The die is cast

Its been a hectic ten days with things hotting up on the daughter's marriage front. On the evening of 22nd Dec Ammu was to fly in to Chennai from Mumbai for her Christmas vacations. The General and his wife chose to fly in on the same day from Yol (almost 10 hours of travel!) - their flight was delayed by about 45 minutes and Ammu's by over an hour and a half! This meant that that they would have to wait for almost two hours at the airport if they wanted to get a glimpse of the prospective daughter-in-law! Surprisingly, the General and his wife decided they would wait till Ammu got in! This gave Sudha and me some time to chat up with the General and his wife and get to know some more about them. They seem very simple folk who are just happy to get themselves a daughter-in-law who will keep their son happy. Ofcourse, the Army had dispatched a Subedar Major to receive the General in a fancy car flying the General's flag - those folks had to wait too till Ammu got in.

After Ammu's flight landed her luggage seemed to take for ever! When she finally got out of the airport she had big hugs for me and her mother and big hugs for the mother-in-law to be and father-in-law to be too! Times are a changing arent' they?

Arun, the prospective groom would come in only the next morning (23rd Dec) and it was arranged that the Subedar major would come and fetch him from the airport and then by noon that day they would all head for our home. A little past the appointed hour I get this call on the mobile saying they are outside our building but have been told (by the General's brother on phone) that it is Rahu kaalam until 1330hrs and that they should not set foot into our home during Rahu kaalam! Much as I contest the concept of good time and bad time I guess I just had to fall in line now. I quickly decided that Ammu, Sudha and I would take them all to a Coffee lounge to kill time until the Rahu kaalam is over - the by line of the Coffee Day chain was beginning to sound profound now - 'A lot can happen over a coffee'!!

After a round of various coffees we were ready to head home and maybe tuck into a few beers which were nice and chill and waiting to be consumed! But as I broach the subject with the General he tells me he normally stays off alcohol while on leave! His logic being that this is the only time he can abstain from alcohol without other officers thinking he is being prudish! With lunch done we got to the business end of the proceedings and decided that we will have the marriage and engagement in Kerala for the convenience of the extended family on both the bride's and groom's side. The engagement was to be scheduled for late January while the marriage would be in September. Ofcourse, it was going to be tough for Ashwin to spend more than two days in Kochi for the wedding considering he will be in the dive-ticket phase of his submarine training.

Soon the General's brother and family arrived from Pondicherry and spent a while at home before taking the General and family on board his Innova to ferry them to Pondicherry. We were invited to visit Pondicherry the next day and Ammu was more than keen to go because that would give her another opportunity to spend time with Arun. The next day dawned and we headed off to Pondy by road - a beautiful leisurely drive along the scenic East Coast Road. Had some great food there and then headed back to base late evening.

All is nearly in place and it is now time to set the ball rolling for the engagement which is scheduled for 31st Jan 2010.