Wedding

Attended a wedding for the past two nights here in Delhi. Indian weddings are so much fun. My friend Akshat's (my first friend ever - I've known him since I was 3) cousin was getting married. I showed up to their hotel after the India Microfinance Summit where I attended the livelihoods conference and received certificates for our top-10 entry in the case study competition. As soon as I got there, I was promptly taken through a series of wardrobe changes where my jacket and tie were replaced with a series of different kurtas (this is too big, too tight, too short- why are you so broad?) which eventually led to finding a kurta that fit just right. I was a given a long silky scarf and we were all set. Off to the cocktail/pre-marriage party we went.

Of course, within an hour or so, the long flowing scarf was wrapped on my head (all long flowy pieces of cloth fall prey to becoming turbans around me).

Akshat and I.

The actual wedding ceremony was the next day after a fancy- and delicious dinner (at around 1:30 in the morning) after most of the guests had stuffed themselves, congratulated both the families and left. Then the actual ceremony started, with the bride and groom in the center with the priest, and the friends and family huddled under blankets all around them (Delhi gets cold). It all got wrapped up at around 5 AM, with a tearful bidai (farewell) of the bride by her family. Since I was technically with the ladkiwale (girl's side), I felt sad too. I think that can only happen at an Indian wedding- getting sad when you don't really even know anyone. But over all, it was a great time and my congratulations to the bride and groom.

The bride, the groom, and their families.