Milan+Reshma+Engagement
For the impatient: Pictures
Here we detail the prologue to another great wedding event: The engagement!
My parents and I flew into Midway airport Friday afternoon. Upon proving, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we were in fact the owners of our luggage, we tried to learn the status of my sister. She was to be on an inbound flight with most of clan Tennessee. However, the clan was nowhere to be seen; at least not until moments before takeoff. Apparently they were searching for pizza; the search for pizza will come to be a dominant theme for the weekend.
Once it was assured that my sister would be traveling en entourage (that.s French), we headed out to Foi and Fua.s house. But first, we stopped to see the apartment building and neighborhood that my Dad lived in almost thirty years ago. Thirty years ago. Thirty. Years. Ago. Yes, there stood the building in which the $8 in my pocket story started.
After negotiating some rush hour traffic we arrived at the house and were greeted with cool, crisp, autumn air that was refreshing as it was goose-bumping. Inside we met the man of the weekend: Milubhai followed by the clans hailing from Canada, Chicago, and Atlanta. Rupalben and I took a tour of the basement and then realized nobody else was coming. So back upstairs, we milled about until dinner time. Much to our delight, live dosa making was taking place in the backyard just outside the tent. We scrambled into line for yummy hot, fresh, spicy South Indian food and began the feast.
Towards the end, much of clan Tennessee arrived along with my sister. Mere moments after dinner was completed, I found myself sitting in a circle dishing out chips for another round of family poker. Newcomers to the game included Rupam and Dhaval. Rupam tried to learn but was not bit by the poker bug. It took us a while to relocate when the basement was repurposed for antakshari, but the game went on. During the game, the rest of the Tennessee crew arrived and greetings were given as chips were wagered. Although Guru thought he was playing head-to-head for much of the game, but he finally got his wish when it was down to me and him. Since we weren.t playing for money, I ended up with all the chips.
We winded down the night and the kids piled in a van and headed for the hotel. Along the way it was determined that pizza would be the final activity of the night, but first we had to find headquarters. HQ turned out to be the chameleon of hotels: a Quality Inn by day and a Holiday Inn by night. We ended up ordering two 20-inch pies from .Chicago.s Best.. Although the .best-ness. of this establishment is arguable, there is no denying that they delivered pizza at 2am. After the snack, we began a race to see if you could fall asleep before the Shalin the snore monster.
In the morning, Guru and I woke up at what normal people would call an extremely leisurely pace. For us, it was just about right. We watched some football, a little bit of Mathilda and finally hit the showers. Thanks to Shalin for taking one for the team by fending off housekeeping in the morning. We re-opened breakfast (meal #1) by asking for more milk and finding Indian snacks behind the counter. It should be noted that it was Rupalben who dropped the box of mathiya on the ground. We arrived at the mandir about an hour late, to find that we were there a few minutes early; go figure.
Reshma arrived soon after us and she and Milan paid their respects and offered their prayers in the temple room. They then joined us in the banquet hall where we all mingled and snacked (meal #2) for a bit before taking their place on stage. Meanwhile, Shalin and I had begun Operation Close-Up; the results of which are still in the making. The ceremony on stage was nice, well-explained, and culminated with Milan sliding the ring on Reshma.s finger. Congratulations!!! Lunch (meal #3) was then served.
Some of the parents hit up Devon Avenue while the kids went back to headquarters. Guru and I attacked the leftover pizza almost immediately (meal #4) Pooja, Kush, Niti and Shalin practiced their dance while Guru, Shivani, Rupalben and I visited a local mall. By the end of this segment of the day, we were dressed up and ready for the evening program, which was conveniently held next door.
Before starting the program, guests enjoyed appetizers and drinks as we all collected in the lobby. The program began with Shivani.s dance, followed by Harshadkaka.s singing and the aforementioned dance troupe performing nicely (a marked improvement from the practice session :-P). Susanben and parents of the engaged touching speeches; Susanben.s featured moments that included the family gatherings where we had all got to know Reshma. After prayer time it was time for dinner. However, the cousin.s were to be served last and so we decided to mingle a little. I ran into Dhaval, Niki and Ami who looked at me with peculiar, almost adversarial, eyes. They said that they had no idea that we prepared song and dance for entertainment. Being accomplished dancers themselves, they issued a challenge for July.s main event. I graciously accepted on behalf of our side and warned that they really hadn.t seen the tip of the iceberg so they had better know what they had gotten themselves in for. In any case, please stay tuned for the showdown in next summer.
After a glorious dinner (meal #5), a box of dandiya was produced and some our excitement was palpable. Round one involved some mad spinning, while round two involved garba and 12-step. A solid bhangra session ensued followed by hip-hop. Between the break dancing, c-walking, and the worm, there was no room to be standing still. Milan and Reshma were lifted onto shoulders a couple of times, but one time was definitely higher than the other. The night finished off Vilas Foi leading the train and Shivani, Guru, and Niti engaging in some shadow-play. We took some pictures, codified the challenge, and went back to our rooms.
After grappling with a net-loss, we resumed our search for pizza. It was 3:30am when all official business was completed and it was 3:31am when the pizza man showed up with the last meal of the day (meal #6).
The next day was dotted and dashed with good-byes. In the morning it was clan Canada. After stuffed pizza at Giordano.s we bid farewell to clan Tennessee. We traveled through downtown Chicago in the comfort of Ashok uncle and Birju auntie.s minivan as they most kindly showed us the landmarks of the Windy City. After receiving some hook ups from Niraj on Devon, we found my sister and her friend fiercely negotiating for burfees and chevdo at Sukhadia.s. After some more jewelry shopping and jabloo shopping for the premiere hair model of the family Anish, we all assembled for a nice chaat dinner before calling it a night. Here we said bye-bye to clan Atlanta.
My parents, Shivani and I headed downtown where we caught the last two innings of game 2 of the World Series. Dad and I returned the rental car, picked up some ice cream (which we all enjoyed) and finally we all went to bed. In the morning we headed to the airport where I was able to grab a sandwich from the Potbelly Sandwich Works I had spied on my way in. Great sandwiches and service to match. We said bye to my sister and then took our leave of Chicago.
Congratulations To Milan and Reshma!
Jokes:
- Oh those crazy Canadians
- We want pre-nup