My Best Friends Wedding!!

Last week was one of the busiest weeks of my life, with literally no time to breathe. Yes, that’s coz my best friend Vishal was getting married to a beautiful and an adorable girl Shivani. And I was the “Best-Man” for the event (…ahem!!), which meant doing loads of shopping for me too. I was to attend the Sangeet ceremony apart from the wedding and the reception, each of them were on separate days. Thanks to my friend Risha, I could get things done as quickly as possible. From my suit trial, to buying traditional dress for the sangeet to buying Mojris and shoes, we did it all within 4 hours (which also saved me from paying an additional 5 bucks to the Pay’n’Park guy! :) )

Their wedding was my first complete hindu wedding I attended right from the Baraat to the Vidaai. The wedding took place at Sun n Sand, Pune on the 14th of Dec, 2006. I was to reach Vishal’s place at 4PM so that I could get some of his relatives to the venue. The baraat started just a block away from Sun n Sand (opposite the new Connaught Place structure). This would also be the first time I would actually be dancing on the roads in a baraat! Knowing my dancing skills I was a little tensed to start off. But seeing all the people around me dance and Raju with full enthu, I started moving my feet and this went on till the entrance of the venue where the bride’s father was waiting to receive the baraat. He joined us in dancing a little with each one of us and then with the groom. It’s a tradition for the groom to dance with the father-in-law.

As we entered the main entrance, the bride’s mother was waiting there with a thali. Here, the mother is supposed to pinch the nose of the groom and the groom’s side men have to avoid this from happening (by hiding the nose from being pulled). Raju did a good job here by being smart and prompt in avoiding the pinch and also smartly handling the distractions from the pujari :) Our groom’s eyes were filled with pleasure as the bride walked down the aisle towards him. We all walked down along the aisle following them and reached the mandap.

Our job started here. We were supposed to take care of the groom’s mojris, before the bride’s side (her sister and gang of cousins, 30 of them in total!!) could steal them and hide them. Before we could even get hold of the shoe, the bride’s side did a phenomenal job of snatching the shoe off (read as ripping us apart :) ) and running away with the shoes. Well as put by Raju in his words, they flicked the shoes in a record time of less than 20 secs. Soon, the actual wedding ceremony started. I didn’t know much of this apart from the Saat-pheres around the fire. The ceremony took close to 1 ½ hours.

After the ceremony got over, the bride’s side demanded for Rs. 30,000/- in return for the shoes. I tried my tricks on small kids bribing them with XBOX and Playstation 2 in return of letting me know where they hid the shoes. Naaah !! Didn’t work, kids these days are smarter :D The negotiations were on and they decreased the rate to Rs. 21,000/- This went on for sometime, when finally the settlement was done with the sis-in-law Shweta, who finally accepted to take the envelope with some unknown amount of cash in it, in return for the shoes. This also means that Mr. Vishal is going to get back to Raju and me for being unsuccessful in our task :)

For the next 2-3 hours, it was photo sessions, relatives and guests meeting the couple on the stage, people enjoying delicious Punjabi Veg food. Raju and I were standing by the stage in turns to collect the gifts and money-filled envelopes in bags.

The couple was to spend their night in one of the rooms in the hotel. And that was a little too much for some of us to digest :) So I teamed up with Vishal’s sister, Neha and we struck up a plan to stay all night in their room. First we went to the bakery and picked up assorted pastries for the couple, packed them and then kept it in their room later. I had talks with Vishal’s cousin Ketan to get some more ideas to trouble the two. We planned to stay overnight there in their room and call for room-service all the while. I was pretty excited about the idea :)

We all had dinner together with the couple and close family members. We were served some nice salads, great Punjabi food and the best of all, 3 desserts. I feasted on the sweets as usual not caring of the cal intake :P

The last ceremony was the Vidaai, where the bride’s parents hand over the bride to the groom. Its a little senti moment with mixed tears of happiness and joy in the bride’s eyes and her close ones. After meeting everyone, the couple sat in the car and her brothers pushed the car a little as a part of the tradition. We all left the place and few of us headed to Vishal’s house where the Griha Pravesh puja was to take place on the event of the bride entering the new home. The puja went on for almost 30-45 minutes and I was almost dead by now. With scary red eyes I waited for the puja to get over and them to get ready to leave for the hotel. We waited almost 30 minutes after the puja for them. By then 2 of his cousins (the ones who were going to accompany us all night, staying in their room) left and I was way to tired to stay back too :( We left the couple in peace and I drove back home after they left to hit the sack.

I wish both of them a very very Happy married life together!

