to say stop being a baby, it’s over now. I stood up, feeling all light headed and peering at the people around me, quite tempted to be like Sachin Tendulkar in the ad: Main kaun hoon? Main kahan hoon?

The good part? My sinus did clear up in a jiffy. But I never got around to finding out whether the second and third days of the treatment would be less painful. We were already travelling by the next day and eventually my cold disappeared. Even today my SIL laughs and says in case I misbehave, she will have the betel leaf essence ready! This is one time I am glad she stays far away in USA!!

And if that was not enough, a few days later, my FIL decided to join the bandwagon. Anyone familiar with Kerala temples would be familiar with the kadana vedi. (How in the world can a bomb be a prayer offering to God?!! It’s baffling to me. There should be a law against these things!!)

My FIL wanted me to go pray at their nearby family temple. Fair enough. But why on the days they have the kadana vedi??? Eeeks!! I wanted to run around shrieking like a banshee!

I stared at my FIL in horror. Why were they founding new ways of bride torture??? I was not prepared to defend myself against these new tatics!! I begged, wailed and pleaded like a kid reluctant to go to school for the first time. No chance! They wouldn’t budge. “It’s ok…it won’t be that noisy” is the argument I got. Finally sulking, I had to trot with SIL to the temple. The guy in-charge was just getting the vedi ready for lighting up with a blast. He was putting 15 of them in a row. Keeping a corner of my eye out for the vedi to start, my SIL and I took rounds of the temple. Fortunately we were done quickly. Just as we entered the auto and started moving away from the place, the vedi started. It was a compromise. SIL got to see the vedi and I was not close enough inside the temple to have a heart attack. Close shave!

All that’s left is my MIL to think some new way to torture me. I am skulking around the corner, waiting for that. Oh don’t worry, that I’m sure will turn into another post for MM series anyway!

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On a different note, I’ve faced some interesting questions from people. The usual ones would be, where would you settle after marriage etc. Amongst the dumbest of questions are so-called friends say: “Oh don’t hug me now…your hugs belong to someone else!” Er…what?!

The whole beauty of marriage is that you do not have to change just because you are married. That’s what I believe. I’ve seen friendships disintegrate and fade to a shadow of their formal selves, all because the party in concern got into a committed relationship or marriage. So apparently their partners do not like them interacting with people other than themselves…particularly of the opposite sex.

Huh??!! I mean REALLY! Who forms these rules?? It is totally moronic!

Why don’t people understand that there is no reservoir of love you dig deep into and the stock finishes once someone else comes into your life? Of course I can understand that priorities change once you get married, but the fact remain your life partner cannot take the place of your friends and vice versa.

People used to tell me that I would realize how things change once you get married. I mean sure, you’ll be busy with a new partner, family, settling down and all that. But that apart, I am truly happy and relieved to note that I’m still the same person. I haven’t had to change the essence of who I am, just because I got married. That in itself I count as my greatest blessing

So yes, that also implies I am still around on my blog. Been busy with settling down and all that, but I shall definitely keep posting (and try to increase the frequency as well).

So…now what?

What else but? More Martial Mish-mashes to follow!

And I shall definitely keep you posted on the updates!! Cheers!