Just when you think that you have thoroughly organized
everything; that nothing could possibly go wrong as you have arranged
everything as per your to-do list and crossed checked it a million times and
you finally subconsciously pat yourself on your back for being completely in
charge of the situation; it is at this time you realize that there are
external forces at play that might completely pull the carpet off your feet! A series
of funny (well, in retrospect, I do find
the incidents funny-though I did not share similar sentiments when they
actually occurred) incidences made me realize that we are not so organized
after all, that even after going through our to do list a million times, there
are certain things which might just get left out; that even if we put our best
foot forward, we might goof up and thanks to the collective paranoia of our
peers, things go haywire!
This realization dawned on me a couple of weeks ago while
attending a wedding in Delhi! Having attended a couple of grand Marwari and
Punjabi weddings in the past, I convinced my modest Bong conscience to pardon
me for having spent a sizable part of my salary just to get the accessories and
costumes in line! I got my entire family (my husband and mother in law) to shop
around and get new clothes and accessories in place! (I know Hiren will never
forgive me for coxing him to purchase and wear the blingy and shiny foot wear
(mojdi) ;-). As the day of our departure to Delhi approached, I cross checked
and rechecked whether we had everything in place! I made a long list and ticked
everything off while packing! I never
felt so paranoid during my wedding! After all, my wedding was a simple affair!
I asked Hiren a million times whether he had the flight ticket printouts ready
with him, whether he packed his stuff, whether he has kept the cash and cards
safely and what not! After having done all the packing on Friday, me and Hiren
went for a stroll post dinner, having satisfied ourselves about putting
everything in place! How could anything possibly go wrong now? I now realize how optimistic I was back then! L. Right from the time
of post dinner stroll, goof-ups began to happen in various degrees!
First goof-up:
Insomnia before flight!
We had an early morning flight scheduled at 8:00am for which
we were supposed to reach airport by 7:00am for which we were supposed to leave
home by 6:00am for which we were supposed to wake up by 5:00am! And it more
often than not happens with me that just when I know I am supposed to wake up
early, my system plays a bad joke on me and turns me into an insomniac L I just couldn’t sleep!
I And Hiren, being the nocturnal bird, chose to remain awake till 3:00am watching
sitcom knowing fully well that he was supposed to wake up at 5:00am! I tried
reasoning out with the part of brain that was responsible for inducing sleep!
Understand! You have a flight to catch! You have to wake up early! Go to sleep!
You have a long day tomorrow! Buzz off! You have a lot of functions to attend!
You need rest! But no! If you remain awake, you will look like a Dracula with
dark circles in the function! My sleep, it seems played hide and seek with me
and I almost remained awake till 5:00am! And what was the effect? Just when I
was supposed to feel fresh and energetic, I woke up with dark circles and felt
groggy and irrigated to start off with! L.
This is certainly not the way you would
want to start off your trip!
Second goof-up:
Wrong terminal!
I smartly asked Hiren a million times whether he had the
e-tickets! Hiren, as usual, replied in full confidence and assured me not to
worry! This is his patent dialogue “Tension mat le, sab control me hai” When we
finally reached the airport, and showed our e-tickets to the guard, he smiled
sarcastically and informed us that we were at the wrong terminal! As we were
travelling through Air-India, it was an International flight and we were to go
to the T2 terminal which is approximately 10 to 15 minutes by auto! I felt like
a fool! I mean, how we could not check our e-tickets? It was so dumb! I looked
at Hiren angrily! He had the e-tickets! He should have checked! But there was
no time left for arguments! Some rickshaw walas, sensing our confusion, offered
to drop us till the T2 terminal by charging us 500 Rupees! He thought we are
not from Mumbai! After all, a Mumbaite would have the common sense to check his
e-tickets in case of Air-India flight, which at times departs through international
airport!
Third Goof up-Bags
flung off the taxi rail:
We got rid of the rickshawwala who wanted to rip us off for
a short fair and finally got a taxi for T2 terminal! The taxi driver hastily
kept all our bags on the top of the taxi in the square shaped luggage grille.
