Yesterday I saw H. again! We hadn't meet for the 8 weeks that he had been away in India. I hadn't even heard his voice for that long or seen him. It was lovely to see him (very briefly). The first thing that struck me was that he was growing a beard for our engagement. Wow. OUR ENGAGEMENT. It looks so handsome (I never thought I would say that about a beard!). :) If you are reading this, I love you H. !
sneak peak of the lengha and bangles!
H. also brought his Mama and two friends, A and L around. We sat around and rushed through last minute engagement preparations. Nandos is now being replaced with proper Indian food for lunch (yes!!). H. suggested we order samosas (this might just happen to be both his and my favourite food). We worked out how many chairs we'll need to get arranged. Where would the couch be placed for our engagement? what would we move around to make space? would the light coming in from the windows ruin the photos? etc etc.
Once that was done H's Mama motioned towards a small suitcase that H. was carrying. Inside was my engagement dress! H. has been keeping the style (saree? lengha? salwar-kameez?) a secret from me as well as the colour !! (naughty!!). He grinned very happily when he opened the suitcase knowing that he had been successful in making sure I didn't know a thing about the outfit until now.
So now I know that I am wearing a LENGHA (yes! my favourite style!). It's a beautiful pinkish-purple colour (I would describe it as a medium lilac). It has beautiful silver zardosi on all the edges.
H's Mama took me aside to my bedroom and showed me the different styles I could wear the lengha in. As well as two different cholis (one short, one long) that I could choose to wear.
At that moment, time seemed to have stood still. Suddenly, here I was with H's Mama, in front of me, helping me try on my engagement clothes. She was smiling away and enjoying the moment. I could have fallen through the floor and started crying. Finally, finally finally! H. and I have been in love for so long, and now this is all happening. Truth be told, I often thought I would never see our engagement day. Surely, SURELY something would come up to ruin all our plans and postpone it or put it off. People who are in love for 5.5 years with almost four of them being across many countries, time zones and cities don't have everything about organising their marriage (or anything, even meeting up!) come easily / stay to plan. Something always comes up that requires a large or small adjustment (my brain always contemplates the worst case scenarios: plane crash? bags with the clothes lost? someone gets sick so we have to delay? parents suddenly remove permission?). But here I was, here was H's Mama, and here was my engagement Lengha.
Does it sound strange to say that I've always dreamed of this day? how can an Australian girl feel so emotional seeing her engagement lengha and bangles for the first time? surely that feeling would be reserved only for those who have grown up in the Indian culture? Well, it mustn't be the case. H's Mama was half apologising as she folded the lengha that this might be all too much trouble and I am probably not used to these type of clothes and this kind of fuss. I could have hugged her right then and said that she has no idea how many of my dreams came true in the past hour since she arrived.
More updates as I get time. I have a feeling this will be an emotional few days. :)
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