Hello bangaru konda,
Part 13 is not complete without Sreemantham, and Sreemantham is not complete without it not being in Part-13. If this doesn't make sense, just leave it.
Sreeemantham, the official one has turned out to be one of the best functions we have had post our marriage. That's like to say I won first place in running race competition with one participant. Get the drift? It was the first ever function we hosted after our marriage. In the days leading up to finalizing the location, the place there was lot of drama and I want you to know everything that happened.
Remember the last post where we were in decision making mode on whether or not to host the sreemantham function? Upon some discussion with your Avva, Radha Atha we have decided to have one and conveyed the same to the other headquarters i.e. your Dadi and Jeyjeyya. They agreed to it immediately. It was then the question of time and location.
We wanted the function to happen before your Peddiah left for Australia and we wanted it to be on weekend. I also had one pre-condition. My friend Nikmo was having his during the same month and from our initial conversations we had in Whatsapp, it was around June last week and I thought it would be on June 28th.
Hari and I planned to go together from here to attend the wedding. Keeping in this mind, I had told your Avva to look for auspicious dates during that week after June 28th. They found out that the very next day was good to conduct the function and I have agreed to it. Few days later when the actual invite had come via mail from Nikmo, I was really sad to find out it was on 29th, the same day the event was occurring. I then told your Amma that I would try taking an early morning flight, go attend the wedding and come back by evening. Amma was livid and she wasn't ready to listen to anything I had to say. She added that she would continue the function with or without me. From my end though, I did check for some feasible flights, looking for any means to get through but no matter what flight I was looking at, the earliest possible time I can make it back was around 7PM, which was way too late. A pure bad luck and utter lack of communication I tell you. He is one of my closest friend and I didn't want to miss his wedding. Moreover it was going to be some small reunion of sorts, with Nikhil from Pune, Chitti from Chennai, Hari and myself from Hyderabad all meeting together after long time.
Anyway with the day decided, it was time to catch up on the venue. Your Amma was very excited and the preparation for the event was full on her mind for days to come. Both Jeyjayya and your Thatha were put to the task of finding the venue. Of course, I too was put to task. In those weeks, my office work had completely occupied me and I didn't have time to look for one. It's a very bad excuse, I should have made some effort but its just that I wasn't as much enthusiastic as your Amma was. That maybe why I didn't give full attention. In the first week of June, we had dropped in to your Avva's house and had gone for shopping for your Amma's sari. Thatha and Avva were buying it for her as per the tradition. You should have seen your Amma's face during the shopping spree. She was wild with excitement, bursting with joy within. Trust me when it comes to shopping for any event, your Amma is very very particular about the dresses she want to buy and she keeps certain standards to herself.
Saree shopping technically is a very ardous task. There are so many varieties of sarees, various variations in it. On top of that for your Amma, it should not be matching with anything that she has already worn be it pattern, shade of the saree etc. To get such saree, she wouldn't hesitate for a second to go around shopping for hours together, checking out different shops with relentless energy until she is satisfied. This time around, we did find the saree in the first shop we had been to. Also maybe with you nestled nicely in that tummy, she didn't want to have too much travelling. She picked a nice peacock colored saree. It was then my turn to shop for one. So the next day, on Sunday we went to Inorbit. I am as adamant as Amma too in choosing my clothes. On top of that with my increasing weight I didn't want to take something keeping in mind my slowly bulging belly that was closely competing with Amma's. Any good shirt I was trying on, it was too tight or showing my belly too much. We had two pairs two buy. One for my birthday and the other for the event and Amma was determined to at least tick one off. The only one I really liked was a blue colored kurtha (blue being my eternal favorite and Amma is sick of seeing so many blues in the cupboard) and Amma was relieved to have at least one ticked off. Poor thing, she had patiently accompanied me to both LifeStyle and Shopper's Stop to finish my shopping which took almost 3 hours.
