Loving and Hating

Dot always kids me about how much less complicated it would've been for me to decide to marry some good ol' Mac boy who lived in "Santacruz" (refer to dot for the story behind this word) and was Roman Catholic and all those other things. He reckons it would be much much easier to take an autorickshaw across to "the west" to see him whenever I missed him and wouldn't involve having to pay 30K, going through the aggravation of getting a visa every time, doing a tiny two-week break and trying to pack in enough of each other to last for the next "dry spell". Yes, I won't deny, there've been the ultra-low spells but when I look at all of it with the benefit of hindsight, I would have it no other way. We've learned (the extremely hard way) to make good every little bit of time we have together...and if you've read my earlier blog you'll see that it's not much at all! Sigh...this love thing!

Anyways, the above paragraph is a preamble to my next sentence (and I couldn't bring myself to give you a blog entry without gyaan). I'm going to see dot (again!!) in little over a week and I can't wait! Also, this trip will be doubly special because I also get to meet nodot whom I didn't think I would meet till the wedding! And, of course, we get to celebrate Dr. Dot too! Yay for everything!

On the wedding front, not much has happened other than my mommie going ahead and booking the rich plum cake I hate, to be served at the reception. But honestly, a lot of people rave about it - I just don't know why, but I hate it. HATE is the word :)

I called up the printer and the cards are still getting done. I told him I needed them to take with me to Suisse and he promised to have them ready. It's unsettling when all you have to rely on is someone's word and like I've seen many times, it doesn't count for very much nowadays, particularly when it comes to after-sales service. Here's a sample of what I'm talking about:

An excerpt from a conversation between me and my assembled computer vendor (v) who supplied my machine and whom I have a one year annual maintenance contract (AMC) with.

Day 1

f: Hi, may I speak with Meena?
v: Nahin madam, Meena madam abhi aayi nahin - late aati hain.
f: Office mein kissi se bhi baat karayiye - I want to talk to an engineer, any engineer.
v: Madam, all the engineers have left on service calls.
f: Okay, can you please ask someone to call me back.
v: Definitely madam.

Day 4 (after receiving no call)

f: Hi, may I speak with Meena please?
v: Meena madam abhi yahan kaam nahin karti. Sorry.
f: I called three days ago and asked about my combo drive and speakers which you took more than a month ago? When will I get them back?
v: Tomorrow madam, I will bring them tomorrow. Main engineer bhej deta hoon aapke ghar pe.
f: Very good, thank you.

Day 10 (still no call and no engineer)
(and this time it's Meena on the phone :))
f: Hi Meena, can you please tell me about the status of my combo drive and speakers. It's funny to not have them for so long and not have a replacement. I need to write some CDs and also need to use my speakers and it is very inconvenient.
m: Madam! They haven't sent you your speakers yet?!! I will tell them and send it tomorrow madam; in fact, I will try my level best to send them to you today itself; if not, then early tomorrow morning.
f: Thank you Meena. I appreciate it.

Day 15 (still nothing)
f: Hi I'm calling regarding my combo drive and speakers?
v: Who's speaking?
f: Faye, from Kalina.
(silence and then a little bit of phone tag)
v: Madam, main peon hoon. Office mein koi nahin hai. Aap baad mein phone keejiye.
(slams down receiver before I can react)

Anyways, this whole thing continued on and on and on till I got only my combo drive back just yesterday, after two whole months - all the while, all they needed to say was that it was at the company's service centre and they didn't know how long it would take - reasonable answer I would think, especially after one and a half month of telling me "definitely tomorrow" :)

So here's to waiting anxiously for the cards to be ready before I leave for Suisse; will they, won't they?

'Jhuum' Lens Musings

Dot was here (in India, with me) for a whole 10 days! - my best (and only) excuse for not blogging for close to two months!!! :) The highlight of this holiday was dot being called JHUUM-LENS by a little Haji Ali urchin - hence the name of the blog. We had a lovely lovely time and I hope to be able to put up the pictures in a photoblog with a commentary sometime soon, pending the full-fledged "leak". If someone somehow related to the "uninitiated" side of the family finds us online, it could cause a scandal dot tells me - and I believe him... we could do without any dramas before the wedding. I suppose I could put up a day-to-day written account - we'll see.

Let's first bring you up to speed on the preparations for ze big day! Lots of work got done in these two months and I see everything taking shape (everything except me that is :)) - I daresay, it's all going good. The stuff that's been done so far:
-Photographer - Dot met him and spent three whole hours discussing what he wanted - we're probably getting a couple of rolls of black and white film and some other "high-end" stuff like that. Our jhuum-lens asked all his questions and got all his answers (we hope) - I'm more than glad he's getting what he wants - everybody's happy!
- EmCee - We also met the master of ceremonies and he took dot through the whole jig and explained what goes on at a mac wedding reception. Dot didn't die too much (thankfully) and methinks we'll be okay with a few changes in programme here and there.
- The Thanksgiving mass - We visited the Mount Mary's Basilica and I was thrilled dot loved it. Reuben's going to organise the liturgy and we'll work over e-mail to keep dot in the loop.
- My outfit for the Mumbai reception - I got the fabric (for my bridesmaid also) and it's with the seamstress now - I should be called in for a trial sometime this week.
- The cards - The invitations for the Mumbai reception are in printing as I write this - the main card has the Mumbai details and there is an insert with the Kochi details - I hope to have them ready in a week or so.
- The cake - I've ordered the wedding cake - it's two-tiered and is going to be ivory coloured with a deep orange/rust-coloured drape - the colour of my bridesmaid's outfit - so it's all like an ensemble (how cool are we!) I got only two tiers because both dot and me are small people and we dont' want to have to stand on our toes to be seen from behind the cake :) We're (hopefully) having date and walnut cake slices to serve with the toasting wine (I'll explain the tradition in a later blog) - thing is I love date and walnut cake but the mumster thinks we should have rich fruit cake which "everybody has" becuase that's the done thing - so I'm really not sure which of the two it's going to be - any suggestions? FYI - rich fruit cake is like a slightly lighter version of Christmas pudding. That reminds me, I need to arrange to have the cake picked up on the day. Also, Plaza has little wine glasses so I only need to make arrangements for the porto vinho.
-The decorator - I have booked the service and need to go over and get a fix on the exact colours and flowers I want.

If there's anything I've missed on the "done" list I'll update you when I remember.

The to-do list:
-Suits for the Brothers Karamazov
-Wedding Rings (we have an idea brewing - keep watching this space)
-Music for the reception
-Cars to ferry us around
-A place for the newlyweds to stay (by themselves, preferably)
-Hotel bookings for the in-laws (it's a funny word, I know)
-"Thank You" gifts for those who come to the wedding

Strangely, it's scary when there's little on the to-do list. Again, I will update it as I think of all the other things there are to do.

Goshers! My fingers hurt from all this typing - thank God for all the conditioning from using IM in our long-distance (mostly) relationship. Come to think of it (and now nodot and everybody else who reads this is going to freak - probably even dot), dot and me have spent all of about eight weeks together, in the flesh (no smirking please :)) though we've known each other for more than two years! Imagine if there was no Internet! Methinks we should give away internet connection packs as return gifts at our wedding!! :))

I'll leave you with that shocker for now. Ciao till later.