The valima has occurred, and it’s all over now. It struck me for the first time that this is clearly intended as a sort of reward for the girl’s side; we do the arrangements and hosting for most of the other events, and then when the rest is over, we sit back and get hosted.
I wore a sari I had really looked forward so, one purchased from an elderly woman selling off her dowry. It is a magnificent old banarsi, made of very thick grey silk woven with rich gold, heavy enough that it felt a little warm in a Karachi winter.
We went first to a relative’s salon for my final (thank heaven) blowdry and also had my makeup done by a new bride of the family. She was very sweet and earnest, but didn’t really understand my tastes so I had to enlist a sister to surreptitiously wipe some of it off when I had examined it in the mirror with my glasses on. But the reduced makeup looked good, though unusual for me, so it was all fine.
This morning has been usually still, as work has not yet come through either.