Clown Feet

Every time I go to India, I set time (and money) apart for shopping. Shopping is a huge thing for me as I rarely buy Indian clothes here, because I think they are very over priced. Plus I visit India quiet often so I can resist not shopping for Indian clothes till my next visit.

The only thing I do not shop for is footwear. It all started during my India visit in 2003, I wanted to get a pretty pair of sandals to wear with my new gorgeous saris that I got 2 days ago. So I went into this shoe place in Ernakulum, as most of my shopping is done in Ernakulum. I visited 3-4 stores but none of them had my size. I was little disappointed as I saw few patterns that I adored. So gave up the sandal’s hunt and went to Goodwill (Goodwill is a huge accessory shop in Ernakulum and has 4 floor of just accessories. Once can spend more than two grand there in less than 30 minutes). Got me some Jewelry, bindi and I was in much better mood.

Next stop was Thiruvalla, went to couple of store in my quest to find sandals, still no luck. Having no success there Antony chetan (he drove us around during our whole trip there), feels sorry for me and say "Molle there are lot of store in Chaganacherry I'll take u there" So I nodded with all the excitement and went to Chaganacherry.

Unable to find sandals in two stores I was disappointed. Antony chetan again cheers me up by saying there is another store in the corner lets go there and see. We pull up to the store and I saw that they had a huge collection, and that sight made me have faith. So I walked in and they started showing me sandals. After 20 minutes of still not having luck the salesman brings out this not so good looking sandals, and as luck would have it that fits me perfectly. I stare at these sandals as I do not want to get something that I may not wear then it strikes me this is guy's sandals. I ask the salesmen "Ithu anugalude cherupu alle? " (Isn't this guy’s sandal?) For which he replies with out a twitch that "Ithre valiya kaal unda penugallum iganethe aanu idunathu" (Girls with such big feet do wear guy’s sandals). I smiled and dragged my mother out of there and ever since I have never visited a footware place in India.

Now Indian things are so "IN" here that I can walk to any store and pick up nice Indian looking sandals to go with my sari, and yes I can find them in my size.

For all the curious people who are wondering what size I wear, I wear a US size 10. This chart might help to put things in perspective .

This post is inspired by M where she describes her ordeal of finding shoes in America

Order Order

I am a huge preacher and follower of order (like I haven't mentioned that a million times). And by order I do not mean Order as in Law and Order, but more like this goes here, that goes there.

Even as a kid my room was always clean. I had a table that had 3 draws and on the bottom were thing I rarely used, middle draw had things I used often and the top one had pens, pencils, glue and miscellaneous stuff like that. My Badminton Racquet was on the wall once I was done playing and with the birdie on the top of that nail. During my early school years books were arranged in my bag based on the order the classes were. If first period was English, English book was on the first one, and after using I would put it all the way in the back so next period's book would be up front.

I would put everything back after I used it. Years have gone by and this need for Orderliness grew with me.

Here is a list of things I do on a regular basis:

• I need to fold clothes right after laundry is done.
• During folding I have a pile going on by the side called, the ironing pile. Once all the clothes have been put away I iron the clothes in my ironing pile. So when I am in a rush to get to work I can pull out any outfit and it will be ironed.
  
• My closet is L shaped walk-in closet, and in there I have dress clothes on one side and casual clothes on the other. Each side is further divided in to pants and shirts, and a small section for skirts. Indian clothes are tucked away as I rarely get to wear them.
• All the kitchen skills (I don't have that much skill, so we can call it kitchen habits) are learnt from my mom. Whenever I helped her in the kitchen, I was supposed to put everything away after use. So it is like, take salt from shelf, use it and put it back. So now when I cook I put back all my masalas, so when I'm done cooking there is less to clean.
• I need to pay all bills on time (more like the day they arrive).
• My spoon draw (everyone has a spoon draw right?) is compartmentalized and all the spoon heads should face the same direction (it just looks so pretty like that).
• Like I mentioned before everyone on my IM list is grouped based on where I met them. I have a group school1, school2, college, work.
• I have a list going on for all the books I would like to read, as I blog hop and see something that I like I add that to my list.
• I have the same thing (as above) for movies too.
• All the books on my shelf are arranged by size, if two books have the same size, then it is alphabetized.
• Speaking of Alphabetized I have this major need to alphabetize everything that can be alphabetized, it is so easy to find it.
• While listening to CDs (I can put 6 CDs in the dash of my car) I can not just listen to few songs and play another CD, I have to finish all the songs in the currently playing CD.
• After I get back from any trip, I need to unpack as soon as I can. I have to put all the toiletries away. I have to download all the pictures from my camera (this is more b/c I really wanna see the pictures).
• After shopping when I get home I need to put away all the groceries I bought. They just can not stay in a bag. Not just groceries, be it clothes, shoes everything.

