A wonderful wedding!

On Thursday evening, my friend Pankaj married a beautiful woman named Jyoti. Their marriage was arranged and they met briefly at the engagement before the wedding. I am so happy for them both and I am really looking forward to getting to know Jyoti.

I put on my fancy sari (so useful, I've now worn it 3 times, but very nice to have) and jumped on a rickshaw to take me to the wedding. I had some travel confusions, but eventually arrived at the house where the grooms wedding party was waiting to go the shadi ghar (marriage hall). There were some snacks at the house and I sat and chatted with Pankaj and some of his friends.

family and friends, as well as additional musicians and lights. Most of When the appropriate time arrived (about 1.5 hours later than the invitation specified), the bharat was formed. The bharat is the procession that takes the groom from the house to the marriage hall. There is a truck in the front that blasts loud music. Following this are Pankaj'sPankaj's friends danced as we walked down the street. I also danced a little bit, but I felt a little silly. This is because women, in general, never dance in the bharat. At the end of bharat came Pankaj in a car with some of his family. There is a picture of this below, along with the lights. I love the lights the men carry on their head. These days, because it is a popular wedding season, during the day I often see lines of men walking down the street with these lights on their head on their way to the night's wedding.

After we arrived at the shadi ghar, Pankaj, his father, and the bride's father and grandfather performed a puja (Hindi devotional offering) with two priests. I have also put a picture of this below.

When the puja was finished, Pankaj sat in a tent and waited for his bride. His friends kept him company while he waited and it was a pretty long wait. As you can see in the picture above and the picture below (of Pankaj waiting) he is wearing a pretty special hat called a pagree. This is the traditional hat worn for this portion of the ceremony. The tent smelled so good from all the fresh flowers hanging and they passed out even more food while we waited.

After a long wait, the bride arrived in a processional with her friends and female relatives. As you can see in the picture, she is wearing a red lahenga, the traditional outfit for this portion of the ceremony. After she arrived, she and Pankaj each put a mala (flower garland) around eachother's neck. Once this was finished, all of the guests were invited to eat dinner outside the tent. The food was really delicious and I especially enjoyed the salad bar.

After the mala ceremony, the bride and groom took many pictures and then ate. After this, they went to change their clothing for the portion of the wedding in which they walk around the fire - this is called the shadee ka bundan and is the actual marriage part. For this portion of the wedding, the bride wore a yellow sari (the traditional outfit) and Pankaj wore a traditional man's Indian outfit consisting of a lumba kurta (long shirt) and pyjama pants. This ceremony usually takes place between midnight and 4 am. After this, Pankaj's friends returned with him to the nearby house, where he waited for his bride to arrive in the morning - at around 8 am. The arrival of the bride is called the vidli ke rasm and is the final part of the wedding.

Originally, I was going to wait with Pankaj for his bride to arrive. However, after dinner I was exhausted as it was already midnight and I left before seeing the shadee ka bundan. Even though I left a little early, I had a really great time and was so happy for the invitation.

We are having a short break from classes, so I am going to go on a short vacation to Nepal. I'll update the blog when I get back (next weekend) and let everyone know about my adventures....