Fusilli with Pesto Sauce

The post has been moved to the location: http://ruzipes.blogspot.com/2006/08/fusilli-with-pesto-sauce.html

T'Oaks

Booze, kababs, some extremely well DJ'd classic pub music and a place ambushed with mature good crowd.... that's what I would crave at the end of a routine day at work. Of the many places Pune has got to offer... the one junction which is ever rocking, and quenches my desire would be 1000 Oaks. The place started almost a decade back, the period in which Pune has seen a wave of change. But T'Oaks is still one of the favourites on my list (and perhaps on most of the Puneites).

The place, situated in the heart of MG Road, has a nice old bunglow like look, with some good use of wood and plants. The outside portion is mainly occupied by the families, is pretty much boring and besides I'd prefer to start off in the bar. With music pumping loud and at a decibel enough to make even a soft James Blunt ballad rock, it's a perfect way to start off the evening. The rhythm of the songs played back-to-back catches up, as the night gets younger. With Pink Floyd, REM, Doors, Clapton, Jovi, Collective Soul, U2 and other ever-popular artists, this relay of music makes me crave for more and more! They even cater song requests from folks, which I personally enjoy after giving deep thought to match the ongoing beat velocity.

To start off, drinks accompanied by their delicious chicken and paneer starters and some mutton kababs gives a good pickup. And if you're evening just couldn't get better, the crowd starts heating the small dance floor as early as 10PM, adding to the charm. From teeny-boppers to age-no-bar types, everyone takes their chance on the floor. I prefer to sit with my drink and chant the lyrics of the songs with the company I go with. The place's also got an LCD screen, which you can gaze at. The only thing I hate is the smoke that chokes up the place and burns my eyes. But thats tolerable :)

The food out here has its own taste too! Owned by a Punjabi, this place has definitely got enough to offer for the North Indian acclimatized tongue. The place serves the best Dal Makhani and very good Butter Chicken. The Dal is a must for me with every visit I make. They also serve a good bunch of Mocktails for yer lady! Call it a pub, a hangout, good date spot, resto-bar or just perfect to celebrate a small birthday of special friends. As far as I can recollect, every visit of mine at T'Oaks has been wonderful.

Just a week back, I had been to T'Oaks to celebrate my best friend's b'day along with his fiancee and some of their friends. This would be my entry into the place after almost a year and what amazed me was that being a Tuesday, the place was PACKED! With so many joints opening up around the city with the latest of the trends to attract the crowd, it remains untouched. Truly a mastermind's investment, a place that would survive generations!

PS: Mr. Lamba, I need discount for my next visit to T'Oaks on drinks and the starters :))

"Can you please hold it for a second?"... Revised!

One of the items on my hate-list is holding anything in my hand (except a soft fair hand ;) ). Whether its a used tea cup or flowers at someone's reception or my own camera case, the moment I’m told to hold something, my brain starts thinking of algorithms to get rid of it. Most of the people are already well-versed with my “Lace baandhna hai” trick. It works wonders sometimes.

ACT - I

The other day, I went down from the office with my colleagues Mady, PK and Rahul for a tea. I picked up 2 Marie biscuit packets on the way for my between-hours hunger. Seemed like the shopkeeper didn’t wanna give me a plastic bag for purchasing mere Maries. So I started walking holding the 2 packs in my hand. I somehow wanted one of them to carry them to the office. So I started!

ME: “Dude, hold these packs, I’ve got to tie my laces.”

Mady: “Sure!”

Just as he was about to get them, he saw my leather shoes (with no laces) and pulled his hands back. Damm didn’t work :) So we kept walking till target 2 (read as Rahul) got curious about the new brand of Marie’s I bought.

Rahul: “What Marie’s are these?”

ME: “This is some new brand" and handed over one pack, thinking of a way to get rid of the other one.

ME: “Dude, guess what! You agree both these packs look similar, right? but there’s something very different about the two", and I kept staring at the Nutrition Facts sheet on the pack. There you go, the trick worked and he ended up holding both the packs. Poor he, kept scratching his mind to figure out the difference.

ACT – II

Just a few days back, late in the afternoon, we 4 college friends were having ice-cream in a mango shaped plastic cups, sitting in the car. I was sitting in the co-driver seat, so I had to hold mine as well as PD’s ice-cream cup. Both of us finished the icecream and I was to hold the empty cups. I'd already played the "lace" trick earlier, so I tried another trick. Turning back I said “Agni, hold this cup! PD’s cam will fall off my lap” and I gave him the cup. As I gave the cup, I grinned back at him :))

After a minute or so, he said: “Ruz, here, take your ice-cream”. Without realizing what I was to do next, I turned and took it back!

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shitttt, shitttttt, shittttttttttttt!!" was all that was left to say :(