Marriage is...

... when he laughs at the jokes she cracks, even the ones she doesn't find funny
... experimental, creative cooking
... when she goes bonkers over the silliest things and all he does is listen. Intently. That's all she needed in the first place
... all the movies they have seen together in the few short months
... stupid, baseless arguments. Anywhere. Home, elevators, cars, parking lots, airports, trains. And feeling very stupid about them later
... when she first tolerates and then falls in love with depressing NGC shows and he just about tolerates all the tad bit too non-depressing reality shows
... guzzling litres of beer on their personal karaoke nights at home
... her feet finding his beneathe the comforter at night, even after a big fight
... when he spends all his morning looking for a bus route for her to commute to an interview in the other end of the city, and then he drives her to the interview instead
... waking up to his smiles
... hunting together for the best biryani in town
... that extra spoon of sugar in her tea
... finding out that the one place where she can really be herself, with all her hits and misses, is in those hugs he gives her a million times a day
... admiring together the wonders of a personal music device
... wondering why tickets have suddenly started costing twice of what they used to
... going for movies at 10 am so they cost the same as they did before marriage
... his extensive research on any gadget that she wants to buy, because he won't let her laziness get into his perfectionist ways :)
... when he pretends that she is the boss, and she revels in the glory of her recent promotion :P
... learning to put his white shirts separately in the washing machine so they don't end up pink
... sharing dreams. Career, family, children - life
... going to Mother Earth for a manic Kurta shopping spree when it was supposed to be a lazy Satuday afternoon
... when he gives up many Saturday morning cricket sessions, nets practice if you will. And willingly too... WHHHOOOAAA!!! :D
... rediscovering the good things in life they had recently forgotten. Like chocolates. Like Metallica.
... back to back episodes of 24 all night, all month
... financial planning. A lot of it!
... what he thinks is learning to live with a female :P
... unsolicited advice/ feedback. On everything starting from the amount of oil and jeera in food to her blog posts
... their conversations (and often, her monologues)... And how they always just go on... And on. And on. To soon become what he calls the background music of his life
... when she wakes up in the middle of the night and listens to his quiet snoring, looks at his childlike innocence, feels his arms around herself, and then falls asleep with a smile on her face
... everything that shared smiles can mean
... when he launches into a random monologue in Bihari or walks around the house wearing her shades and she falls off the chair laughing and wondering how someone can be so sane and so, so mad at the same time
... finding this little place with orange walls and two balconies many months ago, and making a home out of it.
... the smell of morning tea and Sunday evening coffee
... when he wonders why the bathroom in his one time bachelor pad has suddenly been smelling like a "tropical rainforest"
... going grocery shopping together, and for some strange reason, laughing through the ordeal
... when his car becomes "their" and yet the gyaan on banging the car door too hard never stops
... a little bit of knowing and a lot of discovering
... the camaraderie, the friendship, this knowledge that they are growing up together, and that, many years from now, they will grow old together and will have a history of their own
... this comfortable, effortless, everyday love...

Disclaimer: This post has been on my mind for months and I resisted. But I give in now. To the temptation of writing mush :)