As it happened, in all excitement I boarded my flight home last month knowing very little what lay in store for me over the next 3 weeks. My ideas were clear - arrive at some decision by the end of the 1st week so we have enough time to get through the engagement (yes, I really was prepared mentally only for that part) or else we have enough time to go on a nice family vacation. My brother was about to join me in the US to begin his Masters and it would've been a while later that we could have gone on to spend quality time as family. Honestly speaking, I really was interested in taking that vacation =)) Don't get me wrong, but that's how guys are. Never ready to commit, always wanting to enjoy their days as bachelors, doing what they will not giving a damn about anything in this world. Getting married is a hard sell for us when we see what we're about to give up - and that's exactly why we don't give it up until we're absolutely certain she is the one we want to give it all for. During this trip, I was lucky to have found her. And now I'm back - a married man!
I landed in Mumbai late on a Friday night. Oddly enough, I was the only one around who was not complaining that it was too hot. Guess that's one of the ways San Diego spoils ;) Within a couple of hours we were home in Pune. It had been a long, painful 15 hr direct flight with my lower back starting to act up and I was glad to get some sleep before I got ready to meet the handful of girls who had been diligently sifted through the stack. My bro had recounted numerous instances when he was bored to near death after my parents tugged him along on some occassions, and I was only glad that I didn't have to relive his experiences. To add to his misery, he almost always was told that the two of us look very similar (like he hadn't been told so 10,000 times already). Needless to say, this was a lesson learnt for him to avoid going through the same process a few years down the line :))
The whole process for potential bride selection had been efficiently streamlined by my parents and they made sure that everything was in place before I reached India. Saturday afternoon I was scheduled to meet the 1st girl. My parents had met her family a week ago and as luck would have it they turned out to be long out of touch acquaintances. To add to coincidences, the girl's brother and his family lived in San Diego in the exact same apartment complex that I live in! Despite all the last minute rush, I had already met up with these guys in SD before I reached Pune.
Back to the story, on 12/08/'07 I met this 1st girl, we talked like long lost chums catching up and I went back home. Knowing. After that, one after the other, I met a few other girls. I don't think I should mention any details here - but what the heck?! One was too demure, another was below par, while a third was over the top. It really seemed to be going downhill after the 1st one and by Tuesday evening I felt like I was running low on motivation to meet the rest of the pack. Wednesday morning while talking to my parents, I expressed as subtly as I possibly could, that I knew where I wanted to go with this. Just as we were talking, 1st girl's mom called up to find out our thoughts after the 1st meeting. We gladly let them know, that we'd like to take this further and meetup once again before arriving at any decision. So we had another family meet and greet on Thursday, this time at our place. While the elders talked about ( who cares?) , 1st girl and I caught up some more like long lost friends. After a while I was certain that whatever thoughts had been crowded in my mind since the first time I met 1st girl were completely devoid of infatuation and I knew she was the one. After we walked downstairs, smiles plastered on our faces, both sides of the house confirmed that the two of us were ready to get married.
Stage set? If only, it were that easy. My mom and dad wanted me to get married before I left for SD on the 3rd of Jan. I think that they were worried that if I had enough time to digest what was happening I would never come back home to get married =)) On the other side of the house, there were potential roadblocks in getting this done though. Those folks had another wedding scheduled on Dec 28 and were busy with those preparations. Apart from that, if you rewind a bit, remember 1st girl's brother and family live in San Diego and it was not possible for them to come to India on such short notice. With further discussions on the topic between elders, we were left to our own. Not so surprisingly, 1st girl was reeling from the after effects of the conversation she had just heard. She wasn't mentally prepared to get married as yet, more so at such short notice and even more so leave the town and people she was so fond of to go live with a complete stranger in some place she had only heard about.
Friday evening I met 1st girl once again. We had a big long debate about what our choices were before stepping up on to the altar. Her family was hellbent upon getting this done later while my family was eager to get this done sooner than later. While we discussed our options between the two of us, our families discussed their stands and Friday night each family had come to a conclusion before both families were scheduled to meet Saturday morning. Saturday morning, once again there was a lot of debate between the elders of the families, with no side letting go of their stand. A few hours and a lot of convincing points later, from one Saturday to the next, our wedding day was fixed - for the Sunday in the coming week.
The chaos that kicked off cannot be explained in words. Every able member from each family was running around town to get things in line for the wedding. Piling on the chaos, my brother was scheduled to leave for the US on the 27th so there was a lot of stuff that he needed to get done in good time as well. While all the shops were open during the daytime, everyone was in different directions, in different shops trying to get to the end of the to-do list. Nights was the only time 1st girl and I got to spend time with each other and talk, talk and talk. Needless to say, given the race against time, I had to sacrifice my most favorite thing - sleep. I barely got 4 hours of sleep each night during the entire trip, with no regrets whatsoever. Against all odds, my brother-in-law's family was able to make it to Pune, well in time for the wedding.
Finally, on the 23rd of December 2007, I married
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