Though she was tired she egged me on to go try in few more shops. I wasn't in the mood and I promised I would buy the next week when we will be going shopping with your Peddiah. Another week passed by and at house too arrangements were being made. Jeyjeyya was coming here to stay for a week, your Peddiah, Pedamma, Aashrith would be here for 15 days. I too had taken 4 days leave at office. Dadi and Amma made arrangements with the maid and cook to have them come in the evening too, deciding on what additional things to do, the money etc. Unbeknown to me in the background Amma scoured through the net looking for a matching designer blouse suiting the saree. She has found one on the facebook with whom she wanted to have it done. I actually can't remember if she finally got it done with that designer or her household tailor Rasheed uncle. Your Amma is the best when it comes to the level of detail that she goes into getting prepared for an event. It was a week later with your Peddiah in tow we shopped and got myself a really 'bright' dress that was almost satisfactory to your Amma.
As to the venue Jeyjeyya and Avva first proposed Sitara Grand, Thatha and Santosh were phoning and finding out about different banquet halls. We weren't satisfied with that.There was absolute no contribution from my end, I was literally doing nothing and was getting tired at my office not spending much time. Added to that she wanted some nice stage decorations, which was coming around 8k on enquiry, which I felt was unnecessary. She also wanted some make up artist for which I adamantly said no. She then suggested to have a professional photographer for covering the event. One more no. I personally felt celebrations are justified after you are born and not before and that this was just one function which nobody really goes back to remember. My disinterestedness and nonchalance to the whole thing hurt Amma a lot. One day we had big argument and she told me that if I wasn't really happy with having an event, let's just drop the whole thing. I felt really guilty and apologized profusely. I swore to take some serious steps.
Your Jeyjeyya then inquired about two more banquet halls - Blue Fox and Jubilee Ridge and both were close to our house, an added bonus. The next day I took half day permission. Amma and I went to both these places and then finalized Jubilee Ridge, the same place where your Muthavva had her last function. We had a huge array of choices for menu and we zeroed in on some things we all liked starting from starters to desserts.
Photographer was decided, event decorator too was finally called in, make up artist too was set. All this was co-ordinated and finalized by your Amma. Commendable job I must tell you. There was an added bonus too by a compering artist who was there to engage the guests with some small games.
The event in itself went very well. All the near and dear ones turned up. I will just leave you with some photographs taken during the event.
Part 13 is not complete without Sreemantham, and Sreemantham is not complete without it not being in Part-13. If this doesn't make sense, just leave it.
Sreeemantham, the official one has turned out to be one of the best functions we have had post our marriage. That's like to say I won first place in running race competition with one participant. Get the drift? It was the first ever function we hosted after our marriage. In the days leading up to finalizing the location, the place there was lot of drama and I want you to know everything that happened.
Remember the last post where we were in decision making mode on whether or not to host the sreemantham function? Upon some discussion with your Avva, Radha Atha we have decided to have one and conveyed the same to the other headquarters i.e. your Dadi and Jeyjeyya. They agreed to it immediately. It was then the question of time and location.
We wanted the function to happen before your Peddiah left for Australia and we wanted it to be on weekend. I also had one pre-condition. My friend Nikmo was having his during the same month and from our initial conversations we had in Whatsapp, it was around June last week and I thought it would be on June 28th.
Hari and I planned to go together from here to attend the wedding. Keeping in this mind, I had told your Avva to look for auspicious dates during that week after June 28th. They found out that the very next day was good to conduct the function and I have agreed to it. Few days later when the actual invite had come via mail from Nikmo, I was really sad to find out it was on 29th, the same day the event was occurring. I then told your Amma that I would try taking an early morning flight, go attend the wedding and come back by evening. Amma was livid and she wasn't ready to listen to anything I had to say. She added that she would continue the function with or without me. From my end though, I did check for some feasible flights, looking for any means to get through but no matter what flight I was looking at, the earliest possible time I can make it back was around 7PM, which was way too late. A pure bad luck and utter lack of communication I tell you. He is one of my closest friend and I didn't want to miss his wedding. Moreover it was going to be some small reunion of sorts, with Nikhil from Pune, Chitti from Chennai, Hari and myself from Hyderabad all meeting together after long time.