These are just few of the things I could think of, but believe me there are a lot more.

Vroom ZZZzzzz

I have not updated this space for the longest time, so a very sincere apology to everyone who kept checking this for updates. Especially Neihal her comment has prompted this post.

Since the weather is nice we have been riding our bike a lot. Other day we went to Yosemite on our bike. I really wasn't all excited as Yosemite is more than 200 miles from our place. But Shekar was so excited about taking those curves, so I agreed.

It was all nice and fun the first hour then I started feeling sleepy. Falling asleep on a bike that is moving 70 MPH is not a good idea so I made Shekar stop for coffee. After a huge cup of coffee I was little awake and we continued again.

If you guys haven't realized yet, I'm not a quiet person, so being quiet for the whole ride drove me crazy (it is very hard to talk and we both have full face covered helmets and winds are so strong that even when we raise the shade the other person can not hear). We basically communicate with a tap and touches. (Shekar has promised to buy us a pair of helmet headsets so we can chat).

So I can not talk to Shekar, can not listen to music (we have these heavy duty ear plugs to avoid wind noise), can not sleep so I just sat back and enjoyed the ride, I got bored again and thought of things that keep me entertained. So

• I played athaksiri with myself
• Did some self reflection
• Thought about all my friends who I had not called recently, and made a mental list to call then when I get back home.
  
• Thought about topics to blog about - (don’t remember any of those topics though)
• Made a mental list of things to do when I get back home
• Counted all my teeth with my tongue (did a best of three to get the correct count)
• Counted how many male cousins I had compared to female cousins (9 males and 16 females), than calculated the ratio.

After few long hours we finally reached our destination, spent some time there and then rode back again.

On the way back I was so exhausted to do any of the above mentioned, but did manage to stay awake some how.

Turn Right to Tighten

I used to be dad's little helper around the house. So every Saturday morning, I used to help him wash his scooter. I was small, so he would make me slide under the scooter to clean it. I loved working with him and so he included me in all his projects.

As I grew older, he started giving me bigger responsibilities as hold the ladder as he climbed to clean the roof gutters. Then finally he started giving me projects of my own.

All this changed when I got married, now dad does all his projects by himself, and Shekar has got himself a little helper (not so little anymore, but little because I only help a little).

Working with both of them I realized that they actually love working with me and not another guy mainly because:

• After working for a while, I would ask Kudikan vallom veno? (Do you need anything to drink).
• I never tell them what to do, only assist in what they do.
• I keep them occupied with conversations.
• I can never tell if they are doing something wrong.
• I will never make a statement "I have done this so many times before and you are doing it all wrong" OR "This is how you do it", OR "Give it to me"
• I never boss them around while they working on car/bike/house because that is their turf and I obey.
• If they get mad at me, I don't take it personally I know they are just annoyed it is very similar to when I cook and things don't turn as I like them to I get mad at them (especially Shekar and he knows not to take that personally).
• I clean up as we go, if they wiped grease off their hands and the paper towel is on the floor I make sure I take it put it in the trash.
• Above all I know my tools, I know the difference between flat head, Phillips, TORX screwdrivers. I know my wrenches and a lot more.

The whole last week was spent working on our car and bike and I have graduated from little helper to must have for Shekar (not that he has an option).

