Oh what a night!!!!
AAAAAAAAH! Its about 9 am, Saturday morning - I REALLY wanted to post last night, but was SO absolutely wiped that I could barely stand. Alhamdullilah, yesterday was a FANTASTIC day ... if we weren't feelin' shaadi like before - we sure as HECK do now! It was truly wonderful ... all the family came in ... through the day, a trickle, and then the flood gates opened and it seemed like the all rolled in at once!
Our first, and most anxiously awaited guests (for me at least!) were Sam, Noamz and Daniella - they arrived from Bangalore on Wednesday, and shot up here yesterday morning. It's been three years since I've seen them, and it was like I was in a dream ... are you guys really here? pinch me please! :) It all seemed to get better when they walked in the door --- as my mom said, when I saw Noamz and Sam, immediately there was a weight lifted off my shoulders!
They were followed be the Doddamani's, my mom's best friend from her college days.
The day was nuts - our first guests arriving, j'ummah, packing the mithai, hair, etc. Daniella and Sam were like whizzes with the plastic and ribbon -- I half expected to see a rabbit pop out of their hands :-) Suddenly about two o'clock we realized that we needed to organize lunch for some of the people that were there - in our heads we had organized it, in the sense that we had thought about it and had prepared, but now it was time to put it into action ... Boojan, etc had rushed off to the salon, so mom and I were running helter skelter trying to put together meat and bread into some semblence of sandwiches ... ran into the j'ummah returnees and put them to work :)
By the time we had organized lunch, it was about 3pm or so and the trickle became a flood ---- the Omers, the Saits, the Rahmans, the Swarup contingent ... it was like a movie [and I mean the bollywood variety!], every time I turned around there was another familiar face .... it was like, I know you, I know you ... the most important and for me somewhat emotional moment was when my mom's mama arrived. He is one of my favorites - my maternal grandmothers younger brother, he arrived from Bangalore a couple of weeks ago to attend his grandson's wedding last week - and he drove up with his daughter and two grand daughters ... the Omers - my fav Texas cousins :) yeehaw :) Mohd. mama is BAngalore - to the core. He's the most proper memon gentlemen you'll ever meet, he was so happy to be here in this "beautiful" hotel for such a "grand" occasion [I love the way he says things like that!]. It is truly and honor and a blessing for him to be here with us ... alhamdullilah.
In all hte helterskelterness, I did manage to get off a few pics, nothing great -- but it'll do for now. Maybe for once I'll relive the memoriest through my writing instead of through pictures, although pictures are alot cooler :) Anyhoo, I had never really met the Rahmans - part of the Portland branch of the Ali Mohammeds - but I'm glad we got the opportunity here! :)
Of course the Swarup contingent came in full force, raring to go ---- Neenz and Sash had a dance for the evening, etc. but lemme discuss that later [trying REALLY hard to make sense!]
Because there was so much excitement w/everyone here, we almost lost track of time -- the baraat (i think we're the baraat) had to arrive at the Mehendi by 7.30pm; and I started recieving calls from Mehro about being on time --- and we REALLY wanted to make good [we were pretty late for the engagement!]. It was really out of Ali Mohammed character to be on time, but ALHAMDULLILAH - WE DID IT! We assembled between 6.30 and 7pm; got the rasam in the car, and pushed off ... arriving in a trickle between 7.20 and 7.30. If anyone thinks that its a little odd that I've spent an entire paragraph discussing how we were on time -- yo, you don't understand, desis, especially a kinda large contingent ESPECIALLY when they're excited, cannot - as a rule of nature - be on time. THIS IS HUGE! [Aly, you feel me right?!]
Ok, so we arrive and assemble in the lobby - the plan was for the rasam -- fruits, clothes, mithai, etc. to go first, my parents, Boojan and myself next; followed by Mo - under this awesome red dupatta held up by his friends [aw man, I wish I had a picture of that, but my camera wasn't around :( and I was kinda banned from taking pics :( :(] -- yeah, so Mo under the red dupatta with Jack Jr. "fanning" him with a large red fan ... and followed by the rest of the family and friends.
