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What A Weekend! Part-3

Now, apna Hero and Heroine always make the last entry, so Neeraj and Poonam - our star couple for the party made a shaandaar last entry. Everyone was seated and the show started. First up was Suraj who introduced both sets of parents and thanked Neeraj for taking Poonam and her pranks away from him :p. And then guess what? This guy came out of nowhere and said something in Suraj’s ears. Suraj had a weird expression on his face and said that there was his certain Hyundai Sonata with a certain license number whose lights were. Oh wait! Was that Neeraj and Poonam’s car? Both Neeraj and Poonam looked at each other puzzled. huh? us? did we forget? nooooo! I think they were about to get up and pass their keys so that someone could turn the lights off when Suraj saved the day! Twas a joke guys!!!! But he really got both of them on this one!

Then came two wonderful segments. First, one of their friends who had gone to India for their wedding shared some of her experiences from India. It was clear that they had ALL enjoyed India and had come back with memories that were to stay forever! Next up were the other five friends who had gone to India with them. Theirs was the best piece of the night! They had prepared this absolutely hilarious song based on a track from Lion King! Its hard to describe how hilarious it was, but it was definitely from the heart! The song reflected on what a great time they had in India. One thing I remember from their song was that the Bhatias love to party! In that case, I was SOOO in the right place that night

Next up was a wonderful speech from Neeraj that he had written when he had first moved from India. It was a very endearing speech that reflected what a wonderful person Neeraj was, how much he loved Poonam, and also how much they cared for both sets of parents! I could so understand what he was trying say when he was thanking both their parents for their love and support. It had been a long journey for both of them, and Neeraj summed his feelings up really well. Way to go!

The next part of the program was that slideshow of family and wedding pictures with sound effects! Yes yes, the same songs that I had translated earlier that day. The slideshow was especially prepared for all who couldn’t make it to the wedding. They covered all pictures from the mehndi to the vidaai! It all seemed to pass by fast, and at the end I was almost in tears! Yes yes mujhe bhi khushi ke aaansu aate hai kabhi kabhi! On a side note there, it seems I have become extremely emotional in the past couple of years. Anyways at the end of the slideshow, I wanted to get up and give both of them a huge hug! And I was able to do that pretty soon too.

Dinner was next on the agenda and I had a great time exchanging India talk and NP talk with Punni’s friends. It was so nice to meet the Katz’s, Beth, Diane and Daniel on table # 2 (which by the way was the most rocking of all ) Okay okay, atleast thats what I thought! I clicked with her friends just as quickly as I had clicked with her. Thanks again Poonam for finding the perfect table for me at the party! I thoroughly enjoyed talking to all of them!

So what happens after dinner one might ask? Arre, if there’s a party, there’s gotta be some dancing! Some jhooming and some dhooming! While we were finishing up desserts, the music had started! It was this rocking mix of nonstop songs that NP had prepared! I finished up the desserts and sat there watching them on the dance floor. At first I was slightly apprehensive about dancing but as I kept listening to the music and saw them dance, I said what the heck! Its a party, lets have fun. So I too joined them and then we must have danced for what seemed like forever! I think there were four of us that danced the most till the very end. There were the latest, remixes, the not so new, and the oldies - all kinds of songs, but all of them masti songs! They even had my personal fav “dil legayee kudi gujarat ni” No points for guessing why I love that song! Towards the end, I was so dehydrated that I remember drinking five cups of fruit punch in one go! The legs did not seem to tire at all. It was only after we stopped that the legs started feeling a bit sore. But I wasn’t complaining. I had had a great two and half hours of fun, masti, and dancing with some awesome friends. It couldn’t get any better.

It could very well not have ended but it had to. We returned home tired. One would have thought we would go to bed, but we changed and then joined NP’s family to sit and just talk. I got to know all of them a little better and we even had a midnight snack! Well more like a 2:30 am snack. Poonam spied a burger on the kitchen counter and said, “oh burger!” Suraj said “oh burger too” and I eyed it suspiciously. Punni asked if I wanted some and ofcourse I said yes! Then the poor burger was split into four and three of us munched away at it!! We must have talked till about 3 am when everyone finally decided to call it a night. But guess what, I had to wake up the next morning at 5 am.

Come 5 am, Poonam woke me up and dropped me off at the Bus stop for the bus to O’Hare again. It was time to leave from the wonderful weekend! I cannot THANK Neeraj, Poonam, and their family enough for the absolutely wonderful time I had. While on the bus, I reflected how I had first come in contact with Poonam! It was when she was going through turmoil with her parents over Neeraj. I had just mentioned in one line in her comment box that I had a similar story and she had shot me an email. I had shot her a LONG email in return and we had just clicked! In this almost virtual world, its easy to run into the wrong kind of people. But I am so glad, I ran into Poonam! I found two absolutely wonderful friends, and over the weekend - a fun aunty, and two new friends - all of them made me feel right at home! Well, I cannot sum it up in words and do justice to what I felt at that time but lets just say they will remain friends forever. Thank you SO much once again Neeraj and Poonam for a great time. So whens the next party???

Okay so party’s over, I am at O’Hare. I just left a house full of people thinking the weekend was over. Was I wrong or what! It was only Sunday and it wasn’t over yet. I reach home (again 15 minutes ahead of scheduled time, life is good), and as soon as I entered, I saw a frantic mom in the kitchen. Before I could even ask her what was up she said “Chalo, quickly change, eat lunch and help me in the kitchen.” I was disoriented for a second, huh? wait? what?
“Don’t stare at me, we have 20 people over for dinner tonight and Satyanarayan katha at home. I need get ready for the pooja and you help with dinner.”

*** Blank expression*** Didn’t I just come back from about 7 hours of sleep in 48 hours? Well, Kaush dear had to get to work right away. What did I do? Made chana masala for 20 people and enough jeera rice to fit the whole community according to my aunt. Hey now, I was on very little sleep and high on too much fun! One by one friends and family piled in at our house. The katha was well, let me say interesting. It was hard to find a punditji who would do the pooja at a short notice. Didi, jiju and their little one had come over so the family had made last minute plans. Let me just say the punditji was err well..interesting and very funny! After the katha, everyone licked their fingers. I was told I had a “bright future” after one family friend tasted my absolutely wonderul chana masala. There, again I was in the midst of a house full of family and friends making a whole lot of noise, trying to eat as much food as possible and well, everyone managed to file out at the same time. So is the weekend over yet? No way! Didi and jiju were leaving the next day and a couple of cousins from VA had also come over, so plans were made to play cards. Now, I had mentioned cards and my family get-togethers are a must! That night, we played three card poker or in pure desi - teen patti. We are all good teen patti players meaning the nice ones who dont gamble millions away. Ours are tiny bets more for fun than for money! We usually play dealers choice and the dealers come up with such fun variations that one game extended for half and hour. Guess who the dealer was, me! and guess who won the big pot in that game? ME AGAIN! haha, I was half asleep but the gujju in me didn’t let go of the game and ofcourse the big pot! The fun ended at 2:30 am that night too.

There! That marked the end of an absolutely FUN weekend. Part 1 with Neeraj and Poonam and Part 2 at home! By far the best weekend in a loong looong time. I am looking forward to more fun times like this in the near future. Thanks so much once again, NP!

Monday. Well, I ended up sleeping all day!