Anyway with the day decided, it was time to catch up on the venue. Your Amma was very excited and the preparation for the event was full on her mind for days to come. Both Jeyjayya and your Thatha were put to the task of finding the venue. Of course, I too was put to task. In those weeks, my office work had completely occupied me and I didn't have time to look for one. It's a very bad excuse, I should have made some effort but its just that I wasn't as much enthusiastic as your Amma was. That maybe why I didn't give full attention. In the first week of June, we had dropped in to your Avva's house and had gone for shopping for your Amma's sari. Thatha and Avva were buying it for her as per the tradition. You should have seen your Amma's face during the shopping spree. She was wild with excitement, bursting with joy within. Trust me when it comes to shopping for any event, your Amma is very very particular about the dresses she want to buy and she keeps certain standards to herself.
Saree shopping technically is a very ardous task. There are so many varieties of sarees, various variations in it. On top of that for your Amma, it should not be matching with anything that she has already worn be it pattern, shade of the saree etc. To get such saree, she wouldn't hesitate for a second to go around shopping for hours together, checking out different shops with relentless energy until she is satisfied. This time around, we did find the saree in the first shop we had been to. Also maybe with you nestled nicely in that tummy, she didn't want to have too much travelling. She picked a nice peacock colored saree. It was then my turn to shop for one. So the next day, on Sunday we went to Inorbit. I am as adamant as Amma too in choosing my clothes. On top of that with my increasing weight I didn't want to take something keeping in mind my slowly bulging belly that was closely competing with Amma's. Any good shirt I was trying on, it was too tight or showing my belly too much. We had two pairs two buy. One for my birthday and the other for the event and Amma was determined to at least tick one off. The only one I really liked was a blue colored kurtha (blue being my eternal favorite and Amma is sick of seeing so many blues in the cupboard) and Amma was relieved to have at least one ticked off. Poor thing, she had patiently accompanied me to both LifeStyle and Shopper's Stop to finish my shopping which took almost 3 hours.
Though she was tired she egged me on to go try in few more shops. I wasn't in the mood and I promised I would buy the next week when we will be going shopping with your Peddiah. Another week passed by and at house too arrangements were being made. Jeyjeyya was coming here to stay for a week, your Peddiah, Pedamma, Aashrith would be here for 15 days. I too had taken 4 days leave at office. Dadi and Amma made arrangements with the maid and cook to have them come in the evening too, deciding on what additional things to do, the money etc. Unbeknown to me in the background Amma scoured through the net looking for a matching designer blouse suiting the saree. She has found one on the facebook with whom she wanted to have it done. I actually can't remember if she finally got it done with that designer or her household tailor Rasheed uncle. Your Amma is the best when it comes to the level of detail that she goes into getting prepared for an event. It was a week later with your Peddiah in tow we shopped and got myself a really 'bright' dress that was almost satisfactory to your Amma.
As to the venue Jeyjeyya and Avva first proposed Sitara Grand, Thatha and Santosh were phoning and finding out about different banquet halls. We weren't satisfied with that.There was absolute no contribution from my end, I was literally doing nothing and was getting tired at my office not spending much time. Added to that she wanted some nice stage decorations, which was coming around 8k on enquiry, which I felt was unnecessary. She also wanted some make up artist for which I adamantly said no. She then suggested to have a professional photographer for covering the event. One more no. I personally felt celebrations are justified after you are born and not before and that this was just one function which nobody really goes back to remember. My disinterestedness and nonchalance to the whole thing hurt Amma a lot. One day we had big argument and she told me that if I wasn't really happy with having an event, let's just drop the whole thing. I felt really guilty and apologized profusely. I swore to take some serious steps.
Your Jeyjeyya then inquired about two more banquet halls - Blue Fox and Jubilee Ridge and both were close to our house, an added bonus. The next day I took half day permission. Amma and I went to both these places and then finalized Jubilee Ridge, the same place where your Muthavva had her last function. We had a huge array of choices for menu and we zeroed in on some things we all liked starting from starters to desserts.
Photographer was decided, event decorator too was finally called in, make up artist too was set. All this was co-ordinated and finalized by your Amma. Commendable job I must tell you. There was an added bonus too by a compering artist who was there to engage the guests with some small games.
The event in itself went very well. All the near and dear ones turned up. I will just leave you with some photographs taken during the event.
