When a school friend’s son gets married, a reunion is obviously one of the outcomes :):). Ravindra’s son got married on Dec 17th and our KVAFA gang got together at the wedding.
These friendships are a minimum of 40 years old… classroom banter has converted to boardroom banter for most of us, but when we are together, we forget that we are grandfathers and grandmothers.
Dec 16 – The Pre Wedding Party
Amma, Krishnan and I were technically the first to reach Hyderabad on the 13th. But for the wedding, the first to arrive were Smriti and Shubho. They reached the hotel early, took some rest and were at Ravindra’s house before 1.30. Sarb’s sister and his parents flew down from Chandigarh as he couldn’t make it. Mufeeda from Dindigul, Kulwant from Surat, Harnek and Abhijeet from Delhi … all managed to reach Ravindra’s place before 1.30.
The temporary localities (us) couldn’t get an Uber in time 🙄. We finally managed to reach at 3.11 pm. I was ready to clear the plates, but Jyothsna would have none of it. We ate a delicious lunch and I also managed to get my favourite Puran Poli. The taste lingers even now. Will have to request Jyothsna to make them again whenever we meet next.
From Ravi’s place all of us trooped back to the hotel for our evening get together. Neeraj and Rose joined us there. A shout out to Shubho – he is a fantastic photographer and a selfie master. Most of the pics you will see in this blog are taken by him. Some were taken by Krishnan and Harnek.
We left a little early and missed meeting Anupama and Pushpa who came later at night.
Saree notes – I wore my favourite Banarasi (read – A Much Loved Banarasi) and my neckpiece is from Desh Maheshwari.
Dec 17 – Day of Wedding
Once again we struggled to get an Uber !! We planned on being at the venue by 10.30 but only managed to reach by 11.15 am. We all sat in a couple of rows waiting for some of our friends to reach. I got a pleasant surprise when Sirisha came with Pushpa. She had made it to the wedding at the very last minute.
Anupama had come with her son Aniket (a Limca Book record holder) from Mumbai, Viju and Bindiya came over as well. Viju driving down all the way from Chennai the previous night. Shailu and Rama also joined in a little later. Sanjay came from Pune and missed my “hafta” (Bhakarwadi) but has promised not to forget it again :).
We missed Bhagya, Sarbjit and Jamshed. At least didi, aunty and uncle made up for Sarb’s presence and as I mentioned to Sarbjit, we have adopted his parents. So now they have a huge family with lots of grown up children. Note : My mother sitting next to two of her favourites – Neeraj standing behind her and Sirisha sitting next to her. The picture is being taken by another favourite of hers, Viju.
15 of us got together from different parts of the country and it was just like we were back in school. The only one who could actually walk back into class was Rama. She hasn’t aged at all.
I will keep gushing about our gang and totally forget the reason we were together – Rajshekhar and Meghana, wishing you both a wonderful married life. You just have to contend with several uncles and aunts courtesy your father being the glue that holds us all together.