I Feel Pretty oh so Pretty

I'm a strong believer of beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

For me a girl to be beautiful, has to have curly hair, should have great calves and biceps. By calves and biceps I don't mean the body builder type, but more like a defined shape.

So I was all into getting biceps myself. So I started lifting weights. Shekar guided me through this whole process. He showed me the correct way to lift them, the way to stand when I lifted and all.

So I would lift weights, started with 8 pounds, moved to 10, then 12 and finally 15. So I started seeing the shape on my arms and I was a very happy person. I would flex my muscles and show them off to Shekar. I did this for almost a month and whola, I was pretty according to me.

Then one day, I was getting ready for an occasion and I decide to wear saree and then the unthinkable happened. The blouse for the saree doesn't fit me anymore, because of my newly existing biceps. Since all my blouses are the same measurement, this meant, none of them are going to fit.

So I have decided that I do not want biceps anymore I just wanna wear my sarees.

Hopefully this happens soon as I love wearing sarees.

Me to Shekar: What should I lift for my biceps to go away?

Travel 101

I had specified in my one of my previous posts that I am organized and my organization skill comes to life when I'm planning to go on a trip.

I'm flying tonight (just me, no Shekar) to go spend the weekend with Veena and here is a list of things I did to get ready for the trip.

• Got the ticket almost a month ago ( I can never be spontaneous)
• Both at home and work I have a list of things I need to take with me. If I remember something new I run and jot it down on my list so I don't forget.
• Make sure I have books to read on the plane. Went to the library and got two suspense novels. It has to be suspense else I would get bored after the first 20 minutes (flight is almost 6 hrs)
• Week prior to leaving I have all the outfits planned. Friday I'm gonna wear Capri pants with white t-shirt and so on.
• Check with Veena on are we planning to do anything special. Like Sunday are we going to church? If so I need to take Church clothes.
• Week before the actual day my packing starts. No it not packing in actual sense, it more like I make a trip pile and add things to it every day. Actual stuffing into suitcase happens the day of the trip.
• Decide what I am gonna bring back from Veena's place (Remember when my mom came I gave her 2 sarees to stitch falls, she left it at Veena's place when she visited her place like 2 weeks ago), and take the suitcase according to that.
• Cook, since I'm only gone for 3 days, but still made some food so Shekar has enough to last him till Sunday.
• Do the laundry 2 days before the trip so I have good choice available clothes for me to decide what to take, and when I return I do not have to worry about not having clothes to wear.
• I hate coming back to a messy house so I start a cleaning spree 2 days prior to the trip.
• Day of the trip:
• Print Boarding Pass
• Get some money from the ATM
• Straighten my Hair
• Final packing (stuffing into suitcase)
• Make sure cell phone is charged to 100%
• Check the weather both here and at Veena's place
• Skim my lists and make sure I haven't forgotten anything

Yes, folks I'm going to visit Veena today and will be back Sunday night. Till then all you guys take care and have an awesome weekend.

I know I'm going to.

Ouch...

Every given day I utter this word quiet a few times and every time it is because I have hurt myself. I'm very accident prone ( that's how I like to put it, as opposed to what Shekar calls me - Careless) .

• It starts with waking up in the morning, and on my way to the bathroom, my shoulder hits the corner of the wall - Ouch
• Come back from the bathroom to wake Shekar up, my toe hits the bed stand - Ouch
• As usual I'm running late, so grab my plate with waffles and walk to the living room to watch news. My eyes are on the TV and bang I have kicked the coffee table again - Ouch
• As I open my front door to get out, I forget to move my feet and I open the door, and it come and hits my toe - Ouch
• I manage to get to work safe and I'm in a meeting at work. Most of the time I sit with my legs crossed at my knees. So I'm at this meeting listening away and I lift my right leg to cross over my left and thud, my right knee just hit the table - Ouch
• After my day at work I return home. On of few things I do immediately after I get home is empty my dishwasher. So my dishwasher is lying open like this and I'm putting the dishes away and walking around the open lid, and as you all would have by guessed now, every evening I hit the part below my knee on this open door - Ouch
  

These are incidents that happen to me everyday. Then there are incidents that happen to me only once.

