Rahul Weds Hemlata

We finally just arrived home around 11 pm from Rahul's wedding in Nigadi. An Indian wedding is a little different from one in the States. Instead of cramming all the events into one evening, the events take place over several days. Paul and I decided to participate in the last day, which of course, includes the actual ceremony.

We arrived in Nigadi in time to watch Rahul ride to the wedding hall on his white horse.

Santosh did a nice job decorating the wedding vehicle.

Ok, so the 1 kilometer procession takes about 2 hours to complete. Why, you may ask? Because it is a slow trot to the wedding hall, and the procession stops to dance the along the route. The wedding procession is accompanied by a live marching band and dj.

Paul and I pose for a quick photo in our Indian attire. Rahul, his mother, and his sister, Marisha, gave Paul the sherwani suit and me the sari as a gifts. Note Paul has some awesome mojandis on his feet. This being my first time wearing a sari, I was a bit nervous. However, they are extremely comfortable, and if pinned correctly they cover you where you would like to be covered and do not fall off.

All the colors of the saris . . .

Rahul's sister found me walking down the street and decided that Paul and I should start dancing. Here we are as we make our way to the wedding hall.

A photo with Marisha, Rahul's mother, and myself.

We finally make it to the wedding hall. Below is a video of the actual wedding ceremony. During the ceremony, you will notice that we are throwing rice as a blessing on them as they walk around the fire. Pay close attention to Paul's unique filming technique it becomes apparent near the end of the video.

Now, off to Africa tomorrow afternoon!

An Evening of Dinner and Dancing @ Rahul's

Paul's driver Rahul Rajput is getting married on Thursday. His mother invited us over dinner tonight. Paul and I thought it would be a simple, awkward affair to meet the family and eat a nice home cooked vegetarian meal. We arrived at Rahul's home promptly at 8 pm. Of course, we were the first to arrive. We were greeted by his mother, who performed a quick pooja and gave us tikka on our foreheads. We entered the home and we were served kesari, a hot sweet milk dish with vermicelli noodles, raisins, and cashew nuts. After eating our sweet, we were ushered outside to the tented area and the dance party began. Apparently, the intent of the evening was to teach us some Bollywood dance moves! Rahul's sister graciously and patiently taught me some of her awesome stylings on the dance floor. Paul and Rahul danced the robot. And yes, the videographer came so that Paul and I will be forever immortalized dancing badly in Pune. I am certain all of the General Motors driving fleet will be watching Rahul's Sir and Ma'am with their crazy dancing shortly!

The men danced separately from the women. Here this little boy is partying!


Here is a video of little boy dancing machine gettin' down with Snoop . . .


Paul takes a break and plays with the kitten . . .

Here I am tearing up the floor!

Oh yes, here I am with the White-Man's Overbite in this video clip . . .

As part of the upcoming wedding, the bride and groom have turmeric paste applied to their face, arms, and sometimes entire body. Turmeric is a natural antiseptic and cleanser. It also whitens the skin. So, the evening finished by us applying more turmeric to Rahul's face, and then his mother slathered it on Paul and I. Though, I scrubbed my face with the loofah when I got home, I am now a lovely shade of yellow. And our ears are still ringing with the faint notes of "Bra-zil, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La . . .". (Yes, this favorite for Brazilians at Carnival is also quite popular in India.)

Around 11 pm, we finally were served a lovely meal of chapati, cabbage shorba (yummy!), daal, and rice. For dessert, we had a rainbow falooda, with tapioca seeds, vermicelli noodles, and rose syrup. Now, time for bed.