Ajay and Anusha’s wedding was the catalyst for our India trip. 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 visited the Georgetown market in Chennai, a fascinating market where you can purchase a different type of good on each street – for paper, you went to Anderson street, on another street you could buy any type of nut or bolt you wanted, another street you could purchase fruits and vegetables. We were the ONLY westerners in the market and we felt like WE were the tourist attraction! We had many people approach us to ask where we were from or ask to have their picture taken. People were just as fascinated with us as we were with them.

Zvonimir fell ill after one of the wedding ceremonies so we stayed in the guest house while Andrada and Lyndi headed to Pondicherry (I read the Life of Pi on the trip so we were sad to miss Pondicherry). Instead, the housemaster took us shopping to a local jewelry store…. I bought my sister a few rings but upon returning to the states I learned they were fakes…. Guess I wouldn’t recommend buying gems in India unless you know your gems! I bought them from a well established store with no other tourists and still got ripped off – oh well at least I didn’t spend a ton!

We also hit a bit of a snag in our travel plans while in Chennai. The area known as Rajastan was having riots regarding equal wages and equal opportunitiy among castes. Our travel plans had us spending the following week in Delhi, Jaipur and Agra, which was the area having riots so Lyndia, Andrada and I spent a late night re-working our itinerary.

Make my Trip was an Indian travel site Zvonimir and I had used to book one of our flights. We spent many hours on hold listening to the *Make my Trip, Plan my trip* jingle. In the end, we were able to re-work our trip to and keep our original desinations – and we have a song stuck in our head anytime someone mentions Make my Trip!

View our Chennai photos.

Posted in India, Travel 88 Comments »

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.

View Ajay and Anusha’s wedding photos.

Posted in India, Travel, Weddings 97 Comments »

Kerala: Kerala is a lush tropical area in the southwest of India. The area has the highest literacy rate (over 90%) and life expectancy rate (73) in all of India.

Allepey: Allepey is a nearby town famous for it’s houseboats and backwaters. We rented an entire houseboat with a captain, a chef, and a waiter for the 4 of us!

Typically the houseboat tour is an overnight tour but since we already had a hotel we made this a day cruise. The houseboat had beautiful hard wood floors and 2 bedrooms and baths. We were also treated to a very tasty south Indian meal consisting of coconut fish curry, cocount with beans and a few other dishes. I love coconut so this was one of my favorite meals on the trip.

Munnar: Our friends told us about a beautiful tea staion four hours from Kerala. The ride to Munnar was brutal – up and down mountains, with lots of turns in the road, however, the trip was worth it! Munnar was one of my favorite places on the trip. The hills are covered with tea plantations. Workers dotted the hillsides clipping tea leaves as you would trim a hedge.

While in Munnar we had the opportunitiy to take an elephant ride. It was incredible to be so close and to touch an elephant. They are massive creatures with rough calloused skin with bristles. They feel similar to a pig. They walk very slowly and stop every now and then to grab something to eat. I scratched the elephant’s ear and soon learned this meant I was going to give it food – the elephant stopped and put up her trunk expecting bananas.

At the end of the ride we purchases bananas and fed the elephant. The elephant lifted her trunk to receive your gift and ate the banana and peel quickly so she could beg for more bananas.Munnar is a really scenic location and somewhere I would recommend if you ever find yourself in India!

View our View our Kerala, Munnar and Alleppey photos.

Posted in India, Travel 4 Comments »