Because I was intrigued by what an Indian wedding entails, I messaged Aruna asking if it was still OK for me to attend hers. She said it was fine and told me to get a hotel in Chittoor as her marriage would commence at 5am the following morning. Why so early? Damned if I know.
So I quickly packed some overnight clothes and got on the bus to Chittoor. Aruna had informed me that her friend, and the man she is going to marry - Suman, would come and meet me and help book me in to a hotel. Now punctuality does not seem to be a trait of anybody here in India; in fact, we volunteers last year often joked about "Indian time" referring to how notoriously unpunctual our friends were. So I wasn't too surprised that after half an hour of waiting for Suman to come and meet me, he still hadn't arrived, living up to the expectations of Indian punctuality. By then I was getting very impatient though, so decided to go off and look for a hotel myself.
After some walking down narrow and busy streets, I finally found a hotel. It was only 350 rupees a night, so I asked to see the room first knowing full well it was probably going to be a shithole. But suprisingly, it wasn't too bad. I was fairly happy with it anyway so said I would take it for the night. Suman managed to get a hold of me so I informed him of where I was staying and he soon came to meet me. Finally.
By this time, it was early afternoon so I agreed to come to Suman's shop for sometime. It was a nice chilled afternoon really. Didn't do anything other than ate some of Suman's packed lunch (chicken curry and rice) and drawed a manga girl. Since I was in a clothes shop, I decided to buy Aruna a saree as a gift. I got her a pretty looking orange one as I remembered her saying that orange is her favourite colour. By about 7pm, Suman dropped me off at my hotel room and I decided to have an early night.
Well, that was what I intended to happen. It took me for what seemed like many hours to fall asleep, and I woke up at 2am. Great. A very cold bucket wash soon woke me and freshened me up though and then I just patiently waited for Suman to come and get me.
Coincidently, my hotel was just opposite the small temple they were getting married, so it only took 5 seconds to get there, where Aruna was sitting and waiting; she was wearing a very nice saree and looked beautiful in it. She had said that it was only going to be a small wedding, but I had least expected her immediate family to be there - especially her father! But no, only her brother Sunil came. None of Suman's family attended either.
We waited for a little while whilst the hindu preist made some preparations. When everything was ready, some drums started to bang and bells began to ring. What happened next was amazing but also confusing and bizarre for me at the same time; I didn't have any idea what was going on and why. I just got my camera out and snapped away at the rather elaborate ceremony; they put flowers over one another several times, prayed, bowed down to the priest and prayed, prayed to some bananas and rupee notes that they handed to the priest, we put our hands over a flame and some red powder (kumkuma) on our foreheads and prayed, and we also poured some seeds(?) over their heads. They then walked around the shrine a few times holding hands. So yeah, it was very confusing for me, but none the less I had enjoyed my experience of witnessing a marriage, even if I don't agree with the reasons for it.
After the ceremony finished, we said our goodbyes and I walked off pondering Indian marriage; I've noticed that on the billboards with wedding photos on them, seldom do I see the bride and groom smile and I wonder if it is because they have married somebody they don't love? Aruna didn't smile much at all and I know she doesn't love Suman. I'm probably wrong about the reasons for people not smiling in their wedding photos (supposedly the happiest day of anybodys life), but it was just a thought that occured to me. Very sad if I'm correct though.
Anyway, my morning in Chittoor wasn't quite over as Sunil found me and said I could ride with him and I'll catch the bus to Katpadi later on. It was very pleasant riding down the country roads on the back of his scooter at 7am. This is the first time I've seen morning mist and also the first time I have been shivering cold here! He took me far out in the sticks to where his aunty lives where we walked around some fields. We didn't stop there for too long and soon hit the road. Once again, he said I could drive so I did much to my enjoyment. We just spent the remainder of the morning driving around Chittoor and having chai (tea). Eventually, I said my farewells to him and got on a bus back to Katpadi.
So I quickly packed some overnight clothes and got on the bus to Chittoor. Aruna had informed me that her friend, and the man she is going to marry - Suman, would come and meet me and help book me in to a hotel. Now punctuality does not seem to be a trait of anybody here in India; in fact, we volunteers last year often joked about "Indian time" referring to how notoriously unpunctual our friends were. So I wasn't too surprised that after half an hour of waiting for Suman to come and meet me, he still hadn't arrived, living up to the expectations of Indian punctuality. By then I was getting very impatient though, so decided to go off and look for a hotel myself.
After some walking down narrow and busy streets, I finally found a hotel. It was only 350 rupees a night, so I asked to see the room first knowing full well it was probably going to be a shithole. But suprisingly, it wasn't too bad. I was fairly happy with it anyway so said I would take it for the night. Suman managed to get a hold of me so I informed him of where I was staying and he soon came to meet me. Finally.
By this time, it was early afternoon so I agreed to come to Suman's shop for sometime. It was a nice chilled afternoon really. Didn't do anything other than ate some of Suman's packed lunch (chicken curry and rice) and drawed a manga girl. Since I was in a clothes shop, I decided to buy Aruna a saree as a gift. I got her a pretty looking orange one as I remembered her saying that orange is her favourite colour. By about 7pm, Suman dropped me off at my hotel room and I decided to have an early night.
Well, that was what I intended to happen. It took me for what seemed like many hours to fall asleep, and I woke up at 2am. Great. A very cold bucket wash soon woke me and freshened me up though and then I just patiently waited for Suman to come and get me.
Coincidently, my hotel was just opposite the small temple they were getting married, so it only took 5 seconds to get there, where Aruna was sitting and waiting; she was wearing a very nice saree and looked beautiful in it. She had said that it was only going to be a small wedding, but I had least expected her immediate family to be there - especially her father! But no, only her brother Sunil came. None of Suman's family attended either.
We waited for a little while whilst the hindu preist made some preparations. When everything was ready, some drums started to bang and bells began to ring. What happened next was amazing but also confusing and bizarre for me at the same time; I didn't have any idea what was going on and why. I just got my camera out and snapped away at the rather elaborate ceremony; they put flowers over one another several times, prayed, bowed down to the priest and prayed, prayed to some bananas and rupee notes that they handed to the priest, we put our hands over a flame and some red powder (kumkuma) on our foreheads and prayed, and we also poured some seeds(?) over their heads. They then walked around the shrine a few times holding hands. So yeah, it was very confusing for me, but none the less I had enjoyed my experience of witnessing a marriage, even if I don't agree with the reasons for it.
After the ceremony finished, we said our goodbyes and I walked off pondering Indian marriage; I've noticed that on the billboards with wedding photos on them, seldom do I see the bride and groom smile and I wonder if it is because they have married somebody they don't love? Aruna didn't smile much at all and I know she doesn't love Suman. I'm probably wrong about the reasons for people not smiling in their wedding photos (supposedly the happiest day of anybodys life), but it was just a thought that occured to me. Very sad if I'm correct though.
Anyway, my morning in Chittoor wasn't quite over as Sunil found me and said I could ride with him and I'll catch the bus to Katpadi later on. It was very pleasant riding down the country roads on the back of his scooter at 7am. This is the first time I've seen morning mist and also the first time I have been shivering cold here! He took me far out in the sticks to where his aunty lives where we walked around some fields. We didn't stop there for too long and soon hit the road. Once again, he said I could drive so I did much to my enjoyment. We just spent the remainder of the morning driving around Chittoor and having chai (tea). Eventually, I said my farewells to him and got on a bus back to Katpadi.
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