Gifts I Liked

 The best gifts are visits in person, of course. That I got from old friend Shweta Kushal, on my birthday eve! We had a blast, and visited Dopamine for some yummy food too. 

The other great gifts, apart from wishes in hundreds, were pics of me with the wisher.. Sheetal Garg had one of ours at Prithvi Theatre, from a couple of years ago, and Meghana Khadilkar, likewise. Ananya Nandi De posted one of ours from a Delhi meeting too.

A surprise was a wish from Manuja Seth of NMIMS Bangalore. She had emceed our online convocation.

Enjoyed hearing from friends in Harihar too, on the occasion. And of course, my bookworm and ghost writer friends were at the forefront.

Two more visitors who made it special, were Ishita Modi, ex-IMT and Harish Chaudhry of IIT Delhi, a former classmate from MBA days. Ishita gifted me a Golf ball inscribed with her company name!

We also had a cake cutting at Prestige University, thanks to Divya and faculty colleagues.

Lots of relatives on Whatsapp too. Had a video call with my daughters too, which was nice.

A Wedding in the Family

December 2018, I got a chance to play the Father of the Bride, again! Once before, at a Church wedding in Jamshedpur, I gave away the bride to a friend from Bhubaneswar. This time, it was in Sangli at a traditional Maharastrian wedding of a daughter of our extended family. An emotional moment for all of us, and fun too, as the pictures below depict. And since the couple live in Pune now, we are not sad either!

 DDLJ (top).. and dressing up (below). Shrirang and Shweta.

 Mehendi laga ke rakhna. (above), and serious stuff, involving both parents of both sides (below).

 Solemnity with some fun thrown in (above), and stage presence (below)

 Wedding finery, and not just for the bride..above and below.

 Traditonal feeding- a promise of sorts to continue? (above)
Le jayenge, le jayenge, dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge.. and she doesn't seem to mind at all. (below)