Background Information: In the last four years, we have been blessed with a mandir very close to us in Peoria. As of yet, we do not have a full time pujari (priest) so to keep the temple open for the devotees, families have volunteered to open it from 7-9 pm every night of the week. My family has been opening the temple on Thursdays. In four years, we have made many friends and now the group has gotten so big that we are known as the Thursday mandir “gang”. They are all mainly young couples, and we have gotten so close that we even meet on the weekends. As of yet — no one in the “gang” knows about Neeraj.
Venue: Pizza Hut in Peoria, Illinois
Characters: Thursday mandir “gang”
Scene I, and…..ACTION!: We had a nice time together having pizza last night. I hadn’t spoken to one of the couples for quite some time because his parents’ are here from India. Yesterday just as I was about to leave, I was kind of away from everyone so I thought I would call Neeraj just to let him know that I was going to be late in calling him. Soon that couple slowly made it towards me so I hung up the phone and the dialogue begins.
Ladki from young couple: “Kisko phone kar rahi hai”
Poonam: “Bas aaise hi”
LYC: (very nonchalantly) “Teri koi site hai?”
P: (kind of shocked) “Haan…kyon?”
LYC: “Haan toh woh mera pati (ok, she didn’t say that…she said the name) kuch search kar raha tha toh usne dekha.” Pehle toh humko laga tha ke yeh hamari Poonam nahi ho sakti hai par phir woh page dekha toh pata chala ke nahi, yeh toh wohi hai.
P: “Oh aacha. Haan toh hopefully hamari baat ab khulne wali hai.”
LYC: “Mumma and Papa jaante hain?”
P: “Haan of course.”
LYC: (nodding with acceptance) “Toh phir toh theek hai.”
Our conversation was never finished just because someone would end up coming towards us. As I was in the car driving home with my Mumma (Papa and Bhayia were in the other car), I was just thinking, “ab kis liye chupaaon?” Really, why should we have to hide it now? Its been four years since Neeraj and I have been together and we are about two weeks away from his parents to make a decision on us. So did it bother me that this young couple has found out? Am I worried that they will tell the rest of the “gang”? First of all, I know that they won’t tell anyone… they are just not like that. If they did, what is the worst that can happen?
The reason that I hadn’t told anyone in our “gang” yet or why many of my friends don’t know is just because of speculation. I didn’t want my parents and brother to feel awkward in any sense. In my family, we don’t really talk about “dating” and “relationships”. Plus no one in my immediate family has met Neeraj so they can’t really answer anything either. So it just seemed better to hide it from everyone (meaning outsiders of my immediate family) until it was the right time.
When is the right time? Bhagwanjee, woh din jaldi se aaye, pleasssseeee! 
I really detest hiding this from everyone that mean so much to me, but I really can’t do anything about it… that’s how my family operates. It sucks when people ask you about your marriage plans or what your husband is going to be like, and you can’t say, “Yaar apun ko maloom hai ke patidev apun ka kaisa hoga”. 
Ek baar sab maan jaaye… everyone is happy with our relationship — then I will tell the whole world.
We are waiting for that day….Hopefully our wait won’t be longer than two yaa three weeks.
btw – if you are wondering how they ended up getting to our site, they were searching on google for something else and our website was on the first page of the search results! 
Alvida. 
Jai Mata Di.
Punnu hun… sab acha ho jayega… you dont worry **hugs**
How sweet meri nunni munni dost!
Thanks re!! I hope so that everything works out.
It just sucks man…I just want this to be out in the open! Khair woh din bhi aayega!
I hear ya
I so know how it feels to hide soemthing like this. I distinctly remember till about last to last year, Saloni didnt tell anyone that we were seeing each other, and every person who knew me, knew Saloni in some way or the other, and i always cribbed yeh ladki kisi ko batati kyu nahi hain. But now that her mom knows about it, she doesnt hide it anymore, and all her friends know me.
I think every girl is like that. Until her parents know about the guy, they dont want to make it a big issues, but once the parents are involved, then there is no stopping her. Puri duniya ko maloom chal jata hain
Rightly said though.. Pyaar kiya toh darna kya?
2 weeks to go only for the final decision… Sahi :-) Happy for ya.
Aacha tum dono ka case main bhi aaisa tha? Why for some reason I never thought that it was the same between you and Saloni..aur ke sab ko pehle se maloom tha.
Khair..you understand than how its like. Its like this chip on your shoulder that you want to get rid of ASAP. Ab ho jaayega — parents’ consent is everything. Once the green light is given, life becomes easier.
But I think we both are feeling much more comfortable about being open about our relationship than we were..hmm..a year ago… which I think is natural and growth. Bas hamara time aa jaaye. 
Thanks for your words!
It was always open from my side whether my parents knew or not. Mere ko saloni ke wajese kabhi tension nahi thi,but she made it a point to hide from everyone till her mom got to know ;-)
ladkiya ladko jaisi kyu nahi hoti :-) LOL.
Not totally true in our case though. Neeraj has always been a bit protective about our relationship. Pehle toh dost ko bhi nahi batata tha..phir that changed. Aur abhi bhi Papaji (his daddy) ko kuch maloom nahi hai…first time maloom chalega in two weeks.
