on weddings, match making and sunlight!

The weekend has almost passed. I wish the weekend wouldn’t fly by as it normally does.
Lol…samreen just informed ammi and I kai itna bara chaand nikla hua hai. I know cuz I have been getting plenty of moonlight lately.

Anyhoo, the past few days have been nothing but interesting. This Thursday I had to attend a wedding. These people are good family friends and their eldest son got married who is practically my age. The wedding was like every other wedding…boring! I was so bored that I took out my cell phone and played games, beat the computer or the mobile for that matter and then again reverted to my yawning mode.

At dinner, one of my mother’s friends came to us and told me to go sit with her other friend as she wanted to speak to ammi. I felt awkward since I didn’t know that lady at all. When we were coming back, I asked ammi what her friend wanted to ask. Turned out it was just a ploy for me to meet the lady as they are interested in me for their nephew. Well, I made my interests very clear to ammi and that is the end of that…I hope.

Next day, the valima…oh the valima! I have sworn I will not attend anymore weddings except the ones I have already promised that I will attend. I met Saba and Usman on Saturday. Usman was in town to shop for his Valima dress. Sajeela was with them as well. It was good to see my friends after so much time. We had the social huts cha’at and then we went to Ramli and they have constructed a new road that takes you much further up the mountain and into the jungle. I wish I had taken my camera with me. Anyhoo, that was a much need rendezvous.

Back to the Valima, well, my friend Mari had called me to meet up with her and she had this other girl Tab with her. At first I really liked Tab because she had this incredibly cute daughter with brown curly hair and I just love love love brown curly hair. Then Mari suggested that we take a round of the hall (like we were invigilating!) and well, as we got up Tab confided that she was ‘girl hunting’. At first I thought she was kidding but it turned out she wasn’t. She was looking for a girl for her brother-in-law who happens to be studying in America (yeah! That type!) and get this…the guy is 24 years old. I felt like rolling down and dying right there at that spot. Thank god my humor rescued me from the sea of incredulity. I thought, so what if that guy is practically your age too, you’re not THAT old! Well, Tab had come prepared. Out came a camera, pictures were taken of pretty girls and every time she would spot some pretty girl she liked I was told to find out ‘who her ‘baap’ is?’ A couple of times is alright but then I took offense and told her that yes! I am old and thus a spinster by your standards but I am still far away from being a ‘rishtai karanai wali maasi’. I was even dragged to another hall where a ‘mehndi’ was in ‘high tide’. More girls were spotted and photographed. I think the whole episode is such a good reflection on our society and it’s norms when it comes to marriages and match making. Occasions like these serve as Mandian’ where the girls are paraded and looked over as the prospective submissive brides for guys who really need to get a life! I know I am bitter and cynical but can you blame me? I believed in marriage but it’s events like these that kill the very spirit of holy matrimony.

Now, here comes the point where my sense of humor died its swift and rather painless death! Every time I would point to some pretty girl, Tab would say ‘no, she’s married’. I finally gave up and said ‘what do you mean, you make it sound like every girl is married’ to which I got the wind knocked out of me…tou aur kya, ACHI LARKIYON KO KAUN CHORTA HAI!!!

Rest in peace my dear departed sense of humor.

Praise the lord for weekends!

I watched Dil Chata hai…one of my all time favorites. I think I will write about love one of these days…I know people talk about love all the time but people who know me, know that I never have. So, before cynicism takes over my soul completely I should have some remnants of what I dreamed.

Anyhoo, I love Sundays. The best part of my Sundays is when I am in my room and around Asr time, the sunlight gets filtered in through the curtains and gives my room this surreal air. I like to listen to music and look at the paintings across the wall. They are replicas of Monet and other impressionists. I like impressionism as its about painting sunlight and I find that similarity in my room and in the paintings at that time. It’s in those moments that I feel alive. I like the feel of the wind on my face and I like how my hair is loose at that time since they are in a strict coil practically the whole week. I usually listen to Top Gun sound track as a ritual, especially the song ‘sitting in the morning sun’. I like these old classics when music was simple and lyrics uncomplicated. And it is in those moments when my life seems simple and uncomplicated and I live for those moments the whole week!