We finally got engaged on Friday November 28th, 2008, in a small ceremony, it was only a family affair.

We were wondering how it would turn out, since Bhavika is a Jain and I am a Catholic, so to avoid any issues between our parents and to satisfy their desire to involve religion, we decided to exchange rings both ways - have a Jain Pujari (a religious person who conducts ceremonies) as well as a Deacon.

Fortunately, it all went very well. It started off with the Jain ritual, where both our mothers had to exchange coconuts, because the water in the coconut is a symbol of pure love. These coconuts had to be then placed in a temple.

Our mothers then put sugercane jaggery in each others mouth as a symbol of good luck in Jain rituals. After which it was our turn to be part of it, the pujari chanted some prayers. Then Bhavika's sister sweetened my taste buds with jaggery and my sister did the same for Bhavika.

Next we had the Deacon who explained the entire ceremony to us, after asking the Pujari what he did. He then proceeded by giving us a small talk about how we should be open towards understanding each others' tradition and culture. Following which he read a short para from the Bible and asked everyone present to bless our rings. We then exchanged rings, unsure of which hand and finger the rings go on :) But you can see the excitement on our face. The ceremony was followed by delicious Jain lunch, which is basically pure vegetarian food, it does not include any vegetable or root that grows underground. So no potatoes, onions or carrots allowed.

We had Jain Kachoris and Dhokla as starters, mouth-watering stuff that was. Our lunch menu included Methi Malai Mattar, Paneer Makhanwala, Dal Tadka, Jeera rice, Curd and Lassi. That's not it, we had Indian desserts as well, Rasgullas, Jelabis and Balushe. Yeah it was quite a heavy meal :) Here we are the two love birds, it was a pleasent event that passed by smoothly and will be embedded in our memories forever.