Wedding time in the Syal Family!! My cousin, Gaurav, got married this past weekend to Kinshuk. But of course, a "wedding" in India doesn't mean one event - it means a whole weekend of celebrations! Everyone has different traditions and different ways of doing things...Here is a run down of all the celebrations that my family did:
DAY 1: Mehndi ki Rath
This party began the festivities. "Mehendi ke rath" means "Night of henna." It is customary that there is a party before the wedding where all the girls put on mehendi (which is henna). This night is also called the Cocktail Party (I know, such an original name). Basically, the boys side and the girls side families got together in a banquet hall, had some drinks and food, and some of the women got henna on their hands. There was also a DJ, so we had fun dancing to both Indian and American songs...the highlight of the night for me was went JLo's "Get on the Floor" came on, and my little 8 year old cousin started singing and dancing to it. Ha.
DAY 2: Shaadi (Wedding)
The second day brought the actual wedding! See my other post A Day in the Life of an Indian Wedding
DAY 3: Rest day
Ahh...everyone got a day to recover from the late night wedding the day before.
DAY 4: Chowki
This night was the religious night. Held in a banquet hall, a whole line of god statues were set up at one end of the hall and chairs were set up facing that end. A music group came to sing bhajans (the Hindu equivalent of hymns) all night...I tell you , the music was turned up so loud, it seemed like they thought God would not be able to hear anything. Ha. When you worship Hindi Gods, there are certain rituals you do, such as getting a red dot on your forehead (this completely different than the red dot that married women wear), eating fruits blessed by the punditji (priest), and holding a plate with a candle on it and moving in a circle round the god statues in front. I spent most of my time in the back of the hall or outside by the food with my cousins...groovy.
Four Days Later: Reception in Gwalior
While the whole boy's side is from Delhi (my family), the girl's side is from Gwalior, a city in Madhya Pradesh (a state in the middle of India). So of course, we had to do another party there! Friday morning, I went with my aunt, uncle, their older son (Sunny), his wife, and their two kids (1.5 years and 3 months), on the early morning train to attend the reception. Gaurav and Kinshuk had already left the day before. After arriving, eating bruch, and taking a nap, we all went over to Kinshuk's home and met her family. It's amazing what constitutes as "close family" here in India (for example: Mother's sister's son's wife's brother counts. Crazy?). After being force fed (just your normal Indian hospitality), and chit-chatting in Hindi, we went back to our hotel and got ready for the party. I wore another sari - this time, it was a colorful one. It had rained a bit and the party was outside, so I had a bit of a hard time getting across the soft ground with my little heels :) There was dancing, cake cutting, and of course, a whole array of food. I didn't really know anyone, so I sat by Sunny and we took care of the kids and talked about everyone at the party. Good times!
DONE! What a wedding...Gaurav and Kinshuk went through the whole 9 yards and I got to enjoy every single part without any responsibility. Lucky me! :D If you ever get to attend an Indian wedding, do it. Seriously, it's really like nothing you have probably ever experienced!
DAY 1: Mehndi ki Rath
This party began the festivities. "Mehendi ke rath" means "Night of henna." It is customary that there is a party before the wedding where all the girls put on mehendi (which is henna). This night is also called the Cocktail Party (I know, such an original name). Basically, the boys side and the girls side families got together in a banquet hall, had some drinks and food, and some of the women got henna on their hands. There was also a DJ, so we had fun dancing to both Indian and American songs...the highlight of the night for me was went JLo's "Get on the Floor" came on, and my little 8 year old cousin started singing and dancing to it. Ha.
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| Me and some of my awesome cousins (actually most are my cousins's kids!) |
The second day brought the actual wedding! See my other post A Day in the Life of an Indian Wedding
DAY 3: Rest day
Ahh...everyone got a day to recover from the late night wedding the day before.
DAY 4: Chowki
This night was the religious night. Held in a banquet hall, a whole line of god statues were set up at one end of the hall and chairs were set up facing that end. A music group came to sing bhajans (the Hindu equivalent of hymns) all night...I tell you , the music was turned up so loud, it seemed like they thought God would not be able to hear anything. Ha. When you worship Hindi Gods, there are certain rituals you do, such as getting a red dot on your forehead (this completely different than the red dot that married women wear), eating fruits blessed by the punditji (priest), and holding a plate with a candle on it and moving in a circle round the god statues in front. I spent most of my time in the back of the hall or outside by the food with my cousins...groovy.
 |
| The display of gods at the Chowki |
While the whole boy's side is from Delhi (my family), the girl's side is from Gwalior, a city in Madhya Pradesh (a state in the middle of India). So of course, we had to do another party there! Friday morning, I went with my aunt, uncle, their older son (Sunny), his wife, and their two kids (1.5 years and 3 months), on the early morning train to attend the reception. Gaurav and Kinshuk had already left the day before. After arriving, eating bruch, and taking a nap, we all went over to Kinshuk's home and met her family. It's amazing what constitutes as "close family" here in India (for example: Mother's sister's son's wife's brother counts. Crazy?). After being force fed (just your normal Indian hospitality), and chit-chatting in Hindi, we went back to our hotel and got ready for the party. I wore another sari - this time, it was a colorful one. It had rained a bit and the party was outside, so I had a bit of a hard time getting across the soft ground with my little heels :) There was dancing, cake cutting, and of course, a whole array of food. I didn't really know anyone, so I sat by Sunny and we took care of the kids and talked about everyone at the party. Good times!
DONE! What a wedding...Gaurav and Kinshuk went through the whole 9 yards and I got to enjoy every single part without any responsibility. Lucky me! :D If you ever get to attend an Indian wedding, do it. Seriously, it's really like nothing you have probably ever experienced!
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