Annoying Aunty

I thought I would need a recurring character through whom I could portray all the annoying know-it-all things or "advice" that I had to listen to in the time period surrounding the wedding. Because frankly, some of them were outrageously funny (to me anyway)! Thus, Annoying Aunty came to be.

And no, she isn't based on any particular person I know - she's more like an icon. When taking notes for comics I came across many situations where someone said something irritating (smug, even) just because I was getting married. And that's the reason why I had to introduce this character - people had to see how it was funny to me!

As for the so called Honeymoon phase that Annoying Aunty accuses Ninja and me of being in (in the strip below), she should know that we being us, pretty much left the that phase at our actual honeymoon and moved on with our life.

Disclaimer: No actual people or aunties have any reason to feel bad reading this..these comics are meant to be enjoyed not scrutinised and mean no offense to anyone. So chill and enjoy!

The First Email

This comic strip covers the first time that I interacted with Ninja - both of us were in different countries at the time so there was no option but to exchange emails anyway.

Truth be told, my parents were the ones who were more enthusiastic about us exchanging email addresses. I wasn't even interested in looking at any photographs (my Dad had to drag me to the desktop just so I'd barely glance at some pictures of Ninja and his family) because I felt that just knowing what he looks like didn't make a difference to me as long as I got along with him in person.

And then I received a well framed self-introductory email from the man himself and well, I'm a sucker for crisp, honest writing.

Lost in Translation

I remember in the early days of seeing Ninja, one of the questions I'd asked him was which language he was most comfortable conversing in. While his list ranged from English and Hindi to Telugu, I could only confidently say that English is my first language and I can get away with basic Malayalam, with all other languages only having been learnt primarily for paper-passing purposes (don't you just love alliteration?).

What I didn't account for were all the little language variations we pick up along the way (I'm sure everyone does it; even I've come up with my own colorful words) to describe different situations. Not to mention I had the handicap of not having been brought up in India, which meant there was some additional catching up I had to do when it came to stories with childhood references.

Let's just say - it's a learning process.

Food..Yes or No?

So from my past experience of leaving food decisions to Mr. Ninja (as seen in "The Lazy Boy") I can safely say I learnt my lesson. But then I decided I could find some way around this and get him to be more interested in placing orders on takeaway nights.

My first attempt was to simplify- cut down the options to the most desirable and throw them at him.
Result: pretty much the same as "I just want food. "

My second attempt was to pick the restaurant and ask him what he'd like from a menu.
Result: He'd end up picking the first chicken item on the list. Which was okay except he kept ordering the same thing. Every. Time.

Finally I just thought 'screw it' and picked whatever I thought worked and left him with a simple choice of 'yes' or 'no'.

The result was amusing. Guess I hadn't learnt my lesson yet.

First impressions

As you all probably know from the famous wedding video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13CZd_A4neE) Ninja and I first interacted online before eventually deciding to meet face to face. Being the internet, we stuck to exchanging basic information and one thing led to another (both of us are sticklers for live conversation- either that or texting, not even Skype). So all we had to each other's credit was a vague face ( an accumulation of all pictures seen so far) and words on a computer screen. More so because I had stressed that I shall NEVER have a shaadi-dot-com-esque account online. Some personal blech against advertising for myself (no offense to those who do use these services, it's probably just me).

So when we actually met in person, it was quite pleasant. And one of the first things we discussed was quite memorable.

My Denial

So I thought I'd record some of my premarital moments where I kept telling things to myself in order to stop myself from losing my mind over this whole marriage business. After all, this comic strip is about Being Mrs Ninja..not Bashing Mr. Ninja.

What I told myself didn't have to be true, as long as it was comforting. And for someone who is least interested/ excited about big weddings (much less their own), even stepping out to pick an engagement outfit could lead to frustrated hair-pulling. Luckily, I had reliable people around to vent and lean on.

One of the first issues I faced after announcing that I was getting married was people asking me, "love or arranged??" They seemed to do this with so much enthusiasm, I couldn't bear to disappoint them by giving them a straight answer.

First/Last trip Home

Taking my husband to my home in the Gulf (yes, I consider it my home since I spent most of my childhood in that house) was a pretty interesting experience for me as I'd never been able to exhibit that part of my world to any of my friends in India.

Seeing things from his perspective gave me a unique view on things, making even the simplest things that I took for granted seem new and different all of a sudden. His questions made me question things that weren't  earlier considered worth questioning.

I think I pretty much covered every aspect of my life there with him..except maybe the food part - where I lived to eat the food there while in his case, please refer to Being Mrs Ninja # 3.

But over all, an interesting trip.