Saturday, June 30, 2007

My brother's wedding-1

My brother finally got married. It was a great wedding, and I had a rollicking time.

Reaching home and moving into my new room was an awesome experience in itself. Imagine a first floor room with a full frontal view of the Himalayas, complete with wooden flooring, and an Americanized bathroom. And I had my own dressing room. Just shifting upstairs was so much fun in the first place, as was the realization that I would actually look forward to going home from now on. The days before the marriage saw me trying to arrange stuff like DJ, rooms for the guests, alcohol and a lot of less important stuff. Also, the responsibility of taking care of guests who trickled in and out fell upon me. It was great to meet a lot of my cousins and nephews and nieces and aunts and uncles after a long long time.

Day 1: 23rd June, Saturday : Program: Shagun and Ring Ceremony at a hotel in Dharamsala. The ceremony went off okay. The entire day saw some more of the guests pouring in, and the best part of the night was the DJ-cum-"cocktail" night, at home, which saw infinite amounts of whiskey and beer, with some amount of vodka, gin and rum added. I made the bartender make some pretty big (90 ml whiskey with 60 ml of Old Monk and Vodka, and 30 ml of gin, with the rest of the glass filled with coke) Long Island Iced Tea (without Tequila, of course (how do u find Tequila in Kangra District)), and got really high within no time, and then started telling people about my adventures in the United States of America, and also describing, whats now famous in my family as the Lindsay Lohan story. I have not mentioned this story in my earlier blogs about the Big Apple, so now is a pretty good time to do so.
"Well, it so happened, that P and me found ourselves outside this really good nightclub one Friday night. The only thing stopping us from going in was this huge black Negro, who told us that no stag entry was allowed. So well, as a desperate measure, we decided to ask a girl to get us in, and sure enough, a group of a guy and three girls came along. I tapped one of the females on the back and asked her if she could let us in. And man, was she hot!! What really took me aback was that she agreed at once, took my hand in hers and asked her other friend to take P in. She looked like Lindsay Lohan, and she asked me for my name and P's name. Her name was Allison, and as P was telling her his name, the negro saw us and didn't grant us access in the sake of us not knowing one another. Now well, Allison was really sorry thinking it to be her fault, and I consoled her. I now think it would have been the perfect time to ask her for her phone number, but loser that I am, I just waved her away."
So, this was the story I kept repeating that entire night, in front of everyone present. And I used the word chakka a lot too. And there were my cousins, who tried to take my case, my brother, who inspite of all the spotlight on him, was probably loving me stealing his thunder.
By the time people went away, or had slept, (it was already 3 in the morning) I had moderated down a bit, and my brother was having some questions about leaving his bachelor lifestyle behind. I tried to calm him a bit, and I guessed it worked. Then I left upstairs to my room, the best room in the world, and slept for tomorrow was going to be another gruelling day.

Day 2: The day started around 10, when I got down to assist dad in the functions, and boy, was this day fun! The entire day was about my brother taking part in various activities, which was to see him sitting in front of the fire most of the time, and when not, getting massaged with haldi by all the ladies of the house. It is kind of embarrassing really if you ask me. But for me the entire day was a good exercise in practical management. Sammy, Shreyas, Praddy, Jha and Rupa came around 11 in the morning, and after some chit chat went to the hotel to get some rest. I, on the other hand, worked hard getting things arranged, and was actually missing for most of my brother's ceremonies (Sehra bandi and all that crap). By 6 in the evening, we were all ready to go (considering that the expected time was 5:30, we didnt do too bad). Vaibhav came all the way from Hamirpur, and after picking up Vivek, came straight to the wedding place, which was an hotel in Palampur. And so started the best wedding function I ever attended. (To be continued).