I underestimated the power of my puny dial-up, I was indeed able to upload all the pictures yesterday but then I had no time to write about it.
The pictures are in a chronological order, I am writing below “what was what” as much for my reference as for anyone else 😉 The complete picture set spans a period of 2 days, have shot some interesting fillers between the various ceremonies, so here are the ceremonies in serial order
“goad bharai” literally – filling the lap – Groom’s mother and aunt blessing the bride for happiness and fertility.
“tilak” Bride’s brother honoring the groom and then vice versa
“ring ceremony” Borrowed from the west… …
Everything is interspersed with lots of loud music, dancing and good food.
Next day
“mandap gadna” Groom’s uncles and brother in-laws bring things which will be used for the marriage pavilion (this is symbolic now)
“haldi” Groom is applied a paste of turmeric and sandalwood, this action usually spills over to other members present and is generally lots of fun 😉
Then before leaving for the venue the brother in-laws get the Groom ready and the ladies do some more stuff significance of which escapes me now.
“baraat” The Groom is taken on a horse back in a procession till the venue accompanied by music and dancing and fireworks.
After which is the marriage ceremony depending on the “mahurat”, the designated auspicious time, In this case it was so late that the guest had dinner and went home before the actual ceremony could take place… …
As luck would have it the NiMH on my camera ran out of juice by this time and all I could get was a couple of shots of the Bride being brought back to the Groom’s house… …
Just to repeat everything is interspersed with lots of loud music, dancing and good food.
Interested? The pictures are here
As an aside if anyone feels that Me and Swati look so unslept – it is because we were 🙁 Add to it Swati’s Asthama which has been going on since past 2 months… …
BTW Two of the pics of Swati which I took before we left are here and here