I'll be honest, by the time I was applying finishing mascara touches, my fingers were swaying. I wondered if this was why the norm was to hire a make-up artist on your wedding day. Thank god I had kept it simple on the hair front. I had asked for a floral crown, and I imagined this meant I could get away with leaving my hair loose. By the time aunt Monika came by to deliver it, on Saturday morning, I was more or less dressed up.

There was just Johanna and me in the room. She had helped me wear my Kantha sari like a lehenga skirt. I knew I was not the kind who'd be patient enough to go to a salon and get my hair or make-up 'done', just like I would never be the kind to wear a white wedding gown.