Being a wife #1 – Everything is new and shiny

I’m a wife now. That earlier series named – The big fat south Indian wedding preparations has finally been put to rest. Needless to say, what follows now is a new series (Being a wife) containing the endless banter of an Indian working wife and her day to day drama at home. Excited?

The day was January 31, 2016. It was the perfect wedding a girl with a pen name Indian humor could ever ask for. But the days after that were a bit short of perfect.

Staying with my in-laws was a delight because they are delightful human beings. Having said that the transition was difficult just the same. I was home sick. Seeing my parents wipe their tears as they bid farewell to me was heart breaking at first but then opening gifts and receiving cash from relatives sure did the trick of mending that broken heart soon after.

4 days at my husband’s place were exhausting, mostly because I had to make small talks with about 100 different people in a language that is more or less similar to my mother tongue, but who the fuck told you I can even speak my mother tongue without sounding like an NRI who has just recently returned from spending her childhood in UK? No doubt, I was aware of the cultural changes before signing up for this, but like all changes, this also needed some getting used to.

For most men, who will continue to live within the comfort of their own home with their parents who still remain to be at their beck and call, even after marriage, the only transition these guys might have to face is not having their morning boner go to absolute waste. But this was not the case with my man. We are equal partners in this whole charade. Unlike most of my gujju/maru friends, we decided to start our new life in a new city (Bombay to Chennai), in a new house with new furniture and hopefully with new friends (and more subscribers to my blog? cheap shot?).

Starting something new from scratch is as overwhelming as exciting. You have to make one list after another jotting down everything you need, to get your life started. Kitchen is the first room in the house that needs to start functioning from day numero uno. 40 mins into our new home and there we were making our first list together as husband and wife – 10  basic kitchen supplies. I searched on the internet for what makes up your basic yet significant kitchen utilities just to get the ball rolling. After finalizing the list in the next 30 odd minutes, we head to the nearest saravana stores and what do we do? – pick up 90 different things that we thought will be of some use “eventually”. You make one plan and execute another (and here we go with the complaining already).

Since we are on the subject of spending money, keeping a track of all expenses also becomes very important for kids like us who grew up under the system of pocket money, where every time you get money from your parents, your objective is to spend them all and return to the source asking for more. But we understand that this is real life and unlike amma and appa, nobody is gonna save us out there. So we use an app where we record all expenses right from 37K for a recliner to 10 bucks for a cup of tea.

The best part about starting something new is the fact that everything is new and shiny. I’m talking about the plates, spoons, glasses and all that good stuff. Cooking in a newly set up kitchen is so much fun you guys!. But of course I know this fun is short lived because soon they’re gonna be burnt and greasy.

On that note, I’ll stop for now before this post gets all boring and lengthy. More posts in this series will definitely come because I know myself very well. Where there’s a will, there’s a rant.

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