A letter to Arpanikita

It was their Second Wedding Anniversary and a pictorial story of their journey together was the best gift I could have thought of...

^_^

...one of the pages in my picture book read,

Aaahaa! What a beautiful collection of pictures! With full modesty I accept all the compliments, thank you- thank you! Haha! Jokes apart, Didi and Jiju, you both know how much we all love you; You are the reason the two most amazing families met and became one; Thank you to the two sets of mummyjis and papajis to look up your names in the patrika and calling their respective panditjis. And bless you panditjis and whoever behind the making of this beautiful couple, you did a wonderful job!

Cheers to your two years of togetherness! Your frequent visits to Indore have always been such a delight. After all they add a no. of food stations to my life and fill my cupboard with a pile of clothes from janpat and sarojini. Haha! I am such a lucky sister and a luckier saali. The glow on moms face each time you guys come is not hidden from any of us. Also my emotional dad sometimes shed a tear or two out of extreme happiness at seeing you both. You guys have made me believe in arrange marriages, not that I was ever against; only it’s a common topic of debate and I have the best example in front of me to speak in for the motion.

I wish you both from each member of the family a very happy married life; a lil chiggu whose pictures would be clicked monthly and who would be all pampered by her/his maasi! Space limits me otherwise I could have gone on and on…

Loads and loads of  love,

Pakhi

Sev ki kahanii, meri zubaani

Born in Ratlam and brought up in Indore, sev run in my very veins. If you think I mean namkeen, then you are certainly mistaken. They are SE-O, exactly the way I have put it. You bump into an Indori, you are bound to hear tales about the variety of sevs we proudly consume; from khatta meetha to tez tarrar, from ratlami to beekaneri, from long to heeng, from bhel waale sev to mote sev. Don't be shocked if you find us sprinkling a handful of sev on almost every dish we eat. Indeed we provide sev ki sabji in weddings too, be it Sayaji or pappu ka dhaaba, a sev ki sabji in the menu is a must! While I was a kid, spicy vegetables was a big no-no; but a bowl full of sev didn’t affect me at all; it was an act of sheer pleasure. As teenage arrived, my habit of sev eating was visible all over my face, yet I just couldn’t let it go. For us Indorians being  a seo-holic is a matter of pride. It defines us. In college, the moment everybody open their tiffin, I jump on the one who gets the lil' dabba of sev along with the regular roti-sabji. Aah bless them all. If you are meeting an Indori who by misfortune has to live outside this beautiful city of food, to earn some extra bucks and wondering what to take along; a packet of fresh sev would be enough. No not the the Haldirams, mind you! They are good, no doubt; but we love and promote our local shops more. You can get them at Nakoda on kanadia road or from Mahendra near saket paan wala if in my area else you can just google it, Google baba shall know the sev hotspots in Indore. I would conclude with a fact; A hardcore Indori can never give up on two things; being called an Indori even if he is residing in some US city and well of course, the legendary SE-O!

Jai ho!

Jai Bhiyo

Jai Seo!

Pakhi

To Joshi

2.12.2013

9:23 pm

Vipulllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Long time I wanted to write something for you; something about you. Thought by birthday it would be done, but naah, as if the universe was trying all its force to stop me. But hey I fought, skipping Sayajis yummy delicacies I am trying to scribble something I had long planned.

I am happy to have met a person like you, Vipul. Easy  to go, living life his way, not caring about the society, not faking out for the people around; I like you just the way you are. Yes we do make fun of your reactions, yes we keep puling your leg but the best part is,  you don’t pretend to be someone else, just to fit in. Apart from many rare things you are born with ( I am Paridhi and its my soul right to tease :P ), this quality in you is the rarest and the best thing about you.

I would come to your cooking skills later, now that you owe me some of your sandwiches (even the rice would do) ; It's good to know a guy who is so open about his emotions. Our time to time Fb chats, discussing over random feelings and issues, you have a filled a space in my jigsaw puzzle dude.

For the rest of you who are reading this, this guy is the first I have met, who planned a b'day gift for his mom or who was bold enough to tell. He lives away from his parents, travels alone to cities, he is again a person who is happy with a book (geography book for some rare reasons), coffee and ticket to anywhere on the planet. You meet him, you greet and you will end up with a long chat, FOR SURE. Topic, it could be anything. Sports to Kitchen; History to Bollywood; Virtual to reality any damn thing, so don't worry just say a  Hi.

Joshi, It's great have you as our friend. It's great to have the worlds tastiest tiffin around waiting to be eaten at quarter past twelve. Haha! I was really glad to hear that you enjoyed your b'day, the end of teen  and the start of a new journey…

Wish you all the very best in life. Wish you get a life you would love, a partner who would love you…

Your nautanki Friend

Paridhi 

aka LOL Jain