Miss. Shravz To Mrs. Venky

I have come across many people who have questioned about arranged marriage. To me arranged marriage is a new life filled with all kinds of flavours.. romance, eagerness, misunderstanding, chemistry, adventure, name the masala and you get it.
It was a love at first sight for my sister (Shravanthy Sarathy). It was just another normal summer day, the boy and his family came to our house to see Shravanthy. The normal day turned out to be the special day the moment their eyes met. They both talked alone for 15 odd minutes and bang... their life changed... She came out smiling or was it shyness mixed with "oh god! I am flying" reaction. I have never seen my sister feeling so shy the way she did that day. We knew that they both like each other instantly!!
It was just matter of days that their marriage was finalised.. the dates, the place, the stage, the camera, the preparation started in full swing in one end... the other end.. the hero and the heroine were calm.. made sure that they were grounded and slowly took steps towards each other. They started with a message and slowly to whatsapp and calls. Though there were no long hour chats yet they ensured they shared every possible details of their life. Oh wait! did I say no long hour chat? Apology.. It involved few long hour calls but not boy talking to girl! The boy's family talking to girl!!! They just embraced her like she already was a member of their family and she was already a part of their family discussions!
The period between engagement and marriage was her best phase of life. She was happy, chirpy, though a bit engrossed with phone(ahem.. I have mentioned there was no long hour chats!!) , full of life. Everyone around her could feel her warmth and happiness. She would say stories about him to us and each story recitation would make her eyes more twinkle. We knew little about him and whatever we knew was from Shravanthy's view. We got to know much about him during the wedding. We realised how true Shrav was and felt happy for her. During the wedding, It became more evident how much they were attached and how they could not take off their eyes from each other.
They say opposites attract, But I believe opposites complement each other. She is naughty and crazy to the core, he is stable and knows his head. She is impatient, he is calm. She is super fast, he stops, thinks and reacts! They are not opposite in everything, they do have commonalty. Food.. the couple love food, travel and spending time with family. Both coming from a huge joint family so they both love people, crowd and things that come along with that!!

 Few of my favourite snaps...

Being her sister and tolerated all her nonsense, I pity my brother-in-law (Atimber). A moment of silence for his patience!!
It has already been a month since the grand wedding and both have gelled along so well that you already see the couple as a single soul! On the first month anniversary, AnuRevSrini wish the duo a Happy Anniversary and may you stay blessed with all the happiness and laughter.


With loads of love to
Bangkok Chiti and Chitapa
ShraVen

What it means to have a baby!

From the day my baby said "Hello world" we knew we will have to take care of her alone in a foreign country. This thought made my learning easier as I tried taking care of her without much dependency from others. So what it means to have a baby in your home which probably no one warned you about.

• The word "Sleep" I long forgot. (Every mother of a new born will agree with me) Waking up    every 2 hours during the night does make you feel sleep deprived.  You need to complete your daily chores when she is asleep during the day. so you end up looking like a zombie throughout your babies first year.
• Feeding, Changing nappies, feeding, changing nappies!!! You do this a dozen times a day that you feel that you have been doing only this the whole day. ( Even my dreams were filled with poo's and pee's!!)
• You master the art of cooking with a single hand. Some how my daughter wakes up exactly when I am eating or cooking. So I end up eating, having her in my lap and cooking in one hand and carrying her in other!
• You start loving pitter-patter walk in your home like a thief. One thing you dread the most is to awaken her. (I made sure that my husband had his own set of house key to get in, instead of using the calling bell!) Complete blackout when she is sleeping.
• Giving bath to a new born is an art! It takes me an hour to finish the bath process which includes an oil massage, bath, applying cream , dressing her and making her sleep. She loves to have a short nap after her bath and after this everyday procedure anyone would wish to have a short nap as well.
• You always have company! She comes where ever you go. You piggyback her the entire first year. You cant leave her alone... No you cant even wash your face alone.
• There are certain places where you cannot even imagine going. Theatres for an instance. Enjoy the freedom during your pregnancy.Don't fret that no one warned you aftermath!
• Your love for shopping goes to a all time high! You see a beautiful dress for your baby and you want it now... you see another and you want that too! Everything in the shop looks so pretty... oh I want the whole shop!! NOW.. NOW NOW... it happens.. trust me... It took my husband lot of effort and explanation that we cant swipe the card where ever my eyes fell!
• You will be in the hit list for all the Auntiji's free advice service. Do this.. do that.. Don't do that Don't do this.. arghhh... Let me learn my parenting in my own way.. Thank you Aunties!!!
• You become addicted to your little darling that you want to cuddle her and kiss her the whole day and not do anything else!

This really sounds bizarre and you may even rethink about having your baby... but of all the above hurdles, there is a beautiful emotion that flows when your baby smiles first at you... when she wants to see and be with only you in the whole world. To see her laugh, cry, roll back and all her "first milestones" , you feel content, you feel "Yes, I was born to see this moment. This is the purpose of my life". Of all the parents, She chose to be daughter for us! 

My bundle of joy.... any sacrifice is less for you!!! 

                      

Yet Another Kiwi Challenge

It was during my 2nd month after delivery, I was recovering from my most dreaded C section operation. I had just managed to get up and take care of daily chores myself, my husband got his new job. We both were happy as this meant a huge leap in his career. The new job in New Zealand meant new exposure and a steep upward career growth. With all this happiness there came a difficult part of visa. It took "n" times travel to passport office and visa embassy and with a 2 month old baby in one hand, it made the short journey even more difficult and tiresome. After almost 2 months of battle, we were ready for our new life...

