3+3+3+3=whirlwind

Three days from the time I land till the time life lands on me. The last time family used this same flight, they reached an hour early. But the VIP that I am, the plane is delayed in Heathrow due to bad weather and subsequently we were waiting for air traffic control to give us the go ahead to land. The taxi from airport was booked for 11 am and there I walk out at 1:30 pm. Why was I worried about this 2 hours? Patience junta that’s coming. So Mr. Cabbie was sleeping under a tree, and when I wake him up lo and Behold!!! He happens to be the same one who picked me up and dropped me back the last time. A joyful reunion follows, and all the broken marathi flows freely as if nothing has changed. Over home-grown peanuts, the journey to Pune lasts 3.5 hours. An even more joyous reunion follows – dad,mom,gmom,sis etc etc. nice cuppa tea and time for me to drive the car. (left hand drive usa – right hand drive India). Time for me to get wedding clothes stitched. Plan was to leave 2 hours earlier for all of this since shops close at 8-9 pm in my dear old Pune. People normally have their clothes all ready 3 days before the wedding, but kya karen videsi dulha plane late. So count 5400 seconds and shopping was completed – from the head to the toe!!!!

Remaining important shopping was scheduled for next day. Sherwani time at a super store is quite interesting. Apparently another dulha like me was also searching for a sherwani and lets just say that I was 5 inches taller than him on any normal day. Now sherwani tends to make you appear a little short. So ultimately looking at me, he decided that jodhpuri was more his style, whereas vice versa I decided against a jodhpuri. Anyways it was a nice time to stand on a lighted ramp in front of a body length mirror in a room of a grooms to be, each chatting with his own family.

At home, surprises abound – cousins not seen for 20 years make a magical appearance. Obviously, I remember no one, and they remember the 4 foot T1. Not-so-niche-comments like – “Oh so he is the dulha?” flow freely. All the pent-up guilt of not knowing could not be hidden from the faces. But it was great to see my gdad’s generation at my wedding.