Re(v)el in the love!!

On the 1st of May, 2000, a young man and a young woman were surrounded by their closest friends who happened to be in town on that particular Sunday. As they walked in through the huge ancient temple doors, they were assaulted by the pungent smell of incense, camphor and the monotone chanting…and sudden panic from one of the buddies. “We don’t have any garlands!! There are no wedding garlands!!” While the groomsmen ran helter skelter looking for a flower shop that was open, the bride and groom stole a moment and spoke with their eyes and smiles. That was us...me and my hubbs!

Friends were teasing us that we were about to wed on Labour Day (1st of May is Labour Day in India), hence we were going to labour a lot! They were right!! Others joked and said May Day!! May Day!! It was all frighteningly funny!! In the heightened confusion, amidst friends who became family and strangers who became friends, exactly 5 yrs ago I took my hubbs as my lawfully wedded hubbs. 5 years of sickness and health, 5 years of struggles and rest, 5 years of good times and bad, 5 years of wandering and 5 years of love, devotion and sheer fortitude!!

So on the 1st this month, marking our 5 year mark, we started our celebrations a day earlier and extended it to the next day as well. We received the usual phone calls and emails with wishes and blessings, the gifts were there. But we were both in a sober mood...not sure why. Perhaps we felt that time was passing by too quickly, perhaps we were overwhelmed yet again when we looked back at our action packed marriage. Perhaps we were once again filled to the brims of our hearts with love and gratitude. Our eyes definitely seemed to be brimming that day…with tears and many other things.

We had a ton of shopping to finish before our week long trip out of town that’s coming up. And a nice lunch and more shopping, we decided to go to one of our favorite spots for a warm evening before dinner – the Marina Park on the Kirkland Waterfront. It is a favorite spot among the desis as well as the real desis of Seattle. It offers spectacular sunsets on the Lake Washington and beautiful boats on the Marina. The whole of downtown Kirkland is quaint yet has an urban downtownish feeling to it!! I just love Kirkland!! Its perfectly paced!!

So here we are - sitting on the steps by the Moss Bay beach, my arm crooked in his elbow and his hand holding mine, smelling the salty water, smiling at ducks and children, breathing in the cold air and allowing the sun to warm us up. We noticed not more than 20 feet from us a small group of girls and boys. One of the guys was wearing a wetsuit, fins, goggles and all. The short distance between the steps and the water was strewn with rose petals and the path to the water was flanked by purple candles and votives. The diver by now was maneuvering a remote control operated toy boat towards himself. When it got close enough we saw there was bunch of flowers inside the boat. And what now, he was inserting a fishing hook into a bottle with more flowers. Very odd this whole thing!! The crowds were gathering by now. Everybody was curious! Kids stopped playing; even the dogs stopped playing fetch.

The diver then swam some 40 feet into the water with the bottle in hand and looked for a way to hide behind a bobbing orange buoy. The other friends quickly settled all the things, gave final touches and then dashed away. After 5 mins, one of the guys came back and yelled across the water to the diver, ‘she’s at the wrong beach!!’ The crowd burst out laughing!! And soon enough they were saying their ‘awws’ and ‘sweet boy’s!! Well the diver by now was frustrated getting tired of all the kicking to stay afloat. And the candles were getting blown out by the wind as well. A couple of women ran and re-lit them, the diver yelled his thanks and it was now a community event!! Encouraging calls were made over the water, ‘hang in there dude! err…stay afloat!!’ etc etc.

In some 10 mins, ‘she’ was escorted to the park by more girls and boys. And there she was in beautiful pastel green linen pants and sweater, full of glee and jumping up and down with her hand clamped on her mouth. But, when they reached the water, she asked another girl to go forward. We were focused on the wrong girl!!! Aaaargh!!! The right girl was in jeans and a white halter and had no smile or grin. She seemed nervous and embarrassed!! She was looking at the candles and treading on the rose petals carefully so she would not squish them. She came up to the edge of the water, picked up a piece of paper that said, ‘reel me in!!’ She then picked up the fishing pole nearby and started reeling in whatever it was!! The toy boat was supposed to be the decoy, as the diver swam under water, bobbing only now and then to breathe. This took forever!!! The crowd was getting antsy and the she was getting tired. But by now she was giggling too. After a very long 5 or 10 mins, the boat and diver came to the shore. Amidst squeals and giggles, he presented her with the bottle in his hand. The single stem of rose in it broke and cut a sorry figure. But they all laughed. Then he scooped the flowers from the boat and gave it to her. The crowd started clapping and cheering!!

Somehow everyone around was under the impression that he was proposing marriage to her…but he did not. Instead they all just sat around on the steps and laughed and joked. We assumed it might have been her birthday or something!! She just seemed so numbed by the gesture!! It was sweet to watch them all.

As hubby and I kissed to celebrate the love around, we both felt a little more reassured that with love, everything works out fine!! We have never made our wedding anniversary a big affair, perhaps because our families always thought that something was wrong in the way we got married. But we do celebrate our marriage and as always, it never is on one day each year. We find ways to celebrate each other as often as possible….I suppose its okay to say that I am happily married!!

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For dessert, I’d like to present a song from Astitva. Listen to it here (the 4th song). Regardless of whether you understand Hindi or not, listen to it. This is one of those songs that reach the depths of your heart. The movie itself is very good and I recommend that as well.

The lyrics are provided below, as is the lose translation. Go ahead and work on the translations if you think I might be wrong…I hardly know Hindi.

kitne kisse hain tere mere
kitne kisse hain bas tere mere

dhoop kadi hain
chaon mili mujhe
anchal main tere
umas badi hain
chhoom li paon
zameen se tere

kitne kisse hain bas tere mere
kitne kisse hain bas tere mere

aTari pe tere sokar hain
dekhe maine angin sapne
khidki se tere jhanke hain
man main suraj mere kitne

aangan mein tere main khili thi
jab banke rajnigandha
darwaze se aaye the andar
mausam woh khushi ke saare

kitne kisse hain bas tere mere
kitne kisse hain bas tere mere
kitne kisse hain bas tere mere

[kissa, qissa : Anecdote, Dispute, Event, Fable, Happening, Incident, Legend, Matter, Romance, Story, Tale, Quarrel, Yarn, myth, story] I prefer using the word 'episode' in the transalation… it just seems more complete.

Translation:

So many episodes that are yours and mine
There are so many episodes just yours and mine

The sun is hot
And I found shade in your shelter
The heat stifles
My feet kissed your ground away.

So many episodes that are just yours and mine
There are so many episodes just yours and mine

I dreamt myriad dreams
While sleeping in your grand house
So many suns shone into my heart
When they peeped in through your windows

When I was a heady & fragrant flower (rajnigandha)
And had bloomed in your yard
Through the door had come
All the seasons of happiness

That’s how many episodes are there, just yours and mine
How many episodes are there, just yours and mine?
So many episodes that are just yours and mine