1st wedding anniversary celebrations

Vidya always wanted to make our wedding anniversaries memorable. One reason is that this day comes once a year and it’s also a time to reflect, remember, cherish and perhaps reminisce over what we could have done to make it better in the days to come. She likes to do these things differently so that after a many years down the line, when we ponder over our bygone lives we can ruminate over the times that we had together. Were we a truly romantic couple or fighting like cats and dogs yet coexisting together as inseparable couples. Well, we’ll get to see some of these through these images captured vividly what we were to what we are today. And so the journey started with our first wedding anniversary like this.

Obviously, I was no great planner of anything as I was no go getter in terms of moving around and doings things differently. Perhaps, this could be attributed to the way I was brought up at home. We never had much of travels or visits outside of Chennai. Various factors remain but the main being, financial and economic reasons. And in my opinion, a Child that does not travel or visit various places has certain set of limitations in terms of being very outbound or creative or imaginative to do certain things. I could be wrong as well. But travel does, open up your eye and mind sight to various things that happen outside of your cocoon. You realize that life could be like this or that. You are exposed to various cultures, artifacts, human behavioral patterns, food, lifestyle, nature, so on and so forth. It simply opens you up and lets you sink in to the realities of life and accept what’s beyond your closeted life.

Vidya after deliberating various options finally decided that let’s go to Kanchipuram a beautiful temple town about 70 kilometers from Chennai. The city is known for its silk weaving industry. Her parents had come down to Chennai for our wedding anniversary. My parents were also ready to go with us for the temple trip. So, we booked a travel cab to take us around and we left early in the morning. We were in our traditional best, I wore a Dhoti and she draped herself in a beautiful blue Sari. As she was a tall girl, saris suited her quite well, she looked elegant, beautiful and ravishing in the way she carried herself in saris. I believe we visited a few of the famous temples to seek the Lord’s blessings for a healthy marital bliss on this auspicious day. Post noon once the temples are closed, we went and had lunch in one of the hotels in Kanchipuram. After that we returned to Chennai and on our way back stopped at Sriperumbudur, where Rajiv Gandhi, PM of India, was assassinated which has now been converted into a Memorial place. By evening, we reached Chennai.

Those days, I don’t remember if the digital cameras were much in prevalence at least in India or the affordability thereof. So we used our standard film based camera. Dad had an Yashica camera which was put to good use during these trips. And changing the film strip was an arduous task and if you don’t insert it properly, the film can get exposed. Also, the film, development of prints was all an expensive affair, so the entire episode had to be covered within the 36 frames in one film strip. So you have to plan your shots in advance and make sure you get the best photos out of the limited frames, unlike today, where you can keep shooting innumerable photos without any worry of development, print etc.,

For dinner, I had planned to take her to GRT Grand Days and we changed our costume to the usual ones. I wore an orange shirt on top of an off white trouser and she wore a cream colored Salwar. We went in for the buffet and had a sumptuous dinner. It was an expensive affair considering the fact that, I was a Senior Executive in CTS and that GRT was a 3 star hotel. It was not normal for typical middle class people to frequent star hotels during those times. Again, I would say, it was due to my spouse that my learning’s outside of home and office had an expanded to a wider horizon as she wanted to experiment and experience life in all its vagaries. I have to admit that life became quite enthralling post marriage with my gorgeous beau by my side. She is an intelligent and enchanting lady who knows how to carry herself quite deftly and sensuously, without looking odd.

Oh! and one more thing. My darling wife wanted to make a special wedding anniversary ring for both us with our names etched on the right. We were to wear the ring with the other's name...this was something she had in her mind since our marriage days...and she had an opportune moment on our 1st wedding anniversary to make it happen. And so we went to our usual Jewellers at that time...Padi Thanga Maligai...to place the order for both rings. It will be there with us for a lifetime...until death do us part...

Like a lovely spring morning, my dazzling lady bird was radiant and glowing with unbridled affection. The lustrous black eyes gleamed ever so radiantly and I was blinded by the look of love. Truly, my sweetheart, who that sees you does not admire and fall in love with you. You were so bewitchingly charming and my days would just pass by seeing you in absolute veneration. She was a supernal being and her love was sweeter than the divine ambrosia. A mere mortal like me became blessed by her divinity. A pristine lover, she was beyond all fairness and I was the sole possessor of this magnificent sculpture of love. Her eyes warmed the passion in my heart as her kisses blossomed the flower of love nestled in my heart. A sweet lasting tone, that I could listen forever; the most pretty face that I could kiss a thousand times; the most immaculate heart for whose love, I could dearly vow; I would rather die, with one assurance of your love, than without it, live forever, with all beside the world could give.

Thus, after a romantic evening with my lady love, by night we returned back home, happy that we were able to spend time with our parents during the day and some time for ourselves by the evening.

#WeddingAnniversary