At the beginning of last year I got an opportunity to go and stay at the Akademie Schloss Solitude , in Stuttgart, Germany , as a fellow scholar for a period of 3 months. Naturally I leapt at it with both hands..so I went there from Jan to March 2014.. This also meant that I missed my best friend Amruta's wedding. She was going to get married to the love of her life, Sagar, on 5th Feb 2014. I thought, chalega , wapas aake wish kar loongi. Anyway Marriage zyada imp hai na wedding se. Mujhe actually shaadi wagaira attend karna kabhi acha nahi laga. bachpan se me har shaadi par roti thi - out of boredom. I used to get soo bored and fed up of all the hellos and smiles I had to give away at weddings..and then wud feel even worse for the bride and groom who had to do it all day for god knows how many days at a stretch thanks to the fact that they were getting married ! Aur ek cheez mujhe aaj tak samajh me nahi aayi ; log shaadi karne pe congrats kyu bolte hai..Ideally they should wish the couple all the best, nahi ?
Anyway, so all this, coupled with some thoughts like ' doston ke bure time pe unke saath hona zyada imp hai rather than unki shaadi attend karna ' made me feel totally ok about missing my best friend's wedding..and off I went.
As the days to her wedding came nearer I started feeling oh, maybe I could have helped her with her shopping today had I been there..kuch last minute make up appointment hoga to I could have taken her with me..or nail art ! Like we did for shanku & srinidhi ..Eh Shanku se yaad aya, bachellorate party ka kya hua ? Wo to kiya hi nahi ! Shit man yaha aane se pehle hi kar lena chahiye tha..Shit Shit Shit. Ok wapas jaake me ek din amruta ko girls night out ko leke jaungi. Haan ye sahi hai..baaki ? uske cousins aaye rahenge na ab tak .. Hey sab friends ne dance set kiya ki nahi..yaar mujhe dance karna tha yaar amruta ki shaadi pe ! Bas ek hi to tammanna thi..
& suddenly it dawned upon me ki I was such a useless best friend ! I was missing the Most Important Day of her life ! For what..ok, this academy is really cool & I am really grateful to be here..but still..shes my best friend and I could not take her out for dress shopping or zero in on a bridal look with her, cudnt be her moral ( if needed physical ) support while she negotiated with the hallwala and the phoolwala, cudnt have any late night convs, share any boyfriend/ husband tips, scout for exotic honeymoon locations online ..or just go over for a stayover.. nothing ! Here I am in germany while she is some 5000 miles away..doing what ? I dont even know..
A week before her wedding I decided to make a gift for amruta. I thought maybe this would make her - actually me - feel slightly better about me not being present on her special day. I decided to make a collage of all the beautiful memories we have. I know amruta since I was 8 and she was 11, I know her properly since we were 10 & 13 respectively, and by the time we were 13 & 16 we had played countless tournaments together where I wud tag along with Prachi mavshi & Ams, had had countless fights - verbal & physical, had consoled each other after all those tears that come after losing - which was often, had attended two 1 month long camps, and after the 2nd camp - Calicut 2003 - we were Best Friends Forever :)
Calicut Camp 2003
Those days when attending a chess camp meant sharing secrets & making friends for life :)
Ya, so I decided to do this collage thing..& the 1st night I only cried..I cant explain why. Let me remind you weddings dont make me senti, at all, but this time I only cried.
Then I finally got to making the collage the next day. & one by one i started running through all those memories once again..
2003 / 04 / 05..sweet memories with an ever affectionate friend :)
December 2005
Oh this was on Anu's Birthday ..Anu's place was our fav hangout place when we were kids..i remember taking lots of pictures on webcam, online chatting with random people, sharing ghost stories over bhadang..& debating on who liked whom ! :D
MOSCOW 2007
This pic is of our 1st foreign trip together Aeroflot 2007 at Moscow ! Ek to humko tabhi aadhe se zyada cheeze khaneme problem thi. " Borsch soup ? - never !" upar se we dint even take rice cooker, just a small water kettle. To u know hum us tmt me bilkul khaana hi nahi khate the..maybe 1 time meal thts it ! Roz plan banate the aaj snow me jaenge, photo nikalenge..ek din himmat banake gaye bahar . It was -30 ! We literally freezed ! After every 2 clicks we wud get back in the well heated lobby , prepare ourselves for the next shot, & go out again . Haha..
Academy Practise in 2008
I remember this time when we seriously started working on chess for the 1st time together - in around August 2004, when Amruta was the reigning National Sun Junior Champion..thanks to our practise sessions I also won my first title soon - U-17 nationals.This pic was taken at Abhijit dada's academy in 2008, where many of us pune players worked together for an year and our playing strength ( & ratings ) simply escalated ! On this particular day me, Amruta & Eesha decided to 'rebel' & 'bunk class' & go for a movie, just to get the feel of being a regular college kid ..we ended up watching Bombay to Bangkok. Karma. Bas usi ki tickets thi ya hamari choice itni kharab thi, yaad nahi. Par uske baad kabhi bunk nahi mara class ko.
4th November 2009
On the night I returned from Argentina as the new World junior girls champion. One of the happiest moments of my life. Amruta, Anu and Sneha made it all the more special for me by decorating my house that night, and gave me a huge surprise as soon as I entered :)
A few more surprises: 8th August 2011, Barcelona. Amruta's 25th Birthday :)
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THE ENGAGEMENT - Always enthusiastic! She specially designed their rings herself!
16th July 2013 : Amruta actually postponed her engagement date so that I could be there too ! How cute :) Love u for this, and lots of more moments like this. :)
Finally kaise to ye collage banaya..The tough part wasnt to collect all d pics, but to actually make it rather than just sit and ponder over all the memories from all these years.
( Collage ka backstory ye hai ki I dint send by post on her wedding nor gave it to her the 1st time I met her after that. Somewot awkward lag raha tha everytime, as if its too late to make amends now..so finally gave it in August as birthday gift :p )
Sagar ne shaadi ke baad chessbase report likha tha unki shaadi pe. It was a chess themed wedding ! :) Report padhke ekdum feel aya jaise me wahi thi ..Kya masttt lag rahi Amruta..with all that jewellery..oh btw if u have read sagar's report then u must be knowing about the fact that amruta did not wear any gold on her wedding ( except for her wedding ring & mangal sutra ) as a mark of protest against all the pressure Indian parents are made to go through in order to make their daughter look all 'decked up & looked after' on her wedding day. Fiesty , aint she ? :)
Ek din amruta aur sagar ke saath unka reception party ka video dekha..they had danced on 'me rang sharbaton ka' and 'agal bagal' that day..wo dekha..bohot sundar tha..bohot hi sundar ! Ekdum Made for each other :)
I think this would be the right time to wish this super awesome total fun fabulous super loving & caring couple all the happiness in the world. I wish you a very very happy wedding anniversary, Congratulations on completing 1 year of marriage ! May you both have the happiest, most fulfilling and everlasting married life together :)
2008 - Forever
Tum dono ko dekhke lagta hai ki now I know why we wish Congratulations & not all the best on weddings :)
Coming back to wedding video, fir maine dono ke friends ka dance dekha...bohot sahi naacha sabne..fir dj night tha to sab log nachne lage, amrutas parents, prathamesh, sagar's bhaiya bhabhi, his parents, friends, relatives, relatives's friends, friend's relatives, everyone..overall bohot mast lag raha tha video dekhke but at the back of my mind I thought yaar ek hi to tamanna thi , Amruta ki shaadi pe naachne ki ..
