arcvik-blog-blog

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There have been weddings as flamboyant before, and will be too... But in beauty, love and detail, this wedding will set the standards for decades to come...

Overheard from one super sceptical mama during the reception, June 5, 2011.

Actual tamil text: Panatha mattum eraikkara naraya kalyanam paarthirukken, aana idhu maadri azhagaane kalyanam ippo dhaan paakaren

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Marksman Marc

The hands were tired, supped and weary The sea was calm, the night quite dark And so they sat, as ole man Harry Told the tale of marksman Mark

“Yo careful mate, the sea’s a strange yee heard them story, heard ‘em tales” That’s old Harry, at Skipper’s Range With a voice as windy, windy gale…

“Guns were fingers, swords for hands The best they come,  marksman Mark Knights and princes, and thieving bands He’d fight ‘em blindfolded, in the dark

“And on the days, with peace on deck He’d toy his lookin glass, east When all ye lads be a drunken wreck He be looking for trouble, that beast

“To what, forever, his eyes beseech Brows furrowed, pearly sweat Not one answer did me party reach Us pirates appetite whet

“Yet in the summers, streams of light Docked in the city of the old Some days when one could catch his sight Empty, for glory and gold

“And then it happened for marksman Mark Oh Yes, the day a pirate set free the sea, the weeds, the salt, the shark the soil, the land and the tree

“That day, not much unlike before Perched in the mast since dark Waiting to catch the songs of lore Waiting for destiny, his arc

“He heard the song, the promised song The song his heart well knew The song, so promised in memories long The song that made him new

“He was lookin in the lookin glass Yonder, yo, “Yee, Yonder Oh!” There she stood, him wonder lass His eyes reflected the glow

“As we shipmen called him on, For our marksman no longer cared Off the boat, he was all but gone And chase him, none us dared

“It took me shipmen seven days And seven confused nights And yet there some are sayers nay Though in fear, their skins turn white

“But to us, that love firmly believe We see him often swim On moony nights and full moons eve Though we dare ‘nt call out him

“For haveth he power, that may burn our flesh Yes, our sinned souls, without spark A fear of tangles, the tangled mesh The chasm he crossed, marksman Mark

“Us pirates life, in loot and plunder Riches that deem us fit Treasures, riches, rum a spleandor But a life with meaning nit

At this called out through the rowdy noise A voice of seven and ten The pirate looked on for the youngest voice The voice of the cleaning boy, Ben

“Could a pirate, claws and patches Blooded hands, and glove No code, no conduct, no deals no latches Ever, forever, be in love?”

A smile of teeth, rotten old He turned, the boy did titter, ” That’s why this story’s told!” went on Harry, the Skipper

“And yet our marksman, his soul She cleansed Queen of  oceans, Goddess, She The bringer of joys beyond the fence Of life itself, you’d agree

“Her anklets bright, ’Neath water, that moon Silver dance, the waves did part A voice of magic, a glance, a boon And the rightful owner of our marksman’s heart

“Ever, forever, as we chase the horizon Eternal bliss, eternal joys And even today in silence, listen For you can hear their gleeful voice

“So keep your spirits, for if you were made, Keep it burning, ye feed yer spark Pick yer glasses, and drop ye mead And recite the story, of marksman Mark..

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Some of our mutually liked pics :)

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Sowcarpet: Shopping in the Final Frontier

I have lived in the magical city of Chennai for a straight 23 years. I have stayed out nights at Bessy. I have cycled from the north (Kolathur) to south-ish (Ashok Nagar), and west (K.K.Nagar) to east (Adyar). I have ridden the miserable bus, the worse-than-2G-scam Auto, the rickshaws to school with Anthony Muthu, vans and the grocery guy's tricycle. I have been the single source of directions and 'how-to's around the city. I was amongst the first to try American sweet corn outside T.Nagar Nilgiris. While I do not specifically enjoy it, I can even drive around Pondy Bazar at peak hours and not end up with a heart attack.

So you would think a I would have a fair idea of the true north. The dark realms beyond central. Legend has it that the area was once the nerve center of the city. Burma bazar was the piracy heaven for everything, from robotic cars to fake perfume. There was the entire area north of the present day harbor that even the Brits avoided. And that is where the story begins. About two weeks ago.

Arc decided to get some wedding shopping done and someone told us about Sowcarpet. Once you get past the narrow roads, narrower lanes, even narrower sub-lanes, and the super narrow sub-sub lanes, you get into rows of wholesale trinket shops.

I have had my fair share of fancy stores and last minute art work for school, but somehow I have never for a moment thought of someone stocking up and specializing in trinkets. Or a specific kind for that matter.

We waltzed through rubber band stores, hair clip stores, bangle stores, bindis, satin ribbons, false hair, semi false hair, fancy jewellery and a whole area specializing in stuff that you would never remember past the fancy store.

From a shopping POV, I guess Arc had a field day, but I was just amazed at a thriving economy in a part of my city that I have so far avoided. In hindsight, I also realized why I had avoided that part in the first place :D

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Officially us!

                                               Vikram and I are an obnoxious couple making it all the more extremely difficult for people to take an instant liking to us. But really, if you did think you had the smarts you wouldn ask me if the tumblr is to appease the non-likers. See, I told you. we are obnoxious like that, if it truly holds good to your purposed lexical definition on ‘living obnoxious’. But getting down to the brass-tacks, it is only rare that you meet people who are A+100% authentically remarkable like you. It is also –for the lack of a perfect synonym- close to impossibility (for the probability is never zero) that you meet the you in someone else. Vikram is just me . He is crazily random, calls himself a geek(which he is, if I may add), cannot survive in a dumb environment, swears over the genius that is Gounder , will not remember names and numbers, keeps recollecting Harry potter spells when he should be eating bananas and is a thoroughbred anti-social deep inside. And that’s just me, leave alone the OCD and the foot in the mouth syndrome. Amusingly albeit, we have had similar experiences with our life before the advent of the other …oh yes, you are at liberty to go forth and tag coolness. I honestly believe that it is our love for learning that connects us the best. Whoever said like poles repel? See, we defy physics. We are notorious and that’s copious enough to make us click. I was forewarned against emotional posts. You din’t ask me that but you were warned of the foot in the mouth. Thasaal.

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And they lived happily ever after... A brief comic strip of our story...

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We can't spell "Marriage!" without "!"

We live in a highly binary world, with binary rules and binary interpretations. Insurance, bank accounts, rentl agreements, feedback forms... The choice sets are set in binary.

The past seven-or-so months following our engagement in september last have been truly amazing. But here we are now, to cross the gray non-binary region and get to the place that personal data forms approve of- Marriage!

Most people look forward to the day they get married at least a few weeks before the D-day. For us, the entirity of this period has been a continuous adrenaline pump, filled with excited plans, elaborate strategies, tactical insights, and of course, back-breaking shopping.

We know weddings seem to increasingly become mass-produced, sub-sub-sub-contracted outputs of the industrial revolution. Which, clearly, doesn't make much sense from the "greatest day of our lives" perspective. The key, we decided is to not just throw in four priests, a hall and a three-course meal spread across two days.  Personally, we have tried to put in a bit of "us" into every little aspect... Which means there is added context for those that know us, and there is an element of fun for everyone. And that is why we are not just hosting a marriage on the fifth of June... Welcome to the Marriage!