As is imperative, a girl must know what she's getting married into...albeit not as an after thought like I did, but as a preliminary background check :) but then if I did it the normal way how would I be me (Which in case you are wondering is almost synonymous with being mad :P) then? But the bottomline is that the day when I visit his home-town finally did arrive!!
Any guesses about who was the most excited about going to Kolkata? I know the obvious answer is me.. but then you hardly know me if you thought so! It was my Dear Daddy! No kidding!! Heard it umpteen times so will repeat it as is.. "Last I saw Calcutta in 72, when I was 20 years old.. And now I get to go again! It'll be so much fun!" And all the different ways he could frame the sentence.. he did! And then he told all of his friends, all whoever needed to know, and the ones who did not need to know, all of them! that's when I understood why facebook came up with the geo-tagging option, had my dad been on FB that would have been the first thing he would have done: Checked himself in! But jokes aside.. I was so proud of my papa for his exemplary display of good behaviour :). For the uninitiated, to the people who don't know me.. I come across as very rude, maybe sometimes who know me would also agree to this :P. But then I have a very plausible and undeniable explanation to it: It's Genetic! I get it from my father (Maybe my mother too, in a different kind of way, but mostly I'm sure it's him). It's not that he means to be rude, but he's by far the most politically incorrect person I've known, and he has no clue about it. He has the knack of saying the most inappropriate things at the most inopportune times! So you can only guess a North Indian Papa going to meet his daughter's Bong In-Laws, it was a recipe for disaster! How much stress would it have caused the daughter! You can't ask somebody not to do something he's not even aware of.. I only prayed there would be no obvious situation for a regionalist (racist does not fit here for obvious reasons :P ) comment.
I love train rides, they are always fun. No reason why, I just do! It is an overnight journey from Delhi to Kolkata so most of the journey passes while you are asleep and the remainder can be filled by eating :-) or if you are not that fond of eating or sleeping (I can't however imagine how that's possible though!!) you could strike a friendship with a co-passenger or gaze at the awesome landscapes passing by. I think no one would ask why I like train rides, I've dedicated an entire paragraph explaining why I do!
Like always I digressed.. This post wasn't about how much I love train rides or why I'm generally rude, but about my first trip to my sasural! We were supposed to reach Kolkata at about 12 in the afternoon, the train was an hour late and I had been giving almost regular updates about my location to my dear boy. Still he reached the station at 10 30 to receive us, so excited he was that I was coming ( Aww :-) Later MIL told me he had been up since 6 because he had to pick me up from the station and he didn't want to be late.. he didn't have breakfast as he thought that might cause delay.. Am I lucky or he's just too eager :P Either way I'm not complaining :) ) By the time we got out of the station it was already beyond 2 and there he was all drained out of heat (even in November!!) waiting for us at the station to guide us home. And then I set foot on to the city that would be my new home (Well..only figuratively speaking.. but it has a better impact :P) I'm not exaggerating here, but I instantly fell in love with it! I'd be honest again, I didn't expect to :P .. a lot of people had given me some pretty bad reviews about the place, but then there were some (No points for guessing one of them ;)) who had awesome things to say too.
As short ride later we were in front of the house that would I was looking at the first of the many many times to come...Minor butterflies in the stomach moment that was.. And waiting to greet us with awesome food (Never ever will the food not get the importance it deserves.. No matter how important the event surrounding it is. Period.) was my dear MIL and Mami MIL :D . After a very warm yet brief welcome, I went to freshen up, and then I had the most awesome prawns (Yum.. Yum.. and from that point forth my dad was officially #lovingit).
