On Wednesday at 5 pm we all got on the train and set off for Jaipur to attend Virendra-Ji's niece's wedding. Ariel, Denae, and I had berths near one another, so we all piled into a section. almost immediately, we were bombarded by Frenchmen, who were all wondering out loud who we were and where they were supposed to be. Now, it's been about 2 years since my last French class, but I did take it for 12 years, and I can still understand it when someone says, "Why are there Americans in my berth?" Don't think you fooled me, Frenchie, I see your game.
After a few hours of lounging about the train, I spent some quality time sitting in the doorway listening to TaTu with Sara, where I discovered that my dream of becoming an international pop idol may be closer than I thought. I then returned to my berth where Ariel was talking to the aforementioned Frenchies. She asked me to do my Frenchman-speaking-Hindi impression that Ed and I are now famous for, and I reluctantly obliged, clearly seeing the next step in the conversation.
Me: (Lots of embarassingly gutteral sentences in Hindi that you would only see in a really bad SNL skit)
Frenchman:
That's right. NO WORDS. Just a look dripping with, "I'm not amused." And you know what? I didn't even blame him.
After that I went to sleep, and spent the next morning once again lounging about the train, wandering to different berths my friends occupied. Then I sat in the doorway for a while. Then I wandered around more. Then Ariel bought some really disgusting candy that tasted like Cap'n Crunch. Then we found out about the attacks in Mumbai.
I don't really know how to describe the feeling we all had. All of us on the program are constantly looking up news sites and talking about current events, and for every one of us to be stuck on a train unable to find out any information, was torture. Sara's friends were saying that foreigners, specifically Americans and British people, were being targeted and shot in the street. The Taj was on fire, and the Oberoi as well. Passports were being checked, and the death toll was around 80. We thought all of those deaths were foreigners, at the time. But as the death toll climbed, we tried to buy newspapers at the train stations we stopped at. Every newspaper was in Hindi, but we were able to pick out enough information to tell us what was going on. We eventually found out that foreigners weren't being targeted, and that passports weren't, on the whole, being checked.
The whole experience felt so much like September 11th for me. I felt like I did when I was watching the second plane hit the tower, waiting for my brother to call and tell us he was okay. I felt useless and scared and yet very distant. It was a terrible thing that happened, and I'm just exceedingly happy I wasn't directly affected by it. We have a friend in Mumbai, and he was also thankfully unharmed.
After we arrived in Jaipur the mood lightened a little and Sara, Mary Beth, Denae, Maya, Ariel, and I went to our hotel. We all showered and put on clean clothes, went shopping, and then went out to dinner.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at a vastly overpriced (Four dollars for a pizza? Please.) Italian restaurant, where we were all had a fun time talking about what we bought and how overpriced everything was in Jaipur. Abbie, a girl who studied Hindi with our professor and is in her gap year, asked us to say what we were thankful for. We each said something, some of them funny, some not. I said that I was thankful that I don't have to worry about my family and friend's safety back in the States. I can, pretty consistently, count on all of them being safe. I think everyone agreed. Though it was an extremely hard day for India, it was a pretty significant Thanksgiving for me.
The actual wedding was two days after Thanksgiving, but the day before the wedding is a ceremony called the Sangeet. Traditionally, the bride's family sings and dances for the groom's family, and the groom's family waves money over their heads and puts it somewhere. I never really found out where. Either the band or the newly wedded couple gets the money. Either way, it's waved over people's heads.
We were allowed to drink actual alcohol at the Sangeet (which of course, I did not partake in) and I saw a man, one of the caterers, carrying around a pitcher and visiting various tables in the eating area. He would stand by one of the tables, chat a little to the guest and would refill people's glasses on whiskey.
That's right, a pitcher. Of whiskey. My first thought when I saw that? "Go big or go home, India. Go big or go home."
We also danced for about two hours. Oh my god. Everyone was saying that our dancing was so good, and I was so sure they were lying. But, we were into it and having fun. Here are some photos of the Sangeet.
Sara and I created a dance called "Makin Chapati." We got really into it.
Chris got way, way more into it.
So after that we went shopping more (I bought so many gifts), and we got ready for the wedding. We got to the bride's family's house an hour early so that we could all put on our sarees and jewelry, and everyone seemed ecstatic that we got so decked out. Sara had a tiika, huge nose ring, and whatever that thing is called that goes from the nose ring to your hair on, and was totally bolywood blinged out. Sadly, it was deemed too flashy (seeing as no one but the bride wears this), and Sara decided for a more low-key everyday nosering. But, don't worry. We got pictures of the whole look.
The wedding was great- it was huge and set in a massive Greek-themed courtyard. There were hot gelabies and sarees side by side with what appeared to be a plaster statue of Cesear Augustus. It was pretty awesome. The bride was wearing what must have been 30 pounds of clothing, not including her jewelry, which must have been another 10 pounds. Her Rajasthani dress was literally dripping with gems and silver, while her face and neck were guilded in gold. She looked stunning, and the wedding was absolutely magnificent.
http://in.youtube.com/watchv=8sKNKf_0Oxk&feature=related
No comments:
Post a Comment