Happy Burdae

So now I am 30+, 31 running, completed 30--or one of these Indian concepts of age I never really quite understand. We had I think one of the more memorable parties of my short life last night and crawled into bed at 4 a.m. so a good time was had by all...

RECAP: We had a lunch at Swagath with Naya, Nitin and a friend visiting from NYC. She looks at us and pronounces, "This is NOT a party. I want to go to Mommy's party."

With perhaps the biggest wave of Mommy Guilt ever washed over me, I called Seema from work and begged she and her 3-year-old to join us for an impromptu pre-party. Seema, who will go down in history as the best mom and best colleague ever, entered our flat and said, "We are sooo excited for the party." Her darling Anusha was even in a fancy salwar kameez and only later Seema told me her sister was in the hospital with a dislocated shoulder but she really wanted to be part of our scam for a fake burdae party for Naya's sake. We hurriedly had tea and cake and Naya got a cool skirt from them so she was thrilled and I went onto get dressed in a hurry. She whimpered a little saying she wanted to come, too, but then calmed down (she hadn't really napped so I knew she'd sleep soon). We left peacefully... Onto @LIVE, my brother-in-law's new lounge in Connaught Place, where we had the upstairs and offered heavy appetizers and drinks. A wonderfully eclectic group of people from previous reporting trips to India, work, family, other journos, cousins' friends, etc. By midnight, word was that the excise cops were prowling around so we wound down and headed to a party in Vasant Vihar... We had Google guys in tow and the one who had just been in town for four days seemed to value my take on marriage so let me repeat some of the gems here (partly to remind myself next time I am mad at Nit)

Aasking about finding the "one," he asked, "How did you know?"

I said, "Because I didn't have to think about it. I think you know when you can finally be yourself."

And then he asked me the best part of marriage... I responded, "It can't be explained. Marriage is filled with moments where only two people 'get' it. That's the coolest part."

So thanks, Nit, for organizing a great 31st burdae.