Weddings are Wonderful

Wedding season is round the corner and December is the month of marriages in Kerala Nair community.

It was my favourite cousins wedding last week.
All of us, from different corners, reached my grandpa's place three days before the wedding...last six days were filled with so much of fun and so many thoughts...have tried to capture my thoughts in various segments below

ARRANGED MARRIAGE vs. LOVE MARRIAGE
Initially I was confused.....my cousin is very beautiful and had agreed for an arranged marriage...somehow the term arranged marriage give me jitters
I know the concept works very well in India.Throughout the wedding, the grooms family was very very jolly and I knew that my cousin will be looked after well, she was the most beautiful and stood out in the crowd
The groom was smart and hats off to her to take such a matured decision!!!
She will be leaving India in sometime and I was wondering what would be life to her then, she will enjoy the first year going places and then next five years they will understand each other, wow thats magical
During the entire course, my perception started changing towards arranged marriage concept

Me and A courted for almost two years before tying the knot and trust me even today I get to know a new nature of his and vice versa.
I got to know one thing of life and that is, there is no point of having an arranged or love marriage concept coz everything changes once you start living with a person, its from then that life changes
If you are with the right person, your life is beautiful, no matter the wedding was arranged/love
I hope my cousin is with her Mr Right and here's wishing her loads of happiness :)

FUNNY/EMBARRASSING SIDE OF WEDDING
Throughout the wedding, I came across so many different characters, like one of my Aunts who fakes everything, she exaggerates the smallest stuff,its very funny and yes irritating at times!We havent met for years, but when she meets, she invades our life like crazy...I just smile to myself during those times.
Then during the wedding, there are people who come to you and ask, "do you know me?", if we answer no they get offended, so I just say Ofcourse, I know you, how are you doing? and the conversation flows...there is another set who would again question, "If you know me, tell me who am I?
Eeesh, that is such a embarassing situation,I just smile and start looking out for someone who could help me out, thankfully my mom would be somewhere near to rescue me
I dont believe this, we meet once in say 6 years, where we meet and they expect us to remember the way we are connected...in some instances, they would have seen me when I was a toddler, how do they expect me to remember them? :)
Poor cousin of mine, she had a tough time explaining connexions to her hubby :)

EMOTIONAL ATYACHAR
Oh yes, there are times when your eyes are filled with tears, like when, the bride takes blessings from her close family members in the morning
My cousin seeked my blessing and I was completely on tears...whatever said and done she will be part of a new family
When mangalsutra was tied to her, even that brought tears to my eyes...these traditions are wonderful
When she was leaving to her husbands place, after the wedding (even though we were to meet in the evening for reception :)
But the worst was when she came to our place in the third day and while she was leaving, we felt the lump for sure
Not that we meet on a daily basis, we meet once/twice in a year, but still somewhere we felt sad that even that may reduce as she will not be in India

NOSTALGIA
Each instance, during the wedding, reminds each one us, on what happened during their wedding...its so much fun as we become closer to each one

As my Aunts and Mom tell what happened in their case, its like reading a book, I keep imagining those times
And yes even I remembered my beautiful moments throughout my wedding
We even took out old albums and each one had a story of its own
Its wonderful :)
Weddings are definitely wonderful!!!

P.S-Will add more on this :)

Humanity:Where do we learn???

This was something, I have been thinking to blog for a long long time
Two of my favorite movies, which hits on to me, are Taare Zameen Par and 3 Idiots
What is common in both?Strict Parents?
I think that the thoughts were similar, the fact that in India, so much of importance is given to education..which is definitely good any day but does degree prove that one is a good person or a bad person.

One question...Why  are perceptions on individuals behavior based on their education???

