Love is patient and ever so kind.

Weddings, no matter what kind, are precious. It's the bond of two people to make a new family. Love is patient and love is kind. Weddings are the best and love is amazing.

While in India I was fortunate enough to attend an Indian wedding. Now the thing to know about Indian weddings is that they are so extravagant, detailed and beautiful. The wedding was for the nephew of my friend from the USA. Before the wedding we spent about a week or so in Chennai, which is where all of his family is from. I had the pleasure of meeting the entire family and becoming an ‘adopted’ cousin.

Before the wedding even happened there were so many things to do and prepare. The first event that I attended in preparation for the wedding was a ceremony that served as a blessing to the marriage. It started at 5 o’clock in the morning and members from the groom’s family attended at his parent’s house.

The mehndi on one of my hands

Another thing we did was have a gathering for mehndi. This is where intricate designs are applied onto your hands and lower arms. It is said that the darker the mehndi, the deeper the love is from your husband. For this gathering, all the aunties and women from the groom’s side came over to one house. Two women from the local community came and did all of the designs. When I had mine done, I sat on the floor and one woman did one hand and the other woman did the other. Both women did separate and remarkable designs. They started out with the designs on my palms and the underside of my arm. After that dried for a bit they did the top sides of my arm and hands. The mehndi comes in a little tube and is usually a paste from the leaves of a Henna plant. The whole process is truly incredible and the women are true artisans. After my design was completely done, I had the task of trying not to mess it up or touch anything until it was completely dry.

The morning of the first day of the wedding, the whole family traveled from Chennai to Mumbai. All 20 of us took the same airplane and it was a blast. People gave us funny looks because there were so many of us, but that’s quite alright. We arrived in Mumbai in the morning and was greeted with some rainy weather (which wasn’t very surprising because they are in monsoon season here and it had been raining all week before we arrived). We then loaded up a big bus and traveled to the apartments we would be staying at. It was a giant sleepover because we all shared rooms.

The first day of the wedding there are two things that happen, an engagement ceremony and a sangeet. From what I understand, the engagement ceremony was meant for the bride and groom’s parents to exchange gifts and for the festivities to start. The priest did some special things with both the bride’s parents and the groom’s parents. All of the dialogue between the priest and the families were done in a different language, so I didn’t always understand what was going on. After this was done, all of the cousins and aunties went to change for the sangeet. The sangeet is basically an evening of music and dance. The groom and bride’s side of the family prepared a dance for the sangeet. The dance that the cousin’s prepared was the story of how the bride and groom met. Various bits of songs were strung together to create the ultimate dance performance. We rocked the stage and I had a blast. We even had a giant cardboard cut out of the groom for one of the songs. After both sides presented their feature performance, the bride and groom did a little dance for everyone. Then it was time to kick off your shoes and dance the night away! Songs were blasted in the reception hall and everyone was dancing. If I were to describe the dance party, I would say it would be pretty close to a synchronized dance from a Bollywood film. During most songs everyone was dancing with the same moves, and if there were not specific dance moves, then someone made them up and the rest followed along.

The second day started early with the festivities beginning at five o’clock in the morning. Throughout the morning there were various ceremonies that both the bride and groom went through together and separately. The big and main event of the day was when the thread was tied. This signified the official marriage between the man and wife. Prior to this event, people were moving about through the wedding hall, sitting to watch the events, going down to get breakfast, taking pictures, and having side conversations. When the thread was to be tied at about 9:30am, everyone stopped what he or she was doing to witness this event. Then after it was tied, people went back to what they were doing before. Later that morning there were more and different little rituals that took place. Some were to bless the newlywed couple and others were to educate the couple on what it means to be husband and wife.

All of the meals were served on a banana leaf

During most of the day I was a fly on the wall, just taking everything in and observing all that was going on around me. I enjoyed just sitting back and silently viewing the festivities. I did not understand everything that was going on, because like I mentioned before none of the ceremony was in English, but you could just sense the joy and love radiating out of everyone in attendance.

