India pics

So it occurred to me the other day that the only pictures I left you with of my cousin's wedding revolved around eating. Of course, that was a highlight, but some other stuff happened too. Plus, I realized that I can kill lots of time in my training class by captioning a lot of pictures, so I wanted to close out the trip with a few last photos.


A few days before the wedding, my mom, aunt and I got henna. This is a sample of the artist's amazing work on my mom's hands.


My cousin Vinod, the carefree bachelor, just before the wedding.


G and I on the van out to the wedding. Notice the slight sheen on our faces? Its cuz we were dripping sweat. Probably the worst day of the trip -- I thought the whole family was riding the van, and didn't want to be the odd ones out flying or taking the train. Turns out a lot of the smart people opted out of the group van and took the train. So now I know better, we should have flown. Its a 50 minute flight. So I don't know what possessed me to think the van would be more fun. For one, it was HOT. There was no A/C. Worse, we must have stopped 4 times. First, we stopped about 20 minutes after we stopped. Apparently the driver liked to smash a coconut for good luck at some temple. Yup, you heard me. Then, about half hour later, the driver wanted to stop to eat. OK, I'm sorry, we hired the van. Since when does some hired driver decide that he gets to stop whenever he wants to? And why wasn't anyone else pissed about this? Instead, my lovely family decided that it was a good time for us all to eat. Now, mind you, just before we left the house, we ate and had coffee (S. Indians LOVE coffee, a fact that drove G nuts since he doesn't drink coffee -- he got a lot of "so what do you want instead? Do you want BLACK coffee? Cuz you know, all white people drink their cofee black. Do you want tea?") Anyway, by the time we finished our meal (picnic style, food we'd brought, but ate sitting in the outdoor seating for a restaurant-- I'm sure the restaurant folks loved that), we were probably only a fraction of the way towards our destination but had been "on the road" for a good couple of hours. About a half hour after we set off again, G said he noticed we had pulled off the freeway and were heading somewhere other than Chennai, our destination. And suddenly we were sitting in traffic. We started to wonder what was going on, and then I found out -- now it was time for a coffee break. Ugh. So, to make a long story short, the total distance was about 220 miles. Amount of time this took: over 8 hours!!

The groom on the morning of the wedding, being greeted by his future in-laws.



My grandfather, still kicking it in his mid-80s, arriving for the wedding.


Vaibu, my cousin's daughter (not the cousin getting married), so practically my niece, and the new love of my life. How cute is she? She was super smart and chatty too. Probably had better conversations with her than some of the other wedding guests. I tell people how chatty she was, and I get a lot of "must run in the family" jokes. So maybe I shouldn't tell you this. But this is how adorable this little girl was. At one point, we got into a little "contest" about who was the bigger talker. We took a poll, and of course, everyone voted for her. Cuz of her age, I'm sure!!! I was feeling all competitve, but she is only 4, so maybe I should just give it up?

G, my bro, and I with the groom.

Some other cute guests, my only girl cousins on my mom's side --Dharini and Lakshmi Priya. The older one was reading A Tale of Two Cities in her downtime -- shall we say NERDY? So, of course, I felt an instant bond. :)

There's a point during the ceremony where the bride and groom just sit on a swing. Super exciting for everyone involved. :)

The official "tying of the knot." The part that's "tied" during the cermony is actually a piece of string. That part comes off in a few days, but the gold necklace stays on for life. I have one too -- it's loud, garish, and blingy. Just the kind of jewelry you can totally see me sporting on a daily basis right? In our case, G got one too, and he pulls it out whenever he feels like looking like a gangsta.


The happy bride and groom, just after the wedding.

My cousin, prepping for the near future? :)


. . . and here's the perfect opportunity, right here, with the "first night" bed. :) I think this used to be quite a bit more drama than it is now, with family members checking the sheets (you know, to make sure it's the bride's first time -- did I need to spell it out?). There was still a lot more attention to the whole thing that I would have liked, with my poor cousin having to endure all kinds of teasing, various family members getting together to decorate, and of course the happy couple having to wait for the most auspicious moment before entering the wedding suite. And apparently there's a whole progression involved. The groom has to wear a new outfit going in, an old outfit coming out in the morning (perhaps signifying his recent soiling? Though I think its only a requirement that the bride not be previously "soiled"). There's warm milk in the room that the bride is supposed to offer to the groom (cuz you know, nothing says "come get me" better than warm milk).

Throughout the whole thing, G and I kept remembering my parents' awkward attempts at creating this moment by offering us their bed for the momentous occasion. I think most of you have heard this story, no? Cuz you know, nothing says "come get me" better than your parents' bed. I guess it may have had something to with the fact that my parents had recently moved into a giant mansion but had no furniture in most of the rooms. Still, G + I opted to go out and buy an inflatable mattress from Bed, Bath, & Beyond and sleep downstairs and then return the mattress before we left town. Later, my brother told us that my parents had even changed the sheets for the ocassion. Well, if I had only known that sooner . . .


The day after the wedding, the bride and groom engage in a series of games that are pretty silly but entertaining. I guess it evolved from the olden days when the bride and groom were both kids, and they needed to do something during the wedding to entertain them (it being their day and all). So the games are just that, geared for 10-12 year olds. But my cousin and his wife were great sports and joked around during the whole thing, so it was a lot of fun for all.


The bride and groom entering their new home for the first time as a married couple. Again, as with most Indian "firsts", lots of blessings to be performed in order to start them off right. At the most auspicious moment, of course, which happened to be some random hour in the middle of the wedding ceremony.