My Daughter's Wedding - The Post And the Pictures

Dear Shanti,

Don't worry. What is in store for us is always good. It's our reaction that makes it good or bad. Just review my situation. I could have made a hell out of it and made my life miserable.

More than the mangalya dhaaranam the kannika dhanam moment is very poignant and leaves the fathers in an emotional mess. They don't know whether they should be happy or said. Whether to be relieved or tensed up.

In a way I am very happy about this post. Happier than any of my other 8000 plus posts in IL because this post has made many daughters think of their loving fathers.

Preethi called me today morning and was talking with me for about 20 minutes. We just talked about mundane things. This detail and that, the induction stove, the visa problem and so on. yet I felt very happy and sad at the same time. After all she had been away from us for the past 4 years.

I take this opportunity to offer my prayers to God that you should be blessed with a very good, caring and a loving son-in-law. Just visualise the day when you are going to author a similar thread.

All the best, Shanthi and thanks for all the nice words.
love,
sridhar

 

Dear Sudha,
Happy to know that you had a nice time in the wedding. Absolutely no issues in your posting pictures. But when I posted the pics here the Administrators asked me to move them to the meet up forum, because of security reasons.
You may also move it accordingly before somebody asks you to do so. This is only to ensure that the pictures are not compromised.
love,
sridhar

 

Dear Meenu,
Thanks for your kind wishes. Well, for a woman the real home is her husband's and her in-laws'. There is no second opinion about it. Even my wife refers to this place as "our home" and her mother's place as "mother's home". Many times she just refers to the name of the flat or the area to avoid any emotional content. But that comes after years of living.
The photos are in the ILites meet-up thread, Meenu. You will see the thread Varalotti's Daughters wedding photos. Click it open to see the pics.
love,
sridhar

 

thanks a ton, Deepa.
sridhar

 

Hi Prijan,
thanks for your kind wishes. And thanks a million for invoking the blessings of emperumal on me and on our family.

Oh, you'd been to Ayodya to see Rama, Sita, Lakshman and the other brothers. You are really blessed, Prijan. And I am really happy that you are blessing this thread immediately after your visit to Ayodya.

All of us, family members, the ILites who came for the wedding, who wrote in this thread and the other threads, will be immensely benefited by your blessing.

thanks once again, Prijan. Watch out for my new blog this Wednesday. It's all about crying.
love,
sridhar

 

Dear Shanti,
You are most welcome. I had to reply in the order of the messages and that took a lot of time as I was simply bowled over by the love of the ILites.

Ever since I joined IL I have the practice of replying individually to every message that is posted to me whether it is in response to my blog or post or my story. When people spend so much time to read what I have written and write a fb, the minimum I can do in return is a decent reply.

My Sambandi (Preethi's fil) holds a M.Phil and Preethi's mil works a a bank manager. Anand is a BE and MBA and works for an on line investment company. Preethi holds a Masters in Social Work and works for a software company as its HR executive. Anand is very much in India. They have set up their home in Chennai.

You are most welcome to Madurai, Shanti. Let me know when you are coming so that I can give you an "in-sider's tour" complete with a visit to a kadamba vana farm, a sip of jigardhanda Madurai's own drink, Madurai's patented Visalam Coffee and the highly affordable Chunkwala Rajasthani meals.

Wishing you best of luck.
love,
sridhar

 

Dears,
I am used to writing epilogues for my serials and supplementary posts to my main posts. And I do have a penchant for omitting out on major details, as I omitted to give invitation to that CA friend of mine.

As I am about to sign off replying to this thread I realise that I have omitted to thank two major groups. Let me beg their pardon as I add this post to remedy my lapse.

The first thanks goes to my brother-in-law, my sister's husband. We have moving as very close friends. Because we have been very close (many times he shares with me some details which even his wife - my sister - does not know) I never had an opportunity to know about his talent. He has a small boutique of silk-sarees in Pondy Bazaar.

The boy's family wanted to drape Preethi with the costliest of silks and we were dragged to the most popular (and the most crowded) silk saree shop of our town. We did pick up some nice sarees. But I can't say I am entirely happy with the choice. I also learned that day whatever is "grand" need not be "beautiful" or "artistic"

When it was our turn to choose sarees for the immediate family I chose my brother-in-law's shop. Some people expressed apprehensions - how can a small shop (about one-sixteenth of Nallis which is just a hundred fee away from the shop) have so many sarees.

I called my bil, told him we are coming on such and such day. We landed at his place and we went with him to the shop.

As my friend and bil Varadan stacked the sarees before us, we were all dumbfounded. Exquisite designs. Great colours. and then came the next valuable lesson in saree shopping, whatever is grand can also be beautiful and aritistic. Preethi's grand reception saree (the light blue one you see in the first picture) was chosen in 7 minutes. And in forty minutes we had bought for more than Rs. 1 lakh. And then Indhu and I rushed to the shop later to pick up two silk sarees for 5k each. Every one was praising the saree. The 25k reception saree looked much grander than the 50k piece I saw in Madurai.

I should thank my brother in law for that kind of support. (Many times I take story ideas from him. The very first short story I published came from his idea. I had devoted a section to saree purchase in SHE for which he gave the idea) My sister was a moral strength while we were debating Preethi's marriage. She gave us all the support and made us take the right path. Thanks to Shanti and Varadan.

My next thanks are due to what I got as my dowry when I married my queen more than 26 years ago. I mean my brothers-in-law and their wives, my sisters-in-law and their children. We have been moving as friends all these years. The eldest one (Sudhavnarasimhan's DH) and his family flew all the way from Frankfurt for the wedding. The next bil Madhu is from the US He normally comes to India only once in two years. He had come in 2009. And had to come again for a family emergency. In spite of all that he flew all the way from San Jose, California for the wedding. He spent 3 days in travel to stay with us for just 3 or 4 days. The last one, Indhu's twin, travelled all the way from Delhi. He was with us for more than a week and gave a really helping hand in organising the wedding.

My father-in-law and mother-in-law are the most intelligent people They have given me such a valuable dowry, which has appreciated considerably in value during the 26 years of our marriage. Very few sils would have got such a precious dowry.

As I sign off let me thank all of you for your wishes, blessings, for your kind words.
I am very happy that my post many daughters to think of their loving fathers and mothers. I could not have asked for more.
love,
sridhar