The Bright (Bride) Side!

Weddings are always fun though most of my friends say that they are more so when you belong to the dulhewala's side. The logic? More fun, less work. In reply to their kaamchor wala logic all I can say is 'Bandar kya jaane adrak ka swad'. The crude translation of the one liner would be something like: 'Until you experience something, you won't know whether it's good or bad or heavenly or hell-like'. And more literally ' How is the monkey to know the taste of ginger' Nah, socho mat, it doesn't make sense.

So, anyway, getting back to the less work for the groom's side funda, there is less work involved for the groom's side because weddings in India have traditionally been and still are held at the bride's home with her father taking on the entire organizational and financial responsibilities. The preparations start months in advance with planning for the wedding hall, decorators, caterers getting underway not to forget the most cliched and overhyped first night room in a 5 star hotel.

When I fondly think of the weddings that I have been a part of- of cousins and my real brother's *digress alert* I never understood the term real brother and real sister. I mean my cousins are also all real, they walk and talk like normal people and I love them a lot too, I think I should think of a better word differentiator than 'real'. Chalo, sochna shuru karti hoon, after writing this post ;) *digressing over*

Going back to the weddings---when I reminisce about the weddings that I have been a part of somehow the weddings of my sisters and friend's sisters just stand out in memory. Countless memories flood my tiny brain and I suddenly feel elated without any reason.

Just yesterday I was remembering my best friend's sister's wedding. It was in February when the air is fragrant with the onset of spring, the most romantic month in Ahmedabad, IMHO. We started the preparations by helping out with cleaning the entire house. It was quite a task but the entire weekend went by in a daze with seven girls all chirping and giggling and making fun of the always dreamy bride to be. We were rewarded with trip to the best pizza place in town topped with movie tickets to a hit flick by the friend's dad who couldn't recognize his own house when he came back from a business trip. Now that says tons about auntyji's housekeeping capabilities but that could be a post for another time ;)

Then came the fun part- Shopping, nooo SHOPPINGGGGGG :) Ya, that's more like how we felt. What started with serious stuff like heavy jewellery and saris quickly turned into a fun trip when we stopped by the bangle store and the lingerie store. Ahaaaa, this was the chance to get our GK up- (Na jaane kab kaam aa jaaye!) GK is General Knowledge yaar. While we picked out the most raunchy lingerie for the blushing bride to be, all the elder women who accompanied us (Haaye yeh na insaafi, Unko Yaha BHI aana tha), said Shhhhh Shhhhh with amazing consistency while we couldn't stop our loud laughs.

When the wedding day drew close, from almost a week in advance we all camped at the friends place- cooking fun stuff, making mixed tapes for the ladies sangeet, booking the mehendi girl and generally fooling around having fun.

On the wedding day, it was such a crazy scene with everyone scurrying around making sure everything was perfect. While we dressed up in our best cholis and saris, did the last minute running around (where the hell were the two rose garland's for the bride and groom), and rushed into the waiting car that whisked us to the wedding venue, everyone had just one thing in common- a big smile playing on their lips.

The wedding in itself was a huge success. While we pranced around in our finery playing the sexy bridemaids to the hilt and innocently flirting with the hot guys in sherwanis from the groom's side- the bride and the groom exchanged vows of togetherness for life. Amidst colorful flowers, sumptuous food, soulstirring music, and loud firecrackers when we hugged the bride good bye, there was just one thought in everyone's mind- Cheers to their blissful wedded life and Cheers to weddings and all the work associated with them- afterall that's not work, that's fun all the way.

Music: Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
Mood: Nostalgic

Tagged

Aashun tagged me. And it's an interesting one coz I think we all can list our favorite movies in one breath but how many of us remember particular scenes from movies? Meri memory ke baarein mein kitaabe nahi likhi gayi hai so I know that it sucks, but when it comes to fav scenes, my dimaag runs like Basanti's Dhanno so here goes...

