India – Ajay and Anusha’s wedding
by Amy ~ June 22, 2007
Zvonimir and I became friends with Ajay at Wharton. When Ajay invited us to his wedding in Chennai, India I was very excited. I had always wanted to visit India and was even more excited to attend a traditional Indian wedding!
Anusha and Ajay arranged a guest house in Chennai and driver for us. Our experience was fabulous! We stayed in a 3 bedroom apartment with a chef, two waiters and a director. Each day the director would ask each of us what we wanted to eat for each meal. The staff would then shop for and prepare each dish we had requested. The food and service were exceptional at the guest house!
We attended the henna ceremony at Anusha’s family house. This is traditionally for the women of the family, however, the invitation was extended to the men as well since there were so many out of town guests. Anusha sat for hours while her legs and feet, arms and hands were temporarily tattooed with the henna pain. Andrada, Lyndi and I also got the henna done on our hands.
Three women worked in unison applying the henna designs without templates. The paint is applied using a tool resembling a cake icing tool. Once the black henna dries, it flakes off and a orange colored stain is left on your hands for around 3 weeks. It was incredible to see how the three women worked in unison to create a beautiful and unique design for each person.
The engagement ceremony was held in a large, open air wedding hall. Trumpets and horns played loudly from behind us. Anusha and Ajay sat on a stage and were presented with traditional Indian clothing gifts for the ceremony. After the ceremony we had a large feast in the wedding hall. The meal was served on a banana leaf.
A well orchestrated staff quickly filled your banana leaf with dollops of a variety of traditional southern Indian vegetarian cuising – idlis with sambar (a pancake like bread with a soup-like lentil mixture), beans with coconut, mangos, lentils and more. The following day, the wedding ceremony began at 6am.
Anusha and Ajay gave us traditional saris for us to wear to the ceremony and we hired two ladies to help us get ready – thank goodness – there’s no way I could’ve figured it out on my own! The sari is 6 yards of fabric wrapped and tucked. Since we were new at this we were given safety pins to keep everything in place!
The ceremony begins with the tradition of the groom walking towards the Himalayas until the brides father begs him to stay and offers his daughters hand in marriage. After the groom accepts the offer the bride emerges in a beautiful sari. She is adorned with henna on her hand and feet, exquisite bangles on her wrists, and a jasmine necklace. Anusha was absolutely beautiful!
The multiple day ceremony was long and steeped with tradition! At the end of each day the family and friends met in the dining hall for a meal on banana leaves.
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