The first wedding of the week was for the cousin of our translator, Madhu. As are 90% of marriages in South India, Madhu's cousin's marriage was arranged. Madhu explained the process for an arranged marriage; first the man goes to a local priest and tells him that he wants to get married. Next the priest sorts through the women who have told him they want to get married and picks out a few who are a suitable match for the man (based on a balance of appearance, education, financial stability, and caste). The potential groom then goes through the girls chosen by the priest, chooses one of the girls, and he and his parents meet her and her parents. After the parents talk, if they decided their children were a suitable match, the groom-to-be asks how his potential future bride feels about getting married. If she is okay with it, the parents sort out a dowry and plan a wedding!
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| Wedding henna |
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| Dressed in our wedding best |
According to Hindu tradition, it is best to get married at the time the stars dictate is most auspicious (which is the only adjective I hear). In the case of this wedding, it happened to be at 3:59 am. The dinner was at 7 pm, so we all headed out at 6 to begin the wedding festivities!
The entire alleyway was strung with lights and they lit off firecrackers from their hands next to a crowd of people. One was accidentally knocked off its course and burst just above a little boy
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| The dance party ended up being a lets-watch-the-American-girls-dance party, so we quickly got uncomfortable and stopped |
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The bride and groom sat in those chairs for five hours under the hot lights without any food or drink
(Sorry about the poor quality) |
Remember those DARE classes where they tell you to 'Just say no' to drugs? The same thing applies when a man hands you a child and asks if he can take a snap. Just say no. Otherwise, before you know it, you're surrounded by a crowd with camera phones.
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| At the end of it all, we were happily exhausted! |
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