Annya's Enchanted Realities

Yep… You guessed it right. This blog is gonna talk about the Haldi that we pulled off last week. I know you are all getting excited. Before I tell you what happened during the Haldi and how we pulled it off, let me set context as in who-is-who, so you don’t get confused and think, ‘Wait a minute… Who is this now?’. So you guys ready now? 

So, let’s start with the bride. Her name is Kavya and she and I used to work together. The thing is, we were never close when we were working together, but it was after I left the job, I got close with her. We hit it off out of nowhere. If you had read my ‘Fate-fueled Love’, then you’d know her as the friend who came to rescue. She found her love of life and was going to marry him. She had invited us, her friends for the wedding, and I wanted to be there for her to make her feel special. 

When I got there, I met a couple of her other friends, who played a vital role in pulling off the Haldi. One of their name is Sushma. She and I just hit it off. I think that she could be the happy, bubbly version that I always wanted to be. No wonder we hit it off. Then there’s Sai, the poor guy. Caught between me and Sushma, who had to sacrifice his sleep, work and mental peace. Lol. 

Question: Who’s your ‘Sushma’ or ‘Sai’ in life?

Now, I have introduced the main characters of the Jaldi Haldi 😉, let’s all hop on the Haldi train. The wedding actually happened in Madurai. I had reached there on the midnight of 7th May. The rest of the gang joined the next day. The next morning is when I met Sushma and Sai. The bride was busy assigning rooms to the guests that were coming in. Meantime, me, Sushma and Sai were getting very much acquainted. It was at the point, I gently let the Haldi idea slide. Sushma was immediately on board and we started to make plans, as in how we are going to execute without raising Kavya’s suspicion, and where will we do. We were staying at a Service Apartment in Madurai and it had two living room kinda space. So we decided to pick the second room that was far from the bride’s room. 

We wanted to get it done with original flowers but knew that it would be a challenge, since most of the family and friends had gone sightseeing. So, it was just the three of us. We decided to wing it with artificial decorative items. Once we decided what we were going to do, and where we were going to set them up, it was all about buying those items and setting them up. It was at the point we remembered that someone was coming in for the mehandhi. Kavya had already requested me to be with her.

Sushma and Sai also wanted to try the famous Jigarthanda of Madurai. We immediately knew that was the perfect opportunity for bringing this Haldi together. So when I was accompanying Kavya during her Mehandhi session, Sushma told Kavya that she and Sai were going to get Jigarthanda from a shop nearby and will be back in few minutes. Only I knew that they were going out shopping. My mission was to keep Kavya from finding out and also gather some additional information on whether she has a yellow or white dress. 

Turned out that Kavya’s dress were all at the groom’s place already and she only had the wedding dress on her. So I secretly conveyed the message to Sushma, informing her that we also needed to get a dress for her. It was at this point, Kavya started getting antsy about why Sushma and Sai had not returned. She called Sushma to check where she was and she told Kavya that the shop they had come to get Jigarthanda was closed and so they had to go near the Meenakshi amman temple. Kavya asked them to come back soon. She was starting to get suspicious, but little did she know what we had planned for her. 

Question: Have you ever planned a last-minute surprise for a friend?

Once Kavya’s Mehandi was complete, the girl who’d come in started on my hand. As she was working on it, Kavya was getting more antsy and was walking back and forth. As Sushma & Sai were getting off the lift, they almost got caught. Kavya was standing right there, she saw the bags and knew something was up but somehow, they managed to keep it under the wraps and Sai took the bags to the room, while Sushma and Kavya came back to the room. By this time, both my hands were done. It was Sushma’s turn to get the mehandi on hers. 

While Sushma was getting her Mehandhi on, Kavya stayed with her and I slowly gave them the slip and went to Sai’s room. I was curious to find out what they had got so that I can start planning on how to set it up. Everything they purchased was just perfect but something was missing. We needed to accessorize the dress and had to find the perfect Haldi set. Thanks to swiggy, we got that covered too. Also, we ordered the perfect shade of butterscotch that complemented the dress and whole Haldi theme. 

We put the things away because we didn’t want to get caught or ruin the surprise for Kavya. Then we suggested that she needed to get her beauty sleep before the wedding. She did look exhausted. We told her that she won’t have much time the next day as she will have to stand the whole time and be wide awake on her big day. We took her phone away and locked her in the room, so she could sleep without any disturbances and also so that we can get started on putting up the decorations. 

