Sunday, December 11, 2005: My Wedding

The rain had stopped and it was perfect. Thank god that it had stopped raining after 7.00pm last night and it did not rain till the wedding was over. I was woken up at 5.30am by Thameem maam. I got ready in a simple saree and was waiting to be called.

Mom came and took me up to the hall where a small pooja was performed and my head was anointed in oil and asked to leave. I had like twenty minutes to change from the simple saree to another simple silk saree after a hair wash and be ready for another pooja...Girish also had to go through similar thing before me...

Thameem's aunt (Kupi), Priya akka, and Thameem's sister (Roshni Akka) tried their best to drape my saree, do my hair, do my makeup, and to get the jewelry in place. A lot of things were missed out in the round as people ran down calling my name...Angry I was late...and I was rushed to the hall once again. One more pooja and I was given my wedding saree to get ready in within another ten minutes this time...Girish had already completed this formality and was ready for the next one in his wedding dress...

I ran down and got ready as fast as I could and this time adding all the missing jewelry pieces...We did miss the chandra and the surya para this time...But it was okay...Once again I was ready for the show when people came running down trying to rush us through the process...

Finally...The wedding...After a lot of poojas and fun stuff we were asked to stand...With Girish's right toe on my right toe placed on a small stool and a dhothi raised between us we waited as our parents completed all the final pooja's and exchanged betel leaves, flower, and banana...Girish tied the knot...It was perfect...We then played the exchange of the garland...and then more poojas...We also did the circles around the mandapam and the putting-of-the-metti (toe ring). Girish hurt me like crazy while doing that...But I did not cry...Later we had more pooja's in front of Agni...

Then we had a small find the ring game...Girish beat me 2-1. We had the throwing of rice by all men followed by a lamp pooja by the women. Girish's mom gave me the diamond earrings and insisted that I wear it then...I had like ten women trying to get the earrings swapped...It was funny and slightly painful. Friends and family came to wish us luck...It was very nice. Girish and I were tired and were ready to sleep...But then we had lunch and then waited to send all of Girish's family away before we cleared off from the hall and drove back home.

At our house I packed all my clothes so that I could leave directly from the hotel to the airport...It was tiring...Girish and Shaw took a nap but I was busy trying to clean up as best as I could. According to the rules...We could not leave our house between 4 and 6 as it was bad time...So we waited till 6 and left for a temple...Shaw, mom, Girish, and I. Dad was going to have the car drop Ananda Athai to her home and then join us at the hotel after cleaning the house some more.

We went to a temple on Nelson Manickam Road and prayed and left for the hotel The Park on Numgambakkam High Road near Gemini Flyover. It was beautiful. Thameem and I had selected this hotel after checking out the rooms and facilities. We stayed in one of the most expensive rooms. It was awesome...The treatment, food, decor, comfort...Everything...Mom, dad, and Shaw stayed in our adjacent room. Girish and I had fun exploring the hotel and its facilities and eating a lot. It was three in the morning by the time we slept...Now Married!