Monday 19 November 2012

Dilli shilly tey winter weddings

Having lived in Delhi all my life it may sound criminal to not like winters. Actually its not that I don't like them.....I HATE them. As October begins, and the slight chill settles in, you can see me literally shivering around the house. As time progress and winters assume their most monstrous nature, I wear 2 socks, one dirty monkey cap, 3 layers of sweaters and my hands are never out of my sweat shirt pockets. Also please add a continuous sound that I make while moving around to complete the image (its like "Oooo...hoooo.....sheeeee"). These layers don't even come off while sleeping and my husband fails to understand how can someone HATE winters. No prizes for guessing that he adores this weather. This is one more point in our list of "Opposites attract" category.

Tonight I have a wedding to attend. And a Non-Delhite must know that how much ever the temperature drops or fog descends, women cannot carry shawls or cardigans in Dilli. Its how we attend weddings. We wear heavy sarees and sleeveless blouses! Our husbands and kids will be in jackets and gloves, but we will ALWAYS be without any such protective gear. I mean if we have to cover our silk drapes and jewelry with shawls, why are you making us attend a wedding dude? 

So what will we do? We will smile our best. Answer silly questions thrown at us like "Thand nahi lag rahi tumhe?". Quietly rub our hands when no one is looking. Hunt for a angeethi and force our husbands to accompany us around it hence restricting their movement. Sip on hot watery soup and then coffee. The time when we hold those heavy plates and finish food, our hands are frozen. But we go on....and on and on. If the wedding is a 'courtesy one' (like the one I will be attending tonight), we finish up with a hot gulab jaamun and make quick exit towards our car. But god forbid if we have to stay till the feras, we will put our sleeping kids on the sofas, and eventually give in to our husband's pleas of getting that shawl out from the car. Now the decision whether the shawl should cover our kids or us- is a tough one to make! But we still decide either ways and sail through the torture.

But Delhi and its weddings are best only in its signature winters. Because Delhi and its summer weddings are a punishment. Having made my family and friends endure this punishment during my own wedding, I better repent all my life by giving up on my shawls for all the wise people who have winter weddings :)


Thursday 15 November 2012

You and I.....in this unromantic world :)

A few days ago Twitter, Facebook, News and everything else that reaches out to millions was filled with Yash Chopra's demise. YAWN. Nothing new with that. Happened with Jagjit Singh, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand , Rajesh Khanna, Jaspal Bhatti blah blah.

It is sad no doubt. The whole process of losing someone and coping with that void is tedious, overwhelming and rather painful. In all the above cases though, since the loss isnt personal, its easier to simply type a RIP and move on.

I was myself coming to terms with a recent personal loss when I happened to check my FB wall and got to know about Mr Yash Chopra's end. Instantly a smile sat on my lips. Death definitely evades no one. However unfair it may seem, it is undoubtedly something we must learn to deal with!

But I have a connection with Mr Chopra. An uncanny one. Its silly but its my connection (most things about me are silly, no?). I owe the planning of my Honeymoon to him! The fact that I carried a chiffon saree on my honeymoon is all courtesy him. Eventually I did not show courage like his heroines to wear it- now thats a different matter! Till date if Saurabh teases me to have carried one- is because Mr Chopra made me believe that ITS POSSIBLE to wear it in the snow clad Swiss Alps!! I may not have worn it, but I did make Saurabh stand like Shahrukh with his arms stretched (he looked such a horrid version of SRK) and I ran quite a distance into his arms. The minute I did that Saurabh said- "Ho gaya honeymoon??"

I dont know if my sons will ever relate to this cheekiness of a romance (their father never does) but one thing is for sure- I fully do!

And why just romance? Its the typical tear jerking and strikinlgy effortless Indian-ness that he froze and framed in my head. For me when Amitabh Bachchan told Preity Zinta that -" Apne Ma bauji se kaiye ki ek Saath saal ka hindustani unnano diye tere sanskaro ko salaam karta hai"- I cried :)

Friday 2 November 2012

To Saurabh....on an empty stomach :)

We move along
night and day
We fall and rise
you hope, I pray.

You think about it
I feel
You act on it
I deal.

We are not alike
infact poles away
Still we do not want it
any other way.

A fast will not reinforce
it will neither strengthen
A day cannot determine
so I will not even mention

You and I
till we exist
will continue to surrender
to the promise a midst

Our two extensions
Our friendship
My reverence for you
and your admiration :)