Nov. 18, 2011 Jaipur - The Wedding

The Bride!

I went to the old city today to meet with Rama, my new "friend" who is trying to sell me jewelry.  He took me on the back of his bike to the optometrist to get my new glasses and waited to help me pick out the frames.  They will be ready on the 23rd and at 1/2 of the U.S. cost.

Rama also found me a computer repair place and I dropped it off on the way to Vandu's house.  He will call me Monday with the prognosis.  I got to the house, and no one was there!  How was I to get into this sari?  Oh well, the driver will try to find the venue, the Shreeji Palace, and I will take it from there.

I arrived at the wedding after about an hour of the driver being lost and immediately looked for someone to help me with the sari.  I found a young girl who spoke English and she said her mother could help me; her mother only spoke Hindi.  After much ado, I was in the sari and looking quite spiffy!  I bought it in Delhi and it is made out of Kashmiri silk in teal blue and gold.

The party was a bit slow, as there was more photo-taking than anything.  It actually went on for many hours as the bride and groom sat on the main stage in what could only be called thrones.  Everyone and their mama (including me) had their photo taken with the couple.  The surrounding tables were packed with food, cooks, and chai and everyone enjoyed good food and conversation.  As it turns out, the auspicious time for the actual ceremony, 7 turns around a fire as the priest chants, would not take place until 2 am, way past my bedtime.  Rama was at the airport dropping off a client and offered to come pick me up and take me to my hotel, so I left about 10:30 pm.  It was a bit anti-climactic as the best party was yesterday.