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The Wedding

I always dreamed of having a simple wedding devoid of all those exhaustive rituals… you know… like the ones you see in the movies… where-in couples get married simply by exchanging malas in a temple. (How inexpensive and less time-consuming!) I wanted THAT followed-up with one BIG party.

Tried selling this to my folks and her folks, but then, there weren’t any takers. What shoulda been a simple 1 hour event, morphed into a full 1½ day event. This meant that we had to wear 2 sets of new clothes, given a ritual. Thats Engagement+Morning vratham+Wedding+ Nalangu+ Reception+ Grihapravaesam entry thingy. Check out the Photos.

And then, there were these RITUALS. Thought i could do away with ‘em completely since this was a Love Marriage. But we ended-up following all the rituals, which were unique to her family AND mine. (Thanks! Additional 200% more MOOLAH got spent)

And then, there were these GIFTS which need to be given to each others’ folks, prior to the wedding. I was like… baby… can we cancel these out? You know… why blow up money on all these unnecessary things? You see, us Tamilian men, neva give up without a fight.
I backed-off (without showing my puraMudhugu) in 1 tenth of a mill second.

And I wanted to split the wedding cost in the ratio of almost 50:50 with her. (Now you know why i was keen on minimizing the expenditure!) Thought that this was a fair thing to do. What i didn’t realize was that, based on this decision of mine, we ended up spending additional 200% more!

Nalangu is one such ritual which helps the Bride and the Groom break ice (atleast, thats how it was, back in the medieval and ancient times). But i saw this as an opportunity to cash-in on all that lost dough.

A few silver items along with some valuables were placed in a vessel filled up with water. The Bride and the Groom are supposed to fight-it-out and grab as many valuables as possible. But even before i could make a move, she cleared it all out. I mean, not just 1 or 2 items… she took ‘em all! I told myself, that its ok to lose a battle here and there. What really matters is how you win the war.

And now its Deepavali time! The festival of lights is just around the corner! We just bought TV, Washing Machine, Refrigerator,Furniture and so on and so forth…. Good that we were able to cash-in on Diwali Sale in Bangalore. OH wait a minute… this means that we both have to send gifts to our respective In-Laws…… Besides that i just gave a 10 month rental security deposit to my landlord and not mention all the other expenditure. Just kidding!

You can call me old-fashioned or whateva, all these years I always used my Debit card to pay for my purchases. For the first time in my life, I am goin actively start using my credit card.

And all this while, i was thinking that, I get to take the call, on how much i wanted to spend for my wedding…. All you young punks out there, let this be some help to you…

Posted in Life Stuff, in Chennai |