No silly, not ours!! :)
In January, Jo and I flew back to Mumbai (yes, we had been there already during that terrible monsoon season in the summer of 2005) and now we went back to see one of my great friends get married to the love of her life :)
We went for a week and as you probably know there is no monsoon in January and it's actually summer time there so it was a great break from the cold for us!
The wedding was to be a traditional Indian wedding - so a 3 day ceremony was awaiting us - and no, it was not like Monsoon Wedding because my friends are not Punjabi...
So, on with the story... what do you get when the son of the highest non-elected official of the state of Maharashtra gets married to the daughter of a guy who works for the richest man in India as well as having I don't know how many companies under his wings -- the most spectacularly opulent wedding you will ever see in your life!
Out of Dee's (the bride) 5 great friends only Dora and I were able to come, with our respective significant others...
And out of the 3,000 - yes, that many - people at the last ceremony of the last day our dear friends Dee and Sanjoy had only invited 30...So we got the feeling that a rich wedding in India is a lot like networking - you have to invite just about everyone that is, or can be, important for the parents' careers...
So, I figure the best way to do this is by splitting the days of the ceremony...I'll try not to be too boring or detailed and let the pictures speak for themselves :)
We arrived on Wednesday and had a lovely reunion with Dee's family before we were whisked away by the happy couple for dinner and partying the night away...As we had not been to a club the last time we were there we were a bit curious...although I have to admit that it was quite hard for Jo and I to amuse ourselves freely thinking that just outside on the sidewalk there were about a dozen families with little babies living in very precarious conditions...Well, we made the best of it and actually ended up meeting a very nice Swedish couple with whom we ended up spending the entire next day visiting Mumbai and Colabba fish and vegetable market before Dora and Claudio arrived.
So, on to the ceremony...
Day 1:
Sanjoy (the groom) is part Jewish so we had a small Jewish prayer ceremony in the morning with just the family and well us, followed by a nice lunch...
Then in the afternoon, the boys were free to wander and the girls had to "babysit" the bride as she dons on her bridal henna...let's just say that she had to stay still while 3 other women designed intricate patterns on her arms and feet for about 5 hours!!!!
In January, Jo and I flew back to Mumbai (yes, we had been there already during that terrible monsoon season in the summer of 2005) and now we went back to see one of my great friends get married to the love of her life :)
We went for a week and as you probably know there is no monsoon in January and it's actually summer time there so it was a great break from the cold for us!
The wedding was to be a traditional Indian wedding - so a 3 day ceremony was awaiting us - and no, it was not like Monsoon Wedding because my friends are not Punjabi...
So, on with the story... what do you get when the son of the highest non-elected official of the state of Maharashtra gets married to the daughter of a guy who works for the richest man in India as well as having I don't know how many companies under his wings -- the most spectacularly opulent wedding you will ever see in your life!
Out of Dee's (the bride) 5 great friends only Dora and I were able to come, with our respective significant others...
And out of the 3,000 - yes, that many - people at the last ceremony of the last day our dear friends Dee and Sanjoy had only invited 30...So we got the feeling that a rich wedding in India is a lot like networking - you have to invite just about everyone that is, or can be, important for the parents' careers...
So, I figure the best way to do this is by splitting the days of the ceremony...I'll try not to be too boring or detailed and let the pictures speak for themselves :)
We arrived on Wednesday and had a lovely reunion with Dee's family before we were whisked away by the happy couple for dinner and partying the night away...As we had not been to a club the last time we were there we were a bit curious...although I have to admit that it was quite hard for Jo and I to amuse ourselves freely thinking that just outside on the sidewalk there were about a dozen families with little babies living in very precarious conditions...Well, we made the best of it and actually ended up meeting a very nice Swedish couple with whom we ended up spending the entire next day visiting Mumbai and Colabba fish and vegetable market before Dora and Claudio arrived.
So, on to the ceremony...
Day 1:
Sanjoy (the groom) is part Jewish so we had a small Jewish prayer ceremony in the morning with just the family and well us, followed by a nice lunch...
Then in the afternoon, the boys were free to wander and the girls had to "babysit" the bride as she dons on her bridal henna...let's just say that she had to stay still while 3 other women designed intricate patterns on her arms and feet for about 5 hours!!!!
Dora and I also got henna "tattoed"... oh and we were also given (and this was designed by Dee) beautiful skirts and tops to match a bit of the Indian traditional dress code...Then afterwards when the henna was all dried out there was a nice party with all the family from both sides where we had to dance and the relatives had to give offerings of money to the bride and groom...the groom also had to put on henna but he only needed to have it on one finger of his hand and the saying goes that the darker the henna the more he loves his bride...ooohhh :) That was the only time we had dancing music and alcohol...
Day 2:
This day was reserved for the bride's family - there is a Puja, which is a prayer ritual where you have eunuch priests come and bless the bride and her family and everyone else who would like to get blessed...I was kinda of pushed into the queue by Dee's lovely auntie so I ended up with a red dot and rice on my fo
rehead!
Then after the Puja, the best was yet to come...We had lunch on banana leafs where for once we could actually play with our food!! We had to eat with our fingers you see...so for you to imagine we had the banana leaf then around the edge we were given the servings of all different coloured food and then the rice in the middle so with your fingers you are supposed to mix a bit of the rice with a bit of the many servings - oh yeah, and this time around both my and Jo's stomach was finally used to the spices and we actually really enjoyed it, I even miss it I must say!!
We finally were able to get the bride and groom to ourselves after lunch when we were able to give them the presents from all 5 of us (Dora, Ticha, Anya, Ugonna and me) -- they had a good time opening all the pressies and I know that some of them have already been used ;)
We got the afternoon off so we showed Claudio and Dora around Mumbai (after we took a very deserved nap, of course!) and then we ended up having Chinese food for dinner at Colabba market.
Day 3: D-Day
The actual marriage took place on Sunday morning...the families rented a cricket field---yes, so you can imagine the size of the thing! - and we were all decked out (Dora and I in sariis and Claudio and Jo in traditional Indian's men's shirts - there is a proper name to these things but I am afraid I forgot but you can see from the pictures)... The ceremony was very nice although the place was crawling with photographers and cameramen that made the viewing quite hard...it was also very long because it was filled with tons of religious symbolism, such as dropping a veil to represent the first time the bride and groom see each other, the passing around the
couple a cord representing the binding of the two together, the inhalation of smoke (don't ask me what that was, to me it was just dangerous) and the walking around the fire 7 times as a married couple...there was a lot more but I really cant explain all of it...there were vows though, they were in Sanskrit, Hindi and then English...
This day was reserved for the bride's family - there is a Puja, which is a prayer ritual where you have eunuch priests come and bless the bride and her family and everyone else who would like to get blessed...I was kinda of pushed into the queue by Dee's lovely auntie so I ended up with a red dot and rice on my fo
rehead!Then after the Puja, the best was yet to come...We had lunch on banana leafs where for once we could actually play with our food!! We had to eat with our fingers you see...so for you to imagine we had the banana leaf then around the edge we were given the servings of all different coloured food and then the rice in the middle so with your fingers you are supposed to mix a bit of the rice with a bit of the many servings - oh yeah, and this time around both my and Jo's stomach was finally used to the spices and we actually really enjoyed it, I even miss it I must say!!
We finally were able to get the bride and groom to ourselves after lunch when we were able to give them the presents from all 5 of us (Dora, Ticha, Anya, Ugonna and me) -- they had a good time opening all the pressies and I know that some of them have already been used ;)
We got the afternoon off so we showed Claudio and Dora around Mumbai (after we took a very deserved nap, of course!) and then we ended up having Chinese food for dinner at Colabba market.
Day 3: D-Day
The actual marriage took place on Sunday morning...the families rented a cricket field---yes, so you can imagine the size of the thing! - and we were all decked out (Dora and I in sariis and Claudio and Jo in traditional Indian's men's shirts - there is a proper name to these things but I am afraid I forgot but you can see from the pictures)... The ceremony was very nice although the place was crawling with photographers and cameramen that made the viewing quite hard...it was also very long because it was filled with tons of religious symbolism, such as dropping a veil to represent the first time the bride and groom see each other, the passing around the
couple a cord representing the binding of the two together, the inhalation of smoke (don't ask me what that was, to me it was just dangerous) and the walking around the fire 7 times as a married couple...there was a lot more but I really cant explain all of it...there were vows though, they were in Sanskrit, Hindi and then English...
Afterwards we had a lovely lunch, in turns seeing as there were so many of us, on banana leafs again so I definitely enjoyed it (I could just see my mum writhing in pain (if she had been there) watching me eat so messily with my fingers hehehe)
Afterwards we made it back to the house for our customary nap...Jo and I were able to sneak out for a while to go to the beach (not, not a swimming and wearing bikini beach) but we remembered that since it was a holiday weekend it would probably be packed and great for photo opps...we had corn on the cob and India peanuts and enjoyed our Sunday afternoon before we had to go back for the last leg of the ceremony...the reception...
Afterwards we made it back to the house for our customary nap...Jo and I were able to sneak out for a while to go to the beach (not, not a swimming and wearing bikini beach) but we remembered that since it was a holiday weekend it would probably be packed and great for photo opps...we had corn on the cob and India peanuts and enjoyed our Sunday afternoon before we had to go back for the last leg of the ceremony...the reception...
For the reception the cricket field was opened even wider into an L shape and when we arrived the newlyweds had already been there for an hour and were standing on a podium receiving all their guests -- all 3,000 of them -- so you can imagine the queue!!!
The dining hall was the size of a football field with different Indian food going from one side to the other...and if
that wasn't enough we had "western food" in the middle (meaning Italian, Swiss and Hungarian!! Don't ask me to explain the last two!) - it was a buffet so we served ourselves and then made our way, if possible, to a vacant table...The food was of course delicious...we tried to have a bit of everything but that proved to be quite impossible although we did make the trip to the buffet about 3 or 4 times (and Jo of course about 6 times...)
The dining hall was the size of a football field with different Indian food going from one side to the other...and if
that wasn't enough we had "western food" in the middle (meaning Italian, Swiss and Hungarian!! Don't ask me to explain the last two!) - it was a buffet so we served ourselves and then made our way, if possible, to a vacant table...The food was of course delicious...we tried to have a bit of everything but that proved to be quite impossible although we did make the trip to the buffet about 3 or 4 times (and Jo of course about 6 times...) There was a band but the music was soft and definitely not for dancing and there was no alcohol...so definitely not your typical western wedding where most of the times the purpose is to dance the night away completely sloshed hehehe
We finally joined the queue to greet the newlyweds about 4 hours after we had been there and when there was hardly anymore queue - smart eh! We hardly got to spend time with the newlyweds as they rushed through dinner at like midnight and then were whisked away to enjoy their "first night" together... So Dora and Claudio and Jo and I headed back to Dee's house where we were staying and decided to make a little "party" of our own on the balcony :)
Last day:
Jo decided to be a cowboy and left quite early to go explore the biggest slum in all of Asia (which happens to be in Mumbai) with an Indian "guide" that knew his way around...yes, I was worried but I had to let him do it...he did not let me go along - macho bullshit and all that :)
We said our goodbyes to Dora and Claudio who were continuing their journey to Goa to enjoy the lovely beaches and I headed to Colabba market to buy the last presents for home...
When Jo got back we still managed to visit one of the slum's we had visited the last time in Mumbai and find some of the people we had met to give them back the photos we had taken of them. There was specially an old couple that had taken us in the last time we were there for coffee and we were able to find them again and give them the photo we had ta
ken of them. Conversation was hard as they did not have very good English and our Hindi is not exactly up to par but they were very touched with our "return" and insisted that if we ever come back again we must have lunch with them and the entire family :)
Then, as our flight was quite late in the night we were able to have dinner with the newlyweds...
Jo decided to be a cowboy and left quite early to go explore the biggest slum in all of Asia (which happens to be in Mumbai) with an Indian "guide" that knew his way around...yes, I was worried but I had to let him do it...he did not let me go along - macho bullshit and all that :)
We said our goodbyes to Dora and Claudio who were continuing their journey to Goa to enjoy the lovely beaches and I headed to Colabba market to buy the last presents for home...
When Jo got back we still managed to visit one of the slum's we had visited the last time in Mumbai and find some of the people we had met to give them back the photos we had taken of them. There was specially an old couple that had taken us in the last time we were there for coffee and we were able to find them again and give them the photo we had ta
ken of them. Conversation was hard as they did not have very good English and our Hindi is not exactly up to par but they were very touched with our "return" and insisted that if we ever come back again we must have lunch with them and the entire family :)Then, as our flight was quite late in the night we were able to have dinner with the newlyweds...
Right, as a wedding gift Dee's father surprised them with a 2 night stay in the Taj Mahal Hotel (the most expensive in India) and not only that, they spent these nights in the Tata Suite (Tata is the richest man in India and he owns the Taj Hotel so you can just imagine it) and to make things even more extravagant...the last person to use the suite had been the President of Portugal, my president...
All in all, I must say that Jo and I had the experience of a lifetime at this wedding...Definitely something we will not see again...unless of course we befriend the son of the president or something like that hehe
And yes, it was hard to see the two extremes together...rich and poor...and it does hurt the heart to see so many little kids asking for food...although I do have to say that it seemed a bit better than last time with less people living on the streets...and also, after the last ceremony when there was so many food left I asked one of the aunties what would happen to it and they guaranteed me that it would go to the poor, along with all the flowers that were used as decoration so they would be able to sell them on the streets...I'm not saying this solves the problem, but I guess it's a little help...
At this moment, I wouldn't mind going back...India is beautiful and it is quite a huge country to explore, so who knows :)
Lots of love
Jo and Fil
And yes, it was hard to see the two extremes together...rich and poor...and it does hurt the heart to see so many little kids asking for food...although I do have to say that it seemed a bit better than last time with less people living on the streets...and also, after the last ceremony when there was so many food left I asked one of the aunties what would happen to it and they guaranteed me that it would go to the poor, along with all the flowers that were used as decoration so they would be able to sell them on the streets...I'm not saying this solves the problem, but I guess it's a little help...
At this moment, I wouldn't mind going back...India is beautiful and it is quite a huge country to explore, so who knows :)
Lots of love
Jo and Fil
