I can see them dancing to their favourite song. How happy they look together! How I wish they could be just as happy throughout the rest of their lives as they are right now. Mamaji's 'O mere dil ke chain' was mesmerizing. And Sapna aunt's dance on 'Mere haathon me nau nau choodiyan' totally floored the audience. Chatterjee uncle and Manoj uncle arranged the perfect re-marriage skit. I am thinking of getting a copyright of the script. I can see the entire audience laughing and enjoying themselves. They are going to remember this night the rest of their lives. Yeah, I finally succeeded. I finally managed to pull-off my Parents' Silver Jubilee Marriage Anniversary. Phew! It was difficult but then I managed it.
TWO MONTHS BACK
It’s the 9th of October. The sun is up but it’s not too hot. Early October is not that cold nowadays. The monsoons are just winding up so there are showers here and there. The entire city of Jamshedpur is preparing itself for the upcoming Durga Pujas. I can see the nearby cricket field getting dug up so as to set up the pandal. During Durga Puja, Pandit Banerjee becomes the busiest soul on Earth. The entire Bengali community is charged up. But I am not interested. I have higher priority tasks. Mom and dad's silver jubilee marriage anniversary is just 2 months from now. That evening is probably going to be their most memorable evening post-marriage. It needs to be planned end-to-end. Am I freaking out? No. I got my ideas setup. Now let me pen it down.
Operations: I knew I had to fix upon the vendors for food, drinks, lights, stage setup, and location. Sitting in my office with a pile of java codes in minimized windows, I surrendered to the capabilities of Google. With time, google has become man’s best friend. It gave a list of vendors and hotels. I had to mentally get out of my white collar job and start dialing the numbers. Conversation started slow but it finally took pace when I hinted that I carried multiple credit cards. Finally, the manager of 'Hotel Paradise' obliged and the banquet hall was booked for the evening of 9th of December.
Event: For the entertainment, I decided to hand over the responsibility to Sapna aunt, mom's closest friend. Sapna Aunt claims that she has acted in many Bhojpuri movies, although there is no proof of her claims. However, there was no one to compete or question her capabilities. All the aunts would be gung-ho to celebrate the occasion with performances which would include dance, songs and skits. And I had to trust them completely.
Participation: The software engineer in me poked me to open Outlook and use its planner. I showed more trust on Excel and quickly jotted down the list of relatives who could attend. The list was surprisingly short. I created an anniversary website on ShareUrJoy and entered all the details specifying the wishlist. Once done, I mailed it to all the attendees. Getting the right gift has become so easy these days, thanks to ShareUrJoy. After confirming participation from each, I decided to plan out the travel for the outstation attendees. Upon completion, I glanced at the sheet, it looked one of the most complex structures. I thanked God for limiting the number of relatives to single digits, else I would have had to use a ERP package to plan the operations part of it.
THE D DAY
The big day has come. I presented them with a dvd-player which I had chosen from mom’s wish-list on ShareUrJoy. She was taken by surprise how I came to know that she was bored of the crappy movies on television and desperately wanted to watch movies of her choice. Her smile said it all. Great start to the day.
Operations: The first thing of the day is to check up on the hotel. So I directly went to 'Hotel Paradise' in the morning and saw the banquet hall which was booked. The plum Manager gave me a smile and offered to arrange a cosmo-rustic banquet hall theme for some extra money. I agreed immediately. The stage looked proper and there was adequate dance area. Satisfied, I left the hotel to meet the caterers. The manager at ‘Ganesh Caterer’ assured me that the perfect Bengali dinner with 5 varieties of fishes including Hilsa, Bhetki, Golda Chingri and 8 varieties of sweets would be served. I could instantly visualize people licking their fingers.
Events: I reached Nishant Vihar and went straight to the community block where all the 'performers' were practicing. I was stunned by the energy and commitment of 40 year old ladies.
Participation: Dadi, nani and others were having lunch by the time I reached Motel Madhuban. The staff seemed to have taken care of their wants well as dadi and nani had no complaints. I told them to be ready by 5:30pm as they would have to reach Hotel Paradise by 6. Agrawal uncle was to arrange for cars for them. So I told them to get in touch with uncle or any issues.
Finally, at 6:30pm, my mom and dad's memorable anniversary started. The opening performance was Sapna aunt's 'Mere haathon me nau nau choodiyan'. I was surprised to find uncle whistling. Next up was Mamaji's 'O mere dil ke chain'. The passion in his voice explained the 22-year old love story with mamiji. Then came the highlight of the evening - the re-marriage skit. A perfect saas-bahu kahaani with tinches of all human emotions. It is as good as watching any Ekta Kapoor serial. Finally we had the cake cutting and then culmination with dinner and dj dancing. The youngsters cleared the dance floor as all the uncles and aunts grooved. I don't know how many knew steps but all of them were surely enjoying. Total fun. At about 1am, we cleared the hotel and called it a day.
THE DAYS AFTER
The next morning, Adhish came up with the photographs of the entire event. With over 300 pictures, the collection captured everything. And the best way to publish them on the anniversary website that I had made on ShareUrJoy. Mom, Dad and I then started opening the gifts that we had got. They were in for a surprise. Most of the gifts were those items which they had wanted all along. At first angrily, mom asked me whether I had told anyone what gifts to buy. But when I told her about this concept of wishlist on ShareUrJoy, she was mesmerized and applauded this extra effort of mine. She even decided to make websites for creating wishlists for her close friends and relatives. Dad cribbed why such concepts were not available in his time.
Now the difficult part, paying off the dues. My salary account already showed a scary figure. I have to depend on my credit card for immediate action.
Finally, I am done. A whole two month of effort to organize a six hour event. But then, the event was mom and dad's silver jubilee marriage anniversary. I felt exhausted but the happiness on their faces took away all the strain that I had endured all along. But was it that difficult? All I did was sit in my air-conditioned office, take best advantage of websites like ShareUrJoy to create website, make a wishlist to ensure the best of gifts and also plan my calendar. So would I want my silver jubilee marriage anniversary to be this eventful? Yes. Maybe more.