Other day at work, we all had a 30 minutes presentation to go to. The organizer did not realize there would be a good turn out, so he booked a small room that had seating capability for 10 people and we were like 20. So I got this nice spot by the door and just stood there. So I was standing there pretending to listen and all of a sudden I scream Ouch. The whole place went quiet and I had 20 pairs of eye staring at me, like what is wrong with you, Did you see a spider?

For a split second even I did not know what happen. It felt like someone had grabbed my hair and pulled it. When I turned around I realized that someone had shut the door and my hair got caught in between the door and its frame.

Then there are other days....

Birth of Thanu

As most of you must have figured Thanu is not my real name. Over the past few months I had couple of people ask what kind of name is Thanu (Yeh kya nam hai Thanu? - Nitin). So here is an effort to explain Thanu.

I had been reading blogs for a long time and then one fine day I decided to try my hand on it. But I didn't want to blog with my real name, the main reason that time was I did not want anyone (read prospective employers) googling my name and finding this blog. Other reason was I did not want anyone from my family stumble upon this blog (not because I bad mouth them here) as then I would loose my anonymity.

So I sat with Blogger.com on my Firefox browser and started scratching my head for a good nick name. After few hours of rigorous thinking I came up with names like Susan, Shilpa, Sitara, Preethy (that was my favorite) but they all sounded like very genuine names. I wanted a name that sounded fake, and viola Thanu was born. I don't even know anyone by that name and I googled it and there were almost next to zero results.

Along with Thanu, came Shekar(husband) and then Veena (sister).

After a month of blogging I told Shekar about the site and asked him to read and give me his views. All he came back was with Shekar? Shekar? You couldn't find a better name (No offense to any Shekar's out there) .

Other than Shekar no one who knew me personally (ROS, I see u rolling your eyes) read my blogs. Till one day I made a huge blunder and commented on my friend's blog signed in as Thanu and commented and added my name. That poor soul was so confused, but finally this soul agreed to keep my little secret.

For everyone who feels deceived and thought Thanu was my real name, I'm so sorry. I can not believe you folks thought that mallu parents would name their daughter Thanu instead of a Beena, Lizy, Mini, Siby, Sophie .... The list goes on.

In this world of blogs I'm a Thanu and love being Thanu.

Birthday Weekend

Thank you everyone for the Birthday wishes. I had such a great day, actually weekend. That is the awesome thing about having a birthday on a weekend (Saturday 29th), we can celebrate it all over the weekend.

Has ROS had mentioned I got a very beautiful card from her that got me all teary eyed, not because I never get cards, but this was because it was the first time I have a great friend that I have never met, yet she is such a huge part of my life. Thank you ROS for all what you do and all what you say.

Saturday we celebrated with going to a nice restaurant and dinning. I prefer a very quiet evening with Shekar than a huge bash.

Sunday was very special too. In our church everyone who had a birthday/wedding anniversary in the past week, go and kneel before the alter and the priest comes and prays for them. As a kid I always used to look forward for this occasion as birthday was the only occasion we kids could do this. As opposed to the adults who went and knelt there for communion (I didn't take my communion till I was 15), birthday and wedding anniversary.

This particular moment has become so important to me, those 2 minutes that I kneel, I feel so thankful for all the things I have been blessed with in the past year and all of my life. And a huge wave of faith rushes in my heart that the coming year I will be blessed. The whole church is so quiet (we are taking about almost 200 people) when I am having this moment, that makes it all the more real.

After church, we came home and that is when Shekar said he had a trip planned for us and we are going to Bodega Bay and we were going on our bike there. We had such a great time getting there. As I promised last time, I did take my camera with me this time and here are some pictures.

PS: Anil, Geo, Jaguu, and Quils - I'll get to the tags soon.

Visit from our folks

My parents visited last weekend and since both of them work, their longest stay at our place would be like 4-5 days. Last weekend it was Easter and my parents came over to celebrate Easter with us.

