Wedding, Part 2

After we were dressed, we went into this giant hall that had a stage at one end. It might have been the size of a basketball court, but I'm not sure. Chairs were in rows with an aisle down the center. On the stage was a mandap (I think that's what it was called) which is a covering under which the families sat. On either side were 20 or so family members who sat in rows of chairs. The altar was in the front center where the priest knelt for much of the ceremony.

The center aisle ended about 10 feet from the stage and in that area were the wedding photographers and anyone else who wanted to take photos. The photographers stood on step ladders so they could get the perfect picture.

The wedding was to start at 10:00 a.m. and around that time there was some excitement in the back of the hall. We were told to head back there because the groom was arriving. We went outside and met his car. When I say "we", I mean about 150 people. The car was surrounded and people were clapping and yelling.

We went back in and about 10 minutes or so later these drums started pounding. The groom was trying to come into the hall but Priya's sisters and other young women (so, NOT Kimber and I) were preventing him from entering. There was much yelling, laughter and dancing at the back door. We were told that Priya's mother would greet the groom at the door, but I didn't see if that happened.

The groom, who looked like Aladdin when he was a prince (if you don't know what I mean, go rent the animated version from 20 years ago...), started down the aisle and the girls continued to make it hard for him to move. I believe some members of his family were with him. Finally, he made it to the stage, and the craziness hit a peak - one of several. Here's why: the tradition is that the bride's friends are to try to steal the groom's shoes. This has something to do with who will be the dominate person in the marriage. (Don't you think it would just be easier to explain that a happy wife equals a happy life be done with it?) When Chet (the groom) took off his shoes to walk to the altar, there was a virtual rugby scrum of women trying to snatch the shoes away from Chet's poor best man who was trying to protect them.

There were beautifully dressed girls diving, that's right DIVING, into the fray trying to get those silly shoes. It went on for about a minute then the best man was able to slither out with shoes in hand. The girls were not to be deterred. They just waited for their next opportunity.

When Chet sat down, his parents and sister held a decorated shawl up in front of him so he and Priya could not see each other until they were sitting side by side. Talk about anticipation!

In a bit, Priya came down the aisle escorted by her 7 uncles. Each uncle walked her a short ways towards the stage and the oldest uncle walked her up the steps and onto the altar. The shawl was lowered and Priya and Chet saw each other for the first time in a week.

The ceremony started, done mostly in sanskrit which no one other than the priest understands. What was interesting to the westerners there is that there is a complete disconnect between what was happening on the stage and what was going on in the rest of the hall. People were wandering around chatting, lining up for the meal, walking to the front and taking photos. It was indeed "organized chaos".

At every important point in the service, the parties would pose for the photographers.

Things that made us laugh: when the fire was lit on stage as part of the ceremony, the smoke alarms went off; another rugby scrum at one side of the stage starring Neya (Priya's sister) who was going to get those shoes if it killed her.

We got loads of pictures which will be posted soon.

After the wedding, there were many, many photos taken of various guests with the couple and their families up on stage under the mandap. Kimber, Diane and I were lucky enough to be summoned for a picture, so I got to meet Chet and his mother. That was the only time we had a chance to talk to Priya and Chet.

We hung around talking to all our new friends/family then decided to head on to Oxford. Kimber and I changed and said brief goodbyes then went in search of our luggage. On Friday, Dipak said that he wanted our bags ready to be loaded into a rented van to be delivered to the wedding venue Saturday afternoon. With all the people and things needing to be transported to the venue, having our bags out of the way would be very helpful.

No one wanted to tell us where our bags were so we could stay longer - which was a nice feeling. We did, however, find them got them loaded in Diane's car and went to the kitchen to plead for take away food. Kimber worked her magic because she came to the car with 3 plates of wonderful Indian food. She balanced them on her lap until we arrived at Diane's house in Woodstock then we tucked in.

After a cup of tea and dragging our suitcases upstairs, we went for a tootle round the Cotswolds. I took my turn in the back seat of the car since I have tootled in the Cotswolds before and Kimber has not.

The activities of the last 2 days caught up with me and I fell asleep in the backseat. This is important because I had my camera in my hand.

Kimber will write about everything she saw and photographed. I guess she made her "happy noise" during most of tootle. Her happy noise is a sort of hummmmmm along with her eyes rolling or closing. It's quite a thing to see.

When we got back to Diane's, we all jumped out of the car and went inside to put the kettle on.

The next morning, Diane had to return the car (it was a rental). While she was gone, I was looking for my camera and couldn't find it. Yep, I left it in the rental car. When we finally determined that that's where it was and called the rental place, we were told that the car had been rented out. Diane was told that they would look for it, but we didn't hear anything from the company. So, my camera with its 300+ photos is lost. If whoever has it somehow finds this blog, I have the battery charger and cables to download the photos to a computer with me, so email me and I'll send them to you. No sense having a camera you can't recharge!

Fortunately, Kimber took a lot of pictures and will send them to me.

It stayed so light for so long in Oxford. Even at 10 p.m. it was still light outside. It didn't seem late when it really was.

Kimber and I both went to sleep listening to the wonderful sounds (or lack thereof) that is Campsfield Farm.