Ketaki+Harmeet
For the impatient: Pictures
First, the pictures! :-)
Here's how the trip went, from my perspective :-)
We flew in to Toronto through O'Hare; which featured some excellent pizza in a Wolfgang Puck Restaurant. Upon landing in my birth land, we were immediately greeted and welcomed by our dear friend the metric system. Shortly thereafter, we were greeted by Roopeshbhai and Rahul curbside. Jigar, who had had been spiritualizing at the mandir while waiting for delayed flights, also showed up. The ladies were in a rush to get back to headquarters in order to get some mendhi, but the gents, on the other hand, were quite content to hang out and wait for Shalin's luggage. It didn't come. When we did get back to headquarters, we met and gret (uhh...greeted) and went straight for the food :-) We finally made it back to an awesome little hotel called the Monte Carlo Inn. We deployed in standard arrangements except that Pooja and Kush were now barred from the kids' rooms :-P Also, Kush hadn't arrived.
Friday morning, we made it straight-away back to headquarters for the Grh Shanti. While waiting for the ladies to perform certain traditions (i.e. the walk to ask forgiveness from the earth for the disturbances we as humans may create), the gents talked about the latest finance schemes. After Kush arrived, we met Kush; we'll call him Lil-K to avoid confusion. This Lil-K character, who is barely three years of age, proceeded to, in Gujarati, suggest my sister wear more child-friendly clothes tomorrow, that Pooja should leave, and that he wanted to play patty-cake with Uncle (that would be me :-/) All this time, misalignments of celestial bodies were being accounted for to maximize auspiciousness. Upon conclusion, the pithi began. I, however, at this point, jetted off with Jigar and Rupam to an undisclosed location somewhere in the greater Toronto area. There I met Saira and Naureen and we started and finished our first ever meet-greet-chreograph-practice-and-polish session. Two-hours later, Jigar and I had a small inkling of what we should be doing. Although we were mildly productive, Susanben was truly productive as she ran 6 miles to further her goal of running a marathon.
Later that night, we reconvened at headquarters for the Sangeet. We started off with some garba and ended with kareoke and slow-dancing. Noteable events include Jigar's dad accepting Harshad Kaka's romantic overtures as well as the people unncessarily discussing my sisters's future. The end of the night brought te first World Series of Shah Family Poker. I would like to take this chance to say I won :-P My only regret is that it didn't happen the next night.
Saturday began with hurried drive to the Gurudwara in Waterloo for the Sikh Wedding Ceremony; this was the first time we were able to see Harmeet-soon-to-be-jija. Adorned in a jewled veil; armed with a large sword, and sporting an impressive beared, he looked ready to get married. But first came the Milni. This small, but fun event, allowed the men of each household to exchange flower garlands and greet each other. The only twist is that while hugging, there's a little bit of a strength competition. With our heads covered and our feet bared, we entered the Gurudwara for some breakfast. Soon after, we sat by the altar waiting for the bride. Ketakiben looked amazing as she walked down the isle, her sisters at her side. A, relatively, short ceremony later, we were out taking pictures. After lunch, we were at the negotiating table discussing the fate of the shoes. Props to Guru for taking point on getting the shoes. After some hard bargaining, we settled one $250 and a dance lesson taught by Harmeetjija. We decided Rupam should have $100 and the cousins would play poker for the rest. Naptime ensued upon returning to Toronto.
On a personal note, I was honored to be invited into the Gurudwara. I learned a lot from the translated prayers presented on the screen as well as the posters hung inside. Thank you very much.
Post nappage, my family and I took a little trip to Gerrard Street and snacked on some chaat and did a little shopping before heading back to headquarters for dinner. The stereo system from the night before needed to be returned and so Jigar and I took the up the reins of an idle Corrola and went off into the night. The rest of the crew worked hard to organize the reception's seating arrangements and then attempted to find Thai cuisine. After and unsuccessful attempt (of finding Thai food), they settled for Ameri-Candian cuisine. I made it back to the room and took the time to take care of my electronics' batteries. Poker began almost immediately after their return. I went out mid-game and when only Shivani, Shalin and Pooja remained, the rest of realized we were hungry. A short trip to Burger King later, we had returned with food fit only for 4am. First ($100), second ($40) and third ($10) place honors went to Pooja, Shivani and Shalin, respectively.
Sunday's agenda included the Hindu Wedding Ceremony and the Wedding Reception; both held at the beautifully decorated Le Jardin. Harmeet rode in on a horse while his brother's Z3 blasted some killer bhangra beats. Upon reception, his shoes were, once again, and this time after much, much, much struggle, stolen. The ceremony proceeded smoothly and I didn't knock anything over during my small role on the altar. There was lots of picture taking, lunching and general rejoicing after the ceremony. This was also my first chance to meet some great family friends from a loooooong time ago. Oh and this time the price for the shoes were negotiated by Pravin Fua's side of the family; but we all enjoyed the song that Harmeet sang as part of the package. The couple left together in an beautiful, classic, white, Bently limo.
Evening time came faster than expected and we were back to the Le Jardin in full Reception regalia. After being seated we enjoyed some drinks and appetizers while waiting for the entertainment began. The night started with an awesome slideshow, touching speeches from family and the couple, and finally a couple of dances. My sister solo'ed while Jigar and I cameo-ed in Rupam's dance. The couple requested that instead of using the glass-tapping to make the couple kiss, they should instead use the provided hula hoops. Thankfully, we had some brave souls to take some for the team. After dinner, the DJ started spinning and we all cut a rug. We danced well into the night and I would like to say that I definitely enjoyed myself :-)
Monday morning at breakfast, we began started saying our goodbyes and making plans for the next family event. It was, as always, great times and with the way things are progressing we can count on many, many more of these kinds of events!!
Congratulations to Ketakiben and Harmeetjija!!
Now we will commence with some of the jokes ... please feel free to add those that I missed.
- Upon viewing the enormitude of luggage at the airport, Roopeshbhai asked, "you know it's only one weekend, right?"