We wanted to do the decorations on the terrace which had a beautiful swing and sofas, but the service apartment wouldn’t permit. So, we got back to the living area that we originally planned. There was this beautiful aesthetic brick walls, which we chose for set up. We hanged some gold glitter back drop that was shimmering and giving out serious happy vibe. To step up the Haldi vibe, we hanged the artificial decorative flowers which had orange and yellow marigold hangings on both ends. Then we decided to hang the Haldi Baloon in the middle and we added the star balloons on the bottom so that the gold glitter backdrop did not fly all over when we turned on the fan. Because, Madurai is very hot, especially on a summer day people… 

It was still missing something. So I looked around and found a dining chair that was screaming, ‘Use me please… I feel abandoned… I want in on this surprise…’ So, I put one on front of the decorated wall. All it needed was some tinkering. I noticed that we had the artificial marigold strings on the table. I used it to cover the wooden frame of the chair. I remembered that my room had orange cushions. I ran to the room and put it on the seat and body rest. The chair looked complete. Then it struck me, that Kavya’s room had yellow cushion. So I decided that once she’s awake I’ll grab one of them and replace one of the orange cushions we had. 

To finish off the backdrop set up for the Haldi, we decided to use the yellow and white balloons we had. Sushma and Sai had already started on blowing up the balloons, literally… There was a lot of pops, which even my our hearts skip a beat or two. Sushma had almost given up on the balloons as it kept on popping, so I stepped in. Now me and Sai started on it. He was using the pump. I told him, let’s just do 10 pumps per balloon and tie them up so that they don’t pop. I think, it was the right move. Because after that there was not many pops. So, here’s how we got it done. We did 10 balloons – 5 each. Sai pumps them and I tie them. Once they were all done, we decided to alternate the colors and place them around the wall decor like an arch. We had to add a couple of them to finish the setup. Sushma came to check in on the progress and we all started admiring the wall. It was finally a Haldi-worthy wall. We somehow pulled it off. 

All we needed to do was to now decide how we can make it more special for Kavya. By now, you’d have know that I have these idea pop-ups I have in my head, and it just happened again. I asked Sushma if she had the groom’s number. Luckily, she did. So I asked her to talk to him and ask him to record a message for Kavya right before her big day. I thought it might just make the event more memorable. I would have introduced him but I don’t know much about the groom except that he’s marrying my best friend. But man, he had my respect and appreciation after the message that he gave Kavya. I will try to sum it up when we played it for her. 

It was almost 6 in the evening and everyone who’d gone out for sightseeing had started coming back. Everyone was surprised when they walked in because the empty wall had now turned into something beautiful and was filling the room with serious haldi vibes. They were all kind of in awe and shock. Indians, we have a pre-wedding tradition called Nalangu. We knew that the family was planning to do one for Kavya, but we just wanted to spice it up a bit. So we decided to do both Nalangu and our haldi surprise at the same time. Starting traditional and then bombarding it with power-packed performances lol. 

Question: What’s your favorite pre-wedding tradition (from your culture or someone else’s)?

I was back in my room trying to put together the dress, and for Sushma. She didn’t have a yellow dress. So, I decided to give her one of mine. I had purchased a yellow kurthi top and I knew that it would fit her. I usually travel with multiple back up dresses when I travel and it turned out to be a good thing too. I had my favourite yellow western top that I put on, and Sushma was wearing the yellow kurthi. But it was a little plain and it would have been not so western. So we divided to spice it up a bit. That’s where Sai comes in. We looked around and his belt caught our eye. We decided to use his belt to convert the kurti into a western-type short gown. 

While we were all getting ready, Sushma came rushing into my room, panicking. She said that Kavya’s sister had blabbered about the haldi set up to Kavya and the surprise was ruined. But I was still confident that everything is cool. Kavya might have known that we are planning Haldi but not the other surprises in store for her. But it is also a good thing that she found out. Because now we can have her try the dress on that we got for her so we can alter it to her size. While we got the wardrobe issues fixed, everyone were getting ready for the Haldi. 

Kavya put on her Haldi dress, along with the accessories we got her. She looked exactly as we envisioned a perfect traditional bride. Remember we had planned to pluck one of the yellow cushions from her room, I did that too. The rest of the family and friends also were ready and we started off with the Nalangu. I had brought my bluetooth speaker from home. We used it to play some weddings songs that gave out Nalangu vibes. The family started the ritual with the “Aarathi thattu”. It is a part of purification ritual that follows by applying Sandal and kumkum, and also bless them with showering some floral petals.