I think about it and I get nervous..but I am not sure why. Neeraj I know will handle it really well. 
Aur if ladkiyan ladke jaise hote..toh is duniya main kuch bhi theek se nahi hota.
But that is ANOTHER argument that will be done at ANOTHER date. 
2 weeks jaldi nikal jayenge.. yuo don’t worry.. everything will be ok..
after 2 weeks… you MUST send me shaadi ke ladoo :p (ofcourse your’s shaadi)
I wouldnt mind shaadi ki vodka in 2 weeks.
Can you find a drunkard smiley ???
shaadi ki vodka
ek mere liye bhi… 
monty dudeji.. u r great!!
[Manpreet] – I also hope the same. Thanks for your nice words.
[M & M] Shaadi ka ladoo khushi khushi deh sakte hain…shaadi ka vodka sirf Monty ki shaadi par mil sakta…meri par nahi.
Ya, I too agree on the point… your site is very well placed in google.
Infact I was also directed to your site while searching for something relating to movie “Lakshya”
And it was really on the first page.
Please do share with ur friends… the secret of such a good search engine placement.
Anyway, Good Luck!
Hope I will get an invitation too
[Ankur] – How I would LOVE to share my secret… but I don’t know my own secret.
I don’t know how the heck Google picks it up! Its just crazy! 
lol @ the Lakshya search. That’s funny. I was just searching myself to see if I could find out what you searched, but no luck.
Thank you for the good wishes!
Of course you will get an invitation. Keep your calender open early next year (2005). 
Gr8 to know, I will get the invitation. Then hope the marriage will be in Delhi
I will suggest you to use some tracker on your site, it will track the visitors on your site and also provide the search engine referrers. I will suggest the site: http://extremetracking.com/
[Ankur] – I sincerely hope that you come to the wedding!
Nope it won’t be in Delhi but close by… Jaipur. 
So I don’t think you should have too much problem in coming! 
Thanks for the link. I checked it out and it seems that most of the things it is tracking I also get from my webspace provider (mesopia). They have basically the same tracking features. Thanks for the link though!
Poonam, shaadi ka laddo you can distribute, but no shaadi ki vodka, aisa kyu bhai, and ofcrouse on my shaadi, dhoom dhamaka!! Have as much Daru as you want.
Bachelor party in Goa with loads of alcohol
Kya plans hai, kitna materialise hoga yeh toh waqt batayega.
Re Google, it uses page rank technology, the more website the link to you, the higher your rank goes, lekin there is more to it, which i’m not aware of. My website comes up first for sooo many things now, ki its not funny. People come to my site searching for erotic stories
and for Mp’3s like kala Kauwa.:rotfl:
[Monty] – Nope sorry bhai..you know how I am with alcohol.
Apun ki shaadi main there will be NO alcohol distributed. 
Neeraj and I have already agreed to that. So sorry for those folks who now might change their mind in coming to our wedding. 
Tum rakhna apni bachelor party in Goa. Enjoy your time!
Soch soch ki baat hai.
Google ka funda I knew you must be knowing and that’s very interesting how they do it (I really didn’t have a clue how they did it.
). I have made searches for stuff too and have gotten your site many times. In fact if you put in “neeraj poonam” you will get the second link to be Monty’s site! 
aawww… yep.. sucks to hide stuff! Hope everything works out for you two :D And I am sure it will.
I like the mandir idea. We have something similar here – but it does get very hard to maintain – everyone wants to do some stuff and noone wants to do other stuff.
But its still nice to ahve a place to go to where we can meet other people and feel a sense of belonging… And YEp.. YOu guys have a very pretty blog :D
Teri shaadi mein I will distribute alcohol on Neeraj’s expense, and if he doesnt agree then on my expense. I’m sure Chand will be with me to distribute
Manpreeta bindaas aaana iski shaadi mein, daru on the house hogi. Right frm beer to rum to vodka to tequilla shots to wine for the sober.
[Vidya] – Thanks for your kind words!
We are hoping for the best as well! 
I totally understand the mandir situation you are talking about..we face similar problems. On top of it we have a divided community. When the North Indians have a festival the South Indians don’t come, and vice versa. Its quite sad that they do this outside of India and preach to Indians in India to stop doing it there.
Thanks for the compliment — even I liked your template.
[Monty] – I am serious when I say that we are going to check at the doors for alcohol because we are not going to serve any. May it be you, Chand, or anyone else, no alcohol means no alcohol. Chahe tum nahi aao…it doesn’t matter.
So soch ke aana. That’s all I gotta say. 
I know that you will try to find some loophole and for that I really suggest that you don’t come to the wedding because if you can’t respect our wishes that means you are not respecting us. 
So again – soch ke aana…do you want to come for me and give us your good wishes, or do you want to come, party, and get drunk? Ab yeh sab bol diya kyon ke even if you are joking about this matter, I am very serious and its better we clear it up now. Our wedding is not going to be just SOME party — its going to be different.
Toh chill karke aana toh theek hai, warna phone se aashirwaad deh dena.