A week before their arrival

• Plan what to do when they are in town
• Plan out the whole menu for their visit
• Go grocery shopping, so I have all the things needed for the above menu

Day before the arrival

• Cleaning - By cleaning I do not mean the usual when guest comes to house cleaning, but major cleaning as they are parents and are entitled to every room, every closet, every shelf. They are also allowed to make statements like "There is so much dust here."
• Prep for cooking the next day

Day of arrival

• Cook, cook and cook some more
• Final cleaning touch ups

Day 1 of parent's trip

• Parents very impressed about all the food I made
• I told mom that she was on vacation and she needn't do anything around the house
• Mom tries to help me with chores and asks me where every dish is

Day 2 of parent's trip (and every day from then)

• I wake up and go to kitchen, mom offers me coffee
• Then she has already made breakfast and planned out what is for lunch and starts prepping
• She has figured out where all dishes are

Day of departure

• Mom Cooks all day so that I have food when she leaves.
• Parents enquire when Shekar and I are going to visit them again.
• Give them couple of stuff to take it with them like 2 of my sarees that need saree falls stitched
• Talk more and say that your this visit was short make sure next time you come for more than 4 days

Day after their departure

• Me calling them at their place, "Mom I can not find my spatula, do you know where you kept it."
• Me calling again, "There is a cup in the fridge with white stuff what is it". Mom replies "Its Thenga pal (coconut milk), that came extra. Use it when you make apam"

Week after their departure

• Me to Shekar - "I need to start cooking now, alle"

Vroom Vroom

I have always had a fascination with two wheelers. The only two wheeler I know how to ride is a cycle and when ever we are traveling, we make sure to rent bicycles and ride them around the city. I love driving a car but I never feel so close to things outside as on a two wheeler. I moved to US during my mid teens so never got a chance to learn or drive Scooty/Sunny/Kinetic Honda (these were the two wheelers that were there in India back then).

Back when I was in college I wanted to own a motorcycle and my dad would never let me so I used to drive around in my car envying all the biker that went Vroom Vroom right by me. As I grew older my dream to own and ride on a bike seemed to vanish. Not because I did not want it anymore but, I did not have the guts to go out and take lessons anymore. But, I wanted it so badly.

Now I'm married and Shekar has this avid love towards bikes and we finally got one last year. Over the weekend was my maiden journey on a bike and it was just great, we rode for 3 hours. One of the great benefits on living in California is that the weather is so great that one can go biking in early months.

So Sunday afternoon Shekar and I geared up and drove by the mountains and the sea. It was so beautiful and any words I use will never do justice to that sight. Since we were on a bike we did not take a camera with us else I would have posted pictures. The road by the mountains we so curvy and steep, but it was thrilling to ride. After riding for almost two hours we stopped on the side of the mountain and pacific sea was at the bottom of that mountain.

This was my first ride on a bike and I can not wait for more. But, for some weird reason it seems like it rains every weekend. We are expecting rain again this Saturday and Sunday. On the bright side, spring is just starting and I'll have lot more riding days. Hopefully I'll find a way to take my camera with me the next time.

Small but Scary

Other day Shekar and I were watching TV and this ad of a cat comes up. I immediately turn my face away from the TV, Yes that is how much I dread cats.

In my younger days I used to be scared of cats. We have never had a cat, but my grandparents always had a cat. Every summer when I used to visit I used to be very scared. My grandmother would always shoo the cat away when it came close to me. I remember one episode where all of us were dinning together. I usually sit with my feet on the chair (because of the cat), but that day for some reason my feet was set on the floor. The cat came and rubbed against my feet and I jumped on to the dinning table yelling cat. I was probably 6 back then, and even to this day my cousins remind me of that incident.

Like everyone says the way to get rid of one's fear is to face it and so Veena thought the best thing to do is to get a cat and chase me with it till I give up. So she grabbed our neighbor's cat and ran after me, through the house, around the house and finally throughout our street. All this while I just kept running. I had more stamina than Veena so she finally quit after she got tired.

Last year when I went to India that was the first time I was meeting Shekar's family. So we were visiting one of his uncles and aunts. The new bride that I was and not knowing his uncle and aunt I was very quiet for most of the evening till I saw a cat in their house. I jumped out of my seat and ran into their other room yelling "“CAT! CAT!"”. All this while everyone in the house is shocked and Shekar tells them she is scared of cats. Hearing that, they were shocked more. "People are scared of cats?" I actually heard someone say that. I was so embarrassed for the way I acted that evening.

The place we live now, our neighbors have cats and we see them walking around all the time. When I get home and get out of my car I see a cat, I just stay in the car for few minutes for them to go away. If they still don't move I get out, say a prayer and take a different way to walk to my house. If Shekar is with me I send him first to drive away the cat.

I do know that cats are harmless and they do not attack people, but there is something about cats that I'm not only scared of, but hate and consider it gross. Its not just cats kittens too... Please don't tell me they are so adorable and/or cute.

I think I need help...

Traffic Violations Anonymous

Hello I'm Thanu and I am a Traffic Violation addict. Well at least that is how it seems. Driving for almost 10 years I have accumulated almost 7 traffic violations.

1. Like how it is said the first kiss is the most memorable, same way the first violation is very memorable. I was going to college and was driving at 38 MPH in a 25MPH zone. Above that it was a school zone, so speeding is condemned. Got a ticket for speeding $70.00
2. I was stopped at a traffic light, light turned green and I took my car, only thing was the lady in front of me was still stopped. So I hit her car. Got a ticket for following too close $90.00.
3. One evening (April ard 7 PM), driving and a cop pulled me over. This time I didn't even know why he was pulling me over. Then he came over and told me that I was driving without headlights. And my response was "Its not dark yet." Got a ticket for driving without headlights $30.00.
4. I was coming back from work (used to work 3pm-11pm) around 11.30 at night, light turned yellow and I sped by. Got pulled over for running RED light. (The cop wouldn’t believe me that it was yellow). Then I couldn't find insurance card in the glove compartment. Got two tickets running a red light, no proof of insurance. I went to the court and showed that I did have insurance during that period , just couldn’t find the card. Fine $70.00.
5. Coming back from work one Sunday afternoon, switched lanes without signaling. Lo and behold another ticket, Improper Lane Changing - $60.00
   

That is when I decided to reform and drive very carefully and obey all rules. Plus had turned like 20 and I was becoming more mature. Four years went by and I was traffic ticket sober for all that while. Until one day:

• Few months ago, it was my last day at my previous job, and I was going to work. My car was already moved to west coast, so I was driving my dad’s car and got pulled over for speeding. This was my most expensive ticket. Speeding $200 +

Last few months I’ve been pretty good, but then again I rarely drive other than total on 10 miles to and fro to work. May be this is the reason Shekar drives me around, he is just scared to let me go by myself or to be in the passenger seat while I’m driving.

PS: This post is inspired by Parth and hopefully after reading this parth, you are feeling a lot better.

Talking ...

As a kid I was a huge fan of Enid Blyton books. I read all the books our local library had back then. One of my favorite characters was Amelia Jane. Amelia Jane was this doll that came to life after dark (or when so one was around - something to that effect). So I used to believe that when I went to sleep everything in my house would come to life, like table, chair, books and what not. So I started talking to these things like they had life. My parents found it amusing may be they never stopped me. This went on for a while.

As I grew older, I continued talking to inanimate objects. Since everyone started looking at me funny, I only talked to these things when I was alone.

Years went by and I forgot about this habit. I don't know if I stopped doing this or I just did it so often that it had become common to me. Yesterday, Shekar and I car pooled to work and when I got back I asked my car, "How are you today? I missed you." Shekar just stared at me, that is when I realized, I still talk to things.

Sleeping Place

Last night I couldn't fall asleep right when I hit bed (may be all the self reflecting I did earlier - read my previous post). That is when I went to my sleeping place.

Sleeping Place - is a mental image of a place that I picture myself in. I used to do this since I was a little kid. My sleeping place is still the same as it was back then. My sleeping place doesn't have a name but for blog sake lets call it "Aven". Aven is a completely made up place and I have never been there physically. Aven has huge mountains, full of lush green trees and grass. I'm the only one in whole of Aven. There is a small house in the valley of the mountains. There is a tree in front of the house and I have a hammock tied on it. There are waterfalls near by. I have never seen them but I can hear them all the time from the house. Sometimes I lie in the hammock swinging, or under the tree reading a book, or inside the house painting thing I see around me. And most of the time I'm asleep after this.

Aven works like magic for me every single time. I used to think Aven was my little secret that only I am allowed to go to. Till the other day I was watching Friends and Monica is having a hard time sleeping, and Phoebe tells Monica about Phoebe's sleeping place and it sounded a lot like my Aven.

I was so shocked because I thought I was the only one that had a sleeping place. But now I see Phoebe has a sleeping place, that too very similar to Aven. Nevertheless, Aven is still my sleeping place and it can put me to sleep even to this day.

Am I weird or do you guys have your Aven?

Why do we take so long?

Last weekend Shekar (my husband) and I were invited for a friend Seema's wedding, as I was getting ready for the Saturday evening wedding, Shekar was all ready and watching football on ESPN and waiting on me and that is when I realized, why do we girls take so long to get ready and why do guys fail to understand this.

So I decided to put this blog up to explain it to all guys "Why do we take so long?"
Here is why I take so long, most of the girls could probably agree to this.

1. One month before the event date (ED) I talk to mom/sister/friend about what I should wear for this day. Should I wear a saree or salwar or Lehanga/lacha - what ever the long skirt outfit is called? Once decided what kind of outfit I should wear(in my case saree as I love sarees), then choice is given to the above mentioned characters and mom says "wear the nice yellow saree, it looks very rich". Didi says "please don't wear yellow, you will look like egg's yolk, wear the maroon one". Friends says "Arre yaar, pink is so in these days, you should wear your pink one, but few months ago for Suman's baby shower you wore pink na, phir you wear maroon then". As always didis rule so I decide on maroon.
2. Week before the ED, I try on the blouse to make sure that it still fits, and drape the saree casually and parade it for by Shekar. He says "Its nice." Me all happy now
3. Day before the ED, wash my hair, blow dry it and straighten it (I have hair below shoulder length) so this take almost 60 – 90 minutes. Then I pick out a nail color that matches my saree and paint my nails. Iron my saree, have to be very careful as the saree has lot of bead work.
4. On ED, we have to leave home at 5.00 as we have an hour long to the wedding place. So I start getting ready around 3.30 (1.30 hrs sounds pretty good). I start with draping the saree - came out well in the first try. First thing I do is pull all my hair back in a clip so it doesn't interrupt the makeup process on my face. Put moisturizer, then foundation, then powder, curl my eyelashes, then eye shadow(I have to make sure the eye shadow is a shade of my saree's color), then eyeliner, then mascara. Apply tad bit of Vaseline on my lips and then lipstick (this also should be the shade of my saree's color). Face DONE. Next hair. I usually like to wear my hair down, and pull back little hair in a clip, so I brush my hair down and put a clip and now I'm 90% done.
5. Next is jewelry, have to pick something to go with the work of the saree. So pick a small necklace, few bangles. Finally footwear. This can make or break the whole outfit. So I carefully select a sandal that has a small gold flower in the corner. My favorite perfume and I am all DONE

The above was my timeline now a list of what Shekar did to get ready.

1. At 4.30 of the ED, comes over to me and ask "Do you think I should wear a suit or a dress shirt and pants?" For which I respond "Suit pehana". Next question "Blue, black, grey"? I say blue and he nods his head and walks away.
2. Shekar shaves, puts moisturizer on his face, gel in his hair, combs his hair, takes him a minute to decide what shirt to wear with the suit, wears the shirt, wears his suit(dry cleaned already, so doesn't have to iron). Then a pair of black shoes. Viola he is done and time is 4.50, 10 minutes to spare.

Now with both of us dressed Shekar pulls out the car and I get in and he looks at me and says "Why are you so decked up teri shaadi nahi ho rahi (you are not getting married), why didn't you wear the cream salwar you wore at mama's house for dinner". I roll my eye and bite my tongue so I do not burst out on him.