Came back last night from Surat. Attended two weddings on back-to-back days. Son and daughter of my uncle (dad’s brother). First the daughter’s marriage in Surat and then the son’s marriage in Baroda. And then both the couples' reception in Surat.

It was quite hectic. But overall, I must say, it was a job well done by the organizers, which included my uncle, his wife and the son, among others. Of course, there was vital input from everyone including my dad and my brother, but in general, the organization was done quite well.

Logisitically, it was quite challenging, because in the wedding party, hardly 10 people were from Surat itself. Most of the party came from Bombay and elsewhere, and to arrange everything from pick up, stay, supplies, breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and everything else, it was quite amazing how it all fell in place in the end.

There were so many small things to be planned out, in addition to the larger ones like booking the halls and buying the jewelry and clothes. All of it came together and in three pretty long and hectic days, it was all over. At the end of it all, it seemed like there were so many places where things could have majorly got messed up, but besides the usual snafus, there was not much to be worried about and it all ended well.

The couples are happily married now, one staying in Baroda (daughter) and the other in Surat (girl’s from Baroda). Now starts the ugly job of winding up stuff and paying off the bills. It started yesterday itself, when the place where we were staying was being cleaned out. We were the last ones out of Surat, so by the time we left, that place was empty and ready to be given up. Felt sad, to a certain extent.

It was actually very nice to have a wedding out of town. That way, the same group of people stayed together and got a chance to bond a little. If the wedding was in town, there would have been no bonding at all. Plus, going from Surat to Baroda in a bus and coming back too, it was fun singing and all. Of course, I did not sing at all, fortunately for the rest of the crowd :-)

Congratulations to the organizers for getting it all done!