Re: “baat pakki”
Dang..uhm… well we had our “baat pakki” over the phone, actually, two years ago this week 
Our families formally met each other in August, it was me and my parents and my uncle and his parents + bhabhis + brothers.. my MIL gave me a suit and a ring, and my parents gave him cash and a ring. That was pretty much it. Two days later, we had a more “formal” engagement, basically they put a duputta on me and everyone fed us mithai and we put rings (the same ones from baat pakkis) on each other. it was all for pics, but it was fun 
(Sara)