…is Abhi? Not our Abhi of course, but the other Abhi, the one who vedded TMBWITW on Friday, as millions of far-less-fortunate people cursed his luck for snagging such a delicious piece of barfi [Thanks, Sushma :)] . Since you mutineers just loooove engaging in conjecture regarding what’s actually going on in random paintings in Indian restaurants, I thought you might also yenjoy deciding what on earth Big B’s little B was thinking at this moment.
While you do that, I’m going to try and give the outstanding, fifth DC SMeetup the sort of write-up it deserves. And after I do THAT I’m going to tell you why 80% of the people who read Perez Hilton deserve to be sterilized, lest they reproduce more racist idiots…
(abhishek) I wonder how to navigate thru the crowd to get to the nearest bathroom?? (ash) what’s that smell??
JOAT – it seems that the high profile and elite folks are the ones who can be most ostentatiously religious. Fine, let them – and let me judge them for it. I didn’t think AB was so old-fashioned, and I don’t think the better of him or the rest of the family for running around to temples for such-and-such auspicious ritual and getting married at an auspicious time and performing rituals for compatibility and holding up prayers at Tirupati for half an hour because they are “VIPs” and throwing their weight around generally. It’s strange that so many people are OK with judging people’s personal dress choices and appearance but not rather more important issues.
Oh, and I found the sombre expressions on A&A’s faces during the ceremonies completely normal, it’s always that way, a combination of social norms that require you to look down and look modest and serious and the fact that weddings are stressful for the bride and groom and their immediate families and people tend to look tense!
Maybe they’re not smiling becase 1)Indian weddings are a long drawn affair and it can get very very tiring 2)the photographer was not looking their way when they were. 3)They really hate each other’s guts but each has potloads of money the other one wants. Together they will control Bollywood together.muahahhahh
I wonder whether its just human nature to find flaws just because something seems too good to be true.
Its a wedding!!! Nothing sinister folks! As naive as this sounds, let’s just assume they’re in for love until the divorce papers get publicised =)
And Bachan jr is thinking… I can’t even shave for my wedding lest people know how I really look so she jolly well better look that good under all that makeup because I’m counting on her to make our kids look human.
Abhi: “When does this ceremony end so I can get my suhaag raat on?”
Did anyone else notice how tired he looked on the trip to Tirupathi? Maybe Ash is like a preying mantis in the bedroom! My boy looked exhausted and his ind-fro was in full effect. Ash looked nice and simple the next day.
JOAT, I think you really picked up on something important with that word “endearing”…at some point, rituals are performed because they are precisely that. Even people who don’t believe in the so-called “science” behind them, do them because it makes them feel good. In most cases, I think it’s harmless. It’s a connection to family/culture. But obviously there are some rituals that are rooted in a oppressive patriarchal tradition, and then you have to ask the question–is it okay to do this, knowing what it is meant to represent, because I don’t buy into those ideals so it doesn’t have that meaning for me? I don’t know what the answer is, but I think it’s something important to think about.
Congrats on your impending wedding. I highly reccommend Sonia Kaur’s website. It was super helpful during my own wedding planning, and sometimes I still lurk there. I miss it! There’s a remarkable diversity of desi brides-to-be on the site and it makes for some very interesting reading.
Even then I imagine a woman might still go through with the rituals on the basis that it keeps people (whether her in-laws or even her parents) happy. Some might not of course. An analogy is the touching of elders’ feet. I see it as a nice, respectful gesture when done once in a while, like on special big occasions, etc. But some families go way overboard with it (in my opinion), and on the other hand, some people are dead against it…especially if one likes to think of one’s self as a complete individual, no more or less deserving of respect than anyone else, regardless of their age (many folks feel age should not automatically confer respect). Then touching someone’s feet could be a very oppressive thing to have to do. But I would say, even if you feel that way, no harm done if an occasion demands it and you do it. These are all fading traditions anyway.
One of the things said in sanskrit during a traditional wedding is “may you be the mother of a thousand sons” — Not to be confused with a book of the same title (hundred substituting for thousand). And then the rest is about may you have lakhs of cows and lakhs of other stuff.
But perhaps even the priests don’t know what the sanskrit meanings are half the time.
These traditional type sanskritic blessings are all the rage amongst westerners trying to be “vedic” in cults like ISKCON and others.
Like I said above — some people (in the west) converting to religions really don’t know how to distinguish the progressive from the archaic, and take archaic cultural stuff from thousands of years ago to be “spiritual” just because it’s in an old language or part of an old custom.
I just can’t get over how submissive and seedha-saadhi Aish has tried to appear in all her photographs. Jeez one would almost buy that if not for her multiple torrid affairs and her acting in sleazy B grade flicks. The younger AB looks ugly-ass with his beard and his expression says it all. He’d rather be with Karan Johar than with a woman.
What a circus. I’d give this tamasha 6 months. Oh well, it kept 1 billion people occupied for 3 days.
More leaked pictures from the wedding – and whatdya know – Aishwarya’s smiling.