Punjabi shaadi minus alcohol, i think i’d better email you my good wishes. Phone karoonga aur congratulations bolounga, toh you’ll say that i was drunk and called you, so best option hai email.
Wedding date bata dena mujhe, mein email schedule kar dunga, lekin tumhari khusi mein, mein aur chand apne ghar par pe lenge. No tension in life. :-)
Just btw, tum kya apne guests ki pocket check karogi before they enter? Tell me when my parents come, you’ll check mummy ka purse for miniatures??
Aaaj sirf josh mein bol rahi hai, teri shaadi ke din dekhenge, whether you like it or not. And i’d really like to see how you can control everyone.
**clears throat**
hmmmm…ek punjaban….kuddi punjab…ek punjaban ..dil churra ke legayi…..sona sona …dil mera sonaa…
**unclears throat**:rotfl::rotfl:
;)
It seems ke mera lamba comment didn’t get posted because of the bad weather and losing my Internet connection. Koi baat nahi…but I will make my point and end this matter.
I am not doing this to fight with Monty, but its his attitude with alcohol and any other human being that I really don’t like. I find it QUITE harsh for you to say if I am going to check your parents’ pockets! I don’t know if you said it out of anger or what, I suggest that you start controlling it. it seems that you really don’t care what you say and just want to say it Monty, and if that’s the case – then man, I really don’t know you.
I really didn’t expect you to say something that harsh. I, for one, am not going to be immature about the matter and say something to hurt you.
Punjabi ho, rajasthani ho, yaa HINDUSTANI ho, hamari shaadi koi ordinary shaadi nahi hogi. You can do WHATEVER you want @ your own wedding but that doesn’t mean that you can come and do whatever you want at mine. Aur ab teri khushi maine dekh lee hai…if you find your vodka, rum, and wine more important than coming to the wedding and wishing Neeraj and myself, then fine, you can stay at home. Chand ke saath main apne aap baat kar loongi..uski taraf se baat karni ki koi jarurat nahi hai.
Aur abhi main josh main nahi bol rahi. My parents and Neeraj’s parents are also strong advocates of this and I, myself, will make sure as much as I can that it doesn’t happen. I know that you would find SOME loophole to bring it in because that’s the way you think. If my cousins or Neeraj’s friends come to the wedding and they have already drank then I can’t do anything about it, but it will be avoided AS much as possible. That was my point from the beginning – then I will control AS much as possible because its hardly possible to control everyone.
So people – I am sick and tired of this MASSIVE love that you show towards alcohol. Do it where you find it proper — but it won’t be at our expense or at our wedding. If you (in a general sense) feel that you cannot enjoy a wedding without alcohol then that’s fine, but I think you should be able to respect the groom/bride’s wishes.
That’s it with this. I am closing this matter and if I have hurt anybody’s feelings, sorry for that. Soch soch ki baat hai — We want our special day to be perfect as possible and we find perfect in no alcohol. If you can’t respect it – then there is nothing I can do!
This matter is closed. No other discussion will be conducted.
kool site u’ve got here…
pyaar, mohabbat… really flies over my head…
[Abhi] – Thanks Abhi for stopping by! Aate rehna!
lol @ the pyaar, mohabbat comment.
Very well said… Poonam.
Your wish granted
Everybody say
to alcohal on wedding day!
Thanks for being understanding Ankur!
Neeraj and I both appreciate it.
Yesterday, we were talking about your site’s search engine placement.
Here’s one more pair of keywords, which
lists your site on the first page…
it’s “Ankur Raheja”
lol. That is sooo funny!
And not only once, but its on the first page of the results twice!
You know what else I found funny there, that it says did you mean Ankur Ahuja??
No, I mean Ankur Raheja! 
How’s the blog setup going Ankur? I saw today you have put up wedding pictures but I didn’t have access to see more.
Hope to see you blogging soon! 
Maybe Ahuja’s are more famous or have approach in google
I don’t know when I am going to setup Blog at my site. I will email you the link for brother’s wedding pics… soon
Maa Kasam, itna lamba comment!!! Boy, You’ve gotten pretty serious about the whole thing, and you found that harsh :???: Chal bhai, apun out of here, before you start taking all my comments dil pe
[Monty] – If I would have taken any/all of your comments dil pe…abhi tak apno baat nahi kar rahe hoge.
Dekh – you can say whatever want and I can reply whatever I want… at the end day we are still the way we were in the beginning. You are still my bro and I still care about you. So no tension, likho. 
Your comment made me think so I wrote my heart out — but even after that you just say that you won’t write — then that was not the point of my comment AT all. 
[Ridhish] – i read your comment. It brought a smile to my face.
Sorry dost – I didn’t mention it earlier. 
Waise gaana gaaogai meri shaadi par?? Pakka? 
Yay!! 
Poonam… you seem to have a liking for loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong comments
Ab monty will think twice before saying even ‘A’ of ‘ALCOHOL’
Hi Manpreet,
I would avoid it if I didn’t have much to say. 
But sometimes to get the point across -I tend to write more. 
hehe.. sahi hai!!