A recap of K & R unison.

Karthik & Rachna, Congratulations from the gang.

We carry the same joy that you saw on our faces when you announced the decision in welcoming you back :) Yes, we ditched you at the airport but you had your superbowl in Baroda and we needed ours ;)

I should probably be posting this on the team blog but I've raved about your marriage to many and they all deserve a recap :) Its impossible to squeeze a 3 day wedding into 500 words, but I'll give it my best shot.

~ January 27, 2006 ~

The Vadodara welcome - 11.30a.m.

Gokul and I reached Baroda at 11.30a.m. after a train journey that seemed like eternity. We had a car waiting for us with a big sign that read 'Karthik weds Rachna'. First dose of the reality that they were getting married. Sweet. A small flashback here - We've known and regularly hung out with em for a while when they were 'just friends' and it was kinda weird to imagine them as husband-wife initially. I think we're over it now ;)

The engagement a la lawn - Noon.














A big sha-mi-yana in the backyard of Rachna's house. A good mix of Northies, Southies and an ill-dressed us, because we were directly escorted from the train to the engagement. Didn't matter. Karthik looked like a star, with his Raymond suit and shoes that shone like John Travolta's from Grease (Stayin alive, anybody?). That boy really looked like the 'mappillai' that he was! Few minutes later, Rachna joined the party and we exchanged our whoo-hoo you made it's. We hung out for a bit, K & R exchanged rings and I met Ms. Voldemort for the first time. Shhh. Rachna - for the record, my colleagues said you looked gorgeous. You probably get it all the time (I demand at least a week of filth speaking with no resistance from you for this) but I thought I should let you know :))

The pic above - Rachna's gramps gives blessings. He also gave his 2 cents to Karthik - not sure if Karthik loved it ;)

The cocktail party. 7p.m.














Mom, Karthik and Dad.

A picture is worth a thousand words, aint it? ;) A hell of a party, that was. An awesome DJ spinning some good shit, an open bar and whole lotta people. I remember Rachna's Dad coming up to us and saying "The bar is open, please inaugurate it" and we gladly obliged :) My fellow Indians amaze me. Looks like even the ones who drink don't wanna be the first one to go get a drink! Anyway, the music was bumpin and I danced with everybody. Moms, dads, grannies. You name it :) And yes, Ms. Voldemort too. Hehe. Overall, it was one of those parties where you start worrying that it's gonna end sooner or later and you just don't wanna leave. A dozen of us - K & R's families, Gokul and I stayed back and just vetti-chatted for like an hour. Good fun. I probably knew few hindi words and 90% of the talk was in Hindi. I'd understand when I was spoken to but I didn't know how to respond. The funniest thing was, Rachna's mom said in Hindi that she liked my dancing so much that if she had a third daughter (beti), she'd have married her off to me. I thought she said I was like her son (beta) and I corrected saying "beti nahin, beta". Everybody cracked up but me :) Ignorance is bliss.

~ January 28, 2006 ~

Lunch at Hotel Express. Noon.















Wow. I mean, Wow. That was some food. K & R - remind me to ask you how much you spent on each plate! Great Gujarati food. Especially that Oongh (did I spell that right?) and the pickles. Yum. I randomly took pictures at each table (hmmm. why would i do that? ;)) and stuffed myself. So did most of us. Rachna's dad and mom extended terrific hospitality, walking to each and every table, asking their guests if they needed anything and getting general feedback. Now, something about Rachna's dad that amazed me is that he knew everybody at the marriage. Not just by name, but actually 'know' them and you can find him engaging a different person almost every time you bump into him. I figured North Indians were good at socializing/networking but I experienced it first hand at the marriage. I can only hope to reciprocate the hospitality if I'm lucky to have him at my wedding.

The wedding. 6 p.m.













No, they didnt go sha-boo-3 -)))))

The wedding ceremony. For all you Southies, here's the low down on the ritual. Instead of tying the yellow rope, the couple become man and wife after two important events :- 1) The bride places her hand on the groom's palm and after some mantras are recited, that takes them half-way. I assumed that the couple are promising to give one to the other in doing this - and - 2) They walk around the fire, which we all know, as the agniyai-sutri-valam-varudhal with knotted clothes. One other interesting ritual was that at some point, the bride's mom came up to Karthik to bless him (in the Mandap) and she suddenly tries to run away. The groom is supposed to stop her from doing so and Karthik succeeded in the saree-tugging. I never got the background on why they did that but it was fun to watch :). Also, when Karthik entered the wedding hall, Rachna's mom asked him to look at the ceiling and in the cycle gap, she pinched his nose. Basically, its asserting that you're gonna marry my daughter, better behave ;) Good stuff. I so wish I could've gotten the details on all the rituals (the sari pulling, palm placing etc) but I was distracted, so to speak :)

Overall, a fabulous and joyous wedding!! There's a whole lot more that I'd like to write about but I need five blogs, at least, to even cover half the fun. So, I'll stop at this. Nonetheless, here's Karthik and Rachna's family pictures for your viewing pleasure (my crappy digi cam actually stepped it up - the pics look good, don't they?)