So we set off, and let me just explain ONE thing. Our family - like cousins etc - there are NO boys. Mo's one, I have two cousin in BLR, and until last year only my nephew [alhamdullilah, we were blessed w/two more lil' boys last year!!!] - yeah, so the only weddings that we've had in our family are from the girls side -- very different to being on the boys side. and in general we're out of practice [ok I'll quit the excuses] -- our line of people got split up, and were scattered along the path - I'm sure the video guys weren't very happy about htat -- will probably have alot of edititing to do to make that entrance look like it was supposed to - regardless, it was fine ... at one point I just started laughing, and laughed it off ... whatever right?
Entered, placed ourselves at tables ... mingled a little ... about half an hour later, the beautiful bride walks in, through a line of color ... her friends and close cousins had lined up along side her and she entered under a red dupatta held up by her brother and first cousins. Floating in green and gold... there she was, to oohs and aahs around the crowd :)
We did the rasam, which basically is the ladies take some mehendi and put it on her hand [eh hem, napkin], give some money for good luck [I think] and do some mou meetha [sweeten the mouth; i.e. feed her something sweet] -- and of course take a cute picture :)
After all of that, and many MANY pictures [note - I was NOT partaking in ANY picture taking!!!] we started the dances ... there were about 8 total; they were SOOOOOOO CUTE!!! the kids did about four dances [both sides], the brides family and friends did a couple, her brother and sister in law did a REALLY cute one to chaiya chaiya, and of course - we had to represent ... as most of you know, this dance was the ONE thing that I was most concerned about, and was the source of great anxiety -- but alhamdullilah it turned out well ... we were extremely pleased esp w/the ending :) It was a medley of songs, and we had planned that the last one would be "its the time to disco" [if you haven't heard it, google it coz its a really fun son - I thought it was the cheezyest thing ever for a while, but it was awesome!] and made up some really easy steps -- and pulled my brother on to the floor, brought our family on, and his friends and we basically danced around him, and in a surprise twist, we brought the bride on :) Then her family came on, and well, it was just alot of fun ... we danced the song out -- and tantanatanaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa :)
Anyhoo, that was alot of fun, and the rest of the evening was just alot of eating and dancing, chillin, etc. I need to sign off now coz I need to head down to breakfast to see if all is good --- but I just want to sign off with this ... Mo's really lucky - this family's awesome - for many reasons, but ESPECIALLY for this one --- the highlight of the desert table was
A CHOCOLATE FOUNTAAAAAAIN!!!!!!!!!!
I mean HOW COOL IS THAT! [I DID GET A PIC OF THAT -- will post later :) ]
Our first, and most anxiously awaited guests (for me at least!) were Sam, Noamz and Daniella - they arrived from Bangalore on Wednesday, and shot up here yesterday morning. It's been three years since I've seen them, and it was like I was in a dream ... are you guys really here? pinch me please! :) It all seemed to get better when they walked in the door --- as my mom said, when I saw Noamz and Sam, immediately there was a weight lifted off my shoulders!
They were followed be the Doddamani's, my mom's best friend from her college days.
The day was nuts - our first guests arriving, j'ummah, packing the mithai, hair, etc. Daniella and Sam were like whizzes with the plastic and ribbon -- I half expected to see a rabbit pop out of their hands :-) Suddenly about two o'clock we realized that we needed to organize lunch for some of the people that were there - in our heads we had organized it, in the sense that we had thought about it and had prepared, but now it was time to put it into action ... Boojan, etc had rushed off to the salon, so mom and I were running helter skelter trying to put together meat and bread into some semblence of sandwiches ... ran into the j'ummah returnees and put them to work :)
By the time we had organized lunch, it was about 3pm or so and the trickle became a flood ---- the Omers, the Saits, the Rahmans, the Swarup contingent ... it was like a movie [and I mean the bollywood variety!], every time I turned around there was another familiar face .... it was like, I know you, I know you ... the most important and for me somewhat emotional moment was when my mom's mama arrived. He is one of my favorites - my maternal grandmothers younger brother, he arrived from Bangalore a couple of weeks ago to attend his grandson's wedding last week - and he drove up with his daughter and two grand daughters ... the Omers - my fav Texas cousins :) yeehaw :) Mohd. mama is BAngalore - to the core. He's the most proper memon gentlemen you'll ever meet, he was so happy to be here in this "beautiful" hotel for such a "grand" occasion [I love the way he says things like that!]. It is truly and honor and a blessing for him to be here with us ... alhamdullilah.
