September

Was an incredible month. To put it rather simply.

I got off work and on vacation on the 1st. Until about last week. A never before 20 days off work. YAY! :D

P and I were legally wedded, temple wedded and church wedded in a span of 3 days. There could have been more considering his father is Sikh, but his parents are just too nice to put us through the elaborate ceremonies that it would entail.

Plus, secretly, I think uncle and aunty aren't quite the ceremonial types. They'd rather throw a 2nd drinks and dinner party for their friends (our reception in their hometown, Chennai, was the 1st). And a 3rd, perhaps.

After 2 weddings and 2 receptions across 2 cities and after lugging relatives back and forth between the 2, apparently the only valid ceremony was the one we had at the registrar's office because we belong to different religions.

Not only did we have to put up notice for the wedding 3 months in advance, we also had to stand in front of registrar office uncle and read the statement "I, _________ daughter/son of _________, hereby take ___________ to be my husband/ wife of my own free will and state that I am not being forced into this marriage" out loud. THRICE.

(What, so inter religious marriages are the only ones forced on people is it? What about the ones where you're supposed to see some dude for a minute and then decide you want to marry him? Isn't that sad and deserving of punishment like 3 times recitation??? )

You heard that right. THRICE. We each had to read this para thrice as if being punished by a teacher in school. The best part is the solemn expression with which registrar uncle finally congratulates us when the 3rd reading is done.

Anyway, 3 bucks over the table , 1000 under, and poof. We were married.

It rained cats and dogs in Mumbai on our 1st wedding (The temple one). And still so many friends turned up. The penguin was there looking ravishing in a sari i gifted her. And until the VERY END, like until the thali was tied around my neck, I kept thinking Mogambo would show up and go "SEPPRIISSSE, Here I am!!!". But she really meant it when she said she couldn't make it. To make up for this, she called us once every 3 hours to see how things were proceeding. (we love you stupid woman. dont feel bad and all.) My boss, the ex boss and the ex ex boss were all there. So was my korean flatmate. So were friends from b school all the way back to school. We hadn't done the mass email to the class groups, but we loved that so many of those we invited could actually come and have fun with us :-)

The best part is, although P and I had been dreading how serious and boring the ceremonies might turn out to be, they actually turned out to be incredibly fun! Apparently the priest later told my mum he's never had SO much fun conducting a wedding. And guess what? Just before we left Mumbai, we'd given her very similar feedback on how cool the priest was! And our guests kept laughing coz we kept laughing and it was all just one big party :)

Chennai was kickstarted with the hilarious registered wedding of the 3 times recitation fame. The church ceremony was cozy and about 30 minutes long. The reception was nothing like the usual. We didn't stand on a stage and get pictures taken with a long line of people. We just mingled and spoke to everyone. And I got away with looking utterly non bridal. As a consequence, those are my favorite pictures of all.

The travel and the socializing beyond our capacities did take its toll. P and I slept like babies through this entire vacation. My body clock which usually wakes me up at 8 am, went to sleep with me. And not a single day did we wake up earlier than 10.30 am. *Proud look*

Except the day the earth shook. We were on the 5th day of a nice leisurely post wedding break in Bali, when at 7.15 am the sound of rattling windows and doors shook us up. Shook me up, actually. P would've slept through it all had I not screamed "GET THE PASSPORTS AND MONEY. AND RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN". In fact he almost slept through my screaming as well. All he could mumble to my horrified screams was "I'm sure the tremors will stop in a while. Can we go back to sleep now?"

I'm stuck with this for life, can you believe it?

Right. So to the question, "how does it feel to be married?" (You want to ask it. You know it. I know it. Let's not play games, ok?)

I might as well tell you now. It feels no different. I still write Ms. Tic not Mrs. Tic as my name on travel forms. My surname is still the same. I look exactly the same (I'm still scrawny apparently) and P does too (scrawny as well). I still call his parents 'uncle' and 'aunty' and drink in front of them. He still calls mine 'uncle' and 'aunty' and eats non vegetarian food around them. I still talk till my jaw hurts (it really does btw :S) and he still listens without zoning me out. (I love this guy, have I mentioned?)

The one thing we'd love to have changed is to actually start living together. But ever since my company took 5 months to answer the question "can you move me to where P is" with a resounding NO, and kindly offered that I could instead move to the HQ in the US and do a weekend relationship with him for the next 2 years (Ooooh how generous. Thanks!!), we're kind of in the dumps a wee bit and looking through options that won't, you know, take 5 MORE months. OR have one of us be unemployed for more than about 6 months.

So there. That's what I've been up to the last 1 month. This vacation has been AMAZING, and I cannot help but hope against hope that the next few months are the same. :)

Pray for us, if you believe in that, or just send good wishes our way. And if you get to share a roof or even a city with the person you love, and you haven't said your thanks yet, please do. :) Not everyone is as lucky as you :-)