Before I met Sid I used to think I talk too much.. It's been four years now and I wonder how could I have ever thought so! Similarly before I met his mom I used to think I'm impatient, but boy! was I mistaken! So when this plan was being laid down, his mom did suggest she wanted me to meet the family, I didn't know she meant as soon as we set foot! So as I already told you Mami MIL was already waiting for us. Then just as we finished lunch his cousin sister arrived. And a few minutes later two of his other Mamas did, within an hour my marriage date was set, another 20 the reception date, the next half an hour my MIL wanted to get the banquet hall for the reception booked too! At that point I think someone suggested that it's alright to go in the morning, as they don't work 24X7! All this and I was thinking.. Oh No! I should have worn the sari (I got to wear) today.. (Oh amazing story behind that too.. but then it's alright, I've already hogged too much airtime..) now I won't get to wear it on this trip :(.. I seriously so lack focus that I irritate myself sometimes don't even want to know what happens to the people witnessing it in third person!
That's how eventful my first day in the in-law city was! Day 2 was city tour as is necessary for every first time tourist! Where his dad took us to all the must visit places and my dad was the proper tourist wide eyed and ever inquisitive, top on my list the Victoria Memorial. But the highlight of the trip was day 3.. as that was the day we had to shop!
So I had been told by multiple people that Calcutta is super cheap especially for bridal shopping and I had expressed this desire to buy my bridal lehenga from bada bazar (that's the Chandini chowk of Kolkata for the uninitiated). My MIL confessed to not being very well versed with the bridal places in Kolkata, so enter Mami MIL 2, so Mami MIL 2 said "Oh lehenga you want let's go check out Sabyasachi, his bridal store is enroute." Now here it's important to know that bridal lehengas are not a very Bong thing so even though they are aware that dear Sabya is a famous designer from their very own city they didn't have the slightest clue that his pricing model didn't really fit my idea of cheap. No amount of convincing the MILs works, so off we set out to find the store. I have to give this to Sabyasachi though, he doesn't believe in wasting any money, the bridal store is in the middle of an almost industrial area where there are no roads, the potholes broke the axle of our car, and when we got to the exact address we didn't know where the main entrance was because what we saw sure looked like a backdoor exit in case of fire! Inside was even more awesome, no extravagance on furniture. Why waste wood when you could just cement seats in.. right? I believe the idea is to focus only on the clothes, but that was so hard to do with no lighting around. Anyway, whatever I could make out from the lighting there was, was absolutely brilliant and princess like, I mean what else could it be? But then I was dreading the moment when the MILs would ask the price. No surprises.. it did come pretty quick. We were in and out of the store in less than 10 minutes! But it does make a fun anecdote don't you think? Yeah...
And then we went on and got down to some real shopping! So we head on Gariya Haat where my new family generally shops, and there we buy a sari for me and my mommy :) But trust me I tell the truth, it was also done in less than half an hour.. it goes without saying we had men in the group of shoppers.. and as I mentioned above I was proud of my dad's exemplary behavior... so it had to be the other man who was ruining my shopping experience.. Yes the one I'm going to marry! Huh! Such sweet people his family's women are and such a useless company for shopping he himself is. We also had our first fight in the In-law city and it was due to his unwarranted sarcasm over my shopping. No prizes for guessing who won ;). But that day I covered all the haats in Kolkata and went back with only 3 saris and a clutch. And it wasn't that I didn't like the stuff there or anything, but because it was the first time I was shopping with someone other than my mom (I was missing my mommy even though she was only a few feet away :( ) Also, then anything I as much as picked up my MIL wanted to buy it for me! Man! Never felt so pampered in my life! And yet.. I couldn't buy the whole store could I? And also there was this time constraint and a very annoying tag along who just wouldn't stop making snide remarks. Remind me why I'm marrying him again? :P Yeah.. 'coz I love him!
Also I forgot to mention, I did experience how cheap Calcutta really is, when I got that one chance to eat street food (so what if it was in New market!). I had a chicken roll for 30 bucks!! I couldn't believe it! A chicken roll.. with real chicken!! 30 rupees!! And it was so super awesome!! But that was the only street food I ate :( as my MIL doesn't trust street food, I was getting the stink eye when I was having the chicken roll. But I didn't care, I had my chicken roll for company, and I was happy! :D
It was as if time just flew.. It was only 3 days after all.. how much could I pack in them? And it was already time to head back home. Soon you shall be my second home :)
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