In all hte helterskelterness, I did manage to get off a few pics, nothing great -- but it'll do for now. Maybe for once I'll relive the memoriest through my writing instead of through pictures, although pictures are alot cooler :) Anyhoo, I had never really met the Rahmans - part of the Portland branch of the Ali Mohammeds - but I'm glad we got the opportunity here! :)
Of course the Swarup contingent came in full force, raring to go ---- Neenz and Sash had a dance for the evening, etc. but lemme discuss that later [trying REALLY hard to make sense!]
Because there was so much excitement w/everyone here, we almost lost track of time -- the baraat (i think we're the baraat) had to arrive at the Mehendi by 7.30pm; and I started recieving calls from Mehro about being on time --- and we REALLY wanted to make good [we were pretty late for the engagement!]. It was really out of Ali Mohammed character to be on time, but ALHAMDULLILAH - WE DID IT! We assembled between 6.30 and 7pm; got the rasam in the car, and pushed off ... arriving in a trickle between 7.20 and 7.30. If anyone thinks that its a little odd that I've spent an entire paragraph discussing how we were on time -- yo, you don't understand, desis, especially a kinda large contingent ESPECIALLY when they're excited, cannot - as a rule of nature - be on time. THIS IS HUGE! [Aly, you feel me right?!]
Ok, so we arrive and assemble in the lobby - the plan was for the rasam -- fruits, clothes, mithai, etc. to go first, my parents, Boojan and myself next; followed by Mo - under this awesome red dupatta held up by his friends [aw man, I wish I had a picture of that, but my camera wasn't around :( and I was kinda banned from taking pics :( :(] -- yeah, so Mo under the red dupatta with Jack Jr. "fanning" him with a large red fan ... and followed by the rest of the family and friends.
So we set off, and let me just explain ONE thing. Our family - like cousins etc - there are NO boys. Mo's one, I have two cousin in BLR, and until last year only my nephew [alhamdullilah, we were blessed w/two more lil' boys last year!!!] - yeah, so the only weddings that we've had in our family are from the girls side -- very different to being on the boys side. and in general we're out of practice [ok I'll quit the excuses] -- our line of people got split up, and were scattered along the path - I'm sure the video guys weren't very happy about htat -- will probably have alot of edititing to do to make that entrance look like it was supposed to - regardless, it was fine ... at one point I just started laughing, and laughed it off ... whatever right?
Entered, placed ourselves at tables ... mingled a little ... about half an hour later, the beautiful bride walks in, through a line of color ... her friends and close cousins had lined up along side her and she entered under a red dupatta held up by her brother and first cousins. Floating in green and gold... there she was, to oohs and aahs around the crowd :)
We did the rasam, which basically is the ladies take some mehendi and put it on her hand [eh hem, napkin], give some money for good luck [I think] and do some mou meetha [sweeten the mouth; i.e. feed her something sweet] -- and of course take a cute picture :)
After all of that, and many MANY pictures [note - I was NOT partaking in ANY picture taking!!!] we started the dances ... there were about 8 total; they were SOOOOOOO CUTE!!! the kids did about four dances [both sides], the brides family and friends did a couple, her brother and sister in law did a REALLY cute one to chaiya chaiya, and of course - we had to represent ... as most of you know, this dance was the ONE thing that I was most concerned about, and was the source of great anxiety -- but alhamdullilah it turned out well ... we were extremely pleased esp w/the ending :) It was a medley of songs, and we had planned that the last one would be "its the time to disco" [if you haven't heard it, google it coz its a really fun son - I thought it was the cheezyest thing ever for a while, but it was awesome!] and made up some really easy steps -- and pulled my brother on to the floor, brought our family on, and his friends and we basically danced around him, and in a surprise twist, we brought the bride on :) Then her family came on, and well, it was just alot of fun ... we danced the song out -- and tantanatanaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa :)
Anyhoo, that was alot of fun, and the rest of the evening was just alot of eating and dancing, chillin, etc. I need to sign off now coz I need to head down to breakfast to see if all is good --- but I just want to sign off with this ... Mo's really lucky - this family's awesome - for many reasons, but ESPECIALLY for this one --- the highlight of the desert table was
A CHOCOLATE FOUNTAAAAAAIN!!!!!!!!!!
I mean HOW COOL IS THAT! [I DID GET A PIC OF THAT -- will post later :) ]
posted by zai5h at Saturday, June 11, 2005
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