The family began the Nalangu, and soon we friends joined in too—including me. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, but Sushma patiently walked me through the steps. First, I had to gently smear sandalwood paste on Kavya’s cheeks, then apply a dot of kumkum on her forehead, and finally shower her with floral petals while blessing her with all the good things life has to offer. I followed her instructions, and to my surprise, the moment felt deeply moving. As I went through the ritual, I felt a wave of emotion and a rush of goosebumps. 

Almost everyone had blessed Kavya, and the songs and the happiness in air started making our bodies vibe to the music. One of Kavya’s friend’s husband saw me vibing for a song and he said ‘Come on dance’. I looked at Sushma and I knew it that she was also ready. We both nodded at each other and started picking a song to get the Haldi started. You’ll not believe, it’s been 4 years since I danced in front of an audience. Last time I danced at my cousin’s wedding and it happened in Madurai too. I guess, Madurai makes me groove. 

Question: What song would you pick for an impromptu Haldi dance performance?

Anyways, we started dancing to many many wedding songs and I slowly walked towards the speaker and paused the song. Everyone were like what happened to the song, why did the music stop. It was at that moment I played the groom’s audio. Here goes the message: 

ஹாய் Jerry. என்ன டா இது Kaveri-ய Jerry-னு சொல்றேன்னு பக்குறியா? கிட்டத்தட்ட, நீயும் நானும் ஒரு Tom & Jerry மாதிரி தான். ரெண்டுல ஒன்னு இல்லனாலும், அடுத்தது என்ன பண்ணும்னு தெரியாம முளிச்சுட்டு இருக்குங்க.

Love-வு வந்து ஒரு traffic jam மாதிரி. பொறுமையா இருக்கறவன் எல்லாத்தையும் தாண்டி போயிருவான். அவசரப்படறவன் கண்டிப்பா வந்து, அடி பட்டு தான் இருப்பான்.

நாம ரொம்ப நாள் எதிர்பாத்திருந்த நம்மளோட கல்யாண நாள், இன்னும் சில மணிநேரங்கள்ல ஆரம்பிக்க போகுது. புது life, நல்லா happy-ஆ, peaceful-ஆ கொண்டு போனும்.

Life வந்து தப்பு பண்றதுக்கு மட்டும் chance கொடுக்காது. அதே life-வு, திருப்பி செஞ்ச தப்ப திருத்திக்குறதுக்காக இன்னொரு chance கொடுக்கும். அதனால புது life, புது veedu, ஒண்ணா happy-ஆ கொண்டு போவோம்.

Love you டீ, வெண்ணைமவளே. Bye!

While the audio played, I asked Sushma to capture Kavya’s reaction. At first she didn’t notice. I think it was at ‘Kaveri’ she realised that the audio was meant for her. And the moment she realised that it was Aaron, the groom’s voice, she was surprised. She kept saying, how is this happening? Who did this? But as she listened to the audio, her eyes were filled with tears. She was high on emotion. I knew that the reason behind the audio worked just as planned. The mission was a success guys… Yesss! We did it! 

Then we were back to vibing for songs and dancing. It was at this moment the family members started murmuring. They started messing around the phone and I wanted to know what the commotion was all about. They were actually trying to find the audio. They wanted to listen to the message again. So we played the audio again as per audience (friends & family) request. We could feel that love was in the air and everyone realized that Kavya picked hell of a man to be her husband. We were all proud and happy for her. 

It was getting late and we decided that it was better for everyone to get rest because it was big day the next morning. I remembered that the cake was still in the fridge. We immediately brought it out to end the haldi on a sweet note. They had failed to add the candle and knife on the cake box. But you know me, we had purchased bride-to-be sash, head band and a couple of wall decors which had ‘It’s a dream wedding’ paper cutting with a long stick. I broke it off a bit and planted it carefully on the cake. Then Kavya cut the cake and ended the haldi on a sweet note. Or atleast that’s what the family thought 😉

Once we sent the relatives back to their rooms, the groom made a special appearance for a few minutes. The couple clicked a couple of snaps and then they both ended their last night as bachelors with a not-so-secret rendezvous. Aaron had to leave, and he left the service apartment as a lover only to rightfully claim Kavya as his wife the next day. 

So that’s a wrap on the Jaldi Haldi. I call it so, because we planned everything on such a short notice, starting from decoration, dress shopping, getting the groom’s audio message, spontaneous but energizing  dance moves, … I could keep talking. But all things should come to an end… or atleast the day lol. For me I had so many special moments and I will cherish these memories forever. I hope you enjoyed every bit while reading it. I hope that I can share many more in the future.