22 hours of flight with a 4 month baby.... I wished it passed like a moment as even thinking about the flight journey made me sick. But little princess was way good than I dreaded. She slept through most of her first flight journey. Somehow we safely landed Auckland in tact. We learnt our lesson from our last experience so we had pre booked a hotel and had 4 appointments booked the next day for looking out for our rental accomodation. We landed at 2:00AM and straight to the bed... fortunately little one too seemed tired and dozed off. 

It was one of the cold wintery day, we set up for searching... intially it all looked fine until an hour later when she started crying... her cry became inconsolable that we were scared and reached hotel immediately. The following day, she was down with a flu, which made us more scared. I, being a first time mom started crying not knowing what to do and where to go for help. We soon went to a child specialist hospital where the doctor pacified us that it was a normal fever which is bound to go away in 2 days time. This made us to take a decision that I would stay at hotel taking care of the baby and my husband took the responsibilty of hunting house in the evening as he had already started his work at his office.

After 4 days we did find a nice apartment but the vacancy was after 2 weeks, which meant that we had to stay at hotel for a fortnight. Here comes the twist from God (He usually tricks us, specially when we come to NZ!!), there was a basketball tournament going around the city which meant all the hotels were pre-booked which indirectly meant that we could not overstay and had to check out that weekend (We had booked the hotel only for  a week!!). Now here is the way to God's twist... One of our friends friend agreed to help us in this difficult situation. Thomas and Tisha... a wonderful couples with bubbly kids... they have 2 sweetest daughters, Ammu and Ponnu (Both are unique and both are among the cutest I have seen). 

                                                          Thomas, Tisha, Meera and Merlin

                                                 
                                                     Anushree and Merlin (Ponnu)

We stayed at their place for 2 weeks... and I felt being home. They accepted us one of their family members and took care of us so well that we never thought that we were in a strange place. They have had their own struggle coming to NZ and they seem to have suffered more than what we had gone through. Probably thats the reason they didnt want us to suffer and offered help. 

2 weeks just flew and with a heavy heart we moved to our apartment. As if their help was not enough, they even helped us in shifting to our apartment and arranging the house. I can never forget their kind gesture. They helped us when we were truly in need. With the 4 month old baby... It was our biggest risk to travel so far to the unknowns but with kind people like Thomas and Tisha's help, we didnt have to struggle much.

I dedicate this post to Tisha and Thomas... I know its not fair on my part to just say thanks for all those love you both have given us. We just want to let you know that you are a part of our family and we will always be there to keep pestering you both :) :)

 from
Anu's mum

We Are Sorry that we are SHE!!

Rachna, a young educated women is forced to marry a tree before marrying Chetan, the groom because she is mangalik and her kundali will end her husbands life if she marries him first instead of the tree. 

It may sound hilarious and insensible that these happen even in today's "IT" life, to marry a tree but this story is from a daily soap called "Tu Mera Hero" and even several other TV serials which depicts Women as scapegoat and she is supposed to be sorry for all the mishappenings to her family as well. Daily soaps may be boring and time waste for many but they rightly depict today's circumstances. There are several Rachans even today though educated but scared to speak out.

SHE, from the time of birth is made to realize that "SHE" is a girl and she has to behave in a "proper" manner. As she grows up her family constantly teaches her how she has to behave because SHE is a WOMEN. After getting married, SHE is to leave her entire family and accept her husband's family wholeheartedly and run the family efficiently. This is common and happens everywhere but If she is not efficient then SHE is ridiculed. If  SHE does not know to cook and struggles in preparing food, then SHE is sorry, because its her duty to master culinary skills. If SHE is working and finding it hard to manage household chores and office pressure then SHE is sorry. If SHE speaks long hours with her family then SHE is sorry. If SHE wears her favorite pair of jeans then SHE is sorry. If her husband becomes lean or is suffering from ill health then SHE is sorry. If she does not pop out a baby after a year of marriage then SHE is unfit and SHE is sorry. How long.. and how much should SHE bend. Of all the sacrifices SHE makes for her new family, she is always advised to keep her mouth shut and in case of any misunderstandings the golden rule is to be followed "Adjust Karo, Ladki Ho Na Tum" (Adjust, since you are a Women).

(There are many men in our country who support their wives and understand what she goes through, this is to those who just want to show that women are meek and are supposed to be under men's control).

From the time known, Women and Sorry go hand in hand.Be it sexual harassment or a rape case, first the victim is scrutinized and her character is under the hammer instead of punishing the accused. SHE is sorry for getting raped. SHE is sorry for wearing provocative clothes. SHE is sorry for venturing out at inappropriate time. Oh yeah.. and SHE is sorry for being a SHE. Every politician and every debate show articulated on whether victim was wrong or the accused (Are you serious!! I mean really?? Which world are we in.. doesn't it sound ridiculous!!)

"Rapes take place also because of a woman's clothes, her behavior and her presence at inappropriate places," - Asha Mirje, who is a member of the state women's commission

"Boys make mistakes. They should not hang for this." - Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav

 "If he wanted to contest elections to become a legislator, he should have committed rape at least after the elections." - The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former home minister RR Patil

"Rape sometimes right, sometimes wrong"  - Madhya Pradesh home minister Babulal Gaur

If Ramayana had eventuated in today's era and after Sita was kidnapped by Ravana then Asha ji would have told its Sita's mistake to provocate Ravana to entice her. Our Mulayum Singh would have pointed that Ravana is a boy and he has all liberty to make mistakes. Shame on these politicians and shame on us for selecting such stupids as our leaders.

Winston Churchill was probably right when decades ago, he made an arrogant statement at the time of independence of the 100 years ruled over British colony that power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters and all Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw.