Shima Mirkarimi

A Persian Girls Guide to a Tamil Wedding

Here are a few tips I had that I think will be useful for [Persian] girls marrying Tamil boys:

1. Make sure your hair is neatly done up. It doesn’t have to be in a bun but it should probably be up.

2. Make sure you have tried on your sari before hand, make sure the blouse fits and be observant about the areas of your body that will require that extra attention (Read: wax*) for the day of the ceremony. (*You’re Persian, the sooner you accept it the easier it will be.)

3. Have someone who knows how to put on a sari pleat and iron the sari and help dress you.

4. Try on the earrings before hand, make sure they are not too big and your ear hole can accommodate the earrings.

5. When walking to the place of the ceremony, you should kick the pleads with your feet ever so slightly so that you do not trip on them as you walk.

6. During the ceremony make sure your sari’s head piece isn’t caught under you when you sit down, it should fall over your shoulder and over the chair you are sitting on.

7. If you will be changing into a white dress make sure one of your friends helps you put on the dress and avoid any contact with the red powder that will be on your forehead and Thali.

8. Ask someone if you can wipe off the red powder of the Thali off after the ceremony so it doesn’t get on your white dress. Ram says that you aren’t actually allowed to wipe it off… Anyways just be careful. Also I think the powder should wash out if it does get on your dress. I’ll let you know once I pick up my dress from the dry cleaners.

9. Make sure your blouse is not too tight that your bra leaves imprints on your boobs, especially if you have a low cut white dress you are putting on later.

10. Have some body tape on you incase of last minute adjustments you need to make so you look perfect in that white dress.

11. If you have to wear the Thali forever, you will notice it will pluck your body hair, or head hair once in a while. That’s what you get for being Persian and marrying someone who’s Tamil. hah

June 14th

Ram and I got married over the weekend in Ram’s parent’s backyard. Everything about the day was perfect, no doubt thanks to Ram’s parents, brothers, The Cousins, and my family and friends.

Why Shomal (North Restaurant) in North York Sucks.

Against my better judgement I decided to listen to my parents and order some Persian food from Shomal to compliment the Indian food that Ram’s parents were serving at the wedding.

On Wednesday prior to the wedding I went in and spoke to the owner of the restaurant told him what I needed, for how many people I needed it for, what time I needed things delivered and where they should be delivered. He said he would do it for me.

Saturday evening the driver was 1/2 hour late, and when he did finally arrive he was rude and left the food at the door of the backyard and didn’t bother bringing anything inside.

Sunday lunch time the food never arrived because the owner had given the kitchen the wrong time for delivery. (When I called the restaurant to inquire about the food I was passed on to at least three different people and finally was told that they could do nothing for me, and they did not know who I was and that I had gotten the wrong person etc. etc. etc. Mind you I was not yelling or arguing, I was just calling to ask about the food and I even said “please and thank you” a whole bunch of times.) Finally I got a hold of the owner and I asked him for my money back for the food that had not arrived. He agreed.

Monday evening I went into the restaurant to ask for my money back. After asking for the manager in charge, I was sent a server who said he couldn’t help me. I asked him if I could speak to someone in charge, and I was sent the same delivery guy who had come late on Saturday. I explained the situation to him and he told me he couldn’t do anything for me because he was not in charge. I asked him to direct me to the person in charge and was told the owner was not in and I should come another day. I asked him to call the owner which he refused. Good thing I had his cell phone number, so I called him and the owner told his staff to give me the money back.

After 1/2 an hour of getting passed on from one person to another person and being told that they couldn’t do anything for me I was asked to sign a paper and finally got my money back. The delivery guy had the nerve to say that I was a bad customer.

I wouldn’t recommend ever ordering any large orders from the restaurant and I promise to never go there again even after being a loyal customer since they first opened. I also refuse to ever deal with Persian caterers other than people I know personally. Seriously, I’ve had some bad experience with so many of the restaurants in North York I don’t know why I even bother going back.

My first pedicure

Being the big tomboy that I am was I never had the desire to have someone peal all the hard earned calluses [from karate] off my foot. So it’s not a big surprise that my first pedicure only happened today. It only happened because a) my friends bought me a gift certificate and b)The wedding is coming up. I’m not sure I will do it again. It didn’t hurt that much, but it felt a little unnatural. Maybe if I go more often then it wouldn’t feel so unnatural. So anyways my feet are all nice and smooth and have very little calluses, which is going to be an interesting experience when I go back to karate next week. I’ll have to make sure to buy a huge bag of epsom salt to soak my blistered feet when I get back from class. Fun!

Post-Pre-Wedding Party

Thanks to everyone for showing up for the Pre-Wedding Party! Ram has promised me he’s going to make a Flickr group, so you guys can add your pictures to that! Do it!

Big Shout outs go to Roshi and all her wonderful helpers! You guys amaze me. I need to learn some mehmoon navazi from you guys!

"You've gotten so pretty tonight"

Whenever I’m home alone I listen to Persian music. If that makes me a geek, I don’t care. Any ways, after talking to a lady who does the Persian Wedding Table cloth thing, I realise that I am the least Persian person in the whole world. I don’t know anything about Persian weddings! I should have probably started wedding stuff earlier, like six months earlier. heh