You Can Call Me Bobby

Due to the overwhelming demand from my adoring readers (mgd expressed interest), here are some notes about the Sat (10/25) & Sun (10/26) events surrounding Dev's wedding.

Saturday
My parents were returning to India today after a stay of almost 4 months. We borrowed Vinay's minivan so that we could all go in one vehicle. We left home around 8.30am and were well in time for checking into the 1.10pm Cathay flight.
We left LAX around 12.30pm and started the 42 mile drive to Diamond Bar, where we were going to stay overnight. Traffic got a bit nasty and we were all getting hungry. We finally pulled off the 60 to find food and ended up in a McDonald's. Food was no good, but the new decor was pretty pleasing. The McCafe was decent also - Starbucks or Peet's is better I think. We eventually reached Ayres Suites in Diamond Bar, checked-in and tried to catch a nap. Nice rooms, with a mini-fridge and microwave in every room.
Folks were dressing up for the party, so Prem took some photos before we left - yet to see them. Cocktail party was in Covina - nice town, felt almost like the main drag in Santa Barbara. We were almost an hour late, but turned out that most folks were just trickling in. Party was in the clubhouse of a condo complex - interesting layout- there was a sitting area with very low seats and a deck outside that over looked the pool. There was another room that had an ancient tv and kids were able to watch some videos through the night.
It was a casual affair, the newly minted husband and wife were milling about greeting the guests. Donna's BIL (Mohit) who lives in London is in banking and I had a chat with him about the current crisis. I got insights from the inside. Food was mostly finger foods from Costco and Trader Joe's. Prem was spiking the margarita with extra tequila and gave me one of those. After a few sips I had to strategically dispose it.
The restrooms provided some challenges. They were accessed from the TV room, but had two doors, and you had to close the outer one since the inner one did not quite close. Figuring out if somebody was inside was a challenge since the outer door also got stuck. At one point I had gone in and found myself locked in. Turned out the the outer door had the lock on the outside (!) and our little guy, Abhi, had helpfully turned the lock. I felt a little silly banging on the door.
Eventually, the main floor was cleared and some dancing broke out. Both Dev and Donna were (somewhat reluctantly) pressed into the action, but they showed some moves. Mohit was the impressive dancer - that guy can shake a leg! Around 10-ish, we left along with the other Kumars.

Sunday
There was banging outside our door quite early which I ignored for a while. Finally opened the door and Rams and Jothis were ready for bkfast. We eventually headed down for the free buffet. It wasn't much, but ok. We tried playing some poker on three ipods, but the network was weak and the game kept exiting. Soon other folks came down for bkfast - Kapoors, Palakodetys (jr & sr).
We had a sorry lunch at Chilli's and returned to the room. All 8 kumars were now in one room since we decided to split the late checkout fee. 7 kumars were trying to take a nap and Arjun was watching a show on my computer. I gave him headphones to cut off the sound, but that strategy was rendered moot when he started laughing at the show. Amazingly we all got ready and headed out on time.
There was child care arranged at the reception, but that turned out to be mostly a bust. Kids were wandering out freely and the smaller ones were bawling their heads off and several parents were in attendance. Abhi was one such and eventually we gave up trying to keep him there and took him into the reception proper. The hall was filled with round tables and we were all assigned seating. At our table were p&v, s&s, k&h, and Sanjay & Bhoj. Sanjay stayed seated since he didn't want to expose the jeans that he had worn to the fancy party. Over 200 folks were expected. Appetizers had been served and Dev and Donna were greeting guests. It was a very festive occasion.
After a while the MC called the party to order and we got going with a series of speeches from close family and friends. The SD end was held up by Kaushik and Rahul. Kaushik highlighted the TG96 trip and by prior arrangement, we (ie, other participants on that trip) broke into cheers. Rahul mentioned drinking to Pink Floyd with the dude, but I don't recall much else. I felt like speaking myself - the whole hiking/outdoorsy side of Dev didn't come up. The family speeches were quite touching and when friends of Donna spoke about how she felt about Dev, I saw many a female eye being dabbed. Dev's sister (Deepa) spoke at length and a la "Cosmo" Kramer, we learnt that while Dev may be the Dude to us, he is "Bobby" to them. Finally, we got to see a short slide-show of Dev & Donna's pictures and the tables were released for dinner. Just before that, a gentleman came up and sang a song from the movie "Kohinoor." Very nice. There was also a dance by Dev's 5 (?) yr old niece that was really cute.
After dinner, the couple had undergone a sartorial shift - Dev was now in a smashing suit (the first time that he was not in an Indian outfit) along with a beautiful pink tie, that sort of reminded me of the Donald. They proceeded to cut the 3-tier cake and Donna had a surprise for Dev - she had been taking voice lessons (urged by Dev) and now sang a song for him. I was very impressed by her gumption to do that in front of 200 people.
Now it was time for the first dance and in the few weddings I have gone to here, the couple just does the first few bars of a slow number and then the parents join in and very soon the rest of the guests follow. Not so here. Dev & Donna had other plans - they had a carefully scripted dance prepared. When they segued into a tango, I knew they were very serious about the whole thing. They even had a finish planned for each routine. For those who know the real dude, this was very much in character.
It was getting late now and after taking a short turn around the dance floor it was time to leave. The gals (Keerthi, Latha, Vanitha) were having a good time on the dance floor. The Rams had to drive 7 hrs to Menlo Park and were last seen dashing out in their PJs (yeah, they changed before starting the drive). The drive back was uneventful and we got back home around 11pm.
It had been a whirlwind of a weekend - driving back & forth on Friday, my parents leaving, two receptions, emotional speeches, and the Dude getting married. I was still a bit dazed on Monday and it took the better part of the day to get back to normalcy.