Well, in a nutshell, it shows that

Almost 80% of Indians believe that the kind of degree makes a man perfect!!!...is it true
Being from a research background, I immediately started finding out how valid my hypothesis is
Well I spoke to some people on this, also was checking on various industries

Marriage Market : In India,first thing one wants to know is the kind of education one has completed...the better the education, more is the dowry...engineers and doctors are most preferred, so one doesn't say that "He/She wants a funny person who can believe in compromising at times, who works hard and loves to enjoy life as well" but the ads are like this "I am a Indian electrical engineer , working in abudhabi capital of uae , i am looking a hindu girl for marrage , girl must be engineer in any branch , if she is Electrical branch it good for me"
Even when we attend a wedding, first thing one asks is What is the guy/gal?If the answer is software engineer, we are like Wah and by chance that person is a MA chap, maybe he is in a great MNC and a very good person at heart...our perception is like hmmm
Isn't that hilarious :)

School Market : Its sad when I see kids around, they are like going for a war..my son is 4yrs old, in lower kindergarden, he is already learning cursive writing, when I asked the teacher that dont you think he is too small for it...answer I get is Not at all..he has to be groomed to get into a bigger school
My neighbors son is in 11th in one of the top school of Bangalore, my neighbor was very happy the other day, he said that in six months, they have completed 11th portions and now they are teaching 12 std, so now for the next one and a half years, they will make them thorough for 12th...by the way the kid is being coached for IIT from 9th standard...Sad part is that he is just doing what his parents are telling him!

Job Market : In India, any day, its the IITians and IIMs who are preferred in the industries. Since I am in a MNC, I have seen people drooling over Inseads, many a times, trust me I have seen them being so lazy and outsourcing simple work, that I think to myself ...do these tags matter?
We believe that Person X from Kirana college of Engineering is bad as a worker that Person Y from IIT!!!

Social Life : Oh Man, in this segment, every one wants the better degree holder in their group, so that they can flaunt them. Oh yes I know Rishi, IITian right?he is with Mckinsey...he is loved no matter what

When I look at the entire ecosystem, I feel that its our fault of looking at things!!!
Don't you think we should look at a person, as to what he is and not what he has earned?What he has earned is great, no matter what but him/her being a good person is his nature and degree has nothing to do with it
When will we change our perception towards life???
I know that with a 1.2bn population and each job being craved by 50 others, its a competitive world but somewhere I feel that education should also cover humanity!!!
Isn't that important???

Humanity...where do we learn?

 

This is for hubby dear...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Today is our anniversary and I have been wondering as to what gift should I get for A...after some serious thoughts on various kinds of gifts, I thought why don't I tell him what I feel :)

So here you go Mr Hubby, this is for you

Do you remember Dec 25th, 2003???
That's when I chatted with you for the first time! that's when I met you, thanks to some chat room (I don't remember it!)
We then met on Feb 16th,17th and 18th of 2004...well let me get the cat out of the bag...I proposed to you and I do not regret saying those words till date
I knew it was love at first sight for you, it was sooo apparent, but I also knew that if I do not take the first step, this could go along for a long long time...till date I think to myself " Thank God I told you what my heart felt that moment"...do you regret saying Yes immediately?
Jan 16th 2005, we got engaged and tied the knot on Dec 15th 2005 :)

We are going to start our ninth year of knowing each other...and seventh year of life together!!!Congratulations!!!

When I look back, I only have to say "Thank you" to God to bring us together...that was magical...all I know is that we were meant to be together...that was God's choice!
We are blessed with a beautiful son and a wonderful extended family...Thank you

As a hubby, you are so unromantic...or else,who would gift a photo frame for anniversary and ask for each anniversary what do you want...eeesh how boring, however, if I ignore that part, you have the best of qualities and I totally love you!!!...wait wait wait I also have to ignore the part that you are so unadventurous/so boring during weekends/so addicted to loud Suresh Gopi's mallu movies(yuk!) and you have no hobbies!!!
Phew...apart from the above, I adore you so much!!!
Its the first anniversary when we are not together, but you are where its more important and I am not sad at all
They say that if you love a person completely, then you do not regret if he is not there on a special day
I know that I love you in every second of my life!!!
Love you completely and miss you "A"
Happy Anniversary hubby dear!
Here's wishing us loads of years of togetherness :)

P.S: Thank you for accepting the way I am and thank you for being You always!!!