Due to lack of time, the luggage bags were not fastened with a rope. Just when we were on the highway, Hiren very coolly
said “I think our bag fell off the taxi” I wonder how he could be so calm while
saying this! I mean, it could have been the bag in which we kept all our
wedding cloths and jewellery! I mean I
know that he is stoic but this is not the time to display stoicism! I was panic
stricken and yelled at no one in particular! Instead of asking the taxi to
stop, Hiren only looked out of the window and said, “I am not sure whether the bag fell but I did hear some noise, we will
check when we reach the terminal as there is not time to stop in the middle of
the highway!” I just wanted to jump out of the taxi and run on the highway
in search of the bag that apparently fell! But Hiren, as usual, was holding
guns and did not allow the cab as he was
not 100% sure whether the bags fell off! If we stop the taxi for searching the bags,
we might miss our flight! If the bags with the wedding cloth did fell off, we
might have no wedding cloths to wear and would be compelled to attend the
wedding in shorts and jeans. I was so confused and panic-stricken that I couldn’t
argue with him either ways. Once we finally reached the airport, Hiren counted
the bags and assured me that the Bags had not fallen off but were merely
shifted off its place! Whoof! No words would suffice to convey the relief I
felt then!
4th
Goof ups related to gifting:
After finally reach the air-port and completing
the security check-in, when we were about to sit peacefully in the waiting
lounge, Anagha asked “What about the
gift?” We are going to the wedding, what are we gifting?” Imagine! I was
shopping since the past one month and completely skipped planning for the gift!
I again looked angrily at Hiren as the thumb rule between us is that we start
with the assumption that it is always Hiren’s fault, if something goes wrong! I
mean I had hundred and ten other things to take care off! He should have
reminded me L. While I am cent percent sure that Hiren
forgot about it, he covered up by saying that he had always wanted to buy
something from Delhi so as to avoid carrying it! What a lame excuse!
Nevertheless, Anagha, being the creative one, decided to pick up something from
the Airport and selected a beautiful pair of wine glasses from the Mumbai
airport shop to which we all agreed unanimously! Once we reached Delhi and were waiting at the
hotel reception, we realized that we did our next goof up! Anagha forgot the
wine glasses in the washroom at the Delhi Airport! So it was like, buying a
beautiful pair of expensive wine glass at the Mumbai Airport for the purpose of
gifting it to the cleaner at the Delhi airport! It may sound noble, but it doesn’t
feel so especially when it’s a last minute arrangement for conveying that we haven’t
forgotten our social courtesies of failing to bring a gift after coming all the
way from Mumbai!
5th
Goof up-High during sangeet:
Punjabi-Sardar weddings call for a free
flow of alcohol! The sangeet function was at its Punjabi best! Amazing food,
awesome music, attractive people made for a heady cocktail! Hiren thinks it is
his moral duty as a husband to ensure that I drink myself to death ;-)! In all
my drunken excitement I forgot that my mother-in-law was also present in the
sangeet function! I was dancing to the Bollywood music to my heart’s content,
as if I would never get to dance again! I saw my mother in law sitting quietly and
in my inebriated state did no find it quite right to let her sit all alone! I pulled my mother-in-law to the dance floor
and forced her to sway to the tune of Bollywood music! Looking at my state, she
did oblige and danced quite a bit but I crossed my limits when I said I would
not let her go off the dance floor J
and that she will have to dance with me till the end J I now realize why alcohol is
considered as one of the biggest vices L I am lucky to have a broad minded mother in
law who later laughed off at the whole episode! The other day on my mid-night birthday
celebration, she told me, with a mischievous smile, “Esha..dont drink much, as
you have office tomorrow and I am too tired to dance with you throughout the
night today ;-) J
;-)
6th
Goof-up-Wade robe malfunction:
During the next day of wedding, while
searching my luggage for the dress that I was supposed to wear for the wedding,
I realized that I forgot to pack the salwar for my anarkali! I mean, this was
completely off limits! How could I be so
careless? I panicked! My mid started
racing! There was no time and money to shop! All my funds were already
exhausted! This time, Hiren looked angrily at me! How could I forget something
so basic? In order to address the wade robe malfunction, I wore jagging beneath
the anarkali J Look at the picture above;-) Luckily, the anarkali was very long
and hence not an inch of jagging was visible! Had it been shorter, the jagging
chain near my ankle would have made me look like a fool! J
These were the major goof ups! I do not want to pen all the
other goof ups here as I would end up writing a short novel on the blunders
committed by us collectively! Nevertheless, I believe that these incidents made
the lovely wedding all the more memorable! We enjoyed, despite of all the goof-ups
and that, I believe, what matters, at the end of the day J