All in all my first Indian wedding experience was amazing. I am so appreciative of all who included me in this special occasion. I loved having the chance to dress up in traditional Indian wear. I got so many compliments on my beautiful pink sari. I am thankful for friends who took the time to explain the meaning behind each part of the ceremony. The bride and groom were absolutely adorable. The way that the bride looked at her groom throughout all of the ceremonies was enough to melt anyone’s heart. Love is so sweet and so kind. 

So this is India...

This summer I committed myself to an adventure of a lifetime. Traveling to four countries, taking seven flights, and having one heck of a time. I have never been to this side of the world before, but have always been fascinated by it's people and culture. I have spent months planning this trip and making sure all the details were sorted out. It didn't really sink in with me that I was actually going to India until my parents hugged me when they dropped me off at the airport.

Many people have been asking me, "What is it like in India? Are you having a good time? Can you post more pictures? Is it really as hot as they say it is?" So I wanted to answer all these questions and share some stories about my time so far in India.

Our first stop in India was Delhi, which is the capitol. We took a very long (like very super long) fourteen hour flight from Chicago directly to Delhi. The moment we stepped out of the airport we were both greeted by open arms of family and a raining downpour. We stayed in an apartment flat in Delhi with a few family members. While in Delhi we took the Metro (a train) into another part of the city, walked around some markets in the community, bought fruit from street vendors and explore HUGE malls. We went to a few of the local markets and even stopped at a fruit stand on the side of the road. I tried a new fruit on the side of the road that day. It's called Lichi. It's hard to explain what it tastes like (trust me, it's amazing), but the closest thing I could associate it with would be grapes.

During our stay in Delhi we had the chance to take a day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The drive was about 3 and a half hours from Delhi, but it was completely worth it. You always hear about the Taj and how amazing it is. He built it for the love of his life. Now that's dedication and hard work right there. {{I'll post another blog post about my experience at the Taj Mahal. You will (eventually) be able to find it here}}

On our way back home we stopped at a really famous, historical and holy temple. I've had many chances to learn more about the Hindu religion and culture while I've been here in India. It is a beautiful way of life and does in fact share many similarities with Christianity. I am slowly learning about the traditions and stories found in this religion. They are fascinating and so interesting to learn about.

India is very similar to the States in many ways, but in so many other ways it is completely different. The hospitality that is given to guests here is so genuine and pure. I am very much a foreigner to the culture and way of life here, but I have felt nothing but kindness from my hosts and the other people that I have met.

Traffic here is quite literally insane. As you may or may not know, they drive on the other side of the road and the steering wheel is also on the opposite side. It's not the side of the road that they drive on that makes it crazy... Rather it's the way that traffic flows from street to street and the means of transportation that you find on that one road. On any given road you will likely find the following... Big and small cars. Busses. Scooters and motorcycles. Auto-rickshaws. Bikes. People walking. Cows wandering about. Street dogs just chillin'. So all of these people (and animals) use the same road to get from place to place. Here in the States I am used to having designated lanes that you stay in, unless you want to pass someone or change lanes. Here in India, it's not really like that. There are kind of lanes to stay in, but it's not always followed... Everyone kind of fluidly moves throughout. If you drive a smaller car or bike you can weave through traffic. If you drive a bigger car or are a bus, you just honk at people to get out of the way. Surprisingly everything just works. People get to their destinations safely and the controlled chaos continues on. Upon arriving to India I was very shocked (and a little scared) about how this traffic was, but now I am getting used to it. I am now mastering the art of crossing the street... But that is another story for another day... :)

So what is India like? Beautiful. Am I having fun here? YES! Is it really as hot as they say it is? Oh, definitely. Will I post more pictures? I'm working on that... Sometimes I'm having so much fun that I forget to actually stop and take pictures.... Eeek.