Vandita is now married to Ankur! She was happy, she had
butterflies in her stomach, she was beautiful, and she was teary. In short, it
was a perfect wedding.
Vandita is a good friend from work, and she invited a bunch
of us to be guests for her Hindu wedding in New Delhi on Jan 28th.
Only one of us had ever been to India before, and we were so honored to be
invited that there is no way we would have turned down the adventure. Her
wedding included ceremonies for days. We were invited to two: Sangeet and
Mehandi on the evening of Thusday, the 26th, and the wedding itself
during the day on Saturday, the 28th. Both involved lots of eating,
drinking non-alcoholic juices or water or Coke, and dancing. The food was
mostly finger-food, cooked by chefs around the edges of the venues and served
by an army of servers circulating among the guests. There were two types of
dancing: traditional to the beat of drums, or modern to the tunes of DJs.
“The guest is like god” is an oft-repeated Indian saying. We
were treated as if we could do no wrong. We all know better, and we kept trying
to make no serious blunders. We all went shopping for traditional Indian
outfits with Vandita and her aunt helping us to find not only the most
beautiful clothes, but the best deals. Her aunt, who has a boutique, altered
the clothes to fit each of us. She was wonderful!
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| Emil, Adrian, Olav, Silje, Vandita, May Britt, Madelein, Elna, and Lise at Lajpad Nagar |
The event on Thursday evening began with a ceremony. We all
took our new slippers off at the door and sat on mattresses on the floor. There
was a stage with seven Hindu gods, bowls and platters of fruit and foods, garlanded
pictures of Vandita’s deceased parents, and fire bowls. In front of the stage
was a microphone set up which two to four people used to sing and chant. The
drummers and musicians to the left of the stage accompanied. Vandita and her
family were there. The groom and his family were not there for this part.
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| Leaving our hotel, Olav, Adrian, Silje, Emil, me, Elna, Madelein, Lise, and May Britt |
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| Vandita greeted us at the door |
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| Mette, Vandita's boss, and her husband Sverre |
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| Vandita is all smiles |
When groups of relatives or friends were asked to come up
and dance, someone from the audience would stand, circle the dancers’ heads
with paper money, and then put the money in a pile for the bride. We danced, plus
we participated by circling a flame in a platter several times in front of the
stage.
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| Silje and Olav circle the flaming platter |
The next part of the party was when the groom and his family
came. Now is the time for eating and dancing. We all practiced our Bollywood
moves! Great fun.
Vandita, meanwhile, was getting painted. She had intricate traditional
designs painted on her arms and legs, down to the fingers and toes. It took
hours.
We women each got to have our hands done. The paint is a henna solution, so your skin is stained brown. While it’s drying, for several hours, you can’t touch anything. The guys have to feed you and hold things for you. Olav became everyone’s beast of burden, since he was our only guy.
We women each got to have our hands done. The paint is a henna solution, so your skin is stained brown. While it’s drying, for several hours, you can’t touch anything. The guys have to feed you and hold things for you. Olav became everyone’s beast of burden, since he was our only guy.
We all went home about 3 am, leaving Vandita and the women
who were singing and drumming to continue all night.
To be continued...
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| How my hand looked the next morning, with the black crust washed off. |
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