1. Vivien Leigh, Gone with the wind: Vivien plays Scarlett O’Hara, the zesty, sexy, flirty gal who every guy desires. When Clarke Gable who plays Rhett Butler is leaving Scarlett, she begs in front of him something that is so uncharacteristic of her. But then just the next second she rises like a phoenix when she says, "I'll go home now, and I'll think of some way to get him back! After all, tomorrow is another day!" And there shines grit and resilience on her face. I love the way she says this historic line. Pure brilliance.
(BTW, the movie's poster is also one of my fav's- for me it signifies romance in a photo)

2. Madhu + Arvind, Roja: The scene where Madhu comes out of the shower wearing Arvind's sweater is just so damn cute. The way Arvind eyes her is oh so sexy. And the love making scene after all the nazar ka milna? Perfect.
(BTW, I heard that Arvind got divorced. Hmmm, opportunity knocking Kya?)

3. Julia Roberts + Richard Gere, Pretty Woman: The scene where they are both in the bathtub and Roberts asks for more money that Gere is willing to shell out. Roberts is sitting behind Gere and has her legs wrapped around Gere from the behind. When he asks the reason for her higher price, she goes like--"Honey, I'm 46" from waist to toe and that's 92 inches wrapped around you right now". Gere concedes with the sexiest smile a salt and pepper haired guy ever had. Bahut badhiya ;)

4. Saif Ali Khan, Dil Chahta Hai: The scene where Saif has forgotten his date with his girl friend Priya and is at Aamir's home. He is holding the phone and says one but after another--Goes something like par, lekin, magar, but ......... aakash ke ghar. When he says the last three words he looks maha hen-pecked and like a real bruised doggie. Very cute, Nah, CUTE :)

5. Aishwarya + Shahrukh, Devdas: I think this one would qualify as cliched but what the heck, I am going to list it anyway. The scene where they both laugh out loud after crying buckets on Ash's shaadi just makes me go all weepy-weepy. I don't believe that people should finish 100 bottles of daaru after one's love in 30 days days and die at 40, but something about Shahrukh in that movie and a couple of such scenes makes me believe in unconditional love. Too Qaatil!

6. Farhad and Daniel's daughter, Crash: The scene is chilling and refreshing both at the same time. Sounds paradoxical? It is. The entire movie is about perspectives and first impressions. In my view, this movie is a tight hard slap at the guy who said "First Impressions are the Last Impressions". The scene is played outside Daniel's house. Farhad is there to kill Daniel. Suddenly out of the blue, Daniel's 5 year old daughter (who BTW looks s0 angelic, it makes me wanna adopt! Seriously) Newayz, so the child runs out towards her dad but Farhad has already fired by then and the bullet hits the girl in her chest. The shock and guilt on Farhad's face and the anguish on Daniels is captured oh so beautifully. But then comes the absolute kicker of a scene. The girl just stands there- ALIVE. And both Farhad and Daniel along with the viewer is dumbstruck. How can that happen? Watch this movie for this scene and you won't forget it forever.

7. Sridevi + Anil Kapoor, Lamhe: The scene where Sri and Anil are celebrating Sri's b'day and Anil presents a necklace to Sri. The look in her eyes is oh so fab. And then she just turns and pulls her hair up with a giggle. Anil gets the cue and puts the necklace around her neck and she giggles some more. It's weird that I found this extremely cute in this scene whereas in other movies when Sri's giggles and her voice is as thin as a sevaiyya, she reminds me of those white little bakris that roamed near our school playground. But this scene has just the right proportion of horniness+innocence in Sri's eyes. Nice.

8. Aamir Khan, Sarfarosh: The scene where Aamir is lying in the hospital after breaking his legs and an intruder comes in to kill him. The way he chases that guy is pure grit. And then after successfully dealing with this guy he smiles slyly. His clothes are torn, his body is damaged but his grit is still intact. The conscience still shines through and his patriotism just makes me wanna say, Salaam!!

9. Mike Myers + Verne Troyer, Austin Powers: The scene where Dr. Evil (Myers) is sitting at the table with Mini Me (Troyer) sitting besides him and he is trying to say something when Mini Me interrupts. The way he says, Shhhhh and Mini Me goes but, I wanna say and Evil goes Shh and Shhhhhhh some more is just so hilarious. The scene ends with Evil laughing his evil laugh with his smallest finger between his teeth. Classic Powers, Classic Evil. Moi Loves It :)

It's a jumbled up list guys - going from Scarlett to Sri in a second but that's just how my dimaag works. Sorry :)

I tag sreicanth, psv, and chitrangada. And all those you want to do this fun tag!

Music: Bin tere sanam (remix)
Mood: Hopeful