Last Sunday, Rajesh (guy in purple shirt, between Arun and Roshan) was very kind to invite me to his engagement party. The whole team was invited, and everyone went, except for Jibi who was on leave. This engagement party seemed very traditional. First, as we're part of the groom's side, we were invited to his place to have lunch. What happens is that the groom's representatives, usually the elders (and they have to be male), go to the bride's house, to check out the girl and give their approval. They then bind the agreement with a small ritual with the bride's representatives, and then return to Rajesh to say yep, we like her, you can marry her now!
The strange thing is, Rajesh is not allowed, neither are the women, to go to the bride's house (I was lucky, cause I am a foreigner). Again, at the bride's house, I felt like the main attraction, but I ignore all the stares, keeping that smile plastered to my face, and find a spare seat, in front of a small stage. The thing is, they can't speak english, so you can't really strike up a conversation, all I can do is smile and say hello. :)Here they did the hand binding ritual (left), and said a prayer (btw, Rajesh is christian). Once it's over, the bride-to-be comes walking down the aisle and stands on the stage for a few seconds, while everyone takes their snapshots, and then they provided us with tea and snacks. The bride was VERY attractive (a young 20-year-old), you could see why Rajesh has been grinning ear to ear since I arrived. Here, I thought it was due to my presence. But, I shall not get a big head, he had just got introduced to his future-wife the day I arrived in India. So, the team were commenting that there's been an extra lift in his step, he's smiling alot more...etc. etc. I'm still coming to terms that it's an arranged marriage, no choice by the involved parties, at all. And, rarely, do arranged marriages end up in divorce. (Unfortunately, I could not post up pictures of the bride-to-be, as it’s discouraged before they are married)
Once the party was over, we visited the Elephant Sanctuary, basically a place for elephants that are chained to a tree stump(so they don’t run rampant), and constantly eating or having a nice bath. There were HEAPS of them, I felt positively small in that park.
As you would all be aware, elephants are sacred animals in
Another interesting fact, if you were caught behind an elephant, i.e. they were showing you their big ole ass, it's good luck! Like Ashwin is, to the right. If a cat (any cat, not just black) crosses the road in front of you, it's bad luck. That's another thing with this place, there's quite a few roaming animals, wild dogs (most of them limping, after being hit by a vehicle), wild cats (very skinny), roaming goats, and cows! Now, that’s another animal that’s sacred, cows! Indians of the Hindu religion are vegetarian, because it’s wrong to kill living things (similar to Buddhism). But there are some religions where you can eat chicken, but only on certain days, but hardly any, if ever, eat beef, unless you’re a christian.
5 comments:
Cool, lots of blogging. I'll have to RSS your posts man.
When you get back, I'll send my 'elders' over... ;-)
So excellent that you got to attend that ceremony! Wow, you ARE an honoured guest!
Wish I were an elephant... that river bath looks pretty damned good .... though don't know about the chained to a tree stump bit.
Have you learnt how to say "hello" in Hindu?
Hindi is not a popular language in the state I was in. They speak malayalam and they do not have a greeting in that language.
I could say 'thank you', but that's about it. Hint: it's the same as the japanese translation for 'what?'
sharz, loads of ppl eat beef :) i eat beef, loads of it too :))
the malayalam word for hello is "namaskaram". thank you is "nanni".
-LiT
This is great info to know.
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