Yesterday my cousin Rodney married Poorvi, his friend for the last few years since they both met at their workplace. Whilst Rodney's marriage was a surprise, especially since he seemed to everybody to be the conventional Indian boy, who would marry as per his parents wishes. But that was not to be. And his family wasn't exactly delighted. But luckily for Rodney and them, I have several cousins who led the path and so it wasn't that big a deal anymore.
And then came an even bigger surprise. My daughter Freia, all of 15 is asked to raise the toast. A mystery of life, especially since she was preferred to me. Having said that, she did a decent job. And here's what she said.
"
Happy marriages are made when you marry the one you love. But they blossom when you love the one you married.
Good evening Ladies & Gentlemen.
I know weddings and toasts are supposed to be traditional. But as you can see, not much about this wedding or this toastmaster is really traditional.
Now, I'm not one of those women who lie about their age. Although I’m 21, I know nothing about being married, having a family or living together. And so have no advice to give to Poorvi and Rodney. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why I was asked to raise this toast!
First, let me tell you a little about the two families. The beautiful bride, Poorvi is the daughter of Mr. Sudhir Shrivastav, a retired bank official from State Bank of Mysore. Her mom, Sandhya has been a mentor not only to her 2 kids, but also to several kids in her role as a Teacher.
The handsome groom Rodney is the son of Peter Martis. Peddy uncle, as we know him, was with the RBI prior to his retirement. His mum, Agnes Aunty, works with Syndicate Bank. And makes awesome Panpolle and Chutney, a traditional Manglorean dish. As you can see, all of them shared banking bonds before and must be having lots of money! and now today start sharing family bonds.
The siblings of Poorvi and Rodney being from Generation Next share the new gen IT bonds. Poorvi’s brother Sandhir is an engineer with Moserbaer, a company we all love for their cost effective DVD’s. Rodney’s brother Rohwin, who is also a and engineer, works with TCS, India’s largest and as Rohwin says best, global IT company. Both share the distinction of being single, eligible and I’m told available. Sandhir is here from Hyderabad and Rohwin from Detroit especially for the wedding. If you’re eligible and single and interested, act fast! They fly away real soon.
Last and not only not least, but the stars of today, the lovely couple. Since I get paid only after the toast, I have to keep saying nice things!
Poorvi is a computer engineer from Hyderabad. She currently helps Bill Gates get richer at Microsoft in Hyderabad and has promised to share some secrets with me. Prior to that, she worked with Symantec in Pune.
Rodney, an engineer from Mumbai did his post graduation at IIT Bombay before joining Symantec at Pune. One of the few young people in the IT industry who’s managed to stay with the same company for over 5 years. Wait a minute. It’s not a coincidence that both of them worked at Symantec at Pune. Its where they met and their friendship blossomed into love, bit by bit and byte by byte.
Today is 2nd October. Gandhi Jayanti. And today I simply cannot lie.
I’m here to tell Rodney that I hate him. He is every student’s worst nightmare. Every time my mom see’s me not studying, all I hear is “Rodney did this. Rodney did that. Rodney got a rank in 12th. Rodney went to IIT. My new retort is going to be, “And guess who raised his toast”.
Poorvi who in addition to being as intelligent, is smarter, as women normally are, and prettier, as women normally are and she’s so sweet and cute! And that should hopefully earn me a bonus.
A toast is incomplete without advise to the couple. And since I can’t advise the bride and groom, let me quote my good friend Mark Twain.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's heaven on earth.
And finally, my favourite quote, “Aaika Jagaasa, Kara Manasa”. Oops, you already did.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me and raise your glasses, as I raise my glass of sprite.
To Poorvi and Rodney! May your journey of life be filled with success and love and happiness, and most importantly togetherness, forever,and ever.
Cheers ! And have a wonderful evening.
"
p.s.: Aika Jagaasa, Kara Manasa is a Marathi saying, which loosely translated means, "Listen to the world. Follow your heart."
No comments:
Post a Comment