Hi everyone! Tess here. We're so glad to have Maggie back with us, and we're really excited to have a new member added to our doll family: Rachel. :) I'm glad you're all enjoying reading Maggie's posts about her vacation. She had a wonderful time. I love all the pics that Mama took! It makes me wish I'd been able to go too.
We had lots of fun here, though. I meant to do a post or two while Mama was gone, but we were all so busy eating snacks, playing together, reading, listening to music, and enjoying the freedom of a house to ourselves, that I just never got around to it! :D
One of the most fun things we did during Mama's vacation was our movie night. As promised, Mama added "Vivah" to her Netflix queue, and it came a few days before she left. Mama watched it first and said it was WONDERFUL and she wanted her own copy. Since it was Piper's favorite movie, Mama agreed to leave it here so that Piper could watch it while Mama was gone.
So, Wednesday night, Piper asked Emma if she'd like to see "Vivah". Of course, Emma said yes without hesitation. There's nothing she enjoys more than a good Bollywood movie!
I think Emma was also excited to share an experience with her sister. She and Charlie are still trying to get to know Piper, but Piper's so quiet and introspective that it's hard work trying to get close to her. I can certainly understand being quiet and shy myself. Piper's a different type of quiet, though. I'm too timid to voice my opinions (which is why I love writing them instead), but with Piper, it's almost like she doesn't have the need to voice things. She feels things inwardly and ponders them instead of expressing them. It's going to take some getting used to, especially for Emma, who loves to talk through EVERYTHING she's thinking or feeling. I think she feels like she can't communicate with Piper sometimes. I'm hoping that as they get used to each other, they'll figure all this out.
Anyway, back to movie night. As Emma and Piper started heading for the living room, Emma asked if anyone else wanted to join them. Katie declined, as she was in the middle of reading Kingscote by Linda Chaikin and almost to her favorite part. Hailey was in the middle of a scrapbooking page, and Charlie didn't feel like sitting through a movie (she normally doesn't, unless it's a Disney Pixar movie). Emma finally got to me and asked the same question.
While I'm not as big on Bollywood as Emma is, I don't necessarily mind Bollywood movies in moderation. I wasn't really in the middle of anything at the time, and I was also feeling the desire to get to know Piper better, so I agreed to go with them.
"Hey," Emma said as we started to leave. "We should all get in our PJs! That way we'll be all comfy and can hop right in bed when we're done!" That's another great thing about being home during Mama's family's vacations...we get our choice of the 4 big beds in the house. :)
"Sounds great!" I agreed.
We all turned back to get changed. When we were all ready, we met at the doorway of the room, fully dressed in our comfy PJs.
"I'll take care of the popcorn...you girls go find the movie!" Emma said excitedly.
Piper and I barely had time to nod in agreement before Emma shot down the hallway, her excitement nearly bubbling over. Piper and I exchanged an amused glance.
"My sister is very...exuberant, isn't she?" Piper said thoughtfully.
I chuckled. "You have no idea...especially when it comes to Bollywood, Disney, Nascar, or Jane Austen!"
Piper smiled. "She has a lot of interests."
"Yes, but that's what makes her so interesting," I pointed out.
Piper's smile deepened. "She does seem to be well-loved by all of you."
"She is," I agreed. "She's a lot of fun to be around...and she loves to talk, which is nice for non-talkative people like me."
Piper glanced at me, waiting for an explanation.
"I never have to think of what to say when I'm with her. She fills all of the silences by herself," I finished.
She laughed, a light, silvery sound. "That is nice," she agreed. "Everyone always wishes I would say more, but I've never understood the need to fill silences just because I can. If I don't have anything worth saying, I'd rather sit and enjoy the quiet."
I sighed. "I wish more of us thought that way. I get really stressed trying to think of something worth saying when the conversation is lagging. And Emma says quiet spots in conversations make her nervous, so she just starts saying whatever comes into her head. Or so she's told me."
By this time, we were in the living room. We could already hear the popcorn popping in the microwave. Emma had wasted no time...she was ready to watch that movie!!
I gave Piper a boost up to the cedar chest, where Mama had left the movie for us. I could see Piper's eyes sparkling with excitement as she pulled the movie out of the red envelope.
With some difficulty, we managed to get the movie in and the remotes down with us. In the background, we heard the microwave timer beep and the door open and slam shut. I could hear Emma ripping the bag open, and if I listened hard enough, I could just catch the sound of soft popcorn hitting the bowl.
Piper and I were just moving Mama's girls' Disney Princess couch over in front of the TV when we heard Emma's "Oh, great!!" from the kitchen.
I turned to Piper. "I'll go see what the problem is," I offered.
When I got there, I saw Emma standing on the counter with the bag of popcorn beside her...and a big pile of popcorn on the floor.
"It came out so fast...I didn't notice the bowl was overflowing until it was too late!" Emma said in exasperation.
I hid a smile. This was a typical Emma thing. She would get into something without thinking it all the way through, and then get frustrated when it went wrong. With just a bit of careful planning, most of her mishaps would have been avoidable. She preferred "winging it" instead.
Well, never let it be said that we dolls don't clean up after ourselves! Within moments, Emma and I had the dustpan and dust broom and were sweeping up the mess.
Emma was grateful for the help. It was hard handling the huge dustpan and the little broom by yourself. :)
When we'd cleaned everything up, Emma handed the bowl down to me (after taking my recommendation and transferring the popcorn to a plastic bowl instead). We took it into the other room. Piper was waiting patiently on the couch, fast-forwarding through all of the previews and getting to the main menu.
"Are we all ready?" she asked from her seat in the middle of the couch. Emma and I nodded. We each chose a spot on either side of her. It was decided that Piper should hold the popcorn since she was in the middle. That way, everyone could reach it.
"Let's do this!" Emma said happily. "I'm so excited to see this movie!" We all took a handful of popcorn as Piper pushed play.
Emma and I had both brought our teddy bears to snuggle with. My bear was a Miss AG Bear that Mama got for me when she bought me my red AG nightshirt. They'd come in a lot together on eBay. Isn't she adorable?
Emma, of course, brought her Shahrukh Bear. I mean, who would be more appropriate to bring to a Bollywood movie than a teddy bear named after the "King of Bollywood"? (Emma refers to Shahrukh Khan that way constantly, which is the only reason I know that.) :)
It didn't take us long to get hooked on the story. :) We loved pretty Poonam (Amrita Rao is gorgeous!!) and her sweet, goofy sister/cousin Choti. Prem was so sweet...and not bad looking, either! They both had wonderful families...overall (I don't want to give too much away!).
Choti and Poonam during the song "O Jiji" (Oh Sister).
Here are Poonam and Prem during another one of our favorite songs...sorry I can't remember the exact name. I don't speak Hindi, you know. :}
Some of the funny scenes from "Hamari Shaadi Mein".
Two Poonams?
It was all around just a sweet, clean little story that reminded us of a "twitterpated" (to borrow the phrase from Bambi) high school romance...except it was centered around older characters entering an arranged marriage. Wow, I can't imagine getting engaged to someone I'd only met once!
And then, all of a sudden, tragedy struck, right in the middle of the storyline. It was so unexpected and horrible! The movie had a happy ending, but my goodness! We went through almost a whole box of tissue between the three of us. The funny thing is, Piper knew it was coming, and she still cried just as much as Emma and I did!
True love tested to the extreme.
When it was over, (THANKFULLY with a happy ending, or Emma and I would have been really upset), Piper didn't say anything. You could tell she was content to just sit there and revel in the beautiful love story we'd just witnessed.
I sniffed and wiped my eyes one more time. "Wow."
Emma and Piper turned to me.
"I'll always prefer Jane Austen movies," I continued, "but that was a beautiful story."
Emma agreed, setting down her most recent piece of tissue. "This one's right up there with 'Veer-Zaara'," she sniffled. "I still like 'Veer-Zaara' better because 'Vivah' doesn't have Shahrukh in it, but this one was great! It's so nice to find another Bollywood movie that doesn't have a lot of over-sensual songs in it. That's my main complaint with these movies, as much as I love them."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Piper said quietly, wiping the last remaining traces of her tears away. "I hope Mama decides to get a copy like she said."
"Me too!" Emma agreed. "Thanks for showing it to us."
"Maybe we should do another movie night," I suggested.
"That's a great idea!" Emma agreed enthusiastically. "I have tons of movies I could show you!" She hesitated. "What do you think, Piper?"
Piper smiled. "I'd like that."
"It's settled, then. Tess, maybe you should pick the next movie since it was your idea."
"Okay," I said, already thinking about which one I would choose.
We turned off the TV and started cleaning up our tissue. It had been a really fun night. I couldn't wait to do another one soon. :)
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Here are some fun online pics we found from the movie. :)
Below you'll find a link to a video of our very favorite part of the movie: "Hamari Shaadi Mein", the song Prem sings on the plane. Sorry, this particular version does not have subtitles, but it has a really clear picture. After you watch this, you can find several versions on YouTube with English subtitles that have a fuzzier picture.
Basically, all you need to know is that Prem is on his way back to his hometown after being away for about a month. He really misses his bride-to-be, and therefore starts imagining that she is on the plane with him (in several different personas). There are also a few scenes of his actual bride-to-be preparing to meet him at the airport.
Prem is basically saying, "Our wedding day is four weeks away and I'm really excited." Honestly, that's pretty much the main thought of the song. It's really fun and lighthearted, though. We actually rewound (rewinded?) it and watched it again after the movie was over, we liked it so much. :)
Click HERE to see the video. :)
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