i turned back and saw...

... the best times of my life a little way behind.. and a little disturbance at the very end.

we could say it all started at the end of 2001, with my cousin brothers wedding in dubai.. when old, ugly ties were severed.
a good job if i do say so myself..

come 2002 and the saab finds greatest funs and louve in her chuddybuddies in the bangalore.. the close of college saw many good times. loafing and laughing at random.

the boomsa on one end, out of college, but always tharr-mins-tharr only.
the reconciliation with bones and the lot.. [esp the warmest, longest hug i can remember].
the crazy hooliganism with roomies and other assorted comedians.

close of college and i take my sabbatical back home.. many sweet presents from friends, boomsa drops me to the station, friends come to see me off, and a bawling weepy session on the platform at bangalore central..

9 months of settling in at our new home in jammu.. moving furniture about, building wooden cabinets, painting, and the joy of having a baby room to help grow up..
..which growing up began immediately with scribblings on walls, doors and cupboard surfaces... [the anands of bangalore left their indelible mark on an innocent and very malleable sabbah].

come 2003, and little rumblings of impatience begin gnawing at the saab's vitals... the thought of a so-far-so-bloody-far vasantahabba annoys her insides like nobody's bloody business...
so she plans a return journey..
friends back in bangalore are like:: whaaa..? but we just sent u off! all those presents wasted?? *scoff*the protaganist remains unperturbed.

under the pretext of earning her keep, saab gets a lousy underdog's job with kpmg sthg or the other..
works muchly for not so muchly when she sees her paycheck.. but its lovely to be working at sthg grand, and standing on ur own 2 feet, she feels.
likes the job after a bit.

loves the little time she gets off to be with friendses. watches many ungodly hour movies with alaura, has untimely coffees with a boomsa, keeps yakking with the college bunch on phoneses and so Time runs on..

come the end of 2003, and the saba is informed of her betrothal in dubai..
frantic emails ensue, chats and yaks later, all is well..
the good news goes round..
saab maintains a low profile.. keeps up the act of single-and-was-never-ready-to-mingle-anyways-so-it-doesn't-make-a-difference..

2004 arrives at an audit in the orifices of an infosys.

vasantahabba happens with many gracious thwankses to boomsa and her friends.. many funs were had, and we fell in loves with an 'indian ocean'. not the current tragic one. anothers.

then july... mins like, my nikaah. mins like, thrilled to heavenly bits that a boomsa, with her side platter of smashed potatoes [shwilpaaz], and a laura, could be there to do that.

months run on.. a beautiful ramadan ensues, and passes by.
soon after, my cousin next door is wed..

a month left for my own 'bidaai'.. in dubai. [po-yum].

frantic runnings around to arrange passport copies for visa copies, last minute shwoppings, ticket arrangements and the whole circus, as it were.

mid-dec 2004..
pack-up for dubai. the entourage leaves. short stint in delhi, and tadaaa.....
welcome to dubai..
the new family gives us a warm-mushy-sweetest welcome at the airport. surprise surprise, a stretchiest ever limousine has been arranged for saba and husband!! white limo, black leather interior, lights, bar [whattawaste] and sthg many elses.. felt like we needed to shoot a music video in there.. also felt like we should have more people in there with us.. whatever happened to car pooling?

a few short details later, shro dahling arrives from bangalore.. how i beam on her.. how she beams back!! what a joyous times.
as per dna coding, she blends in immediately with the background and is at home in my home, even referring to my folks as 'mama' and 'abba'.. aww. shwucks. so mins kyoot only.

my fabida arrives also as vell... after many years, i see her. quid pro quo.. you came for my wedding-dong, im here for urs.

thwanks u both the manies for sweet gifts.

23rd dec- the grand mehndi raat... fritty-pretty understated gold tissue lehenga thingy from delhi.
25th dec- grandiose reception at emirates towers.. makeup by a wonderwoman from lahore.
3.5 hrs of hard work to effect a change in the exeriors of my landscape. wardrobe by some designer in lahore, pakistan. huge and heavy maroon & mustard sharara.. [boomsa frowns an indo-brahmin frown and froths at the mouth, hissing sweet nothings at these 'mussss-limz peoples'.]


26th dec- the 'waleema' function.. wardrobe courtesy designer from karachi?? dunno exactly. its an either or between the reception suit and this night. beige and light bluest fish-tail squirt. make-up thankfully from home.

ugh.

dinners various ensue..
very mitthai colour jango jvellries, on all nigths. sad but true.

sadder and also true was that shro left soonest.. tried to run her thru the entwire to-do list of dubai, but in winter, the days are shwort. at least she had many shee-shahs. hope she's stoned enough for to last the new years.

in the interim, the worst news sweeps across the world. a tidal wave of incomprehensibility. new numbers to hit us in the face every morning. new videos, new horrors. i'lll leave it at that. shaking one's head and wondering isn't helping anyone.

and that was the time that was.. just a huge summary of things.. very well begun, but quite badly done in the end.

one can only hope we're looking at better times ahead. i believe we are. like they say in every second movie, things can only get better from here.

happy new year. seriously.
g'bye and godspeed.
hmm.