Haryana Marriage

My coworker Vijay got married, and invited me to attend.  Indian weddings are not like American weddings.  They span multiple days, involve numerous religous and ceremonial events.

I will let the pictures tell the story...

Preparing food for the events.

At the first event, all the guests wave money around the groom's head, then throw it in a towel for him.  This was repeated 5 or 6 times.  North Indians are not shy about flashing cash.

I think I was blessing him.  Nice Indian suit, no?

During some downtime, I took a tour of the beer factory where the groom's father works.  This is the analytical lab.  I did some quality control testing.  :)

I did not realize that a sari is simply one huge rectangle of fabric.

Yes, I look amazing in a sari!  First time, maybe last time.  3 girls were required to dress me correctly.

I spent the majority of my time during the 5 days on this bed, hanging out with the younger family members.  This is a small village in Haryana.  Girls aren't allowed to go out exploring on their own.  I told the kids that I would take them to the nearby "big city" of Rewari to see a movie.  I got yelled at for suggesting that...

So many rituals!  It was interesting to watch.  I tried to learn the significance of the various rituals, but even most of the Indians didn't know.  They just do it.

Putting curd in Vijay's hair was fun

Vijay's bhabi putting "eyeliner" on him.  Please notice the chest-protector made of money.  Nice.

We paraded several times with the bhangra drums.  Horses and dancing also.  Not dancing horses, but I have been told that sometimes there are dancing horses...

Vijay arriving at actual marriage in a chariot.

I was most amused by the guy pulling the generator behind the chariot so that it can be nice and bright.

After the marriage we went to the brides home to officially move her from her parents home to Vijay's parents home.  Here, all the ladies inspected the bride's gold jewelry gifts from the groom's family to make sure they were good enough.  This seemed rude, but it is normal.  The event was not over until 5 AM.

Poonam got very very sad leaving her family.  She wailed and cried like I have never seen, as we were leaving with her, especially saying goodbye to her father.  Everyone was crying, even the men, at the show of emotion.  This made me really appreciate the closeness of family in India.

 

Thanks to Vijay and his great family for my fun trip!