Proud daugther & sister!

Well i think let's give the wedding stuff a rest. The next most eventful moment took place last weekend. Over the years as I was studying, it was always i who was in the limelight - passing my exams, going for my convocation(s) - for diploma and degree and each time my parents and even my sister would be the ones in the audience, proud of my achievements.

On 18th January 2009, it was triple joy and celebration for me. For the first time, it was me seated in the audience at a convocation ceremony but it was even more special because it was not just to celebrate the success of one person but three people. Yes, it was Daddy, Mummy and Penji (my sister) who were receiving their diplomas. Held at the Sime Darby Convention Centre it was a unique experience for us who were attending. I was seated with my husband, brother-in-law and two nephews.

The three of them had signed up for Diploma in TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) at Brickfields Asia College. I watched them as they went through their course and was even designated driver at times when they went to classes and did assignments. It brought back such memories of my own days at college but it was so unique to see my mom and sister doing assignments together.





Congratulations Daddy, Mummy and Penji. You made it! I am so proud of all three of them and there are no words to describe the warm feeling within me as I saw them up on stage receiving their scrolls. To some its just a diploma, but for me, this is a great achievement on the part of my parents being in their 50's and even my sister who is a mother of 2. This is definitely one of those precious moments which I shall never forget.

What's happened since the Engagement?

As usual, being the useless blogger that i am, i have not updated my blog since Oct 2008. Any of you who actually read it will know how irregular i am with my updates, but i have a valid excuse. I was busy planning my wedding(s) - to the same person of course. No doubt it was quite an ordeal, stressful at times, emotional at times but all worth it in the end.

29th October 2009 - Nara & Desiree tied the knot LEGALLY! Our civil marriage ceremony took place at Maju Junction in the morning which was followed by lunch!



That's the proof - our Marriage Certs



Our outings are never complete without him making jokes or disturbing me.



One with the parents!



This was Lunch @ Lake Club.

Well.........after that the next special day was 14th December 2008. Ironically, 14th December 2007 was the first time ever Nara and I set eyes on each other (a story for a different day). It was as if it was all fated. The temple wedding date was given to us by the temple based on both our birth dates as well as the time of birth. This was help as the Bangsar Temple along Jalan Maarof between 7 - 8.30 p.m.



It is customary for the bride to wear the engagement saree which was given by the in-laws. Here i am in my engagement saree waiting for the ceremony to begin. From here i have to do a short ceremony and this is where my in-laws will present me with a tray containing my wedding saree with a garland of flowers.



This is the ceremony before changing to the wedding saree.



Here comes the bride! In a different beat of course.



The moment of truth! Tying the thali. I am officially his wife.

Needless to say it was a beautiful ceremony..it certainly was a nice experience. Following this we had two weeks will be our Church wedding. 27th Dec 2008, we were married in The Church of Divine Mercy, Shah Alam.



This moment i shall never forget! Here comes the bride with daddy.....sniff sniff



In church, saying our vows.



The exchanging of rings......the FINALE!




Mr & Mrs Narajeevan walking out of church....

Well, following this we had a dinner reception at The Crystal Crown Hotel in PJ. I still dont have very clear shots from that night - most of them have been posted by other friends of mine who tagged me on Facebook. But here is what I have.



Mr & Mrs Narajeevan



Well, that's it for now. It was the most memorable month for me. Would not exchange it for any other experience.

Nara and Desiree get engaged

Managed to get some of the pictures, still awaiting more from other friends who took pics but here are some of it :)


My Daddy and me. "Daddy's little girl all grown up"


Me and my Mummy. Both in PINK! Cute eh??


My favourite sister(oopsss...heheh..only have one sister) and me.


Me and my make-up artist - Charan. What would i do without her expertise...sigh!



The female stars of the night..all glittering and bling bling...


And then it was time to change into the saree..



The tying saree process was complete..ready to go and exchange rings with my other half.


He is looking at me but why i am not returning the gesture? Sigh...some people never change right..n by some people i mean me!


He puts the ring on for me. But of course before that he whispers to me to make sure i put out the correct hand..hahahah


And then it was my turn. Of course i told him the same thing too la..give me the correct hand..lucky its still pics or my shaking hands would have been noticeable..



We light the oil lamp together - signifying we are beginning a life together.

Anyways, these aren't all the pictures. I am still waiting for a few more sets from other friends...will post more when there is more..but before i end this entry, my favourite pic for the night - when everything was over and i was in my comfort zone!


Don't we look so comfortable! hehehe

Cheers!

A blend of cultures!

Last weekend I had an "experience". For the pass few weeks, tension had been rising as our engagement ceremony day loomed closer and closer. So many things needed to be done in a short span of time, not to mention normal daily work.

It was rather painful at times, but it was a wonderful experience at long last. Last Saturday, i was officially engaged to my fiance, Narajeevan! He being a Hindu, and me having a mixed parentage of Punjabi and Portugue-Eurasion, what did the ceremony turn out like?

Well we blended it all cultures. It began with the Hindu custom whereby the groom and his family would arrive my house with 5-trays of gifts. One of the gifts is a saree which i had to change into once they arrived. After i successfully got dressed, i was brought downstairs and my fiance and i exchanged rings follow by the lighting of the oil lamp - signifying that we had begun a life together.

Next, we had a short Punjabi customary session called "Sagan" whereby married couple would give us their blessings, feed us some punjabi sweets and sometimes even give presents / gifts / tokens.

Well, that was not the end of course! There was cake! In accordance to Portuguese-Eurasian custom, my father proposed a toast and we cut the cake.

Anyways, a long story short, it was an enjoyable night and an extremely memorable experience. Look out for the pictures, very very soon!

Red Bull Rookies Rock the MME!

It was a tiring weekend, but it was indeed an eventful one. I had the privilege of being "behind the scenes" at the Merdeke Millennium Endurance Race last weekend in support of the Red Bull Rookies.

On Friday 29th August, i spend my whole day there as that was the qualifying day and our Red Bull Rookies came out 2nd - girls can be faster than boys on the track eh? Heheheheh...I am so proud of you gals!

30th August 2008 - THE day! The MME Race kicked off at 11.45 a.m. (fyi- this is a 12-hour race ya). I was thrilled to have the privilege of being with the driver before they began their race. Although i did frequent the paddock area for the training session but this day was a first for me - I WAS ON THE ACTUAL RACE TRACK!!! and i got pictures to prove it :)



From left to right: Me, Irma and Puteri (Red Bull Rookies). And of course Aziz is visible at the back with his camera wearing a red T-shirt. This one was taken on the race track! Like i said i had the picture to prove it. Our Rookies gained a lot of attention. Even the Marshalls came and took pictures ok.

There were also loads of umbrella girls - naturally since almost all of the drivers were men. Check out the most outstanding ones below!



I am NOT the umbrella girl! The very orange ones behind me are! I shall stop here and not comment further on them :)

It was of course and extremely HOT day! I did get a bit of a tan...yippie! Which will render me colourless again though...what to do! But look how this girl copes with the heat!



It's a Hello Kitty mini fan! hahaha..If you own one of this, do not leave home without it. Comes in handy in times like these.


From left to right: ME, Christabel (Red Bull) and Irma (Red Bull). We hung out together throughout the day.

Here is one for the RMM Wall of Fame!


From left to right: Brian Hong (Red Bull), ME, Peter Pek (Mercatus) and Aziz.


The Race Craft: Integra DC 2

I am proud the announce, the Red Bull Rookies made it through the 12-hours and they came out 6th place in their class! In my opinion, simply excellent for first timers in the MME.

Congratulations is in order to the whole team! Well done Red Bull Rookies and congratulations to Red Bull for finding these amazing girls from their Red Bull Female Driver Search last year. Congratulations to Kenvin Low as well, Chief Trainer from AADA - the guy responsible for pushing these girls to their full racing potential.

So ladies, if you are between 18-30 years of age, are able to drive a manual car fairly well and crave for speed, do not miss out on joining the Red Bull Female Driver Search which was recently launched.

Click here to sign up online now!

Age calculator anyone??

Yesterday, my colleague, Aziz suddenly asked me which year i was born in. He had this Excel sheet whereby you just key in your date of birth in the given format and it calculates your age - and i mean your exact age, in years, months, minutes, seconds, etc. Also at the side of it states your "characteristics" based on the month you are born in. After tabulating my own date-of-birth, here are the results:




As of today, here is my age:

Age in years : 24.00
Age in months : 288
Age in days : 8761
Age in hours : 210253
Age in minutes : 12615154
Age in seconds : 756909238
Age in Millisecs: 75690923847
Age in weeks : 61324
You born on : Sunday

And here are my so-called characteristics being born in the month of August:

* Loves to joke
* Attractive
* Suave and caring
* Brave and fearless
* Firm and has leadership qualities
* Knows how to console others
* Too generous and egoistic
* Takes high pride of oneself
* Thirsty for praises
* Extraordinary spirit
* Easily angered
* Angry when provoked
* Easily jealous
* Observant
* Loves to lead and to be led
* Loves to dream
* Talented in the arts, music and defense
* Sensitive but not petty
* Poor resistance against illnesses

Some of the characteristics are quite accurate! Not bad huh? But of course not all of it so please DO NOT think i am all of the above. I have highlighted the once which i think are true about me.

Various reactions - Part 2

Before i begin with the continuation from my last entry, let me just say i have reached my target for this month. And i mean, in the number of blog entries for this month. My target was to have at least 2, and this goes to show my blog isn't a lost cause altogether, there is still hope yet.

Okay, now getting back to the reactions of people when i told them the news of me getting married for the first time. (Once again, names will be changed to protect the ones who wish to stay anonymous)

Scenario 3:

An ex-colleague of mine was chatting with me on gtalk. The main reason she buzzed me was that i had put my status as "lost my phone". So we did the usual hellos, how are you's? and of course we got into how i lost my phone etc. And then we get to the more interesting part.

At 11.30 a.m.

GTalk Girl: So what's new with you?
ME: Hmmmm, well did i already tell you, i am getting married

And there was no reply from her. So i assumed she was away from her desk or busy work so i didnt now pursue it, i just carried on with my work. The at 4.30 p.m. she replies with her telephone number asking to save since i lost my phone. And not two second later my phone rings...it's her of course

GTalk Girl: Hullo
ME: Hi. How are you doing?
GTalk Girl: How did you know it was me?
ME: I recognise your voice la.
GTalk Girl: Hey, you are joking right? I know i have not been keeping in touch much and all. Are you just trying to get my attention by saying you are getting married?
ME: No la...it's for real i am getting married in December.
GTalk Girl: What??? (A bit high pitched) Oh wow! Congrats! I am so happy for you.
ME: Thank you. hehehe..

And that was Scenario 3.

It's interesting to see the reactions of various people. About 3 years ago, i remember pulling a fast one on a friend of mine who was in Canada at that time. We were chatting on MSN and for a few days i was telling him about how I was getting married and the wedding plans and i made it sound so real. This time around, I am really getting married so i decided to drop him an sms.

Scenario 4

So, i send my friend an sms saying i am getting married.

(via sms)
SMS Friend: What? You are kidding...Don't lie.
ME: No, seriously. We met last December and we've been dating a couple of months. We are getting married in December.
SMS Friend: WOW! I am seriously in shock. Congratulations! So give me the juicy details? How did he propose? Who is he? Where is he from?
ME: Well, i'll tell you all the details soon. Just wanted to let you. Call me when you are free alright take care.
SMS Friend: Okay. You too take care.

Well, i thought he had forgotten. About two weeks later my phone rings and it's my SMS Friend.

ME: Hello!
SMS Friend: Hi! How are you la? You bugger you! Getting married huh?
ME: I am okay la. Yeah la. This time it's for real. Not pulling a fast one on you.
SMS Friend: Wow! I can't believe it. Didn't think you'd settle down so soon. But if you are happy i am happy for you.
ME: Yes, i am very happy thanks.

Then we continue talking about the wedding etc. And catching up on each others news.

It has been an interesting experience actually telling people my BIG NEWS. I recall spending most of my college / working life telling people how i would NEVER settle down and get married till i am at least 28. I have learned my lesson. Call me superstitious but i believe when you say things like this, the opposite happens. I did try to learn from my relatives when they used to say they did not want to marry a particular race that's the exact race they fall in love with and end up marrying.

No need to go so far, my mom, in her younger days never liked Punjabi's. Like for real! And look at her today, she has two daughters carrying the name KAUR and she is also known as Mrs Singh. My sister, said the same thing - now she is Mrs Singh as well with two little "Singh" boy as her sons. I was "playing smart". I told everyone never would i criticize a race or say i did not want to end up marrying a certain race. But, i did say i would NEVER settle down till i am in my late 20's.

Nevertheless, i would have to say, no regrets! I always taught that marriage would mean and end to a lot of things. But now, i feel very differently about it. Yes, there would be more responsibilities, but i think i am ready to face it all and the best part about it is, i will never have to face it all on my own anymore.