For Life!

She thinks I am twisted and unpredictable. She has been clearer about what’s good for me and what’s not far more than I ever have. But just like me, she is not so great at managing her own shit. Enter Baiju Hindocha.

I first heard his name and saw his picture in early 2010 when the two of them went to Mexico for an MBA exchange program. My earliest memories include thinking he’s cute and listening to him talk in the background while she and I skyped about some inconsequential things like pretty beaches of Cancun and unemployment all at the same time. 

A few months passed before I was formally told that whatever was going on kinda had a meaning to it. I knew it was never going to be meaningless. That’s not her shit. And he knew that well.

I do not remember anything from my first meeting with him, except that she was totally smitten. A few months later, she and I had an argument which he seemed to read better than she did. That’s when I first took him seriously. 

Months passed, I heard a lot about IMT parties and events and placements and more drama and how none of it apparently bothered him much. It was impressive. 

He is one of the rare few people, or perhaps the only one, who is not in my immediate circle of friends and yet I have an alcoholic bond with. Yes, that’s a type. We downed a few drinks together on her 24th birthday and that’s when I finally loosened up and accepted him. 

Through these years, I have seen him hold her hand through the craziest of times and never once frown about anything being said or done around him. I have to admit, he is pretty awesome!

When it was my time and responsibility to ensure she looked at things sensibly, I did my best. Y’know, I am pretty awesome too!

So finally after a WHOLE lot of drama, they got engaged in the summer of 2013. I planned so much for that occasion that I just missed it. Just like that. 

But I was not going to miss this shaadi. I was almost living in her house for those three days. Yes, when the cats start hanging by your clothes, you are pretty much an occupant of the Kapoor House. In other words, every member of that house welcomed me as someone more than a guest – more than a friend of the bride. I LOVED running up and down to facilitate the chooda process, I loved being the first one in for her mehendi evening, I loved being the last one to get mehendi on my hands, I loved it that her mom expected me to take care of some things. My muscles ached from all the dancing to the dhol, but I loved every moment of it, including the slight awkwardness. 

I thought she looked gorgeous that day. My camera and the new lens agreed. I was very happy and satisfied.

More muscle ache looking for a stupid photocopier in an unknown place for 60 minutes just so I could take a print of her speech, forgetting that printout at home, having five glasses of wine, shedding tears of happiness for a second consecutive night, posing like crazy at the photo booth, telling her sister-in-law of my very own Gujju romantic interest (hic!), and talking endlessly while Lynn drove me back home was that awesome cocktail night at a super pretty rooftop venue. I ate something that I loved but have no recollection of. Show me the menu again, someone!

With a horrible hangover and crazy shit going on in office, I focused on her haldi and tried getting some more pretty pictures. I was loving it!

It meant a lot to me that she asked me to be with her while she got dressed for her big day. She had earlier told me that she considers me to be her sister. I had cried then. Through all this she treated me like a sister. It overwhelmed me. But it was so exciting watching her transform into this stunningly beautiful bride. The folks there did something to my hair and I looked half-decent too. :P

She is the only bride I know of who made fun of herself on the wedding night. You really had to be there to witness the madness that that hour was.

I wish I had stayed for the pheras. When she formally signed up with him for life. I wish I had stayed, not so much to see her happy, but to see how he expressed what he felt. 

I haven’t seen them since. Soon, at the pending photo shoot, I hope.

Here’s wishing them not just a happy new year, but a lifetime of togetherness through the real shit that will begin now. I am sure she will struggle, but I am surer that they will sail through. 

With all my heart and a lot of love,

Richa

A Dedication

I have been meaning to write this post for a while now, but for some reason or the other I kept postponing it. But enough of that.

This one is for Avantika. Or Avan as all those who love her (including me) address her. Known her for 2 years and 3 days now. We can exclude these 3 extra days 'coz anyway I quite disliked her in the beginning. The dislike lasted for a little more than 3 days, but you get the drift, I'm sure.

So we shall talk about the liking only. Or she'll get her mom to beat me up. She uses that weapon as a threat often.

She is one person who loves to talk. And come to think of it, I don't think I have known anyone other than her who loves doing it as much as she does. The talent being that she manages to make sense to quite an extent. Rest of the times I manage to appreciate her sense of humour.

But this also leads to massive phone bills that she pays for. I don't even dare to imagine what those figures would be like. Not that I've not known what paying heavy phone bills is like (please note that there is a difference in making your father pay them and paying up yourself. I have done both. I blew up 90% of my saved salary in that!).

The one on the right

Anyway. Back to her. She also loves cats. (Yea, dogs too, but cats are the real thing for her.) Her own cat is 14 years old. I kept my dislike for cats a secret from her for quite a while. And I still avoid all conversations about cats with her.

The funny bit is that she laughs like a pup. It is hard for me to describe that in a more lucid way, but that is really how she laughs. So if you do not find her jokes funny, you can still laugh with (or at) her.

Her other love is dance. I have seen her do that in a moving car. It's recorded too. I have also seen her do it in the middle of a forest. That's on record as well. And I am sure I am forgetting of occasions when she's done it while walking on the streets. I am also sure that she is thinking of calling me up while reading this to deny the street thing, but you know I won't believe her. So it's ok.

But on a serious note, she is serious about dance. Takes classes to learn n stuff!

She has been around for me through a lottt of shit. I know two years do not seem to be that long a period for me to put that many Ts to that 'lot'. But shit can happen on a daily basis too. It does not have to be a tsunami each time.
She has also confided in me a few times. Which tells me that we are VERY different people with very different priorities in life. But maybe it's just our approach to life which makes us connect.

We have laughed together to madness on several occasions. Mostly over non-sensical jokes. We have also cried for each other at least once. I really cannot get to expressing what seeing her in pain does to me.

You should know - she likes that 'tujh mein rab basta hai' song from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. I wish I could write about the conversation I had with her after I found out about this. Seriously. WHO likes that song?!
So yea, I am sure you can figure she is quite idealistic about a few things. She thinks I have changed a lot in the last one year as far as being no non-sense and practical about things is concerned. I sometimes wish I could be party to the fancy she takes to a lot of stupid things around, but I can't. So maybe she is right.
She is mostly right about the things she thinks about me. Or believes to be true about me. Or even when she expects my behaviour to be a certain way in a given situation. I'd like to credit that to her ability to gauge it right than to the idea of me being so predictable and easy to figure.

I have to write of her love for purple lest she'd write this post off as being incomplete. I have mentioned this earlier on my blog as well, but for the sake of completion - nobody loves purple more than she does!

Oh, I forgot to mention how I first met her. It was not at WW. And this is something I figured much later. She and I were in the same GD group during MICA's selection process in March 2007. Funnily enough, when we figured this, we just did not remember seeing each other that day. We remembered all the other people from the group. And FYI, she was selected. I wasn't. Her ambitions made her refuse to go there. It is a completely different story that today she is again invited by MICA to join PGPCM, and she is again not going to Shela. Ha!
She will soon be a UP wasi. I know I have never expressed any kind of happiness for her as far as this new thing in her life is concerned. Been rather matter-of-factly about it. But you know what, Avan? You WILL have a good time there. You WILL find people other than the losers you expect to see. And you WILL be happy at the end of your two years there. All this, not because I can predict it, but because I know you. You're not that linear equation. You will never be one. And it's only the linear equations which live life without really living it. So if at any point you think it's not going the right way, think of not letting me down. It won't be a pressure thing. It will plain work. Muah!! :-)

Trivia: After three years of economics, both of us landed with the exact same aggregate too.
Trivia 2: She shares her birthday with my brother.