D Day ...............

D Day....                                                    

chitrannaa.blogspot.in

Trivia....

I gave the name D Day to this write-up. Then as is my habit, I started wondering what exactly the D-Day referred to. Honestly I thought it to be an abbreviation for designated day. But curiosity took me to Google, and this is what I found. This is for those curious souls like me, willing to dig a little deeper till they find the treasure of truth  :-)

“ Historically, D-Day was a coded name for June 6 th 1944, the day Allies' troops landed on the Normandy beach, France, during World War II. Later on the term became a war  metaphor used for any day that is deemed important.”

Then I thought, whether the name I have given is appropriate? This article is all about love, engagement and marriage. But then as Shakespeare has put it, “ What is in a name? No other name given to rose will take away its sweetness.”

So D Day it is.....

Behind the scenes :

Before I take you through the engagement ceremony let me share with you some interesting anecdotes.

After Nikhil and Sumana along with both the families gave the consent for the alliance, we didn't immediately inform all the friends. We had certain devilish ideas to play some hide and seek and both Nikhil and Sumana were game for it. It was an ideal time. They both knew that they liked each other, had the families' blessings and it was agreed upon that they will have a marriage later in the year, may be in August.

Do you remember your childhood days? Back then we used to have mainly two types of chocolates/peppermints. It used to be either caramel or Nimbe Huli peppermint. We used to occasionally get one of these candies and wanted to relish it for a very very long time. So we would lick and suck it leisurely, saliva running down our hands. We would never bite it,lest it would be over! We wanted to prolong the pleasure and the delight as much as possible!

And I have a strong belief that in real life situations too,when God blesses us with good times, we have to consciously make efforts to prolong the happiness, living and cherishing every blessed moment.

So we had great funny moments, interesting experiences of enjoying the friends' confusion when they would delicately raise the subject of seeing my son with a girl or in a subtle way hint that I should find an alliance for my son. Nikhil or Sumana's  friends would spot them in some malls and hotels and these two would play hide and seek walking alone for some time and then riding the bike together to the dismay of their intrigued friends and colleagues!

But the ultimate Sherlock Holmes was my niece Soumya!

One day she came home and confronted Nikhil in all our presence, asking him what is going on in his love life. While we all feigned ignorance, Nikhil, with dead pan seriousness asked what she was talking about. More than my son Nikhil and daughter Rashmi or my nephew Vinay and niece Soumya fighting with each other,its always Nikhil and Soumya who have grown up having cat fights. Even now he cannot stop pulling her legs, teasing and irritating her to no end and she can barely control her irritation and her itching paws!

Here she had come with all the “proof”. With hands on her hips, she asked him who his girl friend is and when is he going to come out in the open. She told me confidently “ Putti aunty, I seriously think Nikhil is seeing somebody..........................”

..........................Yes, Putti aunty! That's my name!! Being youngest of the five children, as a small girl I was nick named Putti, then became puttakka to youngsters, my father would call me puttamma or puttubai when I grew up and all the nephews and nieces ended up calling me Putty Aunty! I am waiting for the day when my grand children would call me Puttajji!

So people, better be beware before calling your kids with pet names. My eldest co-sister was called Doddamma by all the children at home, then brothers and sisters-in-law joined, we co-sisters call her Doddamma and the best part is my mother-in-law who has scored a century, calls her Doddamma !!! Recently, on my mother-in-law's hundredth year birthday celebrations, we all co-sisters and sisters-in-law had gone to Nanada silks to purchase sarees. Each one of us were selecting a saree, while Doddmma arrived a bit late. We all got busy suggesting different sarees to her, when the shop keeper brought one saree and said, “ Doddamma, see whether you like this.” We all covered our mouths with the sarees held in our hands to hide the giggles over that old man also calling her Doddamma!!! ..........................

.................. Soumya put forth her case quite unequivocally. Her argument was, Nikhil never used to change his WhatsApp and Facebook profile picture earlier, but nowadays it is changing daily, and the status are becoming more and more loaded and he would be online in WhatsApp all the time which is in contrast to his earlier habit. In fact she accosted him with the WhatsApp status of that day, him claiming to be on cloud nine or something of that sort!
Nikhil had a ready answer. With him working in the Network domain, on cloud computing, its a status he had put in jubilation for having solved a persistent cumbersome issue, and since most of his friends were now active on WhatsApp, he had also switched over to WhatsApp.

Not at all convinced with his answers, Soumya huffed and puffed – after all she has been eagerly waiting to buy new clothes and have a blast of a party on his engagement – vowing to keep the screen shots of all his statuses and get back to him once she finds out who his secret girlfriend is!  

Curtain raiser :

So one fine Sunday morning we invited all my family members for breakfast. When everybody's plate was full and they were taking a first bite, Nikhil came out from his room with Sumana in tow. It is not everyday, that too when you have guests at home, that your son emerges from his room with a girl. While everybody's jaw dropped, we all had our eyes on Soumya. The reaction on her face was priceless! She was shocked, then felt jubilant that she had been proven right and finally, the ecstasy that the celebrations are going to start!!!

And the rest, as they say is history......

We also played similar pranks on Nikhil's close friends Adith and Nithin. They are his friends from his BMS college days, and have seen Nikhil being teased by his "girl friends" why he never invites them home though he stays so nearby. So on different Sundays, when they came to visit Nikhil, I would send them to his room, while Sumana sat coolly in his room, watching TV! On entering they would be baffled, seeing the seedha saada ladka Nikhil with a girl in his room while his mom is at home downstairs! 
Myself and Rashmi would be waiting outside, controlling our laughter and dying to see the look on their faces! Once the truth was known they would come out of the room wiping their brows and joining in the guffaws!!! 

Welcome to the Engagement celebrations.......

chitrannaa.blogspot.com

chitrannaa.blogspot.com

chitrannaa.blogspot.com

chitrannaa.blogspot.com

www.chitrannaa.blogspot.in

chitrannaa.blogspot.com

chitrannaa.blogspot.com

www.chitrannaa.blogspot.in

www.chitrannaa.blogspot.in

www.chitrannaa.blogspot.in

www.chitrannaa.blogspot.in

www.chitrannaa.blogspot.in

                                                         

Epilogue :

Now you all have witnessed the celebrations through personal participation or through the photos and videos. You have seen the climax dance of Nikhil and Sumana. That also had its fair share of suspense and thrills. That was supposed to be kept a closely guarded secret but out of excitement someone among us would blurt out about the dress or its color or the song and the dance in front of somebody. Then there would be hushed silence and immediately someone from us would start talking loudly about some inconsequential subject just to cover up!

When we visited the venue earlier to check out the arrangements, Sumana, in all innocence, asked how much time the “homa” would take. Common, Homa on an engagement day!?! While we could not control our smile at the faux pas, we all burst out laughing imagining her sitting for Homa in that elegant red dress. Even now we take turns and have great fun teasing Sumana and her face turns the color of her red dress!!!      

( Did I say epilogue? Well, there can be no epilogue, no full stop to this celebration of life, but only a comma, till we meet again ..... )