INCEDIBLE INDIA! Culture, food, fun, and a fantastic wedding

Well, I am finally writing the blog about India! Kent and I have both been really busy - and I finally organized all of the pictures we took and gathered a few from the other Oxford folks who we traveled with. A little background on the trip: we had not really intended to go to India, but Kent became good friends with the guys on his VCIC team. One of the team members, Karan, was getting married in India the first week of April and invited a few people from Oxford to attend. We decided we probably wouldn't have another opportunity to see India with locals AND to take part in a lavish Indian wedding celebration. So we went for it. Little did we know that we would be treated like part of the close family!! His family took care of us so well - making sure we were comfortable at all times - from having a driver pick us up at the airport, to finding us hotels, helping with sightseeing & shopping, and most of all including us in their family traditions. We really felt so honoured to be there. It was an experience of a lifetime, and it's really hard to describe the trip here. I put together about 1/3 of the pictures we took in a KodakGallery album (with descriptions of the pictures) so be sure to check that out also! If that link doesn't work, then let me know and I will email to you. Defintiely view those pictures as you read this story!!

OK, on with the trip. DAY 1: New Delhi We arrived in to New Delhi on an overnight flight on Jet Airways on April 1. The flight was ok and Jet is a pretty nice airline. Everyone had their own on-demand movie screen and the food was pretty good (even in coach!). We both watched Slumdog Millionaire....a great movie and really true to what we saw in India. NOTE: at this point we were excited about India food, even airplane food. Our driver was there waiting for us and whisked us to our city hotel. Just the first drive from the airport was an experience. The most crazy driving I have ever seen - absolutely no rules, honking your horn decided the right of way, cows lumbering across the road at any moment, tuk-tuks/motorscooters/bicycles/people in any lane. We saw our first glimpse of the extreme poverty in India. And then, as we pulled in to our hotel, the extreme gap between rich and poor. Armed guards checked the trunk and under the car and made sure we were registered guests before opening the gate to the hotel. We checked in and rested up a bit....

We connected with Karan and the other 2 couples who arrived that morning from Oxford. Little did we know that we were scheduled to go over to Karan's family's house to practice a choreographed dance that we were to perform in front of the entire wedding in 2 days! It helped us get over the jet lag and we met most of Karan's family. After our dance session, the 6 of us made an attempt to go shopping. Karan's uncle set us up with two shops that he knew the owner and the boys went to their shop and the girls went to look for the perfect (cheap) sari. Even though we had a "connection" and it was a nice shop, it was still a somewhat harrowing experience. We came out ok though - Kent got one outfit and funny shoes and I got one "suit" and one sari. More info on clothing in India.

That evening we dressed up in our new clothes and headed back over the the family's house where a religious ceremony was already taking place. There was a "stage" set up in the front of the tent with maybe 10-12 colorful portraits of Hindi Gods (we later learned they have a God for everything - maybe in the 1000's!). This is the "kick-off" of the wedding festivities. Indian weddings continue for several days. Due to the diversity of Indian culture, the wedding style, ceremony and rituals may vary greatly from amongst various states, regions, religions and castes. This wedding is a blend of Punjabi (groom's family) and the bride's family from another region near Mumbai (I forget the name). We sat on the floor and clapped along for several hours. We were all so jetlagged and fading fast when we hadn't had any food almost all day and it was close to 10pm. It was so interesting though to see how the people interacted and some of the rituals. We eventually moved in to the other tent where the huge spread of food was set up. We claimed a table and chowed down. NOTE: Indian food still tasting really good. We still appreciated the waiters serving appetizers, bringing us hot naan bread, and plate after plate of every dessert available. The groom's family made us feel so welcome. We all were so stuffed and tired...we slept well that night!

DAY 2: Drive to the town of Agra & the TAJ MAHAL The next morning we (just Kent & I) met up with our driver and headed for the Taj Mahal. This was the only day we could sightsee, and there was a break from the wedding official events. The drive was more of the same horrible traffic and crazy free-for-all on the road. Because of this, it turned out to be about a 4-5 hour drive and we saw a lot of strange things on the side of the road. We eventually arrived in Agra mid-afternoon and checked in to our nice hotel (same armed guards and car check). The hotel was like a resort-oasis in the middle of the run-down poverty. Off we went to see the Taj, which is also an oasis. Our driver had to park in a certain spot and we were forced to "walk the gauntlet" about 1.5 miles through harassment by pedi-cab drivers, shop owners, and children selling cheap souvenir trinkets. Kent is too nice (I read that you just have to ignore - not even say NO) and ended up buying a Taj Mahal history/picture book from a little boy. We also bought a few things on the walk back....super cheap to us but helps the people out.

The Taj compound was amazing, needless to say. It was built over 30-something years in the 17th century - that fact itself an amazing feat of engineering! The detail in the marble is (still) very beautiful and intricate. The Taj was built as a monument-tomb from a king to his queen, and is seen as a great testament to love.

We spent a few hours exploring and taking pictures. Definitely very touristy, but worth seeing one of the 7 wonders of the world. Inside is actually quite small and houses the tombs of the king and queen (it smelled pretty awful in there with all the people so we didn't stay long inside!) Definitely check out some of the many pictures we took there! We were exhausted and decided to head to the hotel instead of more sightseeing....enjoying a cold beer in the pool was just what we needed.

DAY 3: To the wedding resort, Mehndi, and dance performance The next morning, pretty early, we again hopped in the car with our driver and prepared for another bumpy ride to the middle of the Indian farming countryside. We were really wondering why Westin decided to put their first hotel in India in the middle of nowhere (really....absolutely nothing around except farms) but later learned that it's very popular in the middle of the "Golden Triangle" of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur (see map above). I think our driver got a little lost, and it didn't help that he didn't speak a word of English, but we eventually found the resort and it was another oasis. The hotel staff looked a little confused when we arrived and asked several times if we really were with the wedding. They had rented out the entire resort, and we were the first non-Indian people to arrive. The staff was great, and showed us to our bungalows - the 6 of us from Oxford were staying together - girls in one and guys in another. We settled in and freshened up to go to the Mehndi ceremony. I did another quick blog post about it here. The gals had our hands painted, and of course we had a lunch of

appetizers from the pushy waiters. After the afternoon Mehndi ceremony, the Oxford crew went back to our room and practised our dance - we were set to go on stage that night! The night's event was called 'Sangeet' which I think for this wedding meant dancing and partying! There were about 15 acts - including us - that were performed on the huge stage! Here's one pic of us at the end of the dance. We ended up doing pretty well (I only messed up once) and it was so much fun. I need to get my hands on a video..... The rest of the night we danced, Indian-style and aided by the family members, and tried to avoid the test-tube shot and Absolut wielding people!!

DAY 4: Yet more food & another party... We spent the morning recovering at the pool and catching some rays. In the afternoon we attended a lunch event called Sajjanghoth. The Sajjanghoth is a traditional Indian sit down lunch where the bride's side serves the groom's side and make them eat till they drop. (ugh just what I needed). This is a tradition from the region of the bride's family....they come around and serve a small portion of about 50 different dishes. A great way to try everything (and also to add a few pounds!). The family really included all of us from Oxford - again we felt so honored!

After this lunch, we felt like a nap but Kent and I pushed through and went for a heated game of table tennis. Hey, it's some sort of exercise! Then Kent succumbed to the nap and I went for a nice massage at the spa instead. We both were refreshed for the evening!
This evening's party was called the "High Wine Party" which really just meant it was a "Western" cocktail party in another amazing venue, and we could wear western clothing. There was wine, but it was really just open bar for whatever you desired (and the dreaded Absolut bottle on the dance floor). All of the venues built around the resort each night were so over-the-top! Definitely check out my Ofoto album to see more. This one had amazing flower displays, like this huge peacock made with orchids. Everything was so colorful and ornate! And don't forget there was food for an army again. This evening, they had hired all of the top Bollywood singers to perform. It was hit song after hit song, and we danced right along! The music was different, but we really like it and had a great time dancing.

In this pic here are the 6 of us from Oxford, plus the groom and his bride in the middle. She had a different dress for each of these events also - each one was so beautiful and ornate and HEAVY with jewels. She must have been exhausted (and hot) from dancing so much in those.

DAY 5: The wedding day! I felt like we had already had the reception, and they aren't even married yet! Today, we didn't have any formal even until the afternoon, so we all enjoyed the awesome (non-Indian flavored) breakfast and hit the pool. I think I fit all of my workouts for the week in to this day, excluding dancing of course. :) It was the only day we had time! I swam some laps, played tennis for about an hour, and went to a 1x1 yoga class at the spa. Phew. I felt a little better. The bride and groom and their families had all sorts of wedding preparation rituals going on all day (and Karan and Aditi were so tired!). Everyone joined in for some entertainment in the afternoon when they held a tug-of-war between bride & groom's side. And yes, they went on to do an egg-carry race and some other silly games. Very fun to watch.

We all started getting ready for the wedding event that night. The girls all went to get our hair done at the salon (the family provided this!) and of course had them help us wrap our saris. The guys dressed up again in their pajamas and we headed out to join the Baraat. We took tons of pictures of this too. We walked out of the resort gates to join in a long procession where we "danced" the groom in to the wedding venue. There was a marching band present and also some crazy loud drummers - they liked to compete on who could be louder in my ear! Karan went through several rituals with his family and the priest and then was pulled by white horses in a carriage behind the dancing parade. And about an hour of loud dancing we were back at the resort. We only covered about 500 meters. (did I mention it was super hot?) Before the procession began, Kent had his turban tied (very tight, and not tied gently!)
There were fireworks, music and dancing and we finally entered another beautiful tent - just when we thought the decorations couldn't get any more fantastic! Karan waited on the huge stage for his bride to enter. Raised up on the platform, with a fog machine and movie cameras on a boom -- the groom and bride meet and exchange garlands in the Jaimala ceremony. Once this ceremony has finished, the well wishers congratulate the groom and the bride and present gifts to them. Food is served during this ceremony, and pretty much everyone except closest relatives leave once the ceremony has finished. We congratulated them and took a photo on the main stage. Then I suppose it was time to eat again...ugh. There were "international" food stations this night and we chose the Mexican of course, but somehow it still tasted like Indian food. There was no alcohol this night, thank God. When there is a religious ceremony, there is no alcohol (such as the Day 1 ceremony in Delhi). After this, we moved to another smaller venue where the couple of hours of religious wedding ceremonies take place. It was a smaller group, mostly fmaily, but we stayed for a while. There were a lot of traditions and we didn't understand a word, but it was still very beautiful. About 2am, we called it a night and the family said they would be there maybe until 4am!

DAY 6: Back to Delhi The next morning we all packed up and got ready to head back to Delhi. There was another ritual where the newlyweds leave together, and it seems that the bride's family is really sad about this. The bride lives with her family until she gets married, and they were very close. The mom, dad, brother, and the bride were all crying. They all headed back to Delhi.... And Kent and I were on the lookout for our driver and he was nowhere to be found! We ended up catching a ride back with some of the family members whom we had gotten to know that week. 4 adults, 3 kids and all of our luggage in a small 4-dorr car! It was a little cramped but really fun to tal kto them and we even had a little Hindi lesson. Since we rode with the family, we had to tag along to attend another ritual back in Delhi where the new wife enters the groom's family home. We felt awkward being there, but they made us feel so welcome.

Back to our city hotel and we met up with the rest of the Oxford crew. I was feeling a bit sick so I took a nap. We had another party to go to that night! The groom's family was hosting a reception at a fancy hotel for Delhi friends. We went there and I couldn't possibly have another bite of food or sip of alcohol, but we still had a great time. A nice way to wrap up our trip. Kent and I were headed home the next day, and the rest of the Oxford group was staying to do more sightseeing in India, so we had to say good bye! We really bonded with the other 2 couples - some new great friends!

DAY 7: flight home! I was secretly (ok, not secretly) excited to get back home to normal routine and sleeping. :) We passed the time watching about 4 movies. By the time we made it home to Oxford we were so exhausted, but very happy with such a great trip! It was an experience of a lifetime!

Sorry such a long post - this doesn't even begin to describe it! Be sure to check out the photos.

-Karen