It's my wedding after all!
…I have to have the last word!Archive for June 18, 2009
Why do you need sarees ‘before’ a wedding?
So did I call this long-lost cousin of mine? Duh!! Ain’t I got better things to do? Like sit down with daddy dear and make plans to spend his money on my wedding trousseau!!
And dad did choose today to call me for this very purpose, so all other plans got majorly side-tracked! I am not complaining. Not one eensy weensy bit. The meticulous person that my dad is, he called me up to tell me he would call me back within the hour, hoping I would have my trousseau requirements handy!
What if I didn’t? As in what if I wasn’t able to compile an entire list within the stipulated time? Would he withdraw his offer? Did I really want to risk checking whether or not he would? Was I fool enough to let the golden goose free and check if he would return to me? Why had I wasted precious moments thinking all these pathetically nonsense thoughts?
I grabbed a notepad and a pencil (yes I am fastidious too, its genetic I guess) and set out to make my most favorite list. I also somewhere along, did think of making a wedding scrapbook in which I would put all these tiny lists and their consequences.
When dad called fifty minutes later, I was armed and ready to go. Quite in the same no-nonsense tone, in which he had demanded if I was ready, I was reading out my list to him.
“Why do you need three sarees for the wedding?” He wanted to know.
I had no clue why anybody needed three sarees for any wedding. But I knew from past experiences, brides did save three sarees for the occasion of the wedding.
“Its because you have to change thrice during the puja! Don’t ask me when and why, as ma! She’ll fill you in on the details!” I replied.
He mumbled something about women and their fancies and their expenditures under the farce of religion. I patiently heard him out. He was paying for my entire trousseau, the least I could do was lend him a sympathetic ear!
“Why do you need 5 sarees after the wedding?” he demanded.
“Because I will be expected to roam around like a made up doll for the benefit of my in-laws. Trust me pa! I will be as happy as you are to spend on jeans and tees instead!”
He grumbled something about women’s liberation not having reached its peak yet and the mahila mandal morchas not having done their jobs properly.
Once again I heard him out, all the while dreamily conjuring the vivid colors which would make my trousseau come alive.
“What on earth do you need a couple of sarees before the wedding for?” He had lost all semblance of patience.
“Well da, lets face it, your wife and my mother will have a couple of pujas BEFORE the wedding! Now I really cant sit for those wearing Bermudas, can I?” I quipped, losing my patience at providing a million explanations for everything.
“Well, since your in-laws have nothing to do with the ‘pre-wedding-ceremonies’ you can wear any of those ghastly salwar khameezes you have already spend thousands on!” He quipped back irritated at being quipped at.
I was about to launch into a debate on how those salwar khameezes were not really ghastly, when I thought the better of it.
“You answered it yourself pa,” I said, “Those dresses are ghastly! And hence cant be showcased at any event pertaining to the wedding!! Think about it, all this will be commemorated in my wedding album forever!”
He cut the phone on me.
Ah well.. I suppose dad being dad will call back, to tell he has transferred the money into my account.
Shopping time begins now!! Woooooohoooooooooo!